Lee H. Hamilton Addresses U.S. Diplomacy at 20th Lynch Lecture
On October 22nd, at the National Press Club, ICAR celebrated the 20th Annual Lynch Lecture featuring the Honorable Lee H. Hamilton. For a gathering of nearly two hundred faculty, staff, students and friends of ICAR, Mr. Hamilton's reflections centered on the Importance of Diplomacy when Dealing with Intractable Conflicts.
ICAR established the lecture series to bring the idea and theory of conflict analysis and resolution to the attention of the entire University community and to express our gratitude to Edwin and Helen Lynch. The lecture series serves as a way to expand our thinking about deep-rooted and protracted conflicts. This year we looked for insights on what to do about the ruptures in U.S. relationships with leaders and members of other countries and communities around the world.
Mr. Hamilton was an excellent candidate. Serving for 34 years in the U.S. House of Representatives as chair and ranking member of many committees. Lee is perhaps best known for his role as Co-Chair (with former Secretary of State James Baker) of the Iraq Study Group and Vice-Chair of the (9/11) National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States. Lee is now the President and Director of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.
Hamilton began by contextualizing diplomacy: that it is no panacea and that it has limitations. Offering nearly a dozen tenants of diplomacy, several challenging U.S. foreign policy strategy (see http://icar.gmu.edu for full speech), he urged a loosening of pre-conditions to negotiation: "Demanding that certain conditions be met before we come to the negotiating table is a path to failure. Often, it strengthens the hand of radicals within regimes, and weakens the hand of those that America would like to strengthen. "He also spoke to what conflict intervenes already know—that all parties must be brought to the table—when reflecting on the Middle East: "I don't see how we deal with those problems— whether it is the chaos in Iraq, the Arab-Israeli dispute, nuclear proliferation, or the instability in Lebanon—if we only talk to our friends, but not our adversaries. Exclusivity, that is excluding parties that have an interest, is also a path to failure.
"Noting the Iraq Study Group's recommendation to engage Iran and Syria, he reflected on similar experiences in thawing the Cold war. He spoke of the long lists of deep grievances between Russia and the U.S., and how representatives addressed these grievances by giving speeches at each other: "And then something began to happen. I don't know how long it took us, 10, 15 years. But then we put away the set speeches and we began to talk with one another. And we got to know one another. We got to understand one another a little better. And all through this period of time keep in mind that not one single shot was fired."
Mr. Hamilton concluded by making a case for dealing with the complexity of the world, beyond the notion of trying to determine good and evil, and the critical task of working with allies, international institutions, and specifically the United Nations. His plea for practicality and pragmatics, as an alternative to forcing others to meet our goals was refreshing, as was his pitch for the American people: "The people want us to engage in diplomacy with our adversaries, not just our friends. The people want us to reduce our dependence on oil. The people want us to maintain strong alliances. To succeed, U.S. foreign policy must have a sensitive ear always respectfully tuned to the voice of the people. "Following Mr. Hamilton's remarks, a group of ICAR faculty joined him in a semicircle, to prod further on questions provoked by his remarks. And as the lecture came to a close, it became clear that this was the beginning of the dialogue on diplomacy with Lee Hamilton, not the end.