School News AGS

On June 4-7th, alumni and members of the AGS community from around the world will travel to France on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the American Graduate School in Paris. A series of events will celebrate the development of AGS since it inaugurated its first class in the summer of 1994, under the name "American Graduate School of International Relations and Diplomacy". The five students who made up the first cohort all came from different national backgrounds, already defining the diversity that would be the future of the school. AGS has, since then, drawn students and faculty from over 50 countries, becoming a recognized specialist of international relations - and, in the last decade, international business. It has educated graduates who have now become successful actors and leaders of international affairs. And it has built academic partnerships with prestigious institutions including Alliance Française, Université Paris-Sud, Université de Cergy-Pontoise, and Arcadia University. Throughout this adventure, AGS has remained faithful to the vision of its three founders - that of offering excellent academic programs combining the American model of education with the rich resources of France and a multi-cultural faculty giving each student individual consideration.

The festivities will kick off on June 4th with a late-afternoon welcome aperitif/open house at AGS, during which alumni will reconnect with their classmates and visit the new campus in the Alliance Française building. One of the highlights of the week will be graduation on June 5th, where alumni will welcome the new generation of graduates into the worldwide AGS network. Sir Christopher MacRae, former UK Ambassador, will deliver the commencement address, and the ceremony will be followed by a graduation dinner in the sumptuous salons of the French Senate.

On the next day, AGS will host a special edition of its traditional Wine-and-Cheese evening, in the form of a symposium on the theme: "20 Years of Research at AGS." Around a convivial buffet of French wines and gourmet cheeses, the four speakers of the evening (two alumni and two professors) will lead a discussion tying the AGS Master's theses and Ph.D. dissertations that were produced since the school was founded, with the world events that occurred over that period.

The closing day will start with a French "pétanque" game by the banks of the "Bassin de la Villette" canal, and end with a farewell dinner at the restaurant La Gare, located between the Eiffel Tower and the Bois de Boulogne.

"We are very proud of what our graduates have accomplished over the past 20 years," says Joyce Lee, the wife of late John Lee, one of the three founders of AGS, who now serves as Vice-President for Alumni Relations. "Our students and our alumni are the ones who make AGS what it is, just as much as AGS has contributed to making them who they are. I also feel very honored to have had such great partners join us in the wonderful adventure of AGS. The past twenty years have been an amazing blend of connexions, exchanges, possibilities and successes, and we look forward to the next twenty years!"

On May 12th, AGS hosted author and journalist Alan Riding for an exceptional guest lecture on the Arts and Literature Scene in Paris during the 1920s. This event was organized for a group of undergraduate students visiting from AGS's partner Arcadia University, on a week-long global field study course on "Americans Expat Writers in Paris".

Alan Riding gave a vivid description of the daily life and political context that surrounded arts and literature in Paris during the period that directly followed World War I. Riding says "Americans had arrived in Paris as a result of America's eventual participation in World War I. Paris has had a dominent cultural position in Europe for a very long time and continues to this day to have appeal for writers and artists around the world."

Born in Brazil to British parents and educated in England, Alan Riding had a fourty-year career in journalism, working with Reuters, the Financial Times, The Economist, and, most recently, The New York Times where he was the cultural correspondant in Europe for well over a decade. He authored several notable books on culture and social history, including Distant Neighbors: A Portrait of the Mexicans (Knopf/Vintage), which has sold over 450,000 copies worldwide and is now considered a classic about modern Mexico, and two reference handbooks published by Dorling Kindersley: Essential Shakespeare Handbook and Opera. His most recent book is And the Show Went On: Cultural Life in Nazi-Occupied Paris (New York: Knopf, 2010), "an impressively comprehensive survey of the occupation years" (The Economist) which was translated and published in eight countries and received the Spear's Book Award for Social History and the Palau i Fabre International non-fiction Prize in Spain. This book was declared "one of the finest works of serious popular history" by the Washington Post and "a fascinating book" by the New York Review of Books - among many other raving reviews. See Alan Riding's bio.

On May 27th, the American Graduate School in Paris will host an exceptional guest lecture on the theme "The Crisis in Ukraine: A Geopolitical Interpretation" by Professor Manlio Graziano, specialist of geopolitics and geopolitics of religions.

Professor Graziano explains: "From a geopolitical perspective, the current crisis in Ukraine is the latest chapter of the relationship between Germany and Russia, in which Anglo-Saxon powers have peristently attempted to interfere. How can Halford Mackinder's theory of 1902 help to understand Vladimir Putin's attitude in 2014?"

This guest lecture is primarily reserved for AGS students, alumni and faculty. However, a few seats will be open to the public. If you are interested in attending, please email us at info@ags.edu (it will take place from 1 pm to 3 pm at AGS in Paris, in the 6th arrondissement.)

See Professor Graziano's profile

On May 14th, AGS will host a career workshop titled "Preparing for Your Future - Pursuits After AGS", open to all AGS students and recent graduates.

The AGS Career Workshops are part of the services offered by AGS to provide support and guidance to students during their studies and after graduation (more information here.)

The May 14th panel will be composed of five AGS alumni residing in Paris, who will share their knowledge based on their experience.

• Patrick Clairzier (class of 2008), former Consultant at the United Nations Environment Program in Paris (UNEP) and Assistant Professor of International Relations in AGS's Undergraduate Study Abroad Program and Ph.D. candidate at AGS, will speak on how to network by finding opportunities through friends and associates, following up on events, etc.

• Joe Mangarella (class of 2011), Assistant Professor at Université de Paris 2 Panthéon-Assas (teaching American constitutional law and British torts to third-year university and Masters students), and Ph.D. Candidate, will speak on pursuing a PhD while working, how to build your project and find an advisor, teaching, etc

• Miriam Medina (class of 2011), Global Account Manager at GoFluent, will speak give advice on building a solid CV, how to structure it, what to include depending on target audience, Anglophone and Francophone versions.

• Wren Peyrard (class of 2009), Development Officer and Undergraduate Study Abroad Program Coordinator at AGS in Paris, will present on strategies for interviewing: how to do the homework needed and tactics for dazzling 'em.

• Ashley Stepanek Lockhart (class of 2011), Graduate Program Coordinator at AGS, will speak on managing a digital profile, tips for creating something to share and leverage via social media for extended networking.

The latest edition of the AGS Wine and Cheese symposium, on April 30th, focused on NGO work, with an inspiring presentation on "How to Build an NGO from Scratch". The evening's speaker was Chiara Condi, founder and president of HERA France, a charity providing training and mentorship to empower women in vulnerable situations, such as former victims of trafficking or sexual exploiration, so that they may become entrepreneurs and find formal employment. More information on HERA France

An active and enthusiastic advocate of grassroots action, Chiara Condi gave an invigorating talk to AGS students, alumni and guests. She said: "Change is possible" and explained that "to make others believe in your action and donate money or time, you have to strongly believe in it yourself." She provided practical and highly relevant advice and tips to the audience members, providing a highly relevant applied approach to complement the teachings of AGS through its programs in International Relations and Diplomacy and NGO management.

Chiara Condi was born raised in Italy before moving to New York. She graduated Magna Cum Laude with Highest Honors with a joing A.B. degree in History and Romance Languages and Literatures from Harvard University. She received a Harvard postgraduate fellowship to pursue an MSc from Sciences Po Paris and the London School of Economics (International Political Economy), where she completed an honors thesis on econometric evidence for the labor market impact of economic transition for women in Hungary. As an undergraduate, Chiara led numerous public service initiatives, including the only student-run shelter in the US. She was selected by the Harvard student body and faculty for the prestigious Ames Award, given to one man and one woman in each graduating class for their selflessness, inspiring leadership, and positive influence in the community.

In 2009 Chiara joined the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) in London, where she worked in the Gender Action Plan Office. She supported the Bank's initiatives to promote and incorporate measures benefiting women into its investment projects, and was involved in projects related to sustainability and social responsibility.

While in London, Chiara volunteered for HERA in the UK before founding HERA France in 2013. She currently lives in Paris, France where, parallel to her volunteering activities with HERA, she works on a European Commission project on effective communication to the public on the effects of ionising radiation. Additionally, she organizes community meals and creative projects at a local homeless shelter on a boat in the middle of the Seine river in Paris.

See photo album of the Wine and Cheese symposium on our Facebook page

On April 7^th and 8^th, the group of undergraduate students spending the Spring semester in Paris went on a two-day trip to the Alsatian city of Strasbourg, in the East of France. Strasbourg is home to some of the major institutions of the European Union, which provided students firsthand exposure to the EU political system and real-life illustration to the lessons learned in the AGS classroom about Europe.

AGS Study abroad coordinator Jennifer Wright and new staff member Wren Peyrard took the undergraduates on a guided tour of the Council of Europe, Europe’s oldest intergovernmental organization. The visit began with a presentation from Council staff, connecting the work of the Council to the European Court of Human Rights. This was followed by a visit to the Main Chamber. The Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly was actually in session that week, offering the opportunity for undergraduates to attend a live session. All were able to observe firsthand procedures connected to Europe and human rights. 

As always, students also spent time exploring and enjoying the rich culture of the city. They visited the Notre-Dame de Strasbourg Cathedral, went on a historic boat ride, and did a lot of research on Alsatian cuisine!

This is one of the two trips that undergraduate students in the Arcadia-AGS Study Abroad program in Paris do every semester as one of the ways to experience France and Europe beyond classroom learning. Earlier this semester, this group went to Nice on the French Riviera.

See photos of the Strasbourg Trip:

The AGS Graduate Student Conference 2014 (April 17-18) saw presenters and attendees from over fifteen countries discuss the many aspects of "Cyber-Developments in International Relations". They examined the impact of the internet, information technology developments and social media on such various topics as diplomacy, democracy, security, freedom and children's rights.

"Cyberdiplomacy, cybersecurity, cyberwar, cyberpeace... we have 'cyberized' a lot of things over the two days of the conference." says Professor Ruchi Anand, faculty director of the AGS conference, who pulls together a new team of student organizers every year. "We were able to examine the vividly current and widely discussed issue of the internet and social media revolutions beyond the headlines and beyond the dinner conversations, to examine their impact on international affairs and to explore the perspectives that they open for the future." 

Ambassador Wilfried Bolewski's opening speech kicked off the two days of discussions with many insights drawn from expertise acquired during his thirty-five years as a career diplomat, shedding light on the changes happening in the political and diplomatic arena. "The greatest impact of social media on diplomacy comes in the form of transparency. Diplomacy, as a means and procedure of executing foreign policy, is now performed in an environment of radically increased transparency, visibilty and contention, where its listening role is enhanced. That forces governments to be more honest and consistent." Bolewski adds: "Pushed to the furthest realistic vision, the possibilities attached to digital diplomacy could lead to an extended empowerment of civil society - in which we are all equal actors - promoting common principles such as solidarity, restraint, distributive justice. But let us not forget that if we all share the benefits of the internet as a 'global commons', we also share the responsibility."

The first panel, moderated by Professor Anand, addressed Cyber-security, with speakers from the University of Lodz in Poland, York University in Canada, and the Central European University in Hungary discussing topics such as the militarization of cyber-space and the war on terror. The second panel focused on the changing face of democracy under the impact of the Internet and social media, particularly through what is referred to as 'hacktivism'. Presenters came from the University of Turin in Italy, Lunds University in Sweden, and Rochester Institute of Technology in the US to share their research on this subject with the moderation of Professor Patrick Clairzier.

The third panel concentrated on the topic of media, freedom of information and right to privacy in this new era of the internet. The moderator Joav Toker, journalist and media specialist, hosted scholars from the University of Pennsylvania, York University in Canada and Masaryk University in the Czech Republic. One of the presentations asked whether "information wants to be free," while another approached the new media as a consciousness-raising tool for the contemporary women's movement.

The panel on diplomacy placed cyber-diplomacy in the larger context of innovative diplomacy as going beyond the norm-based forms of cooperation to forms of trust-building through dialogue, with speakers from Kings College London, Sciences Po Paris, Charles University in the Czech Republic and University of Buenos Aires in Argentina.

The keynote panel closed the two-days of the conference with a dream team of experts on children's rights and internet issues. AGS Professor Elizabeth Milovidov, founder of www.crossingguardconsulting.com with services aimed to empower parents on the digital highway at www.digitalparentingcoach.com moderated the panel. She invited Sarah Devlin from the US State Department's Africa Regional Services, Melinda George, WikiChild Coordinator at the OECD in Paris, Susanna Greijer, child protection consultant at ECPAT Luxembourg, Alexis Niki, founder of StoryNova, and Mary Adams, social media expert, around the table. During the two-hour panel, they discussed and answered the audience's questions on the impact of the internet on children rights - the way it affects them, and how children's rights advocates can use this powerful tool to serve their cause. 

The event was organized entirely by AGS students enrolled in the Master's of International Relations and Diplomacy program, under the supervision of Professor Ruchi Anand. This year's student director Stefan De Las said: "This has been an immensely enriching experience on many levels, for me as well as for the whole team of student volunteers who worked with me. We have acquired or refined highly transferable skills in all of the different aspects that are involved in putting out such an event, from defining the theme to writing the call for papers, to selecting the papers, to organizing the marketing and logistical aspects of the event. And this has allowed us to participate in a large scale project from A to Z... with all the satisfaction and relief that comes with Z!"

See full photo albums on our Facebook page:

• Photo Album of Conference - Day 1

• Photo Album of Conference - Day 2

• Photo Album of Keynote Panel

On April 17-18, the American Graduate School in Paris will host its 9^th Annual Conference on the theme of Cyber-Developments in International Relations. Taking place in Paris, the conference will gather academics, graduate students, and professionals from more than a dozen countries to discuss the impact of the Internet and other technologies on the way countries and organizations interact. It will address topics such as cyber-security, digital diplomacy, cyber-activism, the rise of social media, and children’s rights.

The Edward Snowden affair and NSA revelations, WikiLeaks, and the Arab Spring all illustrate how crucial the role of technology has become in politics and global affairs. Through this conference, AGS will seek to build bridges between academics and practitioners in the field to examine these well-known issues beyond the headlines and explore the wider context and the implications for international relations.

Wilfried Bolewski, AGS professor and former German Ambassador and former Chief of Protocol to Chancellors Merkel and Schröder, will give the opening speech at 11:00 am on April 17, on the subject: “Cyber-Diplomacy between Participation, Transparency and Secrecy.” Bolewski explains: “Digital technology and cyber-developments provide challenges to an innovative information management and a creative mindset in international relations, which all actors have to face urgently and proactively. I believe the AGS Conference will offer useful operational guidance in this field.”

The keynote panel on the second day will investigate how cyber-developments are impacting children’s rights, bringing together Sara Devlin, Deputy Director of the US State Department’s Africa Regional Services at the US Embassy in Paris, Melinda George, WikiChild Coordinator at the OECD, Susanna Greijer, consultant on Children Rights and Child Protection, and Alexis Niki, writer and founder of Storynova. The panel will be moderated by Professor Elizabeth Milovidov, children’s rights and Internet-safety advocate and founder of The Crossing Guard.

During four other panels spread across the two days, speakers will explore topics as diverse as “WikiLeaks and the Internet as a Democratizing tool”, “Censorship on Social Media and Limitations on Cyber-Activism in China”, and “Hacktivism, the Arab Spring and Palestine: Towards a Multitudious Sovereignty”. Panelists will be representing institutions from all over the world, including NYU and Cal State Los Angeles in the US, Kings College London in the UK, Sciences Po in France, Lunds University in Sweden, Central European University in Hungary, University of Turin in Italy, and Ben Gurion University in Israel.

The AGS International Graduate Student Conference is hosted every year with the purpose of offering a forum for the exchange of ideas on the most pressing issues of international relations. The event is entirely organized by AGS Master’s candidates in the AGS International Relations and Diplomacy programin Paris, under the supervision of Professor Ruchi Anand, author of Self-Defense in International Relations (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009). The event is also held in partnership with Arcadia University (PA, USA), with the contribution of institutional partners Fondation Alliance Française, Alliance Française Paris Ile-de-France, and Banque Populaire Rives de Paris.

 See Conference Schedule

On April 5-10, a group of seven AGS students will travel to Rabat, Morocco to take part in a three-day simulation of a Francophonie Summit. This is part of the dual program in Diplomacy and Strategic Negotiation offered by AGS in partnership with Université Paris-Sud (Sceaux). Participating AGS students will be joining other students pursuing the program at Université Paris-Sud. Leading the group will be program directors Selim El-Sayegh - who is also former Minister of Social Affairs of Lebanon - and Michèle Guillaume-Hofnung.

During the three-day simulation, each student will represent a country that he or she was assigned, and defend that country's interests throughout the negotiations. A follow up simulation will take place in Paris on April 14-15 to finalize the negotiations and writing of a mock international agreement. Preparatory research and training has been an interal part of the experience. Andrew Dupre (class of 2014), who will represent Cambodia, explains: "The preparation has made me learn about a country in a new way beyond the historical background: its needs and interests today, and the way it interacts with the rest of the Francophonie."

A similar simulation trip is organized every year on a different theme and in a different location as part of this dual program. The goal is to provide students with highly transferrable negotiation skills at an international level. The diversity of the group enhances the experience in giving students the opportunity to interact in a multicultural setting. AGS students who will participate in this year's edition come from Russia, Germany, the United States, Mexico, New Zealand, and Trinidad and Tobago.

More information on the International Organisation of La Francophonie

The group of undergraduate students who are spending the spring semester in Paris through the Arcadia/AGS study abroad program travelled to the French Côte d'Azur for a four-day cultural trip, March 6-9. They stayed in Nice, France's 5th largest city, where they explored the historical area named "Vieux Nice", with its many shops and restaurants, and visited the former Louis XIV castle site. They also visited the Marc Chagall Museum and took a walk along the famous 'Promenade des Anglais' waterfront avenue and through the picturesque Cours Saleya Flower Market.

One of the days was dedicated to a side-trip to the nearby village of Eze, a medieval site dating back to 2000 B.C., often referred to as the "Eagle's nest" because of its location on a rock overlooking the Mediterranean. Students also left the French territory to visit the principality of Monaco, getting a glimpse of its impressive cars, yachts and casinos. With the unseasonably warm weather for this time of year, the group was able to make the most of those four days exploring the South of France.

This was one of two trips that the students will make as part of their program during this spring semester: they will go to Strasbourg in early April to visit the European Union institutions and discover Alsatian architecture, food and folklore - yet another facet of the rich and diverse culture of France.

See photos