Rory Stewart

Professor, former Member of Parliament, UK

Why you should listen

Once a British politician, infantry officer and diplomat, Rory Stewart is a Yale professor, senior advisor to GiveDirectly and cohost of one of the UK’s most popular podcasts, The Rest Is Politics. Following a two-year walk through the Middle East and South Asia, he founded the Turquoise Mountain Foundation, a nonprofit aimed at restoring a section of the old city of Kabul, Afghanistan. He also served as director of Harvard’s Carr Center for Human Rights Policy. He has written five books including, most recently, Politics on the Edge: A Memoir from Within.

Rory Stewart’s TED talks

20:02

Rory Stewart

Time to end the war in Afghanistan

Posted Jul 2011

13:41

Rory Stewart

Why democracy matters

Posted Oct 2012

More news and ideas from Rory Stewart

Live from TED2024

Connectors: Notes on Session 11 of TED2024

April 19, 2024

The final session of TED2024 took an emotional dive into how we can connect better — on an individual and global scale. From how to fight healthier with loved ones to how to find greater meaning in life, speakers shared powerful, personal truths from which everyone can learn. The event: Talks from Session 11 of […]

Playlist

5 talks on the state of democracy

October 29, 2012

[ted id=1595 width=560 height=315] Rory Stewart opens this talk from TEDxHousesofParliament with a joke: “Little Billy goes to school and his teacher asks, ‘What does your father do?’ Billy replies, ‘My father plays piano in an opium den.’” But when the teacher confronts the father about his occupation, she gets a different answer. As Stewart finishes […]