Abstract

The history of the modern era has been characterised by intense, often-violent struggles to control the Eurasian supercontinent – the central theatre in world affairs. Today, a new struggle for Eurasia is underway, as America and its allies confront rivals that are pushing for primacy in key regions – Europe, the Middle East, East Asia – and fundamentally challenging the global balance of power. At the same time, US leadership is growing unsteady and uncertain, amid persistent political polarisation and turmoil in America itself. This lecture will cover the history of the Eurasian Century and its lessons for a new era of crisis and competition today.

About the Speaker

Hal Brands is the Henry A. Kissinger Distinguished Professor of Global Affairs at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) and a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. He is also a columnist for Bloomberg Opinion and a senior advisor at Macro Advisory Partners. He is the author or co-author of many books, including The Eurasian Century: Hot Wars, Cold Wars, and the Making of the Modern World (2025), Danger Zone: The Coming Conflict with China (2022), co-authored with Michael Beckley, The Twilight Struggle: What the Cold War Teaches Us about Great-Power Rivalry Today (2022), The Lessons of Tragedy: Statecraft and World Order (2019) co-authored with Charles Edel, American Grand Strategy in the Age of Trump (2018), and What Good is Grand Strategy? Power and Purpose in American Statecraft from Harry S. Truman to George W. Bush (2014). His work has been published in Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, and many other outlets. Hal has served as an adviser to the Secretary of Defence, a member of the Secretary of State’s Foreign Affairs Policy Board, and a commissioner on the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission. He speaks on geopolitics and foreign affairs to audiences in government, in academia, and in the private sector around the world.