Deputy Secretary of State William J. Burns delivered Friday's keynote address on America's position in the Middle East to officially open this year's EPIIC symposium.
Following an introduction from Provost David Harris who thanked the event's sponsors including the Bendetson family, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and the board of the Institute for Global Leadership (IGL), IGL Director Sherman Teichman acknowledged the work that made the event possible.
"This evening is the product of an extraordinary fusion, an intellectual collaboration," he said. "Our students are our core, they are our metric, our beating heart."
Dean of the Fletcher School Admiral James Stavridis introduced Burns, who has served in the foreign service for 32 years in positions that include Ambassador to Russia and to Jordan.
"[His current position] speaks volumes about his professionalism, [his] deep knowledge of the world and his leadership," Stravridis said. "He is endlessly kind, thoughtful and leads by example in every case. You are in for an enormous treat tonight from America's leading diplomat."
Burns began by explaining an important lesson he learned during his service and work on Middle Eastern issues.
"The Middle East is a place where pessimists seldom lack for company or validation, where skeptics hardly ever see wrong," he said. "It's a place where American policy makers often learn humility the hard way."
Burns said that change in the Middle East is challenging to come by, and that it is often nonlinear, messy, cruel and unpredictable.
"I've learned that stability is not a static phenomenon and that regimes which do not offer their citizens a sense of political dignity and economic possibility ultimately become brittle and break," he said.
Burns discussed why the Middle East still matters in American foreign policy and how it is changing. He then outlined elements of a positive American policy agenda in the region.
"It is a truism that America's chief foreign policy challenge[s] are domestic renewal, strengthening our homegrown capacity to compete [and] promote our interests and values around the world," he said. "We don't have the luxury of pivoting away the Middle East, which often has a nasty way of reminding us of its relevance."
Burns said that the second Arab awakening is about several different layers of change, and that revolutions leave open spaces for extremists to take advantage of. Those changes will come down to the question of whether the Arab world will become one in which an old order is replaced by democratic states or one in which extremists emerge in leadership roles, he said.
"The United States has a powerful stake in that very complex competition and in shaping the careful long term strategy we're enhancing the chances for a new moderate order which best protects our interests and reflects our values," he said. "What we need to convey is a clear sense of what we stand for, not just what we stand against - an agenda that offers a powerful antidote to extremists."
According to Burns, the best way to promote that agenda is through a long-term, workable American strategy with three interconnected aspects: support for pluralism and democratic change, economic opportunity and regional peace and security.
Burns then briefly talked about Syria, Iran and the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. He said that the United States cannot afford to pull back because, with persistence, it can make a difference in the region.
"These are areas in which American policy can make a difference and within which we have a profound stake," he said. "Our interests and credibility are at risk."
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