Lowy Lecture Series: Richard Haass, President, Council on Foreign Relations

The so-called unipolar moment immediately following the fall of the Soviet Union was, insofar as it existed at all, a fleeting one. The United States remains first among unequals, but today’s world is increasingly defined by globalisation and by a diffusion of power in multiple forms to numerous entities, including state and non-state actors alike.

There are as well new (and very different) challenges to order in both the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific regions, while the gap between global challenges and the arrangements meant to manage them is large and in some cases getting larger. Making diplomacy even more difficult are dynamics within many of the world’s most important countries, dynamics that interfere with their ability to carry out foreign policies that contribute to world order.

On 25 February, Richard Haass, President of the Council on Foreign Relations, will describe what all these developments mean for the world and for relations among the world’s principal countries including Australia.

Richard Haass is the President of the Council on Foreign Relations and one of the world's foremost foreign policy practitioners and thinkers.

From January 2001 to June 2003, Dr Richard Haass was director of policy planning for the Department of State, where he was a principal adviser to Secretary of State Colin Powell. Dr Haass also served as U.S. coordinator for policy toward the future of Afghanistan and U.S. envoy to the Northern Ireland peace process. For his efforts, he received the State Department's Distinguished Honor Award.

Dr Haass is the author or editor of twelve books on American foreign policy and one book on management. His most recent book is Foreign Policy Begins at Home: The Case for Putting America's House in Order.

Dr Haass will be in Australia to participate at the 5th Regional Conference of the Council of Councils which will be hosted by the Lowy Institute from the 23 – 24 of February.