Professor Wolfgang Danspeckgruber, founding director of the University's Liechtenstein Institute on Self Determination at the University, has been a fundamental agent for international conciliation surrounding self-determination and an influential mentor to the University's students.
The Liechtenstein Institute of Self-Determination supports teaching, research and publication on issues pertaining to self-determination, especially as it relates to self-governance and sovereignty in government.
“I think whenever you meet Wolfgang Danspeckgruber, then you realize that he is something in the German language we call ‘Naturerreignis,’ you can't translate it,” said Prince Stefan of Liechtenstein, the current Ambassador of Liechtenstein to Germany.“It's a gift to the world and humanity but also a huge challenge.”
Prince Stefan — whofirst met Danspeckgruber at a meeting of the International Conference on Afghanistan in Bonn in 2008, which was organized by the Institute on Self Determination —said thatDanspeckgruber creates unique and diverse platforms of discussion in the spheres of diplomacy and facilitates effective forums between European and American views.
“It's quite fascinating to see that [world leaders] always accept Wolfgang Danspeckguber as the chair,”Prince Stefan added. “He is the one who decides when someone speaks and when he has to stop.”
Becoming a diplomat
Danspeckgruber was born on Feb. 4, 1956, and grew up in Linz, Austria.After attending the Johannes Kepler University of Linz and the University of Vienna, Danspeckgruber then joined the Austrian military for two-and-a-half years and became an Assistant to the Commander of the Austrian National Defense Academy.
During his time in the military, Danspeckgruber said that he met a relative of Prince Hans-Adam II of Lichtenstein and got along very well with him.
This encounter and his work in the military inspired him to pursue the path of a diplomat, he said. Danspeckgruber then continued his studies at the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva.
Danspeckgruber said that his idol at the time was Henry Kissinger, the Secretary of State who negotiated with the Soviets during the Yom Kippur War in 1973. Danspeckgruber, who came from a small European country, explained that he found Kissinger’s omnipotent presence in the international sphere of politics particularly inspiring.
“You see a man negotiating between two great powers. That’s pretty impressive,” he said. “So my dream was always to spend some time in his vicinity.”
Following in Kissinger’s footsteps as an alumnus of Harvard, Danspeckgruber became Austria’s first KarlSchrödinger Fellow and attended Harvard.At Harvard, Danspeckgruber continued his studies and worked to organize forums on European security.
During a visit to Harvard, Prince Hans-Adam II and Danspeckgruber crossed paths, andPrince Hans-Adam IIoffered Liechtenstein as a location for Danspeckgruber to host a conference on European diplomacy.
“The rest is history,” Danspeckgruber said.
Danspeckgruber organized a conference entitled, “Emerging Dimensions of European Security,” that was held in Lichtenstein in 1989. A similar conference, also held in Liechtensteinin 1993, marked a significant milestone in Danspeckgruber’s career since it led to the recognition of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia by the United States, he said.
The Godfather of Self-Determination through Self-Administration
Shortly after Liechtenstein had become a member of the United Nations, Danspeckgruber said thatPrince Hans-Adam II requested his help in 1994 since the induction to the UN required an independent political projectthat was to revolve around self-determination.
Danspeckgruberthen organized a colloquium at the University in 1995, “Self-Determination and Self-Administration: The UN Perspective,” and published a book in 1997 — “Self-Determination and Self-Administration: A Sourcebook” — that wasbased on the subject that would change the landscape of politics.
Danspeckgruber co-edited the book with Arthur Watts, who was an international lawyer and legal adviser to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office of the British government.
“I became, some people claim, the godfather of self-determination through self-administration,” Danspeckgruber said, although he prefers to attribute that title to Watts.
Danspeckgruber continued similar projects in Europe, and his work was surrounded by the reality of the Balkan Wars, the disintegration of Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union and the fall of the Berlin Wall in Germany.
“For me ... it was quite powerful, because I lived the stability of security and cooperation in 1975 when I was a young military trainee in Austria with the Helsinki process,” he said. “This project, the Liechtenstein Program on Self-Determination, was quite successful.”
Prince Hans-Adam IIoffered Danspeckgruber an endowment to institutionalize his projects surrounding self-determination in 1999, Danspeckgruber said,and he agreed. Under an affiliation with the Wilson School, the LISD officially openedon Dec. 10, 2000.
A Diplomat in Cooperation with the United States and Afghanistan
Following the establishment of the LISD, Danspeckgruber said he was invited by the Indian government to New Delhi. While he was in Kashmir, he said he was compelled to also visit Pakistan, and he happened to be in Islamabad in March 2001 when the two giant Buddhas of Bamiyan were detonated by the Taliban.
“We were the first ones to have a meeting up here on the emerging security challenges of West South Asia,” Danspeckgruber said, referring to the LISD,noting that the meeting took place in May 2001. His work set him up to become a prominent diplomat after the attacks of 9/11.
“I began teaching my big class on theory of international diplomacy on [9/13],” he recalled, “That was the only time that I taught a class, when in the first lecture, students were crying. I will never forget that.”
Danspeckgruber said that he received a call from Washington two weeks after 9/11 hat would change his career path once again — he was offered the chance to train future Afghan leaders on how different groups of people can live together peacefully.
“I got deeply involved in the efforts of reestablishment of Afghanistan,” Danspeckgruber said. “One of my students became the member of Karzai’s first team.”
Hamid Karzai’s personal flag hangs in Danspeckgruber’s office.
LISD: promoting a new generation of leaders
As a faculty member of the University, much of Danspeckgruber’s focus has been on students, he said. Since his first conferences in the early 1990s, he said he has consulted with and sought students’ input.
Danspeckgruber said that he advocates “learning by doing.”
“The essence of LISD is to work with some of the most salient and difficult problems of the world. And really to try to make the world a better place,” he said. “To do so, not just to help, but really to educate the future generation of leaders. That’s our big difference to Brookings and other institutions.”
He added that the most important tool for the new generation of leaders is technology.
“There are different qualities you have to have, and they all begin with this here,” he said, pointing to his phone. “It changes time, information,involvement, whatever happens between you and I here, can be seen in Hong Kong in real life, which was never the case before.”
Danspeckgruber has also been known for his messiness — his office desk was highlighted by the BBC in 2008 in a slideshow, “In pictures: Your chaotic work spaces,” about the messiest workspaces in the world.
“This made me really famous,” he said. “In several embassies or foreign offices, this image was used as a screen saver.”
His office was finally cleaned this summer by his staff, and Danspeckgruber said he now has trouble finding his things.
“He’s like one of those machines that you see that has a million wheels and cogs all turning in different directions and producing things. And that’s what he’s like,” Ambassador Robert Finn GS ’78 said. “He’s a wonderful person and he’s wonderful with the students because he brings in so many things. He’s not just subject oriented. He has a much wider vision.”
Finn was an Associate Research Scholar in the LISD in 2004 to 2012 and the first U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan from 2002-2003. He taught a class in the fall of 2008 with Danspeckgruber called, “Topics in International Relations - International Crisis Diplomacy,” and co-edited a book with Danspeckgruber, called “Building State and Security in Afghanistan,”which was published in 2007.
“He is many ways one of the most enthusiastic and dedicated professors that I have ever seen. He brings an enormous amount of energy, but also, I think has an ability to really extract the best out of people and really challenge the way people think to construct solutions,” his daughter, Carolina Danspeckgruber ’08, said.“He’s really keen to help empower the young and create environments for students to feel that they are able to help shape global diplomacy on a day-to-day basis.”
Correction: Due to reporting errors, this article contained a series of inaccuracies. An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated how WolfgangDanspeckgrubergot to know theLichtensteinfamily. He first met a relative of PrinceHans-Adam II. An earlier version of this article misstated a quote byDanspeckgruber. Some people call him the godfather of self-determination, although he attributes that title to Arthur Watts. An earlier version of this article misstated the date of a meeting about security in West South Asia. The meeting took place in May 2001, not after 9/11. An earlier version of this article misstated the date whenDanspeckgruber received a phone call to train future Afghan leaders after 9/11. The call happened two weeks after the attacks. An earlier version of this article misstated the title of a classDanspeckgruber co-taught in the Fall of 2008. The title of the class was "Topics in International Relations - International Crisis Diplomacy." An earlier version of this article did not properly describe the book "Building State and Security in Afghanistan." The book was co-edited byDanspeckgruber andAmbassador Robert Finn GS ’78.
The 'Prince' regrets the errors.
Clarification: This article has been updated to clarify thatAmbassador Robert Finn GS ’78 worked at the LISD between 2004 and 2012.
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