Document Type

Press Release

Publication Date

2-21-2005

Abstract

On the heels of President Bush’s recent (Feb. 20) trip to Brussels to meet with European leaders, Esther Brimmer, a specialist in transatlantic political and security affairs, will discuss the strategic issues and challenges facing the United States and its European allies in the opening address of Lawrence University’s four-part international studies lecture series “U.S. and European Security: Challenges and Choices.”

Brimmer, deputy director of the Center for Transatlantic Relations at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University, presents “New Dimensions in U.S./European Security Relations” Monday, Feb. 28 at 7 p.m. in Science Hall, Room 102 on the Lawrence campus.

With the end of the Cold War, today’s major transatlantic security issues have shifted from guarding European territory to addressing global issues such as democracy, human rights, economic globalization, terrorism, weapons proliferation and environmental degradation. Brimmer will share her perspective on how well the transatlantic community is prepared to address these “new” security questions. She also will speak on whether the Bush administration and the European Union have a shared strategic outlook and if it is in the United States’ best interest for the European Union to have a larger role in international security.

During her distinguished international career, Brimmer has worked in the Office of Policy Planning at the U.S. Department of State, focusing on the European Union, Western Europe, the United Nations and multilateral security issues and served on the U. S. delegation to the U.N. Commission on Human Rights. She spent four years as a senior associate at the Carnegie Commission on Preventing Deadly Conflict and worked on the U.N., peacekeeping, human rights and political-military issues as a special assistant to the Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs from 1993-1995. Brimmer earned her master’s and Ph.D. degrees in international relations from the University of Oxford.

Other scheduled speakers in this year’s lecture series include:

• April 13 — David Swartz, former U.S. ambassador to Belarus and chief of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Mission to Moldova, “Unfinished Business in Eastern Europe: The Role of the OSCE.”

• April 21 — David King, associate director of the Institute of Politics and lecturer in public policy at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, “The Activism and Optimism of American Youth: Implications for U.S. Foreign Policy.”

• May 9 — John Huber, professor of political science and director of graduate studies at Columbia University, “U.S. and French Perspectives on Foreign Policy Issues.”

The “U.S. and European Security: Challenges and Choices” lecture series is sponsored by the Mojmir Povolny Lectureship in International Studies. Named in honor of long-time Lawrence government professor Mojmir Povolny, the lectureship promotes interest and discussion on issues of moral significance and ethical dimensions.

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