Events Calendar

Just one week before the U.S. Presidential election, Amb. Ischinger will share his expert assessment from his upcoming book, A World in Danger: Germany and Europe in an Uncertain Time, including candid insights on the impact of the election outcome on our longstanding allies in Europe, and how the outcome will shape our multilateral ties with Germany and Europe as a whole.

Ambassador Ischinger’s book is available for pre-order here and will be published on November 10.

This event is presented in partnership with Wunderbar Together, and the World Affairs Councils of America.

Ambassador Wolfgang Ischinger
Celebrated Diplomat

Ambassador Ischinger has been Chairman of the Munich Security Conference (MSC) since 2008 and teaches at the Hertie School of Governance in Berlin as Senior Professor for Security Policy and Diplomatic Practice. He advises the private sector, governments, and international organizations on strategic issues. He has published widely on foreign, security and defense policy issues.

Wolfgang Ischinger is a member of the Trilateral Commission and the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) and serves on a number of non-profit boards and advisory councils, including the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP), the American Academy Berlin, and the Atlantik-Brücke. He is also a member of the Supervisory Board of Hensoldt AG and of the International Advisory Council of Investcorp, London.

Having served on the staff of the Secretary-General of the United Nations (1973-75), Wolfgang Ischinger joined the German Foreign Service in 1975, followed by a distinguished diplomatic career. From 2006 to 2008, he was the Federal Republic of Germany’s Ambassador in London and from 2001 to 2006 in Washington, DC. He served as Deputy Foreign Minister (State Secretary) of Germany from 1998 to 2001, and as Director of Policy Planning and then Political Director of the Foreign Ministry from 1995 to 1998.

In 2007, he represented the European Union in the Troika negotiations on the future of Kosovo. In 2014, he served as the Special Representative of the OSCE Chairman-In-Office in the Ukraine crisis. In 2015, he chaired the OSCE “Eminent Persons Panel on European Security”, mandated to offer recommendations on how to build a more resilient European security architecture.

From 2008 to 2014, he was also Global Head of Government Relations at Allianz SE, Munich.

Wolfgang Ischinger studied law at the universities of Bonn and Geneva and obtained his law degree in 1972. He earned a MA degree from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and did postgraduate work at Harvard Law School, Cambridge/USA.

Moderated By

Ambassador Christopher R. Hill
Former Ambassador; George W. Ball Adjunct Professor at Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs

Over his 33-year career in the U.S. Foreign Service, Ambassador Chris Hill was at the forefront of U.S. foreign policy in multiple regions, including as ambassador to Iraq, the Republic of Korea, Poland, and Macedonia.

As assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, Ambassador Hill led U.S. efforts to end North Korea’s nuclear weapons program, which induced North Korea to catalogue its nuclear activities and freeze and disable its plutonium production in 2008-2009.

Other career highlights include Ambassador Hill’s service as U.S. envoy in negotiations that ended the Kosovo war in 1999, and before that as a leading negotiator who helped forge the agreement that ended the Bosnian war in 1995.

Following his retirement from the State Department, Ambassador Hill served from 2010 to 2017 as dean of the Josef Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver. After he stepped down as dean, he was the university’s head of global engagement and a professor of the practice of diplomacy until July 2020. Most recently, Ambassador Hill has joined the Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs as the George W. Ball Adjunct Professor beginning in spring of 2021.