Between 2011 and 2017 when the project was sunsetted, the 21st Century Council—a group of more than forty former heads of state or government, global thinkers, and tech entrepreneurs—addressed challenges faced by both advanced and emerging countries in an interdependent but fragmenting world.

The Council 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, 2018, and 2019.

In the wake of the anti-globalization backlash that brought nationalist and populist movements to power in major countries, the Council focused on how to prevent the re-division of the world into hostile geopolitical blocs, and instead, how to harness globalization so that it works for all.