National Security Adviser Samuel R. “Sandy” Berger discussed the principles that have guided the foreign policy decisions of the Clinton administration in an address at Georgetown last night. Berger also outlined the potential challenges he believes the next president will face in the years to come.

Berger said President William J. Clinton (SFS ’68) understood before most that the way to use America’s strength in the rapidly changing world was through globalization.

“The challenge is to harness globalization, to advance our enduring interest in democracy, shared prosperity and peace, and to build a foreign policy for the growing age,” Berger said.

He described several of the basic principles he believes America needs to maintain its dominance in an increasingly global society. These guidelines include maintaining alliances with Europe and Asia that are constantly revised to meet emerging challenges.

“Europe is peaceful, democratic and undivided for the first time in history,” he said. “We should be very proud of what we accomplished.”

Berger stressed that peace and security in the United States depends on continuing to build constructive relationships with former adversaries such as Russia and China. It is also important to encourage their participation in both the global economy and world institutions, he said.

Advising against arrogance on the part of those privileged to live in the United States, Berger reminded the audience of the millions of people still living in considerable poverty throughout the world. He cited this poverty facts as the reasons for some of the policy decisions of the last eight years.

“We must not close the drawbridge of world trade to those who need it to escape crime and poverty,” he said. “At the same time, no nation can compete in the global economy if it is crippled by disease or inadequate education. No nation should have to choose between caring for its children or paying interest on its debt.”

He noted that while these guidelines were successful for the Clinton administration, the next president will apply them to different challenges, including the continuations of some problems he described throughout the speech. According to Berger, these tasks consist of adapting the military to meet new challenges, dealing with threats to our national security, fighting for the future of democracy and promoting change in recently hostile nations like Iraq, Cuba and North Korea.

“We have to win democracy’s post-election contest too, and that is going to require America’s full attention and support,” he said.

Berger recognized improvement in U.N. reform, but called for more progress saying, “How can we reconcile our growing need for global collective action with the inadequacies of our very principle instrument for collective action?”

Additionally, he believes the most important challenge the United States will face is “confronting the misconception that we can maintain our position either by diminishing our role in the world or by imposing our will upon it,” Berger said. “We should not apologize for being a hyperpower but remain strong; we must be a hyperpower our friends and allies can dependon.”

He described Clinton’s greatest achievement in foreign policy as his direction for steering the United States after the Cold War era. He said that he helped enter the era of globalization in a way that enhanced not only the nation’s power, but also its authority.

Recently returning from peace talks in Egypt with Israeli and Palestinian leaders, Berger additionally spoke about recent developments in the Middle East and his optimism for resuming negotiations. “Both sides have seen the future without negotiation. It is gruesome, and it is unsustainable,” he said. “I do not believe that a viable Palestinian state can be created out of a barrel of a gun.”

The speech was the 21st Oscar Iden Lecture sponsored by the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service. SFS Dean Robert Gallucci introduced Berger.