What unites America and Europe in the global age, what divides, and what change can we expect under an Obama administration? The urgent need to confront climate change and surging world demand for energy is reordering priorities on both sides of the Atlantic, but other common challenges – if not always shared approaches – persist in the Middle East, the Balkans, and in dealing with the speed and scale of India’s and China’s rise. Observing a decline in America’s influence, Joschka Fischer explores the global economy and tomorrow’s politics, which will increasingly be defined by emerging powers and changes in European-American approaches to international affairs. These dynamics demand greater transatlantic cooperation on security, environmental, immigration, and energy policies, pointing to fresh opportunities for both America and Europe to emerge stronger in the global age.

Joschka Fischer was German foreign minister and vice chancellor from 1998 to 2005. He was the second-longest serving foreign minister in German postwar history. During his tenure, Fischer supported the first German active military mission since the Second World War, with Germany’s involvement in Kosovo, and supported German troops joining the NATO mission in Afghanistan. He was one of the most influential leaders of the German Green Party and became the first-ever Green Party minister in the federal state of Hesse, where he held the portfolios of the environment and energy. Fischer was a guest professor at Princeton University from 2006-2007, and he currently serves on the board of directors of the International Crisis Group and the European Council on Foreign Relations.

Recorded Wednesday, December 10, 2008 at InterContinental Hotel.