Past Council Events
Wars of Afghanistan
Peter Tomsen makes the case that policy makers still do not understand Afghanistan and further that because of misinformed secret operations by foreign intelligence agencies, the international community has in fact strengthened extremism in the country over the last few decades. Read More ››
FILM: An African Election (2011)
Granting viewers an inside perspective on the political, social, and economic forces at play during Ghana’s 2008 presidential elections, the film captures the intrigue and the ethical dilemmas of electioneering, the intensity of the vote-counting process. Read More ››
World Affairs Councils of America 2011 National Conference
Join your fellow Council members at the nation’s leading foreign policy conference. Convening at the historic Mayflower Hotel, we will hear from leading thinkers and discuss the top challenges facing our nation, enjoy receptions at foreign embassies, and meet interesting people from Councils across the country. Read More ››
International Trick or Trivia
Test your global smarts against a frighteningly savvy field. Read More ››
United Nations Day
Please join the United Nations Association Portland Chapter and the World Affairs Council for this UN Day program celebrating the 65th anniversary of the UN and the vital work they’re engaged in across the globe. Read More ››
A New Voice for Israel
Jeremy Ben-Ami, J Street founder and former policy advisory to President Clinton, makes a compelling argument for why Israel needs to have an alternative Jewish voice in Washington that might reform American policy and bring about a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine stalemate. Read More ››
I Little Slave: A Prison Memoir from Communist Laos
Raised in the hierarchical society of traditional Laos, Bounsang Khamkeo earned a doctorate in political science in France, only to return home in 1973 to a country in deep political chaos and turmoil in the wake of the Vietnam War where he was imprisoned by the communist Pathet Lao government—accused of being an “enemy of the Socialist state.” Read More ››
Taking Liberties: The War on Terror and the Erosion of Democracy
Herman, the national president of the American Civil Liberties Union, takes a hard look at the human and social costs of the War on Terror and how civil liberties have rapidly eroded in post-9/11 America. Read More ››