Carnegie Endowment Events

In the 2014 general election, the Indian National Congress party suffered its worst electoral defeat on record. This decline has raised questions about whether India’s “grand old party” can recapture its past glories.

The United States has been pressing South Korea to accept a very powerful radar that is allegedly intended for South Korea’s defense against North Korean ballistic missiles. However, North Korea is likely years away from building an intercontinental ballistic missile, and the radar is much more powerful than necessary for such a purpose. Is U.S. missile defense policy actually intended to defend against threats from China, rather than North Korea?

Nearly seven decades after the Partition of the Indian subcontinent, Pakistan faces a daunting series of existential challenges ranging from ethnic strife to Islamism and terrorism.

The last few months have witnessed nascent efforts to restart high-level bilateral talks between Delhi and Islamabad dashed again by political maneuvering in both capitals. Are the two states doomed to a perpetual state of “not war, not peace,” or is there hope for a way forward?

Chinese thinking on nuclear weapons issues can be difficult to discern. What are Chinese views on the role of nuclear weapons? Is there a specific security paradigm through which Chinese thinkers understand nuclear policy? How does China make decisions about nuclear weapon development and operation, as well as nuclear arms control and nonproliferation?

Japan plans to start producing plutonium—intended for use in its nuclear energy reactors—as soon as possible. However, in the aftermath of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident in 2011, all but one of Japan’s reactors still remain offline, and the process to restart the others will be long, slow, and controversial. As a result, it is likely that plutonium production will soon exceed demand, causing a risky and potentially destabilizing plutonium build-up in Japan.

U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-DE), a leading member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, will offer his thoughts on the Iran nuclear agreement and its implications for U.S. policy in the Middle East.

Saving Mes Aynak, a 2014 award-winning documentary film, chronicles one Afghan archaeologist’s fight to save a 5,000-year-old Buddhist site from ruin.

A new World Bank report assesses that the removal of economic sanctions against Iran could significantly boost economic growth in Iran.

Drawing on a new book edited by Sergio Bitar and Abraham Lowenthal, Democratic Transitions: Conversations with World Leaders (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2015), this symposium probed the findings of a set of in-depth interviews with leaders of successful democratic transitions. Special focus was given to two current cases of pressing importance: Myanmar and Venezuela.

In advance of the 70th annual session of the UN General Assembly, Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs Sheba Crocker discusses the U.S. priorities and preview some of the key events and activities during the Assembly’s High-Level Week.

U.S. Senator and Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) offers his thoughts on the nuclear agreement as well as America’s role in a changing Middle East.

The recent violent protests in Kyiv during parliamentary debates about constitutional changes and autonomy for eastern Ukraine underscore the country’s daunting domestic challenges.

In the Asia-Pacific, economic development and interconnectivity is growing alongside increasing tensions between neighbor states. This is no clearer than in the fight for building Thailand’s infrastructure. Nobuhiro Aizawa will discuss how Thailand’s 2014 coup and competing infrastructure bids are altering the geopolitics and international relations of Southeast Asia. Abigail Friedman will offer comment, and Carnegie’s James L. Schoff will moderate.

By decisively rejecting former President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s comeback bid, Sri Lankan voters also validated the new government’s foreign policy orientation and opened the way for a greater rapprochement with the West. However, much more must be done to rebuild the U.S.-Sri Lanka relationship.

Scholars present the strategic and economic rationale for enhancing bilateral trade between India and the United States Panel: Ashley J. Tellis - Carnegie Endowment for International Peace C. Fred Bergsten - Peterson Institute for International Economics Pravin Krishna - School for Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University Moderator: Edward Luce - Financial Times

Members of the U.S.-India CEO Forum discuss U.S.-India economic ties and their highest priorities for cooperation ahead of the U.S-India Strategic and Commercial Dialogue. Panelists: Michael S. Burke - Chairman and CEO, AECOM David M. Cote - Chairman and CEO, Honeywell Charles R. Kaye - co-CEO, Warburg Pincus Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw - Chairperson, Biocon Sunil Bharti Mittal - Founder and Chairman, Bharti Enterprises Cyrus P. Mistry - Chairman, Tata Group Moderator: W. James McNerney Jr. - Chairman, Boeing

U.S. secretary of commerce Penny Pritzker and Indian minister of commerce and industry Nirmala Sitharaman discuss U.S.-India economic ties with Carnegie Endowment president, William J. Burns.

Hyun Hong-choo and Choi Young-jin join Evans Revere and Carnegie’s Douglas H. Paal to discuss the U.S.–ROK relationship and what future challenges lie in wait. Han Sung-joo and Ahn Ho-Young give opening remarks.

Campaigning has begun for Myanmar’s first general election since the end of direct military rule. But recent events underscore the influential role of the military in the run-up to the election and raise questions about civil-military relations in the country’s transition to democracy. William Wise, Renaud Egreteau, and U Win Min discuss how and why Myanmar’s military continues to shape the country’s politics and whether this is likely to change after the elections. Carnegie’s Vikram Nehru moderates.