Center Director

Paul Webster Hare was a British diplomat for 30 years and the British ambassador to Cuba from 2001-04. He is currently a Senior Lecturer in international relations at the Frederick S Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University.

Hare graduated with First Class Honors in Politics and Economics from The University of Oxford in 1972 and from the College of Law in London in 1976. He worked for 5 years in the private sector, in law and investment banking, before entering the British Diplomatic Service. He served overseas at the UK Representation to the EU in Brussels, in Portugal, New York, and in Venezuela as Deputy Head of Mission. He was Head of the Foreign Office’s Non-Proliferation Department and the first Project Director for the UK’s presence at the Shanghai World Expo in 2010.

Hare is a Fellow of the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard University and served as president of the British Baseball Federation from 2000-01. He has been designated a Lieutenant of the Royal Victorian Order by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

Ambassador Hare teaches classes at Boston University on Diplomatic Practice, Arms Control, Intercultural Communication, Public Diplomacy, Reform of Diplomacy and on Cuba in Transition. His novel, “Moncada – A Cuban Story”, set in modern Cuba, was published in 2010. His book “Making Diplomacy Work; Intelligent Innovation for the Modern World.’ was published in 2015. His article “Corroding consensus-building: how self-centered public diplomacy is damaging diplomacy and what can be done about it” was published in Place Branding and Public Diplomacy in August 2019.