A guest in President Jim Gash’s Pepperdine President’s Speaker Series, Richard Haass, president emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations, led a discussion on the future of American Democracy and the role the next generation has in its success — or failure. The event took place Nov. 7, at the Elkins Auditorium.
Haass is no stranger to history’s plethora of obstacles and has created solutions to resolve some of her most challenging problems.
“Good things happen when good people make them happen,” Haass said.
Haass is a scholar and veteran in the world of international relations. As president emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations, a think tank dedicated to consulting and advising international governments and the private sector in matters of foreign policy, Haass is no stranger to international problem-solving.
Haass’ political career has included serving as director of policy planning with the Department of State and principal advisor to former Secretary of State, Colin Powell, as well as the U.S. envoy to Northern Ireland when they were negotiating peace between Irish Nationalist parties, according to the Council of Foreign Relations website.
Haass wanted to remind listeners that, while the needs that arise from war will change, the nature of war never changes.
“The challenge facing the United States is that we’ve got multiple geographies and multiple kinds of scenarios,” Haass said. “So, it’s very demanding. We don’t have the luxury of having a military that can only do one thing in one place.”
With experience in both American and foreign politics, Haass said he has concerns about the amount of activity America has had in foreign affairs. He spoke about America’s lengthy history of interfering in foreign politics.
“If we had this conversation 20 or so years ago, I would’ve argued that the biggest threat at times in what we were trying to do in the world was too much,” Haass said. “We were trying to transform the world. I now worry more about us doing too little.”
Haass encouraged students to involve themselves in community and city-wide politics, continuing to update themselves on current events and, most importantly, voting to become and remain informed citizens
Haass called for students and the next generation to learn information literacy and be aware of what information they consume.
“We have to become more critical consumers,” Hasss said.
Haass encouraged students to continue to do what has worked for America in the past: remain involved, stay informed about what’s happening in the world and learn how to listen when life starts sounding too familiar. Because history never repeats itself — but it does know how to rhyme, Haass said.
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Email Amari Venzor: amari.venzor@pepperdine.edu
