The Meaning of Brzezinski

Professor Zbigniew Brzezinski’s appointment as President Carter’s national security advisor set off a wave of hope and expectation among Poles both at home and in exile. A perfectly human reaction, one might say, and yet one must add that the hopes and expectations seem exaggerated. The first thing to keep in mind in a discussion about Brzezinski is that, although of Polish extraction, he is first of all an American, a patriotic American who—like so many high officials who are first- or second-generation Americans—contributes to the shaping of American policy in much the same way as does Secretary of State Vance or Secretary of Defense Brown.

It might nevertheless be legitimate to expect that, because of his field of scholarly interest rather than his national origin, Brzezinski will reveal a great deal more political clear-sightedness and good sense than did his predecessors in dealings with the USSR and the East European countries. One also notes with satisfaction that Brzezinski has a solid understanding of historical processes, as well as another trait that most present-day political scientists lack: namely, a certain imaginativeness that helps arm political thinking against narrow, pattern-inspired visions of the future.

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Professor Zbigniew Brzezinski’s appointment as President Carter’s national security advisor set off a wave of hope and expectation among Poles both at home and in exile. A perfectly human reaction, one might say, and yet one must add that the hopes and expectations seem exaggerated. The first thing to keep in mind in a discussion about Brzezinski is that, although of Polish extraction, he is first of all an American, a patriotic American who—like so many high officials who are first- or second-generation Americans—contributes to the shaping of American policy in much the same way as does Secretary of State Vance or Secretary of Defense Brown.

It might nevertheless be legitimate to expect that, because of his field of scholarly interest rather than his national origin, Brzezinski will reveal a great deal more political clear-sightedness and good sense than did his predecessors in dealings with the USSR and the East European countries. One also notes with satisfaction that Brzezinski has a solid understanding of historical processes, as well as another trait that most present-day political scientists lack: namely, a certain imaginativeness that helps arm political thinking against narrow, pattern-inspired visions of the future.