Samantha Power

SP on RadioWest with Doug Fabrizio

2009-01-29T09:46:00.000-08:00

Samantha talks to Doug Fabrizio on KUER following the world premiere of "Sergio," an HBO documentary directed by Greg Barker and based on Power's book "Chasing the Flame," at the Sundance Film Festival.

Esquire's "75 Most Influential People of the 21st Century"

2008-10-04T19:33:00.000-07:00

Cited as one of the "75 Most Influential People of the 21st Century", Power gets the nod for her contributions to the foreign policy debate and her work getting mass atrocities and the human face of foreign policy choices embedded into the public consciousness. Power takes her place on the list among innovators and intellectuals from Senator Obama to Bill and Melinda Gates.

Accompanying this feature in Esquire is the artistic interpretation of the work of the honorees by mixed-media artist Lincoln Schatz. Samantha's profile with John Prendergast (of the ENOUGH Project) can be found here.

SP Review of "Freedom's Battle"

2008-10-04T19:00:00.000-07:00

Power's review of Gary Bass's Freedom battle appears on Slate this week. Assessing double-edged sword of "humanitarian intervention", Power outlines the hypocrisy of states who commit human rights abuses, and then turn a critical eye to countries who have committed similar - or even lesser - sins, calling for intervention. She concludes that Bass's work is a comprehensive historical look at the positive and negative applications of humanitarian intervention, and muses on the path that must be forged between "blinding zeal and paralyzing perfectionism" for future applications of intervention.

SP in The New York Times

2008-08-19T06:50:00.000-07:00

Commemorating the 5th anniversary of the bombing of the Canal Hotel - known as the "UN's 9/11" - Power turns a critical eye on the current state of security for humanitarian and civilian aid workers. With the recent killings of IRC workers in Afghanistan, aid workers are continually finding themselves targets of violent militant groups that equate them with government and armed forces.

Power writes, "We cannot return to a pre-8/19 world any more than we can return to a pre-9/11 one. Neither the blue flag nor the red cross is enough to protect humanitarians in an age of terror. But five years after August 19 we owe it to those who died — and to those whom humanitarians have saved — to do far more to protect the protectors."

Time Column 08.25.08

2008-08-18T07:54:00.000-07:00

In "A Question of Honor", the role of dignity in foreign affairs is mused, while taking a critical look at the reign of Vladimir Putin. Power charts the perceived diplomatic slights of Putin's term, the consequences of those perceptions, and the danger of using aggression to restore honor.

Time Column 7.22.08

2008-07-25T08:39:00.000-07:00

In "Karadzic a Big Win for Hague Cops", Samantha's latest Time Magazine column, SP examines the importance of international courts of justice and discusses some important lessons skeptics can learn from Serbia, Chile and Liberia. Reflecting upon her own experience in Bosnia during the Balkan Crisis, Power ruminates on what the arrest of Karadzic means for the future of accountability for war crimes.

The Democrats and National Security

2008-07-22T09:01:00.000-07:00

In her upcoming piece for the New York Review of Books, Samantha evaluates the long-held view that the Republicans are the 'national security party.' In 'The Democrats and National Security,' SP explains how this view developed and how it has been diminished under George W. Bush. She also addresses the main themes that Barack Obama should focus on for highlighting the weaknesses of this view and how the Democrats can show they will prove more reliable in keeping America safe.

Read the full story here.

Social Change: An Opportunity

2008-07-15T07:02:00.000-07:00

We are in the midst of launching a nationwide campaign on the subject of foreign policy in the United States and we would like your feedback on what campaign name and structure would be the most effective in communicating our platform for change.

Take the Survey Here

To have your input included in the development of the campaign, please complete the survey below by Wed., July 23rd.

Time Column 7.3.08

2008-07-09T07:33:00.000-07:00

In her latest Time Magazine column, "Saving Zimbabwe," Samantha discusses the problems of forcible regime change what should be done, instead, about the crisis in Zimbabwe. Read it here.

Time Column 6.12.2008

2008-06-19T16:03:00.000-07:00

Samantha examines the principle of engaging in dialogue with our enemies and its history in "Talking with Evil," her latest Time Magazine column.

SP receives honorary doctorate at UCC

2008-06-10T09:14:00.000-07:00

Samantha was honored on June 6th at the University College Cork a honorary doctorate of laws was conferred on her. Get the full address here.

SP's Time Magazine Column to be syndicated internationally

2008-06-03T09:04:00.000-07:00

On June 2, Tribune Media Services announced that SP's column in Time Magazine will receive international syndication.

SP in Canada's National Post

2008-06-03T08:46:00.000-07:00

In "Rekindling Canada's internationalist spirit", Canada's National Post quotes SP at the Munks Debate in Toronto and offers support for the mission of the UN. It expresses hope that Canada will look to leaders like SP and will return to being a power in international peacekeeping and reconciliation and re-embrace its internationalist ideals.

SP and "Chasing the Flame" in UK's "The Time"

2008-06-03T08:24:00.000-07:00

UK's The Times' Literary Supplement offers a critique of Chasing the Flame, calling it "complex and "compelling." It also offers some words on the career of Sergio Vieira de Mello and discusses the the book's possible impact on future US foreign policy decisions.

SP in Ireland's The Independent 5.25.08

2008-05-28T12:08:00.000-07:00

John Crown from Ireland's The Independent offers thoughts on the importance of Samantha's emigration from Ireland to the United States. He discusses its implications for her career, successes and difficulties.

Commencement Speech at Pitzer College: 05.17.08

2008-05-27T19:55:00.000-07:00

You can view the full video of Samantha's commencement speech here.

Time Column 6.2.2008

2008-05-27T08:21:00.000-07:00

In "Technology's Power to Narrow Our View", the latest Time Magazine column, Power raises the question of whether technology will make it more or less likely for young people today to commit to doing something for others.

George Mitchell: Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential

2008-05-05T08:18:00.000-07:00

For the Time list of the "100 Most Influential People", SP writes about George Mitchell. From brokering peace in Northern Ireland to his quest to maintain the integrity of America's favorite pastime, Mitchell is the ultimate negotiator with a distinctly American story.

*Photo Courtesy of Erin Patrice O'Brien for Time

Conversations with Eamon Dunphy: 05.03.08

2008-05-04T12:29:00.000-07:00

Samantha sat down with Irish radio and TV personality Eamon Dunphy for an interview discussing her work with the Obama campaign, her hopes for the next President, and her Irish roots. Listen to the full interview here.

Time Column: 4.17.2008

2008-04-20T07:31:00.000-07:00

In "Keeping Canada in Afghanistan", a column for Time Magazine Power argues that Canada’s military role in Afghanistan is one of the most revealing political and international-security debates since the end of the Cold War, a debate that is critical to the future of NATO and the U.S.’s struggle against terrorism.

SP on the UNHCR Website

2008-04-19T10:27:00.000-07:00

Samantha sat down with the UN's Refugee Agency, UNHCR, for a Q&A on Sergio's life and work, the motivation behind the writing of his life story, and of the future of the United Nations.

The full text can be accessed here.

SP on the Colbert Report

2008-03-18T05:24:00.001-07:00

Conversations with History @ UC Berkeley

2008-03-10T05:25:00.000-07:00

SP on Slate.com

2008-02-26T10:23:00.000-08:00

More positive feedback on Chasing the Flame is available in this article from Slate.

SP in Sunday Times of London

2008-02-25T09:36:00.000-08:00

A profile of SP is featured in the February 24th edition of the Sunday Times of London. Discussed is her work with Presidential candidate Barack Obama, her latest book Chasing the Flame, and foreign policy.

SP on Charlie Rose: 02.21.08

2008-02-25T06:42:00.000-08:00

SP on "Democracy Now!"

2008-02-22T10:54:00.000-08:00

Samantha discusses Sergio's life and career on Democracy Now!

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SP on The Leonard Lopate Show

2008-02-22T10:17:00.000-08:00

SP talks Obama, Sergio, and the future of American foreign policy on WNYC's Leonard Lopate Show.

Chasing the Flame Reviewed by "The Economist"

2008-02-21T11:20:00.000-08:00

In "A brave man's journey", The Economist calls Chasing the Flame "a thoughtful account of the conflicts and disasters" that shaped Sergio's life and approach to peacekeeping. "In the blurry world between humanitarian aid and international law he was as good as it gets, wielding a mixture of ambiguity and decisiveness with the personal and institutional authority to make it all, sometimes, work."

SP Featured on Salon.com

2008-02-17T19:24:00.000-08:00

In a recent conversation with Salon.com, Power sits down with Leigh Flayton to discuss Sergio, Obama, how we got to where we are, and where we are going as a nation.

The full article is located here.

NYTimes: "The Internationalist"

2008-02-17T10:00:00.000-08:00

Check out political economist Francis Fukuyama's review of Chasing the Flame for this Sunday's New York Times Book Review. Fukuyama calls Sergio's life and death "a good place to begin a serious debate about the proper way to manage world order in the future."

SP Featured in HKS's "The Citizen"

2008-02-13T07:15:00.000-08:00

Nik Steinberg, Editor-in-Chief of Harvard Kennedy School's The Citizen, profiled SP's role in the Obama campaign in their February 12th edition.

Chasing the Flame Available: 02.14.08

2008-02-11T07:19:00.000-08:00

Samantha Power's Latest Chasing the Flame: Sergio Vieira de Mello and the Fight to Save the World will be released to bookstores on Thursday, February 14th!

Click here to pre-order from Barnes & Noble.

Barnes & Noble Review of "Chasing the Flame"

2008-02-11T07:10:00.000-08:00

Barnes and Noble has posted a complete review of Chasing the Flame. Reviewer Scott McLemee calls the book "...a detailed portrait of a man whose career was a hellish itinerary of missions served in Lebanon, Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia, East Timor, Kosovo, and finally Iraq. He did not simply work for the United Nations; he was a UN man down to his cells."

Click here for the full review.

Chasing the Flame: From the Publisher

2008-02-11T07:00:00.000-08:00

Description of Chasing the Flame from the Publisher:

From Pulitzer Prize winner Samantha Power, an epic tale-part thriller, part tragedy-for our age, the political career and tragic death of the incomparable humanitarian Sergio Vieira de Mello

If there is a single individual who can be said to have been at center stage through all of the most significant humanitarian and geopolitical crises of the late twentieth and early twenty-first century, it was Sergio Vieira de Mello. Vieira de Mello was born in 1948 just as the post-World War II order was taking shape. He died in a terrorist attack on UN Headquarters in Iraq in 2003 as the battle lines in the twenty-first-century's first great power struggle were being drawn. In nearly four decades of work for the United Nations, Sergio distinguished himself as the consummate humanitarian, able to negotiate with-and often charm-cold war military dictators, Marxist jungle radicals, reckless warlords, and nationalist and sectarian militia leaders. By taking the measure of this remarkable man's life and career, Power offers a fascinating answer to the question: Who possesses the moral authority, the political sense, and the military and economic heft to protect human life and bring peace to the unruly new world order?

Chasing the Flame brings us deep into the thorniest, least well-understood episodes of recent world history-the conflagration in the Middle East, through Vieira de Mello's troubleshooting in Lebanon in the aftermath of Israel's 1982invasion; the clean-up of the cold war's residue, through Vieira de Mello's taming of the Khmer Rouge and his repatriation of four-hundred-thousand Cambodian refugees in the early nineties; the explosion of sectarian and ethnic militancy, through his efforts to negotiate an end to the slaughter in Bosnia; the struggle to nation-build in war-torn societies, through his quasi-colonial governorships of Kosovo and East Timor; and the engulfing of Iraq in civil war and terror, through his tragic final posting as the UN representative in Baghdad, where he became the victim of the country's first-ever suicide bomb.

Readers of Chasing the Flame will recognize the particular mixture of deep reporting and incisive analysis that Power uses to imbue Sergio's life with significance, and lessons, for our own. In this exquisitely reasoned and imagined book, Samantha Power reveals Sergio Vieira de Mello's powerful legacy of humanity and ideological strength in an age sorely in need of both.

San Francisco Chronicle Reviews CtF

2008-02-10T12:37:00.000-08:00

The San Francisco Chronicle writes, "Chasing the Flame is an impressively researched book. Power's notes include references to more than 400 interviews, and she cites everything from interoffice e-mails to Vieira de Mello's high school term papers. Casting a wide net provides Power with memorable details that capture Vieira de Mello's charisma and complexity: a bottle of Johnny Walker hidden in his desk, a plastic bag full of foreign coins for pay phones."

Read the full review here.

"Chasing the Flame Review" in the Washington Post

2008-02-10T09:39:00.000-08:00

More praise for Chasing the Flame, this time from the Washington Post. "The strength of the book lies in Power's use of Vieira de Mello's life (and death) as a well-placed window on the international community's successes and failures. There have been several other good books about the United Nations, but they are told from the perspective of New York. Power looks at the U.N. from the field."

For the complete review, click here.

SP at "Women for Obama" NY Rally

2008-02-03T12:34:00.000-08:00

Time Column: 1.29.2008

2008-01-30T07:59:00.000-08:00

In the column “Ghosts of Kosovo” of Time Magazine, Power highlights the importance of Kosovo’s Independence to the future of the United States by drawing attention to the fact that Kosovo underscores three alarming features of the current international system.

Time Column 01.17.08

2008-01-25T10:10:00.000-08:00

In "Rethinking Iran", the latest column for Time Magazine, Power argues the benefit of a new policy on Iran. She suggests that by broadening the approach - by engaging Iran in high-level political negotiations, broadening cultural outreach to the Iranian people, and addressing human rights concerns - failure in Iraq and Lebanon, as well as refugee disasters in Afghanistan, can be prevented.

SP Meets with the One Campaign

2007-12-18T09:24:00.000-08:00

Click here for the complete story.

SP in New York Times Magazine

2007-11-07T07:43:00.001-08:00

Featured as a member of Barack Obama's "Candidate's Cabinet":

James Traub, "Is (His) Biography (Our) Destiny?", New York Times Magazine, November 4, 2007.

Archive: SP Addressing Students for Facing History, 2005

2007-11-06T07:02:00.000-08:00

Power on Air America Radio

2007-10-29T11:53:00.000-07:00

Samantha Power was featured on Air America Radio's Rachel Maddow Show discussing the Armenian Genocide bill before Congress and its implications on American foreign policy.

.mp3 of Samantha Power on The Rachel Maddow Show

Time Column: 10.29.2007

2007-10-26T11:19:00.000-07:00

In the third in a series of columns for Time Magazine, Samantha Power analyzes the Armenian Genocide Resolution before Congress and its meaning for American foreign policy.

Samantha Power, "Honesty Is The Best Policy", Time Magazine, October 29, 2007.

Time Column: 10.22.2007

2007-10-22T11:08:00.000-07:00

The latest installment for Time investigates the role of China and the United States in addressing abuses in Burma and Darfur, and analyzes the effectiveness of those roles.

Samantha Power, "The Human-Rights Vacuum", Time Magazine, October 22, 2007.

Appearance on Charlie Rose: 10.16.2007

2007-10-17T11:21:00.000-07:00

Time Column: 10.08.2007

2007-10-08T10:51:00.000-07:00

The first in a series of foreign policy-related columns for Time, "Access Denied" outlines the current Iraqi refugee crisis and the need to provide Iraqi citizens with the security promised by the Bush Administration.

Samantha Power, "Access Denied", Time Magazine, October 8, 2007.

SP Archive: Charlie Rose 03.29.2004

2007-10-01T11:35:00.000-07:00