Using documentary evidence and personal interviews from around the world, as well as personal recollections, Mary Sarotte, author of 1989: The Struggle to Create Post-Cold War Europe and Brent Scowcroft, former U.S. National Security Advisor under President George H.W. Bush, will explore the events of 1989 and their impact upon world politics today. While the eventual demise of the Soviet Union was inevitable, Sarotte posits, the direction in which the post-Cold War world developed was anything but.

Mary Elise Sarotte is professor of international relations at the University of Southern California. Her previous work includes the books Dealing with the Devil, German Military Reform and European Security, and most recently 1989: The Struggle to Create Post-Cold War Europe. She has served as a White House Fellow and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Brent Scowcroft has held several top-level postings within the U.S. government, including National Security Advisor to Presidents Gerald Ford and George H.W. Bush, and military advisor to President Richard M. Nixon.

Scowcroft has also served on a number of prominent policy councils, including the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board, the President's Advisory Committee on Arms Control, the Commission on Strategic Forces, and the President's Special Review Board, also known as the Tower Commission.

He is the co-author, with President George H.W. Bush of A World Transformed and is president of the Scowcroft Group.