On April 6 through April 8, the German Marshall Fund of the United States hosted its fourth Marshall Seminar in Bucharest, Romania. The 2-day event gathered more than 50 GMF alumni and grantees to explore trends impacting democracy today and advance strategies to strengthen democracy in the future. The program consisted of plenary sessions, workshops, and facilitated reflection. It leveraged more then 30 contributors to examine populism, new media, cyber activism, social entrepreneurship, political finance, democracy assistance, and the impact of both inequality and terrorism on democracy.

The Marshall Seminar addressed these themes by bringing together diverse perspectives from Western, Central, and Eastern Europe, as well as North Africa, and the United States. Participants and contributors included Sewell Chan, International News Editor of the New York Times (MMF ’10)  Nicoleta Chirita, Programs Coordinator, Resource Center for Public Participation and a Black Sea Trust grantee from Romania; Slobodan Djinovic, Founder, CANVAS and a Balkan Trust for Democracy grantee from Serbia; John Eaves, Ph. D., Chairman, Fulton County, Georgia (MMF ‘01); Mounir Mahjoubi, Deputy Managing Director, BETC Digital in France (MMF ‘14); Zsuzsanna Szelényi, Member of Parliament in Hungary (MMF ‘93); Gabriele Gün Tank, Commissioner for Integration, City of Berlin (TILN ‘14); and Oana Toiu, Partner, Business Models Inc. in Romania (MMF ‘14). For more information, see the Marshall Seminar Program Book.

About the Marshall Seminars

For almost three years now, Marshall Seminars have been mobilizing GMF's smart power network around critical transatlantic issues. The first seminar in Washington, DC, examined U.S. foreign policy through the lens of diversity and inclusion. The second seminar in Berlin looked at strategies for innovation and economic inclusion. The third seminar in Brussels examined new and emerging threats to global security. Our next Marshall Seminar will take place in Detroit and will explore strategies for leading an economic recovery through successful global engagement.

Marshall Seminars are 2-3 day knowledge, network, and platform building opportunities for leaders engaged with specific transatlantic issues. They take place in cities that best showcase the dynamics of a selected issue, and they leverage thought leaders from the entire GMF network to explore solutions to that issue. Since 2013, Marshall Seminars have brought together past beneficiaries of all GMF leadership development programs – Marshall Memorial Fellowship, Manfred Wőrner Seminar, Transatlantic Inclusion Leaders Network, APSA Congressional Fellowship, and Asmus Policy Entrepreneurs Fellowship – to lay the groundwork for the future of the transatlantic relationship.

The Marshall Seminar on Democracy and its Future was designed and implemented by GMF’s Transatlantic Leadership Initiatives team and the Black Sea Trust for Regional Cooperation. It was made possible through the generous support of the Compagnia di San Paolo, the Kresge Foundation, and the Black Sea Trust itself.