The National Capital Branch of the Canadian International Council presents

  America's Global Roles in an Age of Turbulence

and Strategic Surprise

Chester A. Crocker,
one of America's leading strategic thinkers

Chester A. Crocker is the James R. Schlesinger Professor of Strategic Studies at Georgetown University where his teaching and research focus on conflict management and regional security issues. He served as chairman of the board of the United States Institute of Peace (1992-2004), and served as a member of its board through 2011. From 1981-1989, he was U.S. assistant secretary of state for African affairs. As such, he was the principal diplomatic architect and mediator in the prolonged negotiations among Angola, Cuba, and South Africa that led to Namibia’s transition to independence, and to the withdrawal of Cuban forces from Angola. Dr. Crocker served as a staff officer at the National Security Council (1970-72) where he worked on Middle East, Indian Ocean, and African issues and director of African studies at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (1976-80). He serves on the boards of several companies. Dr. Crocker is a fou nding member of the Global Leadership Foundation and member of the Independent Advisory Board of the World Bank. Dr. Crocker is the author of High Noon in Southern Africa: Making Peace in a Rough Neighborhood (1993), co-author (with Fen Osler Hampson and Pamela Aall) of Taming Intractable Conflicts: Mediation in the Hardest Cases (2004), and coeditor (also with Hampson and Aall) of Rewiring Regional Security in a Fragmented World (2011), Leashing the Dogs of War: Conflict Management in a Divided World (2007), Grasping the Nettle: Analyzing Cases of Intractable Conflict (2005); Turbulent Peace: The Challenges of Managing International Conflict (2001); and Herding Cats: Multiparty Mediation in a Complex World (1999). His latest work, Rewiring Regional Security in a Fragmented World (Washington, DC: U.S. Institute of Peace Press, 2010) is with Fen Osler Hampson, and Pamela Aall.

Please join The Norman Paterson School of International Affairs (NPSIA) at Carleton, and the Canadian International Council (CIC), National Capital Branch, at a stimulating and thought provoking presentation by one of America’s leading strategic thinkers, Chester A. Crocker. The presentation, “ America's Global Roles in an Age of Turbulence and Strategic Surprise” will offer a dynamic new approach.

Dr. Crocker notes: It has become fashionable in political commentary to write about the decline of the United States (and the West generally). The rise of several of the BRIC nations to prominence as global economic powers, the uncertain results of heavy U.S. and NATO commitments to stabilization and reconstruction in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the strategic impact of the financial crisis on America's capacity and appetite for leadership are much discussed.

But there is a broader context in which these apparent trends must be interpreted. Many of today's security challenges are basically problems that no one power or institution can resolve and that no one really wants to own. Moreover, some of the world's regions are asserting a desire for greater control of their own security affairs while the UN and traditional security exporters from the Atlantic community are experiencing strategic over-stretch.

Finally, these are times of political turbulence and we are experiencing manifold examples of 'strategic surprise' which have direct impacts on American foreign and security policies. Viewed in this context, it is a time for an adult debate about the US world role. But don't hold your breath waiting for it during the upcoming election season.

5:15 to 6:00 pm – Registration, networking and cash bar

6:00 pm – Presentation and discussion

7:00 pm – Dinner (optional)

Deadline for registration and cancellation is Thursday, January 5, 2012 at 5:00 pm