The United States faces increasing global challenges while at the same time grappling with pressure to decrease the foreign affairs budget. This has reinvigorated debates about how to promote U.S. global interests most effectively and efficiently. How central should formal multilateral diplomacy be to U.S. foreign policy? How much should the United States invest in the United Nations and other international organizations?

On September 7, 2011, the U.S. Institute of Peace was pleased to host Assistant Secretary of State Esther Brimmer to discuss the multilateral side of U.S. foreign policy and the Obama administration's efforts at the U.N., including the administration's priorities for the upcoming U.N. General Assembly session. Dr. Brimmer addressed important challenges - from integrating the growing influence of emerging powers, to ensuring the U.N. is strong enough to bear the burden placed on it - and made the case that working with international organizations pays dividends for the United States and benefits the American people, by providing a means for addressing shared global challenges.

A full version of Dr. Brimmer's speech is available online. 

Featuring

• Dr. Esther Brimmer
  Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs 
• Dr. Richard Solomon, Welcome
  President, U.S. Institute of Peace
• Dr. Abiodun Williams, Moderator
  Vice President, Center for Conflict Management, U.S. Institute of Peace

Explore Further

• Brimmer Rejects Criticisms of U.N. at USIP Event
  News Feature | September 9, 2011
• Senior Official to Discuss U.N. Policies at USIP
  News Feature | September 1, 2011
• Learn about USIP's United States-United Nations Forum
• USIP Task Force on the United Nations
  Report | June 2005

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