Grand Strategy and Self-Determination

The Liechtenstein Institute on Self-Determination at Princeton University (LISD) convened a special seminar, “Grand Strategy and Self-Determination,” at Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs on November 19-20, 2014. This Liechtenstein Colloquium (LCM) commemorated the twenty-year anniversary of the Liechtenstein Initiative on the study of self-determination at Princeton and also coincided with the twenty-fifth year of the reign of Prince Hans-Adam II of Liechtenstein. The first sessions of the conference were open to the public, with panel participants, invited experts, and audience members discussing the notion of grand strategy in today’s world of multiple international crises. Prince Hans-Adam II delivered a public address reflecting on his time as head of state and his political philosophy, especially the role of direct democracy, as well as his ideas on the future of the state. Discussions then focused on the fluid and oftencontested topic of self-determination and its potential interaction with and challenges to notions of strategy and governance. The LCM drew together a unique mix of perspectives from the international academic, policymaking and diplomatic worlds, as conversations continued on Saturday in the traditional private, off-the-record LCM format. The seminar was chaired by Wolfgang Danspeckgruber, Director of LISD.1