The State of Diplomacy at America 250
Virtual Briefing Series
Thursday, September 17, 2026 | 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM ET
The world has changed dramatically in the 250 years since Benjamin Franklin’s mission to France in 1776. It is changing again now, with new powers rising, new technologies reshaping how nations engage with one another both diplomatically and confrontationally, and new questions about what diplomatic leadership looks like in the 21st century. Centralized and personalist diplomacy, technological capabilities, and economic statecraft may be as central to modern diplomacy as treaties and summits once were. As America marks 250 years, the question isn’t simply how the world has changed, but what timeless lessons from its founding diplomats still apply, and what genuinely new thinking is required to meet this moment and beyond.
How is the current geopolitical moment is shaping the use of U.S. diplomacy? What is the role of diplomacy in the current world order? What diplomatic lessons can be learned and applied to the next 250 years?
Join us on Thursday, September 17th from 12 to 1 PM ET for a look into the current state and future of American diplomacy through the experience and analysis of panelists John Dinkelman, President of the American Foreign Service Association, Dr. Jessica Tuchman Mathews,Distinguished Fellow and former President of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and Professor Jay Sexton, the Rich and Nancy Kinder Chair of Constitutional Democracy, Professor of History, and Director of the Kinder Institute at the University of Missouri.
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SPEAKERS:
Dr. Hiski Haukkala
Dr. Hiski Haukkala is the Director of the Finnish Institute of International Affairs. He is also an Adjunct Professor of International Relations at the Faculty of Management and Business, Tampere University, Finland, and a Senior Research Associate at RAND Europe. Before joining FIIA in November 2024, he worked as a Professor of International Relations at Tampere University.
Until spring 2024, Haukkala was the Secretary General and Chief of the Cabinet at the Office of the President of the Republic of Finland. Haukkala has previously held positions at the University of Turku, Tampere University, the Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs and the Finnish Institute of International Affairs, as well as visiting positions at the University of Oxford, the Wilson Center in Washington D.C., the College of Europe in Natolin in Warsaw, the EU Institute of Security Studies in Paris, the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) in London and the University of Stirling in Scotland. He is the author of numerous books and articles on EU foreign policy, Russia and international relations.
Dr. Jacob Funk Kirkegaard
Dr. Jacob Funk Kirkegaard has been nonresident senior fellow with the Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE) since September 2020 and resident senior fellow with Bruegel since September 2024. He was a resident senior fellow with the German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF) in the GMF’s Brussels office from September 2020 to August 2024. He has been associated with the Institute since 2002 and had been resident senior fellow from 2013 to 2020.
Before joining the Institute, he worked with the Danish Ministry of Defense, the United Nations in Iraq, and in the private financial sector. He is a graduate of the Danish Army’s Special School of Intelligence and Linguistics with the rank of first lieutenant; the University of Aarhus in Aarhus, Denmark; Columbia University in New York; and received his PhD from Johns Hopkins University, School of Advanced International Studies. He is coeditor of Transatlantic Economic Challenges in an Era of Growing Multipolarity (2012), author of The Accelerating Decline in America’s High-Skilled Workforce: Implications for Immigration Policy (2007), coauthor of US Pension Reform: Lessons from Other Countries (2009) and Transforming the European Economy (2004), and assisted with Accelerating the Globalization of America: The Role for Information Technology (2006). His current research focuses on European economies and reform, immigration, foreign direct investment trends and estimations, pension systems, demographics, offshoring, and the impact of information technology.
Dr. Kristi Raik
Dr. Kristi Raik is the Director of the International Centre for Defence and Security (ICDS) from 1 January 2025. She is also an Adjunct Professor of International Relations at the University of Turku. She has previously served as the Deputy Director of ICDS, Director of the Estonian Foreign Policy Institute at the ICDS, and Senior Research Fellow at the General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union.
Her main areas of expertise are European security, strategic competition in Eastern Europe, EU foreign and security policy, and foreign and security policies of the Baltic states and Finland. She has published in high-ranking academic journals, including Geopolitics, European Security, and Cooperation and Conflict, and media outlets including Foreign Policy. She is a frequent commentator in the international media and has provided expert contributions to the Estonian, Finnish, EU and NATO institutions. Kristi has a PhD from the University of Turku.
THIS SESSION IS FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
NOT YET A NETWORK 20/20 MEMBER?
Apply today to enjoy all exclusive briefings with high-profile speakers
Image Credit:Image by Wynn Pointaux from Pixabay
