Brzezinski Chair in Global Security and Geostrategy

Advancing understanding in geostrategy, international security, and global politics

Dr. Jon B. Alterman was named to the Zbigniew Brzezinski Chair in Global Security and Geostrategy in 2012. CSIS established the chair in 2003 to advance understanding in the fields of geostrategy, international security, and global politics. Zbigniew Brzezinski was the nation’s 11th national security adviser, and after leaving that post he spent more than three decades at CSIS. Reflecting Brzezinski’s personal achievements during a long career that included public service, teaching, and writing, CSIS awards the chair to a leading scholar-practitioner in global affairs and international strategy.

Much of Dr. Alterman’s scholarship is grounded in decades of study of the Middle East, yet in recent years he has advanced cross-regional research linking his Middle East expertise to emerging global issues. Currently, Dr. Alterman’s work for the Brzezinski Chair focuses on two main themes:

Dr. Alterman’s early work on China, the United States, and the Middle East in the mid-2000s anticipated the growing Middle Eastern energy trade with Asia and the increasing importance of the Middle East to Chinese economic political, and military strategy. As the U.S. strategic posture balances away from a Middle East focus, Russia plays a greater role in regional conflicts, and the Global South emerges as a key player in international affairs, the Brzezinski Chair is working to understand how regional states are responding to Great Power efforts to shape the global commons and to anticipate future challenges to global order. You can read some of Alterman’s work on China-Middle East ties here, and the Brzezinski Chair’s latest report on global order here.

In recent years, states have increasingly turned to the capture or wrongful detention of Western citizens as an asymmetrical tool of coercion against the United States and its allies. The resultant “hostage diplomacy” is a critical bipartisan issue. Dr. Alterman helped launch the CSIS Commission on Hostage Taking and Wrongful Detention to study the efficacy of policy responses to hostage taking, develop new tools to empower U.S. officials and the families of hostages, and deter future hostage taking. Find out more about the Commission here.

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Latest Work

China Stalls

China Stalls

A new scenario by Jon B. Alterman, with comments from leading experts, explores the challenges facing China’s economy and considers how a sustained slowdown could sap Beijing’s global influence and reshape the international order.

Digital Report by Jon B. Alterman — May 14, 2025

Trust Fails

Trust Fails

Digital Report by Jon B. Alterman — May 14, 2025

Photo: RALF HIRSCHBERGER/AFP/Getty Images

Accidental Empire

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Commentary by Jon B. Alterman — February 24, 2025

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Scenarios That Could Define 2035

This scenario series from the CSIS Brzezinski Chair explores possible futures for 2035—not to predict outcomes, but to prepare for them. With expert comments, the scenarios examine key drivers, second-order effects, and warning signs to inform strategic foresight.

Digital Report by Jon B. Alterman — May 14, 2025

U.S. Global Leadership Falters

A new scenario by Jon B. Alterman, with comments from leading experts, explores what a U.S. retreat from global leadership could look like—examining the political, economic, and strategic fallout of a diminished role and how it might reshape global power dynamics.

Digital Report by Jon B. Alterman — May 14, 2025

Trust Fails

A new scenario by Jon B. Alterman, with comments from leading experts, explores how technology has both built and broken trust—examining how disinformation, cyber threats, and digital decay could fracture societies, disrupt trade, and weaken global cooperation.

Digital Report by Jon B. Alterman — May 14, 2025

China Stalls

A new scenario by Jon B. Alterman, with comments from leading experts, explores the challenges facing China’s economy and considers how a sustained slowdown could sap Beijing’s global influence and reshape the international order.

Digital Report by Jon B. Alterman — May 14, 2025

Audio Briefs

Accidental Empire

An audio version of “Accidental Empire,” a new commentary by CSIS's Jon B. Alterman. This audio was generated with text-to-speech by Eleven Labs.

Podcast Episode by Jon B. Alterman — February 25, 2025

Audio Briefs

Accidental Empire

In a time of fewer multilateral tools and fewer American allies, President Donald Trump’s proposal to seek mineral rights in exchange for U.S. aid to Ukraine will likely mean a long-term increase in U.S. troops to protect these investments.

Commentary by Jon B. Alterman — February 24, 2025

China in the Middle East

Please join the CSIS Middle East Program for a conversation about the evolving role of China in the Middle East and its implications for U.S. regional policy.

Event — November 4, 2024

China in the Middle East

On November 4, the CSIS Middle East Program hosted a discussion with Jude Blanchette, Rick Waters, and Yun Sun on China’s ambitions in the region, the future of great power competition, and Dr. Alterman’s report about the Middle East's view of the "China Model."

Transcript — November 4, 2024