Mary Robinson interviewed for TLF
With so many competing claims in our connected world, what's the right thing to do? Thought Leaders Forum gauges the ethical pulse of the planet.
Thought Leaders are identified by Carnegie Council as people who influence global opinion on ethical issues and contribute positively to human development. Recognition by third parties, such as awards, mainstream press, and prominent institutions, helps to verify their status as thought leaders. Our interview project incorporates views from a diversity of regions and backgrounds.
We are asking selected Thought Leaders to identify the greatest ethical questions facing the planet and how individuals, organizations, and countries should respond. You can get involved: Learn about our Global Ethics Network, and join the conversation here.
Questions for Thought Leaders
- What is morally distinct about the age we live in? Is "connectedness" part of it?
- Are things getting better or worse?
- How do you define global ethics?
- What is the greatest ethical challenge or dilemma facing the planet?
- What should our priorities be, from a moral point of view? What should we do about it?
- How can the world reach its potential and what are the structural roadblocks?
- What would you like to see happen in the next 100 years? How do we get there?
- What does moral leadership mean to you?
- Is world peace possible?
- Who is ultimately accountable for the problems you have outlined?
Please send questions and comments to Devin Stewart.
TLF is part of the Carnegie Council Centennial, Ethics for a Connected World.
Thought Leader Interviews (in Alphabetical Order)
Hawa Abdi
Hawa Abdi is a Somalian human rights activist and doctor, specializing in gynecology.
Kwame Anthony Appiah
Kwame Anthony Appiah is the Laurence S. Rockefeller University Professor of Philosophy at Princeton University.
Louise Arbour
Louise Arbour is president and CEO of the International Crisis Group and former UN high commissioner for human rights
Dan Ariely
Dan Ariely is the James B. Duke Professor of Psychology and Behavioral Economics at Duke University and is the founder of The Center for Advanced Hindsight.
Nancy Birdsall
Nancy Birdsall is the founding president of the Center for Global Development.
Alan S. Blinder
Alan S. Blinder is the Gordon S. Rentschler Memorial Professor of Economics and Public Affairs at Princeton University and the vice chairman of the Promontory Interfinancial Network, a financial services firm based in Arlington, Virginia.
Ian Bremmer
Ian Bremmer is founder and president of Eurasia Group, a political risk consultancy.
Sir David Cannadine
David Cannadine is Dodge Professor of History at Princeton University and an honorary fellow at the Institute of Historical Research, University of London.
Grand Mufti Mustafa Ceric
Mustafa Ceric is Grand Mufti of Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Victor D. Cha
Victor D. Cha is the D. S. Song-Korea Foundation Chair in Asian Studies and is the director of the Asian Studies Program in the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. He is also senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Steve Coll
Pulitzer Prize-winner Steve Coll is president of New America Foundation and a staff writer at The New Yorker.
Bineta Diop
Bineta Diop is the executive director and founder of Femmes Africa Solidarité, an NGO working on issues of gender, peace, and development.
Michael W. Doyle
Michael W. Doyle is Harold Brown Professor of U.S. Foreign and Security Policy at Columbia University.
Pankaj Ghemawat
Pankaj Ghemawat is the Anselmo Rubiralta Professor of Global Strategy at IESE Business School in Barcelona.
Jonathan Haidt
Jonathan Haidt is the Henry Kaufman Visiting Professor in the Business and Society Program Area at New York University Stern School of Business and a social psychologist at the University of Virginia.
Mary Ellen Iskenderian
Mary Ellen Iskenderian is president and CEO of Women's World Banking, a network of microfinance institutions and banks.
Jessica Jackley
Jessica Jackley, co-founder of Kiva, is a venture partner with Collaborative Fund, which focuses on investing in creative entrepreneurs who utilize emerging technology, and a visiting practitioner at Stanford University’s Center for Philanthropy and Civil Society.
Robert D. Kaplan
Robert D. Kaplan is a national correspondent for The Atlantic and a writer for Stratfor. He was recently senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security.
Parag Khanna
Parag Khanna is a senior research fellow at the New America Foundation.
Rachel Kleinfeld
Rachel Kleinfeld is the founding president of the Truman National Security Project.
Hans Küng
Hans Küng is a Catholic priest and president of the Foundation for a Global Ethic.
Emily Lau
Emily Lau is a Hong Kong politician. She is one of two vice-chairmen of the Hong Kong Democratic Party and is a full-time member of the Legislative Council from the geographical constituency of New Territories East.
Richard Lugar
Richard Lugar is a former Republican Senator from Indiana. First elected to the Senate in 1976, he was the longest-serving senator in Indiana's history and, for a time, the longest-tenured Republican member of the Senate. He was the ranking member of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.
Rebecca MacKinnon
Rebecca MacKinnon is a blogger and co-founder at Global Voices Online and a Bernard L. Schwartz Senior Fellow at the New America Foundation.
Kishore Mahbubani
Kishore Mahbubani, diplomat and author, is dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy and professor in the practice of public policy at the National University of Singapore.
Somaly Mam
Somaly Mam is co-founder and president of the Somaly Mam Foundation, a non-profit organization that supports anti-trafficking groups and helps women and girls who have been forced into sexual slavery.
Syd Mead
Syd Mead is a "visual futurist" and concept artist, best known for his designs for science-fiction films such as Blade Runner, Tron, and Aliens.
Peter Morales
The Reverend Peter Morales is president of the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA). He is the first Latino to hold this position.
Andrew J. Nathan
China and human rights specialist Andrew Nathan is Class of 1919 Professor of Political Science at Columbia University and director of graduate studies in the political science department.
Luis Moreno-Ocampo
Luis Moreno-Ocampo is an Argentine lawyer and was the first prosecutor of the International Criminal Court.
Dambisa Moyo
Dambisa Moyo is an international economist who writes on the macroeconomy and global affairs.
Enrique Penalosa
Enrique Penalosa is the former mayor of Bogota, Colombia and the president of the board of directors of the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy.
Thomas Pogge
Thomas Pogge is professor of philosophy and international affairs at Yale University, research director in the Center for the Study of Mind in Nature at the University of Oslo, and adjunct professor in the Centre for Professional Ethics at the University of Central Lancashire.
Srdja Popovic
Srdja Popovic is a co-founder and executive director of the Centre for Applied Nonviolent Action and Strategies (CANVAS) and a former member of the Serbian National Assembly.
Tariq Ramadan
Named by TIME magazine as one of the most influential innovators of the 20th century, Tariq Ramadan is professor of contemporary Islamic studies at the Oriental Institute, St Antony's College, Oxford University.
Ahmed Rashid
Ahmed Rashid, a Pakistani journalist based in Lahore, has covered Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Central Asia for over 25 years.
Mary Robinson
Mary Robinson is currently president of The Mary Robinson Foundation - Climate Justice and the chancellor of the University of Dublin (Trinity College). She is former president of Ireland and former United Nations high commissioner for human rights.
Carne Ross
Carne Ross, a former British diplomat, is founder and executive director of Independent Diplomat, a diplomatic advisory group.
Rabbi Jonathan Sacks
Rabbi Jonathan Sacks is chief rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth and spiritual head of the United Synagogue, the largest synagogue body in the UK.
Tomas Sedlacek
Tomas Sedlacek is chief macroeconomic strategist at CSOB, one of the largest Czech banks. He previously served on the National Economic Council in Prague and as economic advisor to President Vaclav Havel.
David Shinn
Ambassador David Shinn is currently an adjunct professor at the Elliott School of International Affairs, George Washington University. During his 37 years at the Department of State, he served as ambassador to Ethiopia (1996-99) and Burkina Faso (1987-90).
Anne-Marie Slaughter
Anne-Marie Slaughter is the Bert G. Kerstetter '66 University Professor of Politics and International Affairs at Princeton University.
Juan Somavia
Juan Somavia is director-general of the International Labour Organization, a position he has held since 1998.
Nobuo Tanaka
Nobuo Tanaka is the former executive director of the International Energy Agency.
Gillian Tett
Gillian Tett is a British author and award-winning journalist at the Financial Times, where she is markets and finance commentator and assistant editor.
Michael Walzer
Michael Walzer is one of America's leading political philosophers. He is a professor emeritus at the Institute for Advanced Study and editor of Dissent.
Jay Winter
Jay Winter is the Charles J. Stille Professor of History at Yale University, where he focuses on World War I and its impact on the 20th century.
E. O. Wilson
E. O. Wilson is a biologist, researcher, naturalist, and author. He is a professor emeritus and honorary curator in entomology at Harvard University and is regarded as the "father of sociobiology."
Ethan Zuckerman
Ethan Zuckerman is a blogger and Internet activist, and the director of the MIT Center for Civic Media.
