The art of diplomatic relations and negotiations is as old as civilization itself. However, the State Department did not have…
George Shultz: “Your Country is the United States”
George P. Shultz was Secretary of State for President Reagan from 1982 to 1989, the longest such tenure since Dean…
Trouble in Chiapas: The Zapatista Revolt
Economic development in Mexico has been uneven for generations, as some blamed the implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)…
Naming Names: U.S. Embassy Jakarta and Indonesian Purges 1965-1966
An article by an American reporter alleged that the U.S. embassy in Jakarta played a role in the Indonesian massacres…
One Laptop Per Child — A Paradigm Shift in Education
According to a 2015 Brookings study, while the number of children attending primary school globally has grown dramatically over the…
Beijing Spring and the Lead-up to Tiananmen Square
The iconic image of the Tiananmen Square demonstrations and brutal government crackdown on the peaceful demonstrators is that of the…
A Front Row Seat to the 1975 Coup d’Etat in Chad
Throughout the 1970s, trouble was brewing in Chad. President François (N’Garta) Tombalbaye was the first president of Chad following its…
Death of an AUB President and Father of a Future NBA Coach
He was a brilliant scholar who focused on the Middle East and whose books were widely read by Arabists. His…
Selwa Roosevelt: The Lucky Chief of Protocol
Selwa “Lucky” Roosevelt is best known for her role as Chief of Protocol of the United States from 1982 to…
Strobe Talbott — “We’re Menaced by the Zombie Behavior of Nations”
Strobe Talbott assumed the presidency of the Brookings Institution in July 2002 after a career in journalism, government and academia.…