Global Dialogues

Major Events Planned in Rome and Barcelona in 2025

April 2024 marked the launch of the Georgetown Global Dialogues (GGD), a multi-year effort to build an inclusive international conversation about ways forward in a divided world. A week-long series of events on Georgetown University’s Washington, DC, Hilltop Campus brought leading writers and thinkers from the Global South into dialogue with U.S.-based partners around topics ranging from the impact of the U.S. presidential election to reviving cosmopolitanism and averting a new cold war. C-SPAN covered the opening and closing sessions of the launch, which featured six GGD fellows—leading intellectuals who hail from Sudan, India, Pakistan, Argentina, Turkey, and Japan—who also participated in GGD webinars and exchanges on the GGD Forum. Georgetown students were a key part of the GGD events—through public speaking roles, online dialogues, and event support. 

GGD will continue in Rome (June 2025), Barcelona (November 2025), and Doha (April 2026) before concluding in Washington, DC (September 2026). At a time of deep pessimism about the state of the world, the initiative seeks creative ways forward—through a recommitment to the ideal of human equality, the promotion of encounter across difference, dedication to learning from the Global South, and elevating youth perspectives.

The resurgence of nationalism and the growth of inequality within and across countries are feeding resentment, populism, and authoritarianism around the world. GGD seeks to advance a global vision of human equality that draws on the resources of diverse cultural and spiritual traditions. During the DC launch, this theme was addressed in sessions including social inequality as a complex global challenge and the global future of feminism.

In an era of deep polarization, within and across countries, we need to find new ways to bridge national, political, ideological, religious, and other divides. GGD aims to promote a “culture of encounter” (Pope Francis)—sustained global dialogue that acknowledges deep differences while maintaining a focus on the global common good. During the launch, encounter across difference was explored in sessions including revitalizing democracy and fostering global solidarities. 

Dialogue around global challenges from inequality and climate change to war and peace are too often dominated by thinkers from the United States and Western Europe. GGD seeks to learn from the Global South—generating a conversation informed by the more diverse historical experiences and traditions of the global majority. In DC, this theme was explored in sessions including countering intellectual inequality and degrowth as a response to the climate crisis. 

The younger generation is inheriting a broken world not of its own making—from war to rising inequality and a worsening climate crisis. GGD aims to elevate youth perspectives on global challenges, bringing university students around the world into dialogue with established thinkers and with one another. During the DC launch, youth perspectives figured prominently in a session on reviving cosmopolitanism and a workshop on ecological belonging.

Over the course of 2025, GGD will continue to advance these goals through webinars, the GGD Forum, and events in Rome and Barcelona. To stay connected with GGD and accompany the path forward, be sure to sign up for our mailing list.

Thomas Banchoff is vice president for global engagement at Georgetown University, where he also serves as director of the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs and professor in the Department of Government and Walsh School of Foreign Service.

Pankaj Mishra is a renowned Indian author, essayist, and literary critic with a global readership.