Lecture Abstract:

From the beginning of his term in the White House, President Barack Obama was determined to extricate the United States from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. This, he hoped, would enable the country to devote more attention to the economically dynamic and increasingly important Asia-Pacific region. The US “pivot” or “rebalance” to Asia has been the Obama administration’s grand strategy, in geostrategic terms. Over the past five years, turmoil, conflicts, and catastrophes in the Middle East and now in Europe have interfered with the implementation of this strategic vision.

In this seminar, Professor Michael Brown assesses the Obama administration’s policies toward Asia, Europe, and the Middle East, as well as the challenges and prospects for the future.

About the Speaker:

Michael E. Brown is a Professor of International Affairs and Political Science at George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs. He was Dean of the Elliott School from 2005 to 2015.

From 1998 to 2005, Professor Brown was on the faculty of the School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University. From 2000 to 2005, he was Director of Georgetown’s Center for Peace and Security Studies and Director of the M.A. program in Security Studies. From 1994 to 1998, he was Associate Director of the International Security Program at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. From 1988 to 1994, he was a member of the Directing Staff and Senior Fellow in U.S. Security Policy at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London. Professor Brown was Editor of the journal Survival from 1991 to 1994.

He was Co-Editor of the International Security, the leading academic journal in the security studies field, from 1994 to 2006. He now serves on the Editorial Boards of Asian Security, International Security, and The Washington Quarterly.

Professor Brown is the author of Flying Blind: The Politics of the U.S. Strategic Bomber Program, which won the Edgar Furniss National Security Book Award. He is the editor or co-editor of 22 books, including: Ethnic Conflict and International Security; Grave New World: Security Challenges in the 21st Century; Going Nuclear: Nuclear Proliferation and International Security in the 21st Century; and four books focused on Asian security issues. His research interests include: regional security in Asia, Europe, and the Middle East; global trends and global governance; U.S. foreign policy and U.S. grand strategy.

Professor Brown received his Ph.D. in Government from Cornell University. He has given more than 150 talks in more than 30 countries outside of his home country, the United States. He has traveled to more than 70 countries.