Intercultural communication is key in the age of polarization, "fake news," and an increasingly chaotic international landscape. Even if we don't agree with each other, conflict resolution, co-operation, and persuasion will depend on understanding where the other comes from.My studies in the history of political thought (and my personal experiences as a resident of the Netherlands, the UK, and the USA) have made me particularly skillful at placing myself in unfamiliar shoes. Whether it's Ancient Athenians, seventeenth-century English rebels, or present-day policymakers, the task is always the same. In order to engage in dialogue, one first needs to be able to “see things their way.”Only by carefully reconstructing a logic, initially without judgment, can we start to take and be taken seriously. That is where history steps in to facilitate political understanding and political persuasion.
Listed skills include Classics, History, Intellectual History, Ancient History, and 6 others.