Defending the International Order: The U.S.-UK Special Relationship

This is a virtual program, instructions to join this webinar will be sent to all registrants prior to the event.

The August 1941 Atlantic Charter laid the foundation for the multilateral institutions and norms that have defined the post-World War II liberal international order.  That order is under assault, threatened by authoritarian geopolitical rivals.  Can the revitalized Atlantic Charter that President Biden and Prime Minister Johnson released in June strengthen the liberal international order?  What will it take to create the “inclusive, fair, climate friendly, sustainable, rules-based global economy for the 21st century” that the revitalized charter envisions?  Join the World Affairs Council on November 17, 2021 at 12:00 PT for a discussion with Dame Karen Pierce, British Ambassador to the United States, and Stephen J. Hadley, former National Security Advisor.  World Affairs Council President Jacqueline Miller will moderate.

About the Speakers:

Prior to arriving in DC, Karen Pierce was the United Kingdom’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York since March 2018. Prior to this role, Karen served as the Director General for Political Affairs and Chief Operating Officer of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London, from 2016.

Karen joined the Foreign & Commonwealth Office in 1981. Her first role was in Tokyo between 1984 and 1987, after which she returned to the UK to work in the Security Policy Department. Karen worked in Washington as the Private Secretary to the British Ambassador to the United States between 1992 and 1995. Between 1996 and 2006, Karen held several positions in London including Team Leader for Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova, Deputy Head of Eastern Adriatic (Balkans) Department, Head of Newsroom, Head of EU Department (Bilateral) and concurrently Head of Afghanistan Political Military Unit after 9/11 before returning to the Balkans as Balkans Coordinator from 2002 to 2006.

In 2006, Karen moved to New York for the first time to be the Deputy Permanent Representative and Ambassador at the UK Mission to the UN. In 2009, she returned to London to become the Director of South Asia and Afghanistan Department and the UK’s Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan. In 2012, Karen started her second multilateral role, this time in Geneva, where she was the Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the UK Mission to the United Nations, World Trade Organization and Other International Organisations until 2015. Between 2015 and 2016 Karen was the UK’s Ambassador to Afghanistan.

Stephen Hadley is a principal of Rice, Hadley, Gates & Manuel LLC, an international strategic consulting firm founded with Condoleezza Rice, Robert Gates, and Anja Manuel. Mr. Hadley is also Board Chair of the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) and an Executive Vice Chair of the Board of Directors of the Atlantic Council. 

Mr. Hadley served for four years as the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs from 2005 to 2009. From 2001 to 2005, Mr. Hadley was the Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor, serving under then National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice. Mr. Hadley had previously served on the National Security Council staff and in the Defense Department including as Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Policy from 1989 to 1993. 

During his professional career, Mr. Hadley has served on a number of corporate and advisory boards, including: the National Security Advisory Panel to the Director of Central Intelligence, the Department of Defense Policy Board, and the State Department’s Foreign Affairs policy Board. He is a member of the Aspen Strategy Group.