As I write this, I reflect on a spring that should have been a season of hope for a world slowly emerging from the grip of a devastating pandemic. And yet Russia鈥檚 unprovoked invasion of Ukraine has ushered in a new era of uncertainty and instability for the global order. While the suffering of the people of Ukraine should be foremost in our minds, the conflict also raises important questions about the future of the international system. What does the conflict mean for the future of nuclear arms control? What role does corruption play in the erosion of constraints against aggression? And what will the conflict mean for democratic institutions, both abroad and here at home?
In this issue of the Bulletin, you will find the Academy engaging with all of these key questions. The Academy鈥檚 project on 鈥淧romoting Dialogue on Arms Control and Disarmament鈥 has convened discussions among scholars and practitioners from the United States, Europe, China, and Russia to explore key challenges to arms control, build international relationships, engage with policy-makers, and help shape the Academy鈥檚 future research agenda. In May, the Academy convened an exploratory meeting on 鈥淐hecking Kleptocracy: Considering the Potential Establishment of an International Anti-Corruption Court.鈥 Experts from around the world gathered at the House of the Academy to discuss a potential mechanism that would hold corrupt leaders accountable and thereby prevent the human rights abuses and international conflicts that are often the product of grand corruption.
The conflict in Ukraine has not only heightened concerns about threats to democracy abroad but has also made us even more sensitive to the threats we face here at home. In April, the Academy convened a group of experts, including Danielle Allen, E.J. Dionne Jr., Mar铆a Teresa Kumar, and John Shattuck, to discuss the state of our fractured democracy and how Americans could come back together with a greater sense of common purpose. At the Academy鈥檚 first 鈥淗igher Education Forum at Aspen鈥 in June, college and university leaders convened to discuss the role of higher education at a time of global crisis and how colleges and universities can support equity, free expression, social mobility, and democratic citizenship. And our Summer 2022 issue of 顿忙诲补濒耻蝉 on 鈥淭he Humanities in American Life: Transforming the Relationship with the Public鈥 explores the role of the humanities in a twenty-first-century American democracy.
One of the highlights of the Academy鈥檚 spring was the presentation of the Don M. Randel Award for Humanistic Studies to Henry Louis 鈥淪kip鈥 Gates, Jr. In conversation with David Rubenstein, Skip concluded his remarks by noting that 鈥. . . we are all immigrants, even my African American ancestors. We are a nation of immigrants, but at the level of the genome we are 99.99 percent the same.鈥 It is a thought well worth remembering at this time of division at home and conflict abroad. I hope you will read the pages that follow with interest and share your thoughts about how the Academy can work to bridge divides and build a more hopeful global future.
David W. Oxtoby