A nation must think before it acts.
Announcing the Princeton Committee of FPRI
In 2012, FPRI established a Princeton Committee to bring experts and policymakers in foreign affairs together with individuals who seek a deeper understanding of the complex issues confronting us today. The format for these briefings, to be held in Princeton beginning in January 2013, is an intimate, salon-like setting in which participants may interact and exchange views with experts to a degree and depth not attainable in public forums. The Princeton Committee is directed by John R. Haines, trustee of the Foreign Policy Research Institute.
Thursday, January 10: A Layman’s Guide to Cyberwar
Thursday, February 21: The American Way of War
Thursday, March 21: Coping with the Rise of China
Thursday, April 11: The Iran-Latin America Connection
6:00 to 8:00 p.m.
Present Day Club, 72 Stockton Street, Princeton
Open exclusively to FPRI Members (and spouses) at the $250 level.
New to FPRI. For additional information or to RSVP email: events@fpri.org
Thursday, January 10: A Layman’s Guide to Cyberwar
Cyberthreats are the next great threat to national security but few genuinely understand this new battlefield. Lawrence Husick, Co-Chairman of the Foreign Policy Research Institute’s Center for the Study of Terrorism and co-director of FPRI’s Program on Teaching Innovation, will provide an easy-to-understand guide to cyberwars of the future. This briefing has been described by former National Security Advisor Robert McFarlane as “the best briefing I’ve heard from anyone, anywhere” on this subject. Husick is also a faculty member at the Whiting Graduate School of Engineering and the Zanvyl-Krieger School of Arts and Sciences Graduate Biotechnology Program of the Johns Hopkins University.
Thursday, February 21: Crusades, Quagmires, and the American Way of War
In his book How We Fight: Crusades, Quagmires, and the American Way of War (Little, Brown and Co., 2010), Dominic Tierney constructs an argument that is neither liberal nor conservative, neither dovish nor hawkish but offers insight into the kinds of war America has fought, and why some were hailed as successes while others were viewed as bleak and confusing experiences, and what the lessons may be for the future. Tierney is a Senior Fellow at FPRI and an associate professor of political science at Swarthmore College. He received his Ph.D. from Oxford University and is a regular contributor to The Atlantic Online.
Thursday, March 21: Coping with the Rise of China
In his recent book A Contest for Supremacy: China, America and the Struggle for Mastery in Asia, Aaron Friedberg explores the rise of Chinese economic and military power and the growing collision of interests in the Asia Pacific region. This talk will discuss the potential for conflict with China and ways to avoid it. He is a professor of politics and international affairs at Princeton University and an Academic Advisor to the Princeton Committee of FPRI. From June 2003 to June 2005 he served as a Deputy Assistant for National Security Affairs in the Office of the Vice President. Dr. Friedberg is a former fellow at the Smithsonian Institution’s Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, the Norwegian Nobel Institute, and Harvard University’s Center of International Affairs.
Thursday, April 11: Crime-Terror Pipelines: The Case of Iran and Latin America
The nexus of transnational criminal organizations and foreign terrorist organizations presents a unique and growing challenge to the US and other governments. Vanessa Neumann, a Senior Fellow of FPRI’s Center for the Study of Terrorism, has been following the globalization of crime-terror pipelines as a result of her work on the web of connections between Iran and Latin America, the subject of this lecture. FPRI’s go-to person on Venezuela, Neumann is also an Associate of the University Seminar on Latin America at the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University, where she received her Ph.D, and is co-chair of FPRI’s Manhattan Initiative. Dr. Neumann runs her own political risk consulting and research firm, Vanessa Neumann, Inc., where she consults for government and private industry.
The Foreign Policy Research Institute was founded in 1955 by Robert Strausz-Hupe on the premise, as he put it, that “a nation must think before it acts.” Strausz-Hupe, who went on to become a distinguished diplomat, is said to have introduced geopolitics into the American vocabulary—geopolitics being simply the study of history, geography, and culture to illuminate contemporary international affairs and to inform our policy recommendations. To become a member or to learn about levels of membership and corresponding benefits or contact Eli Gilman at egilman@fpri.org or 215-732-3774, ext. 255.