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 three 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.
The number of independent states has expanded exponentially since World War I. But many independence movements have also failed, with broader implications for regional stability and international cooperation. The Brzezinski Chair has conducted research on the factors contributing to the success or failure of struggles for self-determination across the world. Read the latest book from the Brzezinski Chair on independence movements here.
Latest Work
Evan Gershkovich, Paul Whelan, and Alsu Kurmasheva Are Back in the United States
Commentary by Danielle Gilbert — August 6, 2024
Coming Home after Being a Hostage Abroad
Commentary by Jason Rezaian — August 2, 2024
Newcomers Bring New Rules
Report by Jon B. Alterman and Lily McElwee — April 22, 2024
Pursuing Global Order in the Twenty-First Century
Digital Report by Jon B. Alterman and Lily McElwee — April 22, 2024
“Newcomers Bring New Rules: Shared Leadership in a More Multipolar World”: Audio Brief with Jon B. Alterman
Podcast Episode by Jon B. Alterman — April 22, 2024
All Brzezinski Chair in Global Security and Geostrategy Content
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Who Wins When U.S.-Iran Tensions Rise? China.
Commentary by Jon B. Alterman — May 20, 2019
Zbigniew K. Brzezinski
Report — March 25, 2019
Punishing Iran Is Not a Strategy
Commentary by Jon B. Alterman — February 21, 2019
Eritrea: The Independence Struggle and the Struggles of Independence
Report — January 24, 2019
Timor-Leste: A Nation of Resistance
Report — January 24, 2019
Kosovo: An Unlikely Success Still in the Making
Report — January 24, 2019
South Sudan: The Painful Rise and Rapid Descent of the World’s Newest Nation
Report by Richard Downie — January 24, 2019
The Importance of Being Balanced: Lessons from Negotiated Settlements to Self-determination Movements in Bosnia, Macedonia, and Kosovo
Report — January 24, 2019
Self-Determination and the Struggle for Success: Generalizing the Findings
Report by Will Todman — January 24, 2019
Self-Determination and U.S. Choices
Report by Will Todman — January 24, 2019