Zbigniew Brzezinski

Zbigniew Brzezinski
Brzezinski in 1977
9th United States National Security Advisor
In office
January 20, 1977 – January 20, 1981
PresidentJimmy Carter
DeputyDavid L. Aaron
Preceded byBrent Scowcroft
Succeeded byRichard V. Allen
Personal details
Born
Zbigniew Kazimierz Brzeziński

(1928-03-28)March 28, 1928
Warsaw, Second Polish Republic
DiedMay 26, 2017(2017-05-26) (aged 89)
Falls Church, Virginia, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic
Spouse
​
(m. 1961)​
Children
Parents
RelativesMatthew Brzezinski (nephew)
Education

Zbigniew Kazimierz Brzeziński (/ˈzbɪɡnjɛf brəˈzɪnski/ (US English)ⓘZBIG-nyef brə-ZIN-skee,[1] Polish: [ˈzbiɡɲɛf kaˈʑimjɛʐ‿bʐɛˈʑij̃skʲi] ⓘ;[a] March 28, 1928 – May 26, 2017), known as Zbig, was a Polish-American diplomat and political scientist. He served as a counselor to Lyndon B. Johnson from 1966 to 1968 and was Jimmy Carter's National Security Advisor from 1977 to 1981. As a scholar, Brzezinski belonged to the realist school of international relations, standing in the geopolitical tradition of Halford Mackinder and Nicholas J. Spykman,[2][3] while elements of liberal idealism have also been identified in his outlook.[4] Brzezinski was the primary organizer of The Trilateral Commission.[5]

Major foreign policy events during his time in office included the normalization of relations with the People's Republic of China (and the severing of ties with the Republic of China on Taiwan); the signing of the second Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT II) with the Soviet Union; the brokering of the Camp David Accords between Egypt and Israel; the overthrow of the US-friendly Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and the start of the Iranian Revolution; the United States' encouragement of dissidents in Eastern Europe and championing of human rights[6] in order to undermine the influence of the Soviet Union;[7] supporting the Afghan mujahideen against the Soviet-backed Democratic Republic of Afghanistan and, ultimately, Soviet troops during the Soviet–Afghan War;[8] and the signing of the Torrijos–Carter Treaties relinquishing U.S. control of the Panama Canal after 1999.

Brzezinski's personal views have been described as "progressive", "international",[7] political liberal, and strongly anti-communist.[4] He was an advocate for anti-Soviet containment, for human rights organizations, and for "cultivating a strong West".[7] He has been praised for his ability to see "the big picture". Critics described him as hawkish or a "foreign policy hardliner" on some issues, such as Poland–Russia relations.[9]

Brzezinski served as the Robert E. Osgood Professor of American Foreign Policy at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies, a scholar at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and a member of various boards and councils. He frequently appeared as an expert on the PBS program The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, ABC News' This Week with Christiane Amanpour, and MSNBC's Morning Joe, where his daughter, Mika Brzezinski, is co-anchor. He supported the Prague Process.[10] His elder son, Ian, is a foreign policy expert, and his younger son, Mark, is the current United States Ambassador to Poland and previously served as the United States Ambassador to Sweden from 2011 to 2015.

  1. ^ "Dr. Zbigniew Brzezinski And His Life On The World Stage". Morning Joe. MSNBC. May 30, 2017. Event occurs at 4:12. Archived from the original on December 11, 2021.
  2. ^ Sabine Feiner: Weltordnung durch US-Leadership? Die Konzeption Zbigniew K. Brzezinskis. Westdeutscher Verlag, Wiesbaden 2001
  3. ^ Seiple, Chris (November 27, 2006). "Revisiting the Geo-Political Thinking of Sir Halford John Mackinder: United States–Uzbekistan Relations 1991–2005" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on August 28, 2017. Retrieved August 18, 2014.
  4. ^ a b "Zbigniew Brzezinski obituary". The Guardian. May 28, 2017. Retrieved December 17, 2021.
  5. ^ Sklar, Holly. "Founding the Trilateral Commission: Chronology 1970–1977". Trilateralism: The Trilateral Commission and Elite Planning for World Management. Boston: South End Press, 1980. ISBN 0-89608-103-6 ISBN 0-89608-104-4 OCLC 6958001 604 pages. Excerpts available.
  6. ^ Schmitz, David F.; Walker, Vanessa (2004). "Jimmy Carter and the Foreign Policy of Human Rights: The Development of a Post-Cold War Foreign Policy". Diplomatic History. 28 (1): 113–143. doi:10.1111/j.1467-7709.2004.00400.x. ISSN 0145-2096. JSTOR 24914773. The call to overcome the nation's 'inordinate fear of communism' was not, [Brzezinski] wrote, 'a dismissal of the reality of Soviet power but an optimistic recognition of the greater appeal of liberty and of the superiority of the democratic system.'
  7. ^ a b c Sargent, Daniel (July 24, 2021). "Postmodern America Didn't Deserve Jimmy Carter". Foreign Policy. Retrieved November 21, 2021.
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference Tobin 2020 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ "The last hawk: Zbigniew Brzezinski (1928–2017)". openDemocracy. Retrieved December 17, 2021.
  10. ^ "Prague Declaration on European Conscience and Communism" (Press release). Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation. June 9, 2008. Archived from the original on May 18, 2011. Retrieved May 10, 2011.


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