Keynote Speaker

"Ideals as Interests:
Reflections on the Challenges of Democracy Promotion"

Mr. Eric P. Schwartz Currently a Public Policy Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, DC, Eric Schwartz served at the National Security Council at the White House between 1993 and 2001. From June 1998 until January 2001, Mr. Schwartz was Special Assistant to the President (and NSC Senior Director) for Multilateral and Humanitarian Affairs. Between January 1993 and June 1998, Mr. Schwartz held a range of related positions at the NSC. Mr. Schwartz also served at the NSC in the early part of the Administration of George W. Bush, assisting the new National Security Advisor in the context of the Presidential transition.

During his tenure at the White House, Mr. Schwartz was responsible for development and implementation of policies relating to democratization, human rights and the rule of law; the United Nations, peacekeeping, and U.S. responses to humanitarian crises; as well as refugee affairs and international migration. He chaired Administration working groups on Human Rights Treaty Implementation, Peacekeeping, and Contingency Planning, each of which was established pursuant to Presidential directives. He played major roles in the Administration's responses to a wide range of peacekeeping and humanitarian contingencies, including those relating to East Timor, Kosovo, Central Africa, Haiti, Northern Iraq, Indochina, Central America, Mozambique and India.

From 1989 to 1993, before joining the NSC staff, Mr. Schwartz served as Staff Consultant to the U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Asian and Pacific Affairs (chaired by Rep. Stephen J. Solarz). Prior to that, he served as Washington Director of the human rights organization Asia Watch, now Human Rights Watch-Asia.

Eric Schwartz holds a law degree from New York University School of Law; a Master of Public Affairs degree (with a specialization in International Relations) from the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University; and a Bachelor of Arts degree, with honors, in Political Science from the State University of New York at Binghamton (where he became a member of Phi Beta Kappa).

He is married to Catherine M. Graham of New South Wales, Australia, and has two daughters, Sarah, age 7, and Anna, age 4. He and his family live in Silver Spring, Maryland.

Mr. Schwartz will speak at the Conference's Welcome Dinner on Thursday evening, June 7, 2001 in the Chenango Room, Binghamton University.

Panelists

Panel Schedule

Keynote