The ancient Greek historian Thucydides said long ago that it was the rise of Athens and the fear this instilled in Sparta that led to the Peloponnesian War. Belfer Center Director Graham Allison calls this potential for conflict “Thucydides’s Trap” and warns that in today’s world, the rising China and ruling United States must work to escape falling into that trap and into war. We feature Allison’s studies and upcoming book on Thucydides’s Trap and U.S.-China relations in the Summer 2017 issue of the Belfer Center newsletter.

Also in this issue, we raise an editorial toast to Graham Allison who has directed the Center for 22 years and will hand the director reins in July to Ash Carter and Eric Rosenbach. We highlight a sampling of Graham’s – and the Center’s – accomplishments during his tenure and include tributes from Albert Carnesale, Jieun Baek, Robert Belfer, Ash Carter, Sam Nunn, and Samantha Power.

Read these articles and much more about recent Belfer Center activities.

The Belfer Center began researching energy technology issues in the late 1990s. Its mission was “to determine and promote the adoption of effective strategies for developing and deploying cleaner and more efficient energy technologies that can reduce greenhouse gas emissions, reduce dependence on fossil fuels and stress on water resources, and improve economic development.”

In this issue, we look at the history and influence of the Center’s energy innovation efforts in the past two decades by focusing primarily on ETIP’s work in the U.S. and China.

The Summer 2016 issue of the Belfer Center newsletter features recent and upcoming Center activities, along with research and analysis of critical global issues by members of the Center community. This issue features Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz’s address at Harvard Kennedy School on the significance of merging science and international affairs. Secretary Moniz used as an example the recent Iran nuclear agreement, in which he played a central role.

Ambassador Stephen W. Bosworth, a Belfer Center senior fellow, former ambassador, university dean, and long-time public servant, died on January 4, 2016, at the age of 76.

The Fall/Winter 2015-2016 issue of the Belfer Center newsletter features recent and upcoming Center activities, along with research and analysis of critical global issues by members of the Center community. This issue highlights visits by Secretary of State John Kerry, who answered questions from an audience of more than 500 Harvard students and faculty in an event hosted by the Belfer Center, and by former Secretary of State Colin Powell, who spoke to students and faculty as part of the American Secretaries of State Project, an initiative of Harvard Kennedy School, Harvard Law School, and Harvard Business School.

Dongsheng Wu has an important role in the development and implementation of China's plans to reduce carbon emissions and, subsequently, climate change. As director of the Department of Climate Change at the Shanxi Provincial Development and Reform Commission, Wu is responsible for developing a greenhouse gas emissions policy for Shanxi, a region with the highest coal production and highest energy intensity in China.

More than 2500 years ago, Thucydides, the Athenian historian and general, wrote his history of the Peloponnesian War. In his oft-quoted summary, he concludes: “It was the rise of Athens and the fear that this inspired in Sparta that made war inevitable.” In a forthcoming article, Graham Allison writes that “the defining question about global order for this generation is whether China and the U.S. can escape Thucydides’ Trap.”

Emperor Akihito of Japan presented Harvard University Distinguished Service Professor Joseph S. Nye with the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star, at the Imperial Palace on Wednesday, November 5, 2014, in recognition of his "contribution to the development of studies on Japan-U.S. security and to the promotion of the mutual understanding between Japan and the United States."

The Summer 2014 issue of the Belfer Center newsletter features recent and upcoming activities, research, and analysis by members of the Center community on critical global issues. This edition highlights the Belfer Center’s longtime efforts to improve nuclear security and the Center's critical role in the 2014 Nuclear Security Summit to prevent nuclear terrorism. This issue also features a timeline and analysis of significant events in Ukraine during the past 20 years. We also note a bright spot in U.S.-Russian relations – a statement by the Elbe Group of retired Russian and U.S. generals cautioning the two governments not to let Ukraine and Crimea interrupt the joint efforts of the two countries to protect “our shared strategic interests.”

And much more...

President Obama’s 2009 announcement of a new international effort to prevent nuclear terrorism highlighted an issue that has long been central to Belfer Center concerns and actions. The Center has played a critical role in supporting the aims of the 2010, 2012, and 2014 nuclear security summits to improve the security of nuclear weapons and materials.