To compete and thrive in the 21st century, democracies, and the United States in particular, must develop new national security and economic strategies that address the geopolitics of information. In the 20th century, market capitalist democracies geared infrastructure, energy, trade, and even social policy to protect and advance that era’s key source of power—manufacturing. In this century, democracies must better account for information geopolitics across all dimensions of domestic policy and national strategy.
In his 2009 Prague speech President Obama referred to the need for a new international framework for nuclear energy. Unfortunately he has not elaborated on what this might be. Clearly a major factor behind the idea was the Iranian nuclear program. Now political agreement has been reached on confidence-building steps for the Iranian program, but the underlying issue remains – can confidence-building measures provide sufficient assurance if Iran proceeds with a massive expansion of its enrichment program in 15 years time? This highlights the urgency of developing international consensus on the control of proliferation-sensitive parts of the fuel cycle, addressing the Iranian case and avoiding future cases. This MTA Seminar will be led by John Carlson, MTA Associate and former Director General of the Australian Safeguards and Non-Proliferation Office.