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About the Program

The Phoenix Committee on Foreign Relations and the Arizona House of Representatives Office of International affairs, in partnership with the Mexican Consulate in Phoenix, invite you to participate in a special program to celebrate the bicentennial of diplomatic relations between the U.S. and Mexico.

Join us at the Phoenix Art Museum for a reception, dinner program and art performances.

Date to be determined.

Certain exhibits at the Phoenix Art Museum are included such as Desert Rider, an exhibition inspired by modes of transportation in the Southwest that invite both reflection and introspection of our collective cultural imagination focusing almost exclusively on Latinx and Indigenous perspectives.

Speakers and program to be announced soon.

America's Great-Power Opportunity: Revitalizing U.S. Foreign Policy to Meet the Challenges of Strategic Competition

Featuring Ali Wyne, Senior Analyst, Eurasia Group's Global Macro Practice

It has become axiomatic to contend that U.S. foreign policy must adapt to an era of renewed “great-power competition.” The United States went on a quarter-century strategic detour after the Cold War, the argument goes, basking in triumphalism and getting bogged down in the Middle East. Now China and Russia are increasingly challenging its influence and undercutting the order it has led since 1945. How should it respond to these two formidable authoritarian powers?

In this timely intervention, Ali Wyne offers the first detailed critique of great-power competition as a foreign policy framework, warning that it could render the United States defensive and reactive. He exhorts Washington to find a middle ground between complacence and consternation, selectively contesting Beijing and Moscow but not allowing their decisions to determine its own course. Analyzing a resurgent China, a disruptive Russia, and a deepening Sino-Russian entente, Wyne explains how the United States can seize the "great-power opportunity" at hand: to manage all three of those phenomena confidently while renewing itself at home and abroad.

Registration

Complimentary Registration

SIGN UP

Schedule

September 13, 2022

12 pm MST | 3 pm EDT

Venue

Zoom Meeting

The link for this webinar will be included in your registration confirmation email.

Speaker

Ali Wyne

Senior Analyst

Eurasia Group's Global Macro Practice

Ali Wyne is a senior analyst with Eurasia Group's Global Macro practice, focusing on U.S.-China relations and great-power competition.

Ali served as a junior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace from 2008 to 2009, working for Minxin Pei and Michael Swaine, and as a research assistant at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs from 2009 to 2012, working for Graham Allison. In 2013 he served on a team that prepared Samantha Power for her confirmation hearing to be ambassador to the United Nations. From 2014 to 2015 he belonged to the RAND Corporation's adjunct staff, working with the late Richard Solomon on its "Strategic Rethink" series. He returned to RAND in 2017 and served as a policy analyst in its Defense and Political Sciences Department until 2020. He has also been a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council's Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security and a nonresident fellow at the Modern War Institute.

Ali graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with dual degrees in Management Science and Political Science (2008) and received his Master in Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School (2017), where he was a course assistant to Joseph Nye. While at the Kennedy School he served on a Hillary for America working group on U.S. policy towards Asia.

Ali is a coauthor of Lee Kuan Yew: The Grand Master's Insights on China, the United States, and the World (2013) and the author of America's Great-Power Opportunity: Revitalizing U.S. Foreign Policy to Meet the Challenges of Strategic Competition (2022).

Ali is a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a David Rockefeller fellow with the Trilateral Commission, and a security fellow with the Truman National Security Project. He also serves as a member of Foreign Policy for America's Board of Directors and as a member of the American Pakistan Foundation's Leadership Council.

Bonus: Join us to discuss the book on Sept. 30!

Our Reading Group will discuss Ali Wyne's book in our September 30th program. Learn more & sign up

Program Description

Registration is now open for 2022 Great Decisions sponsored by the Foreign Policy Association! PCFR and Global Ties Arizona have partnered again this year to bring the program and materials at no cost to our members.  PCFR members loved participating in Foreign Policy Association’s Great Decisions series in 2020 and 2021. Here is what PCFR member Charles Blum had to say about the program: “Great Decisions and PCFR are a perfect match. This program provides an ideal platform for informed discussion, deeper insights into current issues and greater appreciation for the insights and experiences of our members.” Over the next 9 months, PCFR members who participate in this small discussion group will have the opportunity to dive deep on 9 of the most critical issues facing U.S. foreign policy makers. Prior to each virtual session throughout the calendar year, participants will read a chapter from the Great Decisions Briefing Book and watch the associated video. Each session will feature a subject-matter expert and members have the opportunity to participate in the group discussions. PCFR member Charles Blum will moderate the series.  PCFR and Global Ties Arizona are covering the cost of the Great Decisions Briefing Book (a $35 value) for PCFR members. Be sure to save your spot.  Great Decisions is limited to 25 PCFR members.

How to Participate

1. Fill out the form to register to participate and receive your complimentary Great Decisions Briefing Book
2. You will receive a link to watch the program videos
3. Participate in the discussion!

Schedule 

All sessions will take place from 12 pm - 1 pm Phoenix, Arizona time, online via Zoom.

March 1, 2022 | Biden's Agenda

March 15, 2022 | QUAD Alliance

April 19, 2022 | Drug Policy in Latin America

May 17, 2022 | Industrial Policy

June 21, 2022 | Outer Space

September 20, 2022 | Myanmar and ASEAN

October 25, 2022 | Changing Demographics

November 15, 2022 | Climate Change

December 13, 2022 | Russia and the U.S.

VIEW FULL TOPIC DESCRIPTIONS HERE

Moderator

Charles Blum has spent a lifetime in international affairs. Before launching an independent consultancy in 1988, he served in the US State Department and the Executive Office of the President for 17 years. He has worked on commercial, investment and policy matters on six continents and participates in a broad range of discussions on foreign and domestic policy. A native of New York, he now resides in Sedona, AZ.

Food Insecurity and Its Rising Threat

Featuring Dr. Miguel Rodrigues, Economic and Commercial Officer, Office of Agricultural Policy, U.S. Department of State

One in nine people worldwide is chronically undernourished. That's 815 million people, including 38 million in the United States and nearly 800,000 in Arizona. How does this affect our national and global security?

Please join PCFR to hear from Dr. Miguel Rodrigues, the Economic and Commercial Officer in the Office of Agricultural Policy at the US Department of State, to learn about the global food crisis and its effects on national and global security.

Registration

Complimentary Registration

SIGN UP

Schedule

September 21, 2022

12 pm MST | 3 pm EDT

Venue

Zoom Meeting

The link for this webinar will be included in your registration confirmation email.

Speaker

Dr. Miguel Rodrigues

Economic and Commercial Officer

Office of Agricultural Policy

U.S. Department of State

Dr. Miguel Rodrigues is a Foreign Service Officer with the U.S. Department of State, currently working as an Economic and Commercial Officer in the Office of Agricultural Policy. In 25 years of Federal service, Miguel has covered a range of issues – global health, the Arctic Council, science and technology, innovation, energy security, IPR protections, macroeconomic policy, and now, food security.

He has served in the U.S. Embassies in Lithuania, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, and Canada, and domestically on the Secretary of State’s Policy Planning Staff focusing on the European Union and its member states, the Western Hemisphere, and global health. Other domestic assignments include the Estonia/Finland desk, the Jamaica desk, the Department’s Avian and Pandemic Influenza Action Group, the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI), the Naval War College, and the Office of the Chief Economist. While a Visiting Fellow at a Washington think tank, Miguel convened and moderated roundtables and wrote papers on the Eurozone, energy security, and European integration.

Miguel trained as a physician (radiologist), and has masters degrees in public health (Harvard), international relations (Johns Hopkins SAIS), and security and defense policy (Naval War College). He graduated with High Distinction in History from Dartmouth College. Prior to joining the State Department, he worked on regulatory matters at the FDA and in the HHS Secretary’s Office of Minority Health. Miguel comfortably speaks Spanish, Italian, German, Portuguese, French, Lithuanian, Hindi, and some Turkish, Arabic, and Greek.

Book for Discussion

America's Great-Power Opportunity: 

Revitalizing U.S. Foreign Policy to Meet the Challenges of Strategic Competition

by Ali Wyne

Friday, September 30, 2022

8:00 am - 9:00 am MST

11:00 am - 12:00 pm EDT

Venue

Online Zoom Meeting

About the Book

It has become axiomatic to contend that U.S. foreign policy must adapt to an era of renewed “great-power competition.” The United States went on a quarter-century strategic detour after the Cold War, the argument goes, basking in triumphalism and getting bogged down in the Middle East. Now China and Russia are increasingly challenging its influence and undercutting the order it has led since 1945. How should it respond to these two formidable authoritarian powers?

In this timely intervention, Ali Wyne offers the first detailed critique of great-power competition as a foreign policy framework, warning that it could render the United States defensive and reactive. He exhorts Washington to find a middle ground between complacence and consternation, selectively contesting Beijing and Moscow but not allowing their decisions to determine its own course. Analyzing a resurgent China, a disruptive Russia, and a deepening Sino-Russian entente, Wyne explains how the United States can seize the "great-power opportunity" at hand: to manage all three of those phenomena confidently while renewing itself at home and abroad.

Hear from the Author

Author Ali Wyne will join PCFR via Zoom on September 13, 2022 at noon MST to discuss the book. Be sure to join this event prior to our Reading Group discussion! RSVP here.

Save the Dates

View Upcoming Reading Group Meetings Here

Navigating Strategic Competition

Featuring Former Congressman Mark Kennedy

America and its allies are in strategic competition with nations seeking to tilt global norms in favor of authoritarian regimes. With their future prosperity and security at stake, this competition is playing out across many domains – global governance, alliances, technology, military, economic, supply chain, energy, trade, and development aid. To succeed in preserving the rules based international order and effectively deterring aggression, America must work in a coordinated manner with its allies to engage in each domain in a strategic and deliberate manner.

Mark Kennedy, former U.S. Congressman and Macy’s executive, President Emeritus of the University of Colorado and now Public Policy Fellow at the Wilson Center and a US Air and Space Forces Civic Leader supporting the Secretary of the Air Force, considers the actions America must take to stay a step ahead in strategic competition.

Registration

Complimentary Registration

SIGN UP

Schedule

October 5, 2022

12 pm MST | 3 pm EDT

Venue

Zoom Meeting

The link for this webinar will be included in your registration confirmation email.

Speaker

Former Congressman Mark Kennedy

Public Policy Fellow

The Wilson Center

Mark Kennedy is a Public Policy Fellow with the Wilson Center and a U.S. Air and Space Forces Civic Leader. A first-generation college graduate, he has led at the highest levels of academia, government and business.

Mark served as President of the University of Colorado and of the University of North Dakota. He authored Shapeholders: Business Success in the Age of Activism, published by Columbia University.

Kennedy served as a U.S. Congressman (MN) and as a presidentially appointed trade advisor under both President George W. Bush and Barack Obama. Mark was treasurer of today’s Macy’s and helped Pillsbury buy and expand Häagen-Dazs.

Kennedy founded the Economic Club of Minnesota and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He earned a bachelor’s degree from St. John’s University and an MBA with distinction from the University of Michigan.