Upcoming Socrates Seminars

2012 Socrates Winter Seminars
February 17-20, 2012
Aspen, CO
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Social Media and Society
The surge of social media and digital platforms has changed the way members of our society communicate. Through blogs and social networks, businesses can disseminate information to consumers quickly and cost efficiently, members of government and civil society can mobilize their constituents; and anyone with access to the internet has the ability to develop their personal brands. Have these websites improved our lives or do they create too much internet ‘noise’? Are these websites protected by the freedom of speech and to what extent do they interfere with privacy? Who owns the content on shared social media and should these websites be regulated? Do governments have the right to shut down social media websites if there is a perceived risk? This seminar will examine these and other critical questions about the costs and benefits of the creation of social media.
Moderator: Stephen Balkam, founder and CEO, Family Online Safety Institute

The Future of Energy
What are the most cost-effective clean energy solutions available today and what are the major barriers to their adoption? Are there viable renewable energy options and at what costs? What are the implications of the recent Fukushima nuclear crisis to security and the future of nuclear energy? This seminar will examine the energy options, current US energy policy and the challenges keeping of the climate change issue on the political agenda amid the current financial crisis facing the US and Europe. 
Moderator: Mark Brownstein, chief counsel, Energy Program, Environmental Defense Fund

New Leadership in the Middle East and North Africa
The Arab Spring saw the removal of dictators in Tunisia and Egypt and revolutions in Libya, Syria, Yemen and Bahrain, and elections will take place this fall. What’s next for the region and the world? What are the challenges and opportunities facing the new leadership? How will the new leaders overcome the problems that faced their predecessors and what can they achieve for their countries and the region? Can the international community help ensure the establishment of stable, representative governments?     In this seminar participants will take a close look at the new leaders in the region and their impact on alliances in the region, U.S. foreign policy, and the global balance of power.
Moderator: Mona Eltahawy, columnist and international public speaker on Arab and Muslim Issues; contributor, The Washington Post and International Herald Tribune

Socrates International
Madrid, Spain
April 19-22, 2012

Capitalism at a Crossroads
Do the recent economic catastrophe and interventionist government response in the US suggest that free markets don't work? Does State capitalism work? This seminar will explore the strengths and weaknesses of public and private forces in the economy.
Moderator: Clive Crook, senior editor, The Atlantic; columnist and editor, Bloomberg

From Facebook to Body Scanners: The Future of Privacy and Technology in the Age of Google
Changes in technology are posing stark challenges to our conceptions of privacy and freedom in democracies around the world. As anyone who has struggled with an embarrassing Facebook photo understands, it's increasingly difficult to escape your past or to reinvent yourself in an age when the Internet records everything and forgets nothing. In this seminar we will discuss technologies that are transforming our conceptions of privacy and liberty ranging from gossip on Facebook to human cloning and genetic selection to body scanning and datamining at airports to Google and Twitter. And we will identify the range of legal, technological, and cultural options that citizens have as we struggle to respond to technological shifts, offering an analytical blueprint for translating values such as privacy and liberty into the twenty-first century.
Moderator: Jeffrey Rosen, Professor of Law, the George Washington University School of Law, and legal affairs editor, The New Republic.

2012 Socrates Summer Seminars
July 5-8, 2012
Aspen, CO
Topics and moderators TBA

For more information about Socrates, please contact:

Melissa Ingber
Director, Socrates Program