It's "an art, not a science."
That is how former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright described diplomacy to the sold out crowd in Langford Auditorium Tuesday night.
The first speaker of the 45th annual IMPACT Symposium, Albright addressed "Diplomacy in the New Millenium," the theme of the two-day series presented by the Vanderbilt Programming Board's Speakers Committee.
Describing her own experiences as an international diplomat under the Clinton administration, Albright offered advice to President Barack Obama on how to address the "emergency room" of issues he has inherited, especially the economic crisis and the ongoing armed conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq.
An open critic of the Bush administration, Albright expressed her hope for the possibilities of the new president. She stressed the fact that recovery - from both current events and America's current international reputation - will take time, however.
"(We) must begin by restoring foundations of political strength - our alliances, our support for a capable international system and our good name," she said.
To do this, Albright said it will take a lot of interaction between countries, a lot of cooperation, a lot of listening and making the effort to look beyond the needs of one's own country.
"We need leaders who will guide the global marketplace of ideas so that people everywhere begin to look beyond the borders of their own lives," she said.
Beyond those borders lie military issues such as nuclear arms in North Korea and Iran, humanitarian issues like the genocide in Darfur and environmental issues such as the global implications of climate change. Albright was also particularly concerned about the possibility of encouraging a new generation of terrorists by prolonging military involvement in the Persian Gulf.
According to Albright, diplomacy is necessary to resolve these issues and the economic crisis, but also necessary is strong leadership, which she sees in Obama.
"He is reminding us that in a democracy, the kind of government we have is a reflection of the kind of people we are," she said. "It embodies our ideas and our principles and our sense of a difference between right and wrong. And if the government is not working, our responsibility is not to complain but to act, to be doers and reformers and inventors of change."
Albright recognized the strength of these principles in the American people, claiming them as a unifying force during this time of change in leadership and diplomacy.
"We do have a conviction to share with the world and that is the belief in the fundamental dignity and importance of every human being," she said. "And this is the principle that caused me and my family to fall in love with America when we first arrived here from my native Czechoslovakia more than six decades ago."
IMPACT Symposium will continue Wednesday night with former Israeli legislator Natan Sharansky, whose presentation on "Diplomacy in the New Millenium" will begin at 7 p.m. in Langford Auditorium.
