Former President George W. Bush‘s Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice recently spoke to the BBC regarding international security, giving her unique perspective on the current global challenges versus those the U.S faced just after 9/11.
As seen in the interview clip below from the program Newsnight, Rice says that “despite the terrorism…and the horrors of 9/11,” the world is in a “more dangerous period” now than in the years following 9/11. “Great power rivalry brings its own character,” Rice says.
“With great powers and all of their military power and economic clout, they can really have a huge impact on the world and sometimes a dangerous one,” Rice says, leading the the interviewer to respond, “It’s a depressing thought that we’ve ended on.”
Rice says she “doesn’t want to end on a depressing thought” so she shifts the conversation to her current job, as a professor at Stanford University.
"I think this may be a more dangerous period"
— BBC Newsnight (@BBCNewsnight) September 6, 2023
George W Bush's Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice tells #Newsnight the world is more dangerous now than in the years post 9/11 amid "great power rivalry" https://t.co/P0zxS1Elwd pic.twitter.com/DiEJHX87PK
After leaving the White House in 2009, Rice became a political science professor at Stanford University, where she was also the Thomas and Barbara Stephenson Senior Fellow on Public Policy at the Hoover Institution, a public policy think tank.
In 2020, Rice became the director of the institute.
While Rice says her students (“young people”) are “determined to change the world” they’re also “in a bit of a hurry.” Rice claims, “They don’t always have their facts right. They think if they’ve Googled it, they’ve researched it.” But with a wide smile, Rice ends on a happier note: “They are the most public minded generation that I’ve ever taught in my decades of teaching.” She adds, “They give me a lot of hope.”
