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  2. Brzezinski Institute on Geostrategy
  3. Project on History and Strategy
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Project on History and Strategy

“The American approach to the world is profoundly unhistorical” — Zbigniew Brzezinski

In an era of renewed great power competition, technological revolution, and fundamental changes to the pillars of American strategy, the lessons of history for statecraft could not be more important. Policymakers confronting urgent situations with limited time and energy find themselves relying on platitudes about “a new Marshall Plan,” or “Vietnam all over again,” while professional historians have the time and expertise to dispel those notions and suggest more relevant metaphors. Rather than expecting policymakers to become historians, or vice versa, the solution is to create a marketplace where deep scholarly research can be tailored to the speed of Washington, translated to be useful, and pre-positioned to achieve maximum impact.

(Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Dr. Philip Zelikow joined Seth Center and PHS in September 2019 for a discussion on the decisions and processes that ended the Cold War.)

The Project on History and Strategy continues the Brzezinski legacy of rigorous, uncompromising pursuit of scholarship informing strategic analyses of the world’s most consequential geostrategic challenges. It is a marketplace where policy-oriented historical scholarship is made accessible and useful to current, future and former policymakers. The Project’s goals include encouraging policy-oriented historical research; identifying gaps in the research that would be relevant to today’s policy challenges; developing young and diverse scholars and networking them into the policy community; shaping a cadre of scholar-practitioners who value historical sensibility; and forging the connections needed for policymakers and historians to be more useful to each other.

PHS Insight Memos

Waiting for a Sputnik Moment? Insights from the Eisenhower Administration’s Response
Building an Innovation Infrastructure: Insights from the Rise of the NSF
Soviet and American Science & Technology Policies

 



(Historians Dr. Francis Gavin, and Dr. Melvyn Leffler joined CSIS Freeman Chair Jude Blanchette and PHS's Emma Bates in December 2019 to discuss the pitfalls and attractions of a Cold War analogy for today's competition with China.)

Most Recent

Report
Women and Statecraft History: A Compilation of Personal Essays by Women Historians
December 1, 2020
On Demand Event
On Demand: Women and Statecraft History Rollout
December 1, 2020
On Demand Event
Online Book Event: H.R. McMaster: Battlegrounds
October 8, 2020
On Demand Event
Online Event: How Ike Led: A Conversation with Susan Eisenhower
September 10, 2020
On Demand Event
Online Event: After Disruption: Historical Perspectives on the Future of International Order
September 2, 2020
Report
After Disruption: Historical Perspectives on the Future of International Order
September 2, 2020
On Demand Event
Online Event: Memory Wars
August 12, 2020
On Demand Event
Online Event: The New China Rules
August 5, 2020
View all content associated with this program

Brzezinski Institute on Geostrategy

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  • Project on History and Strategy
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    • The 2020 Summer Institute on Conducting Archival Research
    • Zooming Out
  • Why Geostrategy
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Tel: 202.775.3242

Contact Paige Montfort
Media Relations Coordinator, External Relations
Tel: 202.775.3173

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