Wednesday 3 September 2025, 15:00pm BST
In the current geopolitical environment, it has become challenging to think about how global democracy can be effectively supported as the United States and other major democracies step back from vital diplomatic and aid commitments.
Is reinvention possible?
In this webinar, hosted by the Thinking and Working Politically Community of Practice in collaboration with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, CEIP’s Rachel Kleinfeld and Richard Youngs explored whether and how necessity may be turned into an opportunity drawing on their recent paper : “What Future for International Democracy Support?”, co-authored with Tom Carothers. Stefan Kossoff from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office joined the panel as a discussant.
Speakers:
Rachel Kleinfeld
Dr Rachel Kleinfeld is a Senior Fellow in Carnegie’s Democracy, Conflict, and Governance Program. Her work on troubled democracies facing problems such as polarized populations, violence, corruption, and poor governance bridges the United States and international cases. Rachel’s focus on the intersection of democracy and security has led her to regularly brief the governments of the United States and allied democracies on issues of conflict, the rule of law, and policing and security sector reform.
Richard Youngs
Dr Richard Youngs is a Senior Fellow in the Democracy, Conflict, and Governance Program, based at Carnegie Europe. He is also a professor of international relations at the University of Warwick and previously held positions in the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office and as director of the FRIDE think-tank in Madrid.
Discussants:
Stefan Kossoff
Stefan Kossoff is Head of Democratic Governance at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO). Before taking on this role in June 2025, Stefan was Development Director at British Embassy in Kyiv, where he led the UK’s humanitarian and recovery effort in Ukraine. Prior to that, he was Development Director in the Caribbean and UK Director of the Caribbean Development Bank. Stefan also served as Head of Profession for Governance at the then Department for International Development (DFID) for four years. He is a specialist in governance issues and a champion for work around thinking and working politically in programme and policy work.
Chair :
Alina Rocha Menocal
Alina Rocha Menocal is the Director of the Thinking and Working Politically Community of Practice (TWP CoP), hosted at the University of Birmingham, and Principal at The Policy Practice. Over the course of her career, Alina has worked to bridge the gap between research and policy in thinking about governance and the politics of change, as well as to inform more effective engagement and ways of working among international actors.