Today, it is commonly observed that the international order is greatly disordered.  It also is noted that the role of the United States in world affairs is unsettled.  What the United States should or can do is not agreed upon.  Nor is it settled as to a price that the United States is willing to pay in dollars or blood.  Nor is there agreement on a desirable order or even of how the world works.  It is clear that there has been an existential weakening of an American role, yet there are hints today of a somewhat greater commitment.  A fundamental strategy for the nation is absent and remains a critical concern.

Dr. Thomas Wright is one of many distinguished authorities seriously considering these basic matters.  His book due to be published in late May, All Measures Short of War: The Contest for the Twenty-First Century and the Future of American Power, deals with these elemental problems.  Centrally, he sees Russia and China as competitors of the United States and advocates Responsible Competition as a path to sustaining a liberal international order.  We look forward to his perspective on order and the American role in the world.

Dr. Wright received bachelor’s and master’s degrees from University College Dublin, a Master of Philosophy from Cambridge University, and his doctorate from Georgetown University.  He held a pre-doctoral fellowship at Harvard and a post-doctoral fellowship at Princeton.  He was a Senior Researcher for the Princeton Project on National Security and a lecturer at the Harris School of Public Policy at the University of Chicago.  Prior to Brookings, he was the Executive Director of Studies at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs.  At Brookings, he works on U.S. grand strategy, Donald Trump’s worldview, the future of Europe, and Asian security.  We look forward to a most interesting evening.

It is a great pleasure to welcome Dr. Thomas Wright to the Council.