Event Summary
On January 6, Brookings welcomed former French Minister of Foreign Affairs Hubert Védrine to present his latest book, History Strikes Back: How States, Nations, and Conflicts Are Shaping the 21st Century (Brookings Institution Press, 2008). Former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright joined the discussion following Mr. Védrine’s remarks.
Event Information
When
Tuesday, January 06, 2009
4:00 PM to 5:30 PM
Where
Falk Auditorium
The Brookings Institution
1775 Massachusetts Ave., NW
Washington, DC
Map
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In dealing with the new multi-polar world, Védrine writes, Americans have been too bellicose and Europeans too naïve. Védrine shows why Westerners need to discard the assumptions that have guided their international policies for more than 20 years. He presents a pragmatic vision for building a better world and spells out what Europeans expect from the incoming U.S. administration. The United States and Europe must partner for a new form of “smart Realpolitik” to guide their relations with emerging powers, manage globalization and deal with environmental challenges.
Daniel Benjamin, director of the Center on the United States and Europe at Brookings, moderated the discussion. Hubert Védrine was French Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1997 to 2002, as well as diplomatic counselor and spokesman for President François Mitterrand. Madeleine Albright served as U.S. Secretary of State during the Clinton administration. After the formal remarks, the discussants took audience questions.
Transcript
HUBERT VÉDRINE: I would be pleased with a more realistic United States. I would be pleased to see a more wise and enlightened European Union, a European Union that could admit that a balance of powers has not disappeared.
Well, I think that the answer is to have new policies as regards to the rest of the world. I think perhaps the most important aspect of my point of view, I think the most important aspect is perhaps the West's policies vis-à-vis China. I think we need a completely different set of tools to address our relationship with the Arab world. I think that the Middle East is an area where we the West have done exactly the opposite of what we should have done. This is risky. We are risking a true clash of cultures. Now if you look at our global world surveys for example, 90 percent of the Muslim world has a horrifying opinion of the West, and the same goes in the other direction, a large percentage of the West has a negative view of the Muslim world.
Now these are the facts and we must have policies that can overcome this difficulty.
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Participants
Featured Presenter
Hubert Védrine
Former French Minister of Foreign Affairs
Discussant
Madeline Albright
Former U.S. Secretary of State