In an op-ed published today by the Austin American-Statesman, Strauss Center Governing Board member James C. Langdon, Jr., discusses the significance of the Strauss Center’s partnership with the Moscow State Institute of International Relations. The partnership aims to deepen cooperation, innovation and exchange of ideas in higher education and advanced research on global affairs.

The full text of the piece is included below:

Austin American-Statesman
Saturday, November 17, 2007

COMMENTARY
Langdon: UT program will help educate the next generation of experts
James C. Langdon Jr., LOCAL CONTRIBUTOR

During periods of tension and strain in U.S.-Russian relations, it is easy to point fingers and assign blame. It is much harder to look beyond the present moment, think about where we would like to be in 10 to 15 years “” or the world we would like our children to inherit “” and ask whether there is anything that we, as concerned citizens, can do to help us get there.

That is why it is so refreshing to find something that could make a difference and that our leaders can actually agree on. And this “something” is not happening in Washington or New York “” it is happening in Austin.

The Robert S. Strauss Center for International Security and Law at the University of Texas recently announced a unique cooperative research and educational venture with the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO).

The partnership was inaugurated with a conference in Moscow with U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings and Russian leaders. President Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin issued statements hailing the partnership, emphasizing that the program is a step toward implementing the goal set at last year’s G-8 summit to promote cooperation between research institutions and universities.

The joint effort between these two institutions is based on the belief that both countries will benefit from a concerted effort to promote greater understanding of the challenges we face and educate the next generation of Russian and American leaders.

The Strauss Center and MGIMO will conduct joint research on a wide array of salient issues, including global energy security, nuclear proliferation, migration and climate change. The partnership will also provide for student and faculty exchanges.

In the past, a program like this would have been born out of a sense of threat, as were many of the institutions created during the Cold War. Those earlier programs were not set up to look at globalization and its consequences, or to study the impact of non-state actors, immigration policies, global warming or epidemics on the international system. Programs today must begin from a fundamentally different premise “” because we live in a fundamentally different age.

No one should pretend that education and research alone will eliminate the concrete differences, tensions and disputes we read about every day. Nor will researchers at the two institutions always be in agreement. The Strauss Center-MGIMO initiative will simply promote greater mutual understanding of different perspectives and facilitate joint research on key topics in U.S.-Russian relations, regardless of whether researchers are in full agreement by the end.
One thing we can expect is that misunderstandings based on a misreading of history or culture will be minimized as a new generation of experts and leaders are educated and involved with programs like the Strauss Center-MGIMO project.

As an alumnus of the University of Texas and someone who has spent a significant amount of his career working on issues involving Russia, I am proud that UT is living up to its motto: “What Starts Here Changes the World.” This program has the potential to have a profound impact on the future of our two nations.

Langdon is a senior executive partner at the law firm of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP.