• ABOUT

  • objectives
  • history
  • testimonials

• PROGRAM

  • Schedule
  • Sponsors

• PARTICIPATION

  • nominations
  • faqs

• ALUMNI

  • community
  • photo gallery
  • reunions
  • newsletter

About the Georgetown Leadership Seminar

Sponsored by the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, the first seminar was held in 1982 as "a gathering of selected leaders from around the world to discuss basic trends and forces that will shape the 1980s and beyond". Fifteen countries were represented by the twenty-six participants. Speakers at that first seminar included: Zbigniew Brzezenski, C. Fred Bergsten, Jacques de Larosiere, J. William Fulbright and Madeleine Albright, to name a few. 

Each year, the Georgetown Leadership Seminar brings some 35 young leaders to the School of Foreign Service for a week of seminars and discussions on major foreign policy issues.  Beginning with its first seminar in 1982, GLS has brought together a diverse group of leaders from around the world to discuss the forces that would shape the world of the future.  Bankers and parliamentarians have confronted generals and journalists over issues as diverse as the environment, nuclear proliferation, foreign assistance and Middle East conflicts.  Over the years, Seminar speakers  from Georgetown faculty to prominent government leaders and private sector executives have brought their expertise to bear on the most salient foreign policy issues of the day, encouraging debate and discussion among participants and helping them better understand U.S. policies.  Recent speakers from outside the University include Keynote Speaker Charles Cook, Editor of The Cook Political Report; Claudia A. McMurray, Assistant Secretary of State, Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs; Doris Meissner, Former Commissioner to the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service; as well as Dean Robert Gallucci, Madeleine Albright, John Esposito, John Walcott, Marc Busch, Stephen Wayne, Paul Pillar, Carol Lancaster, Jane Stromseth, Daniel Byman and Alice Rivlin, all prominent members of the Georgetown faculty.

Our past Seminar participants are members of an exclusive global alumni network which includes presidents and prime ministers, royalty, parliamentarians and cabinet level officials, CEOs and heads of NGOs, high-ranking military officers, journalists and academics.  There are now over 800 alumni of GLS representing over 100 countries.  We encourage participants to stay in touch with each other well beyond the Seminar, and they do, through reunions we organize periodically in different world capitals and through individual contacts.

Topics of Past Seminars

• The U. S. and Multilateralism: Prospects for a New Era
• Globalization and the Developing World
• Alleviating the Global Refugee Crisis
• The Future of the International Monetary System
• Technology and International Business
• Is There Any Future for Trade Negotiations?
• The Global Economy
• Accountability for War Crimes
• Economics of Growth and Development
• International Threat Environment
• The United Nations and the Future of Conflict Resolution
• The Role of the Executive and Legislative Branches of Government
• Religion and Foreign Policy
• The Role of the Intelligence Community
• The 2008 Elections
• The Threat of Nuclear Weapons
• The War on Terrorism: Is the U.S. Winning?
• Is there an Islamic Threat?
• The Rule of Law - Is America Still Credible?
• Outsourcing- Scourge or Opportunity?
• The State of the American Economy
• U.S. Immigration Policy: The 2008 Elections and Beyond
• Issues in International Health and Disease Control