21st Century Council

As the premiere program for the Berggruen Institute and its work in the area of Geopolitics and Globalization, the 21st Century Council — an international group of 40 former heads of state or government, global thinkers and tech entrepreneurs — was founded in 2010 as a forum to address the challenges faced by both advanced and emerging countries in an interdependent, but fragmenting world.

At its first meeting in Paris, the Council adopted the working theme of “building on a convergence of interests to forge a global community of interests.” Since that time, the Council has advised and met with chairs of the annual G-20 summit and organized regular “Understanding China” meetings with President Xi Jinping and other top leaders in Beijing in 2013, 2015 and 2018.

In the wake of the anti-globalization backlash that brought nationalist and populist movements to power in major countries, the Council has focused on how to harness globalization so that it works for all (21st Century Council Annual Report 2017) and preventing a division of the world once again into hostile geopolitical blocs.