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Alumni Profile: Cornelia Schneider |
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DAAD grant(s): One-year Scholarship (for study in the US, 2005)
Current occupation: LL.B., PGDL, solicitor of the Supreme Court of England and Wales (non-practising), currently candidate for a Master in Law and Diplomacy with a focus on Humanitarian Law, Post-Conflict Legal Regulation, and Southwest Asia studies at The Fletcher School, expected May 2006
Current city of residence: Medford, MA
Contact: Cornelia.Schneider@tufts.edu
In May 2005, Cornelia Schneider (then 27) was appointed Editor-in-Chief of The Fletcher Forum of World Affairs, The Fletcher School’s biannual official foreign policy journal. As one of only a handful of non-native English speakers that have been at the helm of The Forum over the years, she has spent the past year in the footsteps of such illustrious predecessors as Shashi Tharoor, today’s UN Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information.
Heading some 20 student editors, Connie compiled The Forum’s 30th anniversary edition that sought to reflect on how international relations had changed over the past three decades. Her research led her to focus in on several issues that seemed to have been of importance to readers in 1976, and to seek to mirror them in The Forum thirty years later. Concerns about the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia in1976 found an echo in reflections on the situation in Darfur in 2006. Justifications advanced for the state use of armed force in light of the Entebbe hijackings cast their shadows on the future development of a doctrine of preemptive use of force in the wake of terrorist attacks. Efforts to maintain détente in the 1970s did little to strengthen the nonproliferation regime of the 21st century, and Hurricane Katrina and the Kashmir earthquake brought up memories of the devastating 1976 Tangshan earthquake that killed almost 250,000 people. It is surprising how, despite obvious developments, “the character of international affairs and the mission of The Forum have remained in many ways unchanged,” Connie observed.
Edition 30.1 also featured high-profile interviews with Hans Blix, the Japanese UN Ambassador, the former UN Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, and the UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General in Sudan. Personally interviewing Dr. Blix and Jan Pronk, the Head of the UN in Sudan, over the telephone from Khartoum proved a welcome challenge to the young editor. “Being in the presence of people who have literally written global history can be humbling and, quite honestly, a little nerve-wracking. But both Dr. Blix and Mr. Pronk were very supportive.” She recalls that where Hans Blix showed a dry sense of humor and provided an inspiring insight into his diplomatic legacy, Jan Pronk was very focused, extremely professional, and intent on getting a message across regarding the work he is currently doing in the Sudan.
The Fletcher Forum seeks to appeal to a broad regional readership and this year also published an article by a German former Carlo-Schmid-Scholar, Matthias Goldmann. By introducing a new “Perspectives” series, Connie expanded The Forum’s portfolio by short opinion pieces that tackle global ‘hot’ issues. “We sought to find ways of being more proactive in the selection of our articles,” she says. “If the team starts planning for the December edition in May, how do you make sure that articles are still of interest—and relevance—seven months later?” She reserved space for articles that would come in at short notice and could be turned around much faster than the average Forum piece, which usually requires several weeks of editing and three separate teams of editors. In the Winter 2005-2006 edition, this strategy allowed for the inclusion of three pieces on “learning from disasters,” looking at the recent examples of Hurricane Katrina and the Kashmir earthquake. The Perspectives pieces fit well with The Forum’s aim to be an open venue for dialog, mixing original academic research with analysis of current concerns in international diplomacy, politics, economics, humanitarian affairs, law, and security. In its 30th Anniversary Year, The Fletcher Forum is on an ambitious publishing schedule, with two special conference editions (on Preemption and Nonproliferation) appearing in addition to the Winter and Summer editions.
Connie, who spent her first year at The Fletcher School working as a staff editor for The Forum, sees the largest challenge of her position in effectively managing a large team of peers. In addition to overseeing the time-intensive editing process, as well as seeking to guarantee a high-quality, broad, and “preemptive” collection of articles, Connie saw the need to introduce a number of changes to the staff structure and the way the journal was run. “Asserting authority towards fellow students is not the easiest task, and being on the giving and receiving end of criticism and scrutiny has put me on a steep learning-curve." Yet the rewards are immeasurable. Today, she says, she feels more confident in taking important decisions quickly and shies away less from confronting uncomfortable tasks.
The Fletcher Forum has set itself the goal to foster diversity and to be a true “forum,” i.e. a public marketplace in which discussions of the most pressing current topics are carried out. Over the years, this goal has been served by contributions of such diverse authors or interviewees as Kofi Annan, John Bolton, Hans-Dietrich Genscher, Paul Wolfowitz, or Ahmed Chalabi.
The Fletcher Forum of World Affairs appears twice a year and can be subscribed to at www.fletcherforum.com. Its Summer edition 30.2 will be published in May 2006. The editors welcome submissions by international authors, as well as letters to the editor and general feedback.
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