Brzezinski Chair in Global Security and Geostrategy

Advancing understanding in geostrategy, international security, and global politics

Dr. Jon B. Alterman was named to the Zbigniew Brzezinski Chair in Global Security and Geostrategy in 2012. CSIS established the chair in 2003 to advance understanding in the fields of geostrategy, international security, and global politics. Zbigniew Brzezinski was the nation’s 11th national security adviser, and after leaving that post he spent more than three decades at CSIS. Reflecting Brzezinski’s personal achievements during a long career that included public service, teaching, and writing, CSIS awards the chair to a leading scholar-practitioner in global affairs and international strategy.

Much of Dr. Alterman’s scholarship is grounded in decades of study of the Middle East, yet in recent years he has advanced cross-regional research linking his Middle East expertise to emerging global issues. Currently, Dr. Alterman’s work for the Brzezinski Chair focuses on three main themes:

Dr. Alterman’s early work on China, the United States, and the Middle East in the mid-2000s anticipated the growing Middle Eastern energy trade with Asia and the increasing importance of the Middle East to Chinese economic political, and military strategy. As the U.S. strategic posture balances away from a Middle East focus, Russia plays a greater role in regional conflicts, and the Global South emerges as a key player in international affairs, the Brzezinski Chair is working to understand how regional states are responding to Great Power efforts to shape the global commons and to anticipate future challenges to global order. You can read some of Alterman’s work on China-Middle East ties here, and the Brzezinski Chair’s latest report on global order here.

In recent years, states have increasingly turned to the capture or wrongful detention of Western citizens as an asymmetrical tool of coercion against the United States and its allies. The resultant “hostage diplomacy” is a critical bipartisan issue. Dr. Alterman helped launch the CSIS Commission on Hostage Taking and Wrongful Detention to study the efficacy of policy responses to hostage taking, develop new tools to empower U.S. officials and the families of hostages, and deter future hostage taking. Find out more about the Commission here.

In collaboration with the Johns Hopkins SAIS Foreign Policy Institute, the Brzezinski Chair is working to measure countries’ diplomatic clout. Based on a variety of quantitative and qualitative inputs, the project seeks to assess countries’ ability to use their resources to sway other countries toward shared objectives. The index is both dynamic and transparent. Therefore, it gives countries clear indicators of the kinds of investments and actions that are likely to boost their standing, as well as the kinds of behaviors that may be responsible for a decline in standing. Over time, it will provide academics and students with a dataset that can help explain aspects of international relations.

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Photo: White House via CNP/Getty Images

Photo: White House via CNP/Getty Images

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Iran and Venezuela: Regime Change? | The High Top

Jon Alterman and Ryan Berg compare the swift removal of Maduro in Venezuela with the ongoing war in Iran, tracing what the differences in scope, objectives, and regional fallout reveal about U.S. strategy and the future of regime stability.

Event — March 10, 2026

Audio Briefs

Why Decapitation Will Not Solve the United States’ Iran Problem

An audio version of “⁠Why Decapitation Will Not Solve the United States’ Iran Problem⁠,” a new Commentary by CSIS’s Jon B. Alterman. This audio was generated with text-to-speech by Eleven Labs.

Podcast Episode by Jon B. Alterman — March 3, 2026

Audio Briefs

The United States Cannot Go It Alone in Venezuela

Decisive U.S. action in Venezuela has showcased U.S. power but risks provoking long-term resistance from adversaries, hedging by partners, and anxiety among allies. Without coalition-building and post-crisis leadership, short-term success could erode U.S. influence.

Commentary by Jon B. Alterman — January 5, 2026