America and the World
American Strategy Program
The status of the United States as a world power, and the nature of power itself, are at a historic turning point. It is essential that we understand and adapt to the new security environment in which we find ourselves.
Two of the most respected figures in American foreign policy are Zbigniew Brzezinski and Brent Scowcroft -- both former National Security Advisors under markedly different administrations. In America and the World they dissect, in spontaneous and unscripted conversations moderated by David Ignatius, the most significant foreign policy challenges facing the U.S.: the Middle East, Russia, China, Europe, the Developing World, the changing nature of power in a globalized world, and what Brzezinski has called the "global political awakening." While one author is a Republican and the other a Democrat, they broadly agree on the need to adapt to a new international environment. Where they disagree, their exchanges are always both deeply informed and provocative.
America and the World will define the center of responsible opinion on American foreign policy at a time when the nation's decisions could determine how long it remains a superpower.
Book Launch Event
Please join us Friday, Sept. 19, at the New America Foundation for a discussion and book-signing with the authors. Click here to learn more and RSVP.
Selected Quotes from America and the World
ON IRAN:
Brzezinski: "The United States can't be a spectator egging others on but refusing to engage in the game. . . We have to be willing to negotiate seriously (with the Iranians), either without conditions or with mutual accommodation."
ON THE ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN CONFLICT:
Scowcroft: "What we do not have right now are two sides that by themselves are able to come to an agreement. They can't now. They're not strong enough. . . They need a heavier hand by the United States than we have traditionally practiced."
ON RUSSIA:
Brzezinski: "They have yet to accommodate themselves into the reality of this post-Soviet space, and they would like to, to the extent possible, to create some new arrangement whereby the central Asians are cut off from the world. . . But I don't think they have the means for doing it over the long run."
ON THE UNITED STATES:
Brzezinski: "We have succumbed to a fearful paranoia that the outside world is conspiring through its massive terrorist forces to destroy us. Is that a real picture of the world, or is it a classic paranoia that's become rampant and has been officially abetted?"
Scowcroft: "I think if we, for example, were to mobilize the United States leadership on behalf of climate change and say, 'This is a problem, we really need to move,' the world would respond. We have that kind of power and moral authority."
Brzezinski: "The United States is not going to be serious about anything unless there is a national commitment by the President, the Congress, and the public. The issues we're talking about do require a significant rethinking. . . More than ever before, the next president will have to be a national teacher on these issues and make a very concerted effort to the American people to think about what is new about the twenty first century."
