Speaker Events - Wednesday, September 12, 2007
President of Iceland Delivers Speech on the Challenges and Opportunities for Small States
On September 6th, IPI hosted a luncheon at the InterContinental Hotel in honor of H.E. Mr. Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, President of Iceland, who spoke on “The Challenges and Opportunities for Small States: Economic Development, Climate Change, and New Security Issues.” IPI President Terje Rød-Larsen moderated a discussion period following the talk.
In his speech, President Grímsson noted that globalization and the changing international system present great opportunities for the flourishing of small states and for their increased participation in international affairs. Never before have small states “enjoyed such potential for prosperity and progress,” he said. In return, small states are now in the unprecedented position of being able to play key roles in the formulation of global responses to today’s most urgent problems, including climate change and the “new security issues.” President Grímsson concluded, “the future of the United Nations and the search for solutions to many of the most pressing problems of the twenty-first century could be strongly influenced by active and wide-ranging cooperation among the small states which now account for more than a quarter of the entire UN membership.”
The Global Observatory
Interview with John Prendergast, Co-Founder, Enough Project
Mr. Prendergast discusses the international justice system and the new ground forged by Invisible Children's Kony2012 campaign.
Key Global Events to Watch in May
A list of key upcoming meetings and events with implications for global affairs.
The Global Observatory is a new website by IPI, providing timely analysis on peace and security issues, interviews with leading policymakers, interactive maps, and more.
Recent Events
May 10, 2012
Arbour: What the Rule of Law Means
“In my understanding of the rule of law, fundamentally, what the rule of law means is that it embraces the principle of equality before the law,” Louise Arbour, president of the International Crisis Group (ICG), told an IPI audience on May 10, 2012. Ms. Arbour outlined that this means that no one is above the law and everyone has both equal protection and equal benefit of the law. 
May 03, 2012
Shachtman: Cyber Threats Akin to South Bronx, Not Pearl Harbor
“There’s not a danger of a cyber Pearl Harbor… it’s more like the South Bronx circa 1999, where there’s a danger that it becomes such a tough neighborhood that no one wants to set up shop there and people move out,” Noah Shachtman, editor of the Danger Room blog at Wired magazine and non-resident fellow at the Brookings Institution, told an IPI audience at a panel on cyber security on May 3, 2011.
April 27, 2012
Preventing Conflicts in Africa: The Role of Early Warning and Response Systems
An April 27th roundtable discussion at IPI titled “Preventing Conflicts in Africa: The Role of Early Warning and Response Systems” examined the progress, prospects and challenges of regional and international early warning and response mechanisms to monitor, anticipate, and mitigate potential conflict situations in Africa.