Spring Newsletter
May 2018
Letter from the Director
Dear Friends,

The Kissinger Center recently marked its first full year as part of SAIS and the broader Johns Hopkins University community. The Center was established to create a world-class, interdisciplinary research institute focused on history, strategy, and statecraft. Our mission is to generate and apply rigorous historical thinking to the most vexing global challenges we face today -- from the return of great power politics and a weakening U.S.-led international order, to emerging new threats such as cyber warfare, artificial intelligence, and climate change. Indeed, these challenges have only become more acute over the past year.

In a short period of time, we've already taken great strides towards accomplishing our goals. The center has attracted top talent, adding two new senior professors and two non-resident scholars to our faculty. We have built an innovative new curriculum, centered on the new year-long Kissinger Seminar. And we have created or transitioned to SAIS a number of exciting programs and fellowships that are already leading the field. There is still much to do. We hope you enjoy learning about what we've been up to and that you will join us in the future.

Sincerely,
Francis J. Gavin
Giovanni Agnelli Distinguished Professor and Director of the Kissinger Center 
New Scholars Join the Kissinger Center
Mary Elise Sarotte joins the Kissinger Center as the Marie-Josée and Henry R. Kravis Distinguished Professor of Historical Studies. Sarotte is the author of a number of award-winning books, including The Collapse: The Accidental Opening of the Berlin Wall and 1989: The Struggle to Create Post-Cold War Europe. She previously served as a White House fellow and on the faculty of the University of Cambridge and the University of Southern California. Sarotte earned her PhD from Yale University.


Kathleen Hicks is the inaugural Donald Marron Scholar. Hicks is senior vice president, Henry A. Kissinger Chair, and director of the International Security Program at CSIS. She served in the Obama administration as principal deputy under secretary of defense for policy and deputy under secretary of defense for strategy, plans, and forces. Hicks currently serves on the Boards of Advisors for the Truman Center and Soldier Strong. She also serves on the Commission on the National Defense Strategy. She earned her PhD from MIT.


James B. Steinberg joins the Kissinger Center as a Senior Fellow. He is a Professor of Social Science, International Affairs and Law at Syracuse University and served as Dean of the Maxwell School from July 2011 until June 2016. Previously, he served as Deputy Secretary of State (2009-2011), Dean of the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas (2005-2008), vice president and director of Foreign Policy Studies at the Brookings Institution (2001-2005), and deputy national security advisor (1996- 2000). Steinberg earned a J.D. from Yale University.


New Helmut Schmidt Professor
With support from the German Academic Exchange (DAAD), the Kissinger Center is pleased to welcome the inaugural Helmut Schmidt Distinguished Professor and six postdoctoral students who will examine "The United States, Europe, and World Order."

Kristina Spohr is an associate professor at the London School of Economics, specializing in the International History of Germany since 1945 and the theory and practice of contemporary history. She is author of  The Global Chancellor : Helmut Schmidt and the Reshaping of the International Order  and lead-author of a co-edited volume  Transcending the Cold War : Summits, Statecraft, and the Dissolution of Bipolarity in Europe, 1970-1990 . Spohr earned her PhD from the University of Cambridge.
Joining Professor Spohr will be six postdoctoral fellows who will be affiliated with the Kissinger Center and the Foreign Policy Institute at Johns Hopkins SAIS.
Hot Off the Press
American Grand Strategy
in the Age of Trump

In American Grand Strategy in the Age of Trump, Henry A. Kissinger Distinguished Professor Hal Brands looks beyond the headlines to address the enduring strategic questions facing the United States today.
Chaos in the Liberal Order


Co-edited by Kissinger Center Director Francis Gavin , Chaos in the Liberal Order explores the global trends that led to Donald Trump’s stunning victory and the impact his presidency will have on the international political landscape.
A Glass Half Full?


Following up on their 2014 book,  Strategic Reassurance and Resolve, James Steinberg and Michael O'Hanlon assess the current state of Sino-American relations and suggest measures that could help stabilize the security relationship. 
Curriculum
Inaugural Kissinger Seminar a Success
Conceived by Professors Gavin and Brands, the center's signature seminar is a year-long course that provides students with an introduction to issues of strategy, statecraft, and decision-making, framed against the history of U.S. foreign policy. Inspired by Dr. Kissinger’s leadership of the Harvard International Seminar, the course is designed to provide graduate students with a firm grounding in history and interdisciplinary tools to address contemporary global challenges.
"The yearlong Kissinger Seminar is Johns Hopkins SAIS at its absolute best: immensely challenging but incredibly rewarding. The first semester’s historical policy approach creates a foundation of knowledge that provides perspective and understanding. The second semester focus on contemporary policy challenges makes students smarter strategists and policy makers."
-- Nick Schifrin, MIPP candidate and
Peabody Award-winning Journalist

Programs
Kissinger Center Hosts the International Policy Scholars Consortium and Network

IPSCON at a Glance
The International Policy Scholar Consortium and Network (IPSCON) is a multi-year initiative funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York that aims to create a cohort of scholar-practitioners who understand the problems and perspectives of each world and can successfully pursue careers in both.
Annual Workshop in DC Features Panel on Policy Planning
In December, the Kissinger Center hosted the third annual IPSCON workshop in DC. The workshop brought together PhD candidates from seven consortium universities – Duke, Johns Hopkins SAIS, Syracuse, MIT, Stanford, the University of Indiana, and the University of Virginia – to explore how the latest scholarship in political science and history can help address the pressing real-world challenges faced by policymakers. Speakers included Will Hitchcock, author of The Age of Eisenhower: America and the World in the 1950s , and Brian Hook, Senior Policy Advisor to the Secretary of State and Director of Policy Planning.
IPSCON Expands to Include At-Large Junior Scholars
For the first time, IPSCON has has expanded to include candidates from beyond the seven consortium universities. In 2018/2019 the program looks forward to welcoming five at-large junior scholars from Columbia University, Harvard University, Princeton University, the University of North Carolina, and the University of Texas.
First Annual Future Strategy Forum
Partnering with the Smart Women, Smart Power Initiative at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the Kissinger Center created the Future Strategy Forum, a way to connect women scholars and graduate students who research national security with its leading practitioners. This year's conference, themed "The Future of Force," featured all women-panels devoted to the changing character of warfare.
Nuclear Studies Research Initiative Explores the Future of Nuclear Strategy

In September, the Kissinger Center's Nuclear Studies Research Initiative (NSRI), a program to support and expand the renaissance in nuclear studies, partnered with the Nuclear Security Working Group at George Washington University to host a conference to discuss the future of nuclear strategy, security, and statecraft. The meeting brought together key actors in the field and sought to develop an intellectual agenda and identify key issues, areas of agreement and disagreement, and strategies for moving forward with a rigorous, policy relevant, interdisciplinary scholarly agenda. The event was supported by the Carnegie Corporation and the MacArthur Foundation.
Research Workshop Provides Students Insights into the World of Academic Publishing

In April, the Kissinger Center launched its new Research Workshop, a forum for junior faculty and PhD students to workshop new ideas or works-in-progress and gain professional development. The inaugural session focused on the ins and outs of academic publishing. Susan Ferber, Executive Editor at Oxford University Press, and Eric Crahan, Senior Editor at Princeton University Press, were available to provide publishing help and advice.
Recent Events
Kissinger Center and Brookings Partner to Launch Justin Vaïsse's New Biography of Zbigniew Brzezinski
In conjunction with the Center on the United States and Europe at the Brookings Institution and the Foreign Policy Institute at SAIS, the Kissinger Center hosted a launch event for Justin Vaïsse's new book Zbigniew Brzezinski: America's Grand Strategist. The event included a panel discussion, featuring professors Francis Gavin and Mary Sarotte, on Brzezinski's legacy as a statesman and scholar.
Dinner Discussion Examines American Exceptionalism

The Kissinger Center gathered a small group of scholars and practitioners to discuss the controversial concept of American exceptionalism. The event aimed to support current writing projects by Robert Zoellick, former President of the World Bank, and Jake Sullivan, former National Security Advisor to the Vice President. Walter McDougall offered opening remarks drawing on his article " The Unlikely History of American Exceptionalism ."
Panel Weighs In On the Future of World Order

Dr. Henry Kissinger and Eric Schmidt, the former Executive Chairman of Google and parent company Alphabet Inc., were among those who gathered to discuss the future of world order at a recent panel event convened by the Kissinger Center.
Fellowships and Prizes
As part of its mission to advance academic excellence and help bridge the divide between scholarly research and policymaking, the Kissinger Center has created a number of new fellowships and awards available to SAIS students. Among these, the Kissinger Summer Fellowships are designed to support students pursuing internships with a strong research or policy component. This year's recipients are:

  • Brian Hart (Chinese and American Studies) will be a Research Intern for the Freeman Chair in China Studies at CSIS in Washington, DC
  • Devan Kerley (Strategic Studies) will intern at the Department of State at the U.S. mission to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe in Vienna, Austria
  • Peter Kunze (Strategic Studies) will intern at the Department of State at the Southeast Europe Desk.

Congratulations to all recipients!
Looking Ahead
Kissinger Center to Offer New Undergraduate Course

Next Spring, the Kissinger Center will offer an undergraduate Seminar in Grand Strategy at Johns Hopkins Homewood campus in Baltimore, Maryland. The course will cover both past and contemporary American grand strategy and create new opportunities for undergraduates to interact with policymakers and world leaders in Washington, DC. The course is part of a broader effort across Johns Hopkins University to better integrate undergraduate and graduate education.


Please visit our website or follow us on Twitter to stay up-to-date on all the latest events happening at the Kissinger Center.