NEWS AND VIEWS: 60th anniversary of SAIS and the future of Ukraine (02/27/05)

NEWS AND VIEWS

60th anniversary of SAIS and the future of Ukraine

by Christine Hoshowsky

It was my privilege to attend the 60th anniversary celebration of the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at the Johns Hopkins University on October 13, 2004. The anniversary program featured a convocation on "Foreign Policy Challenges for the Next U.S. Administration."

Sixty years ago, when SAIS was created, the founders, Paul H. Nitze and Christen A. Herter, diplomats and statesmen during the Cold War, understood the need for preparing cadres of politically astute and well-educated individuals who would serve the best interests of our nation in words and deeds, and lead us away from isolationism to internationalism. To this purpose they dedicated the School of Advanced International Studies.

Sixty years ago when SAIS was established, the Allies led the charge against a fraying Nazi-Fascist coalition while, simultaneously, they planned a new world order based on a policy of inclusion. Inclusion took the form of membership in the United Nations. Post-World War II super-power diplomacy, riveted on the free vs. the communist worlds, could always find a staging area at the United Nations. As 19th century colonial empires collapsed in Africa, the subcontinent of Asia and Southeast Asia, they were replaced by emancipated but struggling Third World nations that quickly petitioned for membership to the U.N. The Western Alliance, in the vanguard of internationalism, strengthened its bonds with Japan, Taiwan, South Korea and, eventually, Red China, thus bringing Far Asia into its fold. Finally, the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe toward the end of the century led to a direct dialogue and growing partnership with these newly independent nations that clamored for recognition and involvement in the global theater.

As we tapped the world body politic in favor of internationalism, the course of inclusion came to an end. Third World nations, many of them lacking in democratic traditions and free-market ideology threatened to tip the scales of world governance away from western sensibilities of liberty and justice to more provincial, regional and national self-interests. At this fork in the road, the United States together with its associates turned resolutely against the axis of evil and moved forward along the path of greater global freedom, prosperity and justice.

Today, America stands at the forefront of a new diplomatic age. The new diplomacy, as yet elusive, betrays the contours of an ideology of "exclusivity." "Exclusivity" as a structural dynamic can be understood as a coalition of nations that stands tall against terrorism and accepts the principles of democracy and free market economics. Inherent in this ideology is an ongoing realignment of partners away from the traditional geo-political alliances of the past to a more fluid global mix of like-minded nations which President George W. Bush dubbed the "Coalition of the Willing." Membership in this coalition is voluntary and may shift on issues of trade, human rights, nuclear proliferation, terrorism, nation-building and territorial disputes. Overtime the "Coalition of the Willing" will gain momentum and grow. When that happens, the ideology of exclusivity will emerge as a policy of inclusion but, this time, with a decidedly democratic, capitalist and humanitarian persuasion.

As in those keen moments of histories past when mankind collided with destiny to forge new avenues of human expression and reality, we are again engaged in a fundamental change in man's perception of who he is and where he is going. Today, Ukraine and Iraq have center stage in this unfolding drama. Poignantly, Paul Nitze chose to exit the theater only days following the gala celebration honoring his achievement. No doubt he felt confident that his legacy will prevail against the maelstrom.

With the lines of a panther and the musicality of angels, mankind surpasses other species and reaches for the hand of God. Somewhere in the midst of this dichotomy, between the physical and the metaphysical, reason embraces humanity with sufficient ardor to propel us forward to new vistas and opportunities and so to garner a smile from long-slumbering Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (philosopher and scholar, 1463-1494) and a nod from now departed Nitze.

Deans David M. Lampton and Jessica P. Einhorn, along with the faculty of SAIS, paid tribute to their predecessors by engaging their guests in an academic pursuit with practical application. All that remains to be done is to build on Nitze's legacy. It would be truly remarkable, inspiring, edifying not to mention heroic and prestigious for SAIS to open a branch of its "university for diplomacy" in Ukraine to serve the East European block of nations as they travel the road to democracy, capitalism and full participation in the global community.

Hope springs eternal. In this moment in time, may it once again prevail.

Christine Hoshowsky Ph.D. of Rochester, N.Y., is an alumna of Johns Hopkins University. She is also a member of the Shevchenko Society, and education chair and historian of the Rochester Ukrainian Group.

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