BUCERIUS SUMMER SCHOOL

Theo Sommer is dean, moderator and academic head of the Bucerius Summer School on Global Governance. In this capacity he is responsible for the selection of participants, program topics and speakers.

Theo Sommer is Editor-at-Large of the German weekly DIE ZEIT. From 1973 to 1992 he served as Editor-in-Chief and held the position of publisher from 1992 to 2000. He headed the Policy Planning Staff of the German Defense Ministry from 1969 to 1970, was responsible for the Defense Ministry’s White Book in 1970, and since then has played a prominent part, inter alia, as Vice-Chairman of the Commission on Common Security and Future of the German Army (Weizsäcker Commission). He was also a member of the International Commission on the Balkans (1995-1996) and of the Independent International Commission on Kosovo (1999-2000).

Theo Sommer studied History, Political Science and International Relations at Åsa Folkhögskola in Sweden, Tübingen/Germany, at Manchester College, Indiana/USA, and the University of Chicago. In 1960, he took part in Henry Kissinger's International Summer Seminar at Harvard University.

Since 2009, Wolfgang Ischinger has joined the Bucerius Summer School as co-chair and moderator.

Ambassador Ischinger is Chairman of the Munich Security Conference. He is also Global Head of Government Relations of Allianz SE, and a member of the Supervisory Board of Allianz Deutschland AG. From 2006 to 2008, he was the Federal Republic of Germany's ambassador to London. Prior to this last assignment, he was the German ambassador to the United States of America for almost five years, and from 1998 to 2001 State Secretary of the Federal Foreign Office. In this capacity, he represented the German Government in numerous international and European conferences which were mainly hosted by the United Nations, NATO and the European Union. In 2007, he represented the European Union in the troika negotiations on the future of Kosovo. From 1993 to 1995, he was Director of Policy Planning, and from 1995 to 1998, Political Director of the German Foreign Ministry. He is a member of the Global Zero Commission, the Trilateral Commission, the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) and International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS).

Wolfgang Ischinger studied law at the universities of Bonn and Geneva and obtained his law degree in 1972. He continued studying international law, foreign economic relations and history at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and at Harvard Law School.