Hits and Messes II

Week two of my Class/Lecture Series on "Great Decisions" in which the four Grand Rapids area colleges participate. You can view a different take, one which I work on with my editor at the Rapidian. Find it at www.rapidian.org.rapidian. Great Decisions is put on by the World Affairs Council of West Michigan, and I thank them. Enjoy

Hits and Messes   > Part ii              

Dr. Stewart Patrick, Senior Fellow and Director, Program on International Institutions and Global Governance, at the Council on Foreign Relations, Washington, D.C., was the speaker at tonight’s lecture. Host of the event, Ellen Levey, Chairperson of the Great Decisions program for World Affairs Council of West Michigan, introduced Paul Carrier, Thomas M. Cooley Law School, who spoke briefly on the system of support the Great Decisions series enjoys. The speaker was then introduced. Needed: a New World Order was based primarily on the speaker’s book: The Origins of American Multilateralism and the Dawn of the Cold War*. ‘The Great Decisions Study Guide”, available at the door, is also helpful.

Needed: a New World Order, quickly defined its meaning, in that it is NOT a one world Government, but a reckoning of the parts played by the actors in world Governance. These actors are The U.N., the World Health Organization and the World Monetary fund  to name a few.  The place they occupy, and the power they wield have undergone major change since the post-World War II world in which they were conceived. That the U.S. is no longer willing or able to be the sole benefactor in a world of “China Rising” and ever increasing numbers of countries joining the World Stage, are the message of the talk.

Germany Rising: February 21, 6P.M.:Great Decisions next lecture will be given by   

Dr. Jackson Janes, Executive Director, American Institute for Contemporary German studies at Johns Hopkins University. This lecture will explore the role of the new, United, Germany in the European Union. Much has been made of the economic powerhouse Germany has become in the new Europe, financing the saving of Greece and Ireland. The Speaker’s Essay :’ The Need for a Narrative, will explain this, the need for networks and answers, and much more.