Join Fiona Hill, AM ’91, PhD ’98, senior fellow in the Center on the United States and Europe in the Foreign Policy program at Brookings Institution and former official at the US National Security Council specializing in Russian and European affairs, and Jill Kastner, AM ’92, PhD ’99, visiting fellow in the Department of War Studies at King’s College, London, as they explore how the erosion of norms, trust, and tolerance threatens contemporary democracy and the ways governments, civil society organizations, universities, the private sector, and citizens can work in solidarity to push back against authoritarian threats and reinforce democratic governance.
Following the speaking program, enjoy drinks, appetizers, and stimulating conversation with fellow alumni and friends!
Advanced registration is now closed.
Democracy and the Rise of Authoritarianism
Wednesday, April 26, 2023
(All times are Central European Standard Time)
6:00 p.m. Doors open for registration
6:30 p.m. Conversation with Fiona Hill and Jill Kastner
7:45 p.m. Reception
Location
Meistersaal
Köthener Str. 38
10963 Berlin
Germany
Event Cost
GSAS alumni, Harvard Club of Berlin Members, and Harvard Recent Graduates ('17–'22): $25
Harvard alumni and members of the Harvard community, and guests: $35
Speaker Biographies
Fiona Hill
Fiona Hill, AM ’91 PhD ’98, is a senior fellow in the Center on the United States and Europe in the Foreign Policy program at Brookings and is a Richard von Weizsacker Fellow at the Robert Bosch Academy in Berlin. In November 2022, Hill was appointed chancellor of Durham University, UK, a high-profile ceremonial and ambassadorial role. She recently served as deputy assistant to the president and senior director for European and Russian affairs on the National Security Council from 2017 to 2019. From 2006 to 2009, she served as national intelligence officer for Russia and Eurasia at The National Intelligence Council. She is author of There Is Nothing for You Here: Finding Opportunity in the 21st Century and co-author of Mr. Putin: Operative in the Kremlin (Brookings Institution Press, 2015).
Prior to joining Brookings, Hill was director of strategic planning at the Eurasia Foundation in Washington, D.C. From 1991 to 1999, she held a number of positions directing technical assistance and research projects at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, including associate director of the Strengthening Democratic Institutions Project, director of the Project on Ethnic Conflict in the former Soviet Union, and coordinator of the Trilateral Study on Japanese–Russian–US Relations.
Hill has researched and published extensively on issues related to Russia, the Caucasus, Central Asia, regional conflicts, energy, and strategic issues. Her book with Brookings Senior Fellow Clifford Gaddy, The Siberian Curse: How Communist Planners Left Russia Out in the Cold, was published by Brookings Institution Press in December 2003, and her monograph, Energy Empire: Oil, Gas and Russia’s Revival, was published by the London Foreign Policy Centre in 2004. The first edition of Mr. Putin: Operative in the Kremlin was published by Brookings Institution Press in December 2013, also with Clifford Gaddy.
Hill holds a master’s in Soviet studies and a doctorate in history from Harvard University where she was a Frank Knox Fellow. She also holds a master’s in Russian and modern history from St. Andrews University in Scotland, and has pursued studies at Moscow’s Maurice Thorez Institute of Foreign Languages. Hill is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Jill Kastner
Jill Kastner, AM ’92, PhD ’99, is a Visiting Fellow in the Department of War Studies at King’s College, London. She has written about Cold War crises in Berlin and the Middle East and contributed to The Nation and Foreign Affairs. She holds a master’s in Soviet studies and a PhD in history from Harvard, where she was a Krupp Foundation Fellow. While pursuing her PhD, she studied at the Institut für Osteuropäische Geschichte in Mainz and lived in both Mainz and Frankfurt. Prior to her academic life, she worked as a TV news producer in Washington.
She is the executive editor of Hope and History: A Memoir of Tumultuous Times, by Ambassador William vanden Heuvel (2019), and is currently working on a new book, A Measure Short of War: The Return of Great Power Subversion, with William C. Wohlforth, due out in 2024.
Join Fiona Hill, AM ’91, PhD ’98, senior fellow in the Center on the United States and Europe in the Foreign Policy program at Brookings Institution and former official at the US National Security Council specializing in Russian and European affairs, and Jill Kastner, AM ’92, PhD ’99, visiting fellow in the Department of War Studies at King’s College, London, as they explore how the erosion of norms, trust, and tolerance threatens contemporary democracy and the ways governments, civil society organizations, universities, the private sector, and citizens can work in solidarity to push back against authoritarian threats and reinforce democratic governance.
Following the speaking program, enjoy drinks, appetizers, and stimulating conversation with fellow alumni and friends!
Advanced registration is now closed.
Democracy and the Rise of Authoritarianism
Wednesday, April 26, 2023
(All times are Central European Standard Time)
6:00 p.m. Doors open for registration
6:30 p.m. Conversation with Fiona Hill and Jill Kastner
7:45 p.m. Reception
Location
Meistersaal
Köthener Str. 38
10963 Berlin
Germany
Event Cost
GSAS alumni, Harvard Club of Berlin Members, and Harvard Recent Graduates ('17–'22): $25
Harvard alumni and members of the Harvard community, and guests: $35
Speaker Biographies
Fiona Hill
Fiona Hill, AM ’91 PhD ’98, is a senior fellow in the Center on the United States and Europe in the Foreign Policy program at Brookings and is a Richard von Weizsacker Fellow at the Robert Bosch Academy in Berlin. In November 2022, Hill was appointed chancellor of Durham University, UK, a high-profile ceremonial and ambassadorial role. She recently served as deputy assistant to the president and senior director for European and Russian affairs on the National Security Council from 2017 to 2019. From 2006 to 2009, she served as national intelligence officer for Russia and Eurasia at The National Intelligence Council. She is author of There Is Nothing for You Here: Finding Opportunity in the 21st Century and co-author of Mr. Putin: Operative in the Kremlin (Brookings Institution Press, 2015).
Prior to joining Brookings, Hill was director of strategic planning at the Eurasia Foundation in Washington, D.C. From 1991 to 1999, she held a number of positions directing technical assistance and research projects at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, including associate director of the Strengthening Democratic Institutions Project, director of the Project on Ethnic Conflict in the former Soviet Union, and coordinator of the Trilateral Study on Japanese–Russian–US Relations.
Hill has researched and published extensively on issues related to Russia, the Caucasus, Central Asia, regional conflicts, energy, and strategic issues. Her book with Brookings Senior Fellow Clifford Gaddy, The Siberian Curse: How Communist Planners Left Russia Out in the Cold, was published by Brookings Institution Press in December 2003, and her monograph, Energy Empire: Oil, Gas and Russia’s Revival, was published by the London Foreign Policy Centre in 2004. The first edition of Mr. Putin: Operative in the Kremlin was published by Brookings Institution Press in December 2013, also with Clifford Gaddy.
Hill holds a master’s in Soviet studies and a doctorate in history from Harvard University where she was a Frank Knox Fellow. She also holds a master’s in Russian and modern history from St. Andrews University in Scotland, and has pursued studies at Moscow’s Maurice Thorez Institute of Foreign Languages. Hill is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Jill Kastner
Jill Kastner, AM ’92, PhD ’99, is a Visiting Fellow in the Department of War Studies at King’s College, London. She has written about Cold War crises in Berlin and the Middle East and contributed to The Nation and Foreign Affairs. She holds a master’s in Soviet studies and a PhD in history from Harvard, where she was a Krupp Foundation Fellow. While pursuing her PhD, she studied at the Institut für Osteuropäische Geschichte in Mainz and lived in both Mainz and Frankfurt. Prior to her academic life, she worked as a TV news producer in Washington.
She is the executive editor of Hope and History: A Memoir of Tumultuous Times, by Ambassador William vanden Heuvel (2019), and is currently working on a new book, A Measure Short of War: The Return of Great Power Subversion, with William C. Wohlforth, due out in 2024.