From the Director
- Beth A. Simmons
This fall marks the golden anniversary of the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs. This is an interesting moment in our history to try to understand both the global and institutional changes the Center has seen over the past fifty years. We have a good deal not only to celebrate but also to reflect upon.
A simple comparison of the issues that gave rise to the creation of the Weatherhead Center with those drawing the attention of scholars and policy makers today shows that there are indeed intractable problems of perennial concern in the modern world. The Center for International Affairs was founded at the height of the cold war, when military expenditures hovered—at least temporarily—at around 10% of U.S. gross domestic product. Today, at a time of war and insecurity, the United States considers a 2008 military budget of $624.8 billion, approximately 4–5% of its GDP. The year of the Center's founding, 1958, was a year consumed with fears of nuclear escalation. In the Quemoy-Matsu crisis with China that year, President Eisenhower considered but ultimately declined to give the 7th Fleet commander authority to order nuclear strikes against China, while Russia promptly informed the U.S. president that it would come to China's aid should the United States attack. Appropriately, “The future of WMD and the nuclear non-proliferation regime” will be the focus of one of our anniversary conference roundtables.
Nineteen fifty-eight also witnessed the United States involved militarily in the Middle East. Viewed as a key battleground in the cold war, the United States sent combat troops into Lebanon that year—the legacy of which continues to this day. For one of the plenary sessions, the fiftieth anniversary conference will again take up the subject of “Peace and Conflict in the Middle East.” From the cold war, to conflicts over national self-determination, to the war on terror, the Middle East has always been a core area of interest for this Center's scholars and affiliates.
Of course, the world is now a far different place from that in which this research institution was initiated. Concerns about nuclear balance have been overtaken by concerns about proliferation. Multilateralism had a very different role in American foreign policy in the years leading up to the establishment of Harvard's new center. The United States had only recently invested heavily in a broad array of cooperative multilateral institutions—the United Nations, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, the World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund—and was for the most part serious about working with and through them. Multilateralism can no longer be taken for granted as a central tenet in U.S. foreign policy, to say the least. In 1958, no one had heard about HIV or worried about the treatment of AIDS victims. Only a handful of international agreements addressed human rights issues. In 1958, if you mentioned terrorism, Raul Castro's kidnapping of fifty American and Canadian military personnel and civilians in Cuba would have come to mind. Today, it is associated with the words “global” and “transnational” and nears the top of the list of American security threats. Finally, who could have imagined in 1958 that (if a poll by the Guardian newspaper is to be believed) 75% of British voters would describe the U.S. president as “a great or moderate danger to peace,” outstripping the share who would describe the leader of North Korea in that way (69%)?
The Center and its local environment have changed drastically over the past fifty years as well. Back in those days, Octobers were cool and crisp. Students sported wool pullovers and cardigans, not the tank tops we see today. The personnel here at the Center have changed as well. The Center began with four Faculty Associates; today that number has soared to 136. Total grants for research in those days were $29,500. Last year alone, the Weatherhead Center allocated $871,000 to faculty research. At the Center's founding, none of its affiliates were women. Today, not only the Center Director but also 22.5% of the Executive Committee and 29.4% of Faculty Associates are female. When the Center opened its doors, it was designed with faculty and professional diplomats in mind. Today, we are fortunate to sharpen our wits and test our wisdom in discussion with two dozen Graduate Student Associates and twenty-seven Undergraduate Associates.
The keynote speaker for our fiftieth anniversary celebration reflects many of the challenges and changes our world has seen since the founding of the Center. In his lifetime, Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Mpilo Tutu, his people, his church, and his nation have had to face some of the most difficult issues of the late twentieth century. His opposition to apartheid, his commitment to stopping AIDS and treating its victims, his advocacy of inclusiveness for his church, and his dedication to peace distinguish him as one of the most significant social figures as well as humane individuals of our time. We look forward to welcoming him and hearing his words on November 15, when he will offer the Warren and Anita Manshel Lecture in American Foreign Policy at Harvard entitled “Goodness Triumphs Ultimately.”
This November we will also welcome back to our midst the Fellows whom we have had the pleasure to know and work with over the years. The Fellows bring to our research center the valuable perspective of practitioners. The Fellows Program is as old as the Center itself; established in 1958, it has brought prominent and promising individuals from the policy world to mingle with, learn from, and be a resource to our students and faculty. Their reunion will be one of the highlights of our anniversary celebration.
The Center's milestone anniversary will be marked by a combination of serious intellectual exchange as well as socializing. The theme chosen for the fiftieth anniversary is “Intractable Problems”—of which only a sampling has been alluded to above. This theme will draw attention to some of the most challenging policy issues the world has faced over the years. Some of these are relatively new, while others have deep roots in history and have occupied the attention of scholars at the Center for decades.
As we put the past fifty years into perspective, we aim to bring into better focus the problems the world will face in the future. The next half century will provide challenges new and old. The Weatherhead Center for International Affairs is well positioned to continue to make important contributions to the academic world as well as policy debates in the half-century to come.
Beth A. Simmons,
Center Director