Firestein’s "Exceptionalism" Thesis Featured in Major Chinese Publication

News | October 06, 2015

An article on “Exceptionalism and 21st Century Conflict” by EWI Vice President and Perot Fellow David J. Firestein was featured in Consensus Media on November 23.

Click here to view the article on Consensus Media. (In Chinese) 

Firestein also gave a speech on the topic at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO) on October 1. The audience included faculty and students from MGIMO, the Military University of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation and other academic organizations. In his address, Firestein said, “In the 21st century, major international conflict will tend to occur between two or more parties when all of the following conditions are met: at least one of the two or more parties is a state; at least one is a non-democracy; at least one is a non-nuclear power; at least one self-regards as exceptional; and at least one perceives the implication of a national or regime interest that is either existential or relating to the party’s core sense of identity.”

After the speech, Firestein took questions from the faculty members and students. In 2001, while serving as a U.S. diplomat in Moscow, Firestein taught courses on American politics at MGIMO; he was the first sitting foreign diplomat ever to hold a teaching position there.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.