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International Centre for Defence and Security Accessibility
Toomas Hendrik Ilves

Toomas Hendrik Ilves

President of Estonia (2006–2016)

Toomas Hendrik Ilves served as President of Estonia from 2006-16. President Ilves is renowned for making Estonia one of the most digitally advanced nations through innovative policies that invested heavily in the future. President Ilves was born to Estonian refugees and raised in the United States. He holds an MA from the University of Pennsylvania. He moved to Munich in 1984 to work as an analyst and researcher for Radio Free Europe, eventually becoming Director of the radio’s Estonian Service. From 1993-96, he served as Ambassador of Estonia to the United States. In 1996, he was appointed the country’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, a post he held until 1998, and again from 1999 to 2002. At that time, he successfully steered Estonia into the EU and NATO in 2004. He ran for the presidency of Estonia as a joint candidate of the Social Democratic, Conservative, and Liberal Parties, was elected in 2006, and re-elected in 2011.
Subjects:
Asia, Authoritarianism, Baltic Sea region, Capitalism, China, Connectivity, Cybersecurity, Democracy, Deterrence, Digital Security, Digitalisation, Disinformation, Eastern Partnership, Economy, Europe, European Union, Future, Globalisation, History, Hybrid Warfare, Identity, Liberalism, Middle East, Nordic countries, Nordic-Baltic region, Populism, Russia, Security, Transatlantic relations, Ukraine, United States, West
Updated: April 21, 2022

Agenda

What has NATO Gained from Enlargement?
LMC 2024: Let Us Not Despair, But Act
Connectivity, Deterrence, Digital Security, Digitalisation, Hybrid Warfare, Russia, Ukraine, West
Computer World: Digital Security
LMC 2022
Thinking Cannot Be a Campaign
LMC 2019
Europe, European Union, West
New Normal: The End of the West as We Know It?
LMC 2016
Face to Face with Jean-Jacques Sahel and Toomas Hendrik Ilves
LMC 2015
Europe, European Union
The Limits of Order
LMC 2015
11 more

Talks

Toomas Hendtik Ilves and Kurt Volker
Authoritarianism, China, Cybersecurity, Democracy, Eastern Partnership, Europe, Russia, Transatlantic relations, United States
A Glimmer of Hope at the End of 2020?

2020 has shaken the world, but is there a glimmer of hope at the end of the year? In the transatlantic community expectations are high for some sort of renaissance in relations between Europe and the US when Joe Biden takes over the White House…

Kurt Volker ,  Toomas Hendrik Ilves
LMC 2020
Toomas Hendrik Ilves & Anne Applebaum
Authoritarianism, Democracy, Disinformation, Populism
The Era of Resentment: Causes and Solutions

In this session, former Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves and the Pulitzer-prize winning historian and staff writer for The Atlantic, Anne Applebaum get into the bottom of the motives and the rationale of people who create the mythology and the language of modern authoritarian populism. It is not the sense…

Anne Applebaum ,  Toomas Hendrik Ilves
LMC 2020
LMC Talks: Francis Fukuyama & Toomas Hendrik Ilves
Democracy, Disinformation, Europe, Globalisation, History, Identity, Populism, United States
The Different Faces of Identity and Politics Today

A conversation with the former Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves and the American thinker and political theorist Francis Fukuyama, professor at Stanford University. Identity is inevitable, says professor Fukuyama, but how to make it a solution and not a source of problems? How should one…

Francis Fukuyama ,  Toomas Hendrik Ilves
LMC 2020

In the news

‘Connect the dots of hybrid operations and prepare for worse’

Militaire Spectator, May 28, 2024

La fuerza de la alianza entre Estados Unidos y los países bálticos

La Vanguardia, May 23, 2022

President Ilves pildus soomlaste poole kriitikanooli

Eesti Päevaleht, May 17, 2022

ВИДЕО | Президент Ильвес выступил с резкой критикой в адрес финнов: Финляндия высмеивает страхи Эстонии перед Россией

Delfi.ee, May 16, 2022

VIDEO | President Ilves pildus soomlaste suunas teravaid kriitikanooli: Soome on naeruvääristanud Eesti hirme Venemaa ees

Delfi.ee, May 16, 2022

Viron Ilveksen Suomi-ryöpytys ihmetytti paikalla olleita suomalaisia – ”Hänellä on paljon hampaan­kolossa”

Ilta Sanomat, May 16, 2022
2 more