Author discusses the end of American adventurism abroad

Trita Parsi, author and expert on United States foreign policy, addresses Russia’s urgency to invade Ukraine. // Photo courtesy of New America.

Hofstra’s Center for Civic Engagement’s Institute for Peace Studies, along with the Hofstra Cultural Center and Long Island Alliance for Peaceful Alternatives held its international scene lecture via Zoom on Wednesday, March 2, with co-directors of the series Carolyn Eisenberg, Linda Longmire and Martin Melkonian. Their returning guest speaker, renowned author Trita Parsi, is the 2010 recipient of the Grawemeyer Award for Ideas Improving World Order and was named by Washingtonian Magazine as one of the 50 most influential voices on foreign policy in Washington DC. Parsi’s expertise is on United States foreign policy, and his books pertain to issues in the Middle East, focusing on Iran and Israel.

At the start of the discussion, Longmire reflected on the global stress and geo-political uncertainty facing many staff members and students.

“I think we’re all feeling such enormous concern for students who are not only grappling with this [Ukraine] and an understanding and a kind of shock about what’s going on politically and globally, as well as dealing with the pandemic and environmental meltdown. These are times that require great courage to face that reality,” Longmire said.

Parsi offered insight into the recent statements made by Russia’s foreign minister. He addressed  Russia’s urgency to invade Ukraine before the country began building nuclear weapons as a statement reverberating back to when the United States heard about the possibility of weapons of mass destruction being developed in Iraq, which led to the invasion in 2003.

“I think this is a reminder to us that when those international laws and norms are broadly broken, that will backfire on all of us, including ourselves here in the United States,” Parsi stated. “At the end of the day, we do need a system of international rules and a rules-based system to make ourselves safe. We cannot just rely on our military. The difference is, of course, we are in a situation in which the notion of a rules-based order has become increasingly hollow and it became even more so after Putin did what he did.”

Marissa Hopps, a senior psychology major, is happy that Hofstra acknowledges that its staff are not the only experts. According to Hopps, it’s critical that students are exposed to educators and professionals outside of the Hofstra community.

“Although it was not the original intent for the event,” Hopps said. “I think talking about the current situation in Russia and Ukraine was not only a way to educate concerned students, but to open the line of communication. It was especially great that the speaker was open to answering questions throughout his talk, rather than limiting it to one to two questions at the end of the event.”

John Mesko, a senior criminology major, states that he became “aware of the extent of the United States’ public’s general opinion in relation to using military force as a form of intervention.”

“I think that this cultural shift in the public is important as the country’s elected officials are part of the older generation, which the speaker said [is] more in favor of military-style intervention,” Mesko said.

Parsi urged students to understand that we are in a situation where there will be an upheaval in the United States regarding the appearance and structure of international relations. Parsi does have faith that the United States will trend toward seeking to police the world less.

“It’s not going to be an easy process; it’s not going to be a straight process,” Parsi said. “There’s times when we will take steps forward and times when we will take steps back. Even what the president has done in Ukraine shows a great deal of sensitivity to those trends.”

Parsi strongly believes that youth who are more active in government will be the most effective at making policy changes. He explained that change starts with Congress since it is the most responsive institution given its structure and number of elections.

“The huge gap that currently exists between the opinions of the public on what policy should be and what the elite opinion tends to be, that gap is dangerous for American democracy and that gap needs to be bridged,” Parsi stated. “One way of doing it is, of course, for younger people to get involved in government.”