Why is it important to include an understanding of history in the making of statecraft?

History enables leaders to assess past experiences and learn from ill-conceived policies. History can provide policymakers with a deeper sense of perspective, an appreciation of past patterns and the wisdom to implement more effective policies for the future. Yet, history is, to a large extent, neglected by policymakers. Can the gap between history and policymaking, and between academic institutions and practitioners be overcome? How can the pressures to act rapidly, and an understanding of history’s complexity go hand in hand? These issues will be discussed by a panel of international experts.

Introduction and chair:

Dr. Barbara Zanchetta, King’s College London

Barbara Zanchetta is Lecturer in Diplomacy and Foreign Policy at the Department of War Studies of King’s College London. She is the co-author of Transatlantic Relations since 1945 (2012), and the author of The Transformation of American International Power in the 1970s (2014). She is currently working on book provisionally entitled The United States and the “Arc of Crisis”: America, Radical Islam and the End of the Cold War.
 

Speakers:

Professor Mohammad-Mahmoud Ould Mohamedou, The Graduate Institute Geneva

“History and Statecraft in the Middle East”

Mohammad-Mahmoud Ould Mohamedou is Professor of International History and Chair of the International History Department at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva. Previously the Associate Director of the Programme on Humanitarian Policy and Conflict Research at Harvard University, he also teaches at the Doctoral School at Sciences Po Paris. He is the author of Iraq and the Second Gulf War – State-building and Regime Security (2002), Understanding Al Qaeda – Changing War and Global Politics (2011) and A Theory of ISIS – Political Violence and the Transformation of the Global Order (2017), and co-editor of Democratisation in the 21st Century (2016).

Professor Jussi Hanhimäki, The Graduate Institute Geneva

“History and Statecraft in Transatlantic Relations”

Jussi Hanhimäki is Professor of International History at the Graduate Institute, Geneva and an editor of the journal Cold War History. His books include: The Flawed Architect: Henry Kissinger and American Foreign Policy (2004); United Nations: A Very Short Introduction (2008, 2015); The Rise and Fall of Détente: American Foreign Policy and the Transformation of the  Cold War (2013); Transatlantic Relations Since 1945: An Introduction (co-authored with Benedikt Schoenborn and Barbara Zanchetta, 2012); Routledge Handbook of Transatlantic Security (Edited with Georges-Henri Soutou and Basil Germond, 2010). He is currently working on a book on transatlantic relations since the end of the Cold War.