The Monterey Trialogue from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey brings together leading experts from the United States, China, and Russia for in-depth discussions of their countries' interests and concerns in the vital regions of the world. 

The Trialogue is a novel format, yet an indispensable one. At a time when intra-governmental cooperation and communication among the three global powers is fraught, this initiative prioritizes and solicits the perspectives of in-country experts from the three regions, analyzes geopolitical challenges through the prism of history and culture, and emphasizes the importance of the trilateral relationship for each country separately and for the world as a whole. 

Today, we are talking to the two directors of this experimental initiative. Peter Slezkine was hired as the new director of the Monterey Trialogue in 2023. He earned his PhD in history at Columbia and has served as a fellow at East China Normal University in Shanghai, the Clements Center at the University of Texas, Austin, the Belfer Center at Harvard, and International Security Studies at Yale. 

Anna Vassilieva is the founding director of both the Monterey Trialogue and the Monterey Initiative in Russian Studies at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, where she also teaches and directs the Russian Studies program. 

In this episode, host and  Middlebury President Laurie Patton interviews Peter and Anna about their personal and academic backgrounds, the inspiration behind the trialogue, and the significance of interpersonal understanding in international relations. The episode highlights the initiative's recent summits in Tashkent and Belgrade and delves into the pedagogical models and future aspirations for the project.

[23:58] Peter Slezkine: I suppose the problem with present-day politics is that these three worlds are understood as entirely alien. So, they are simplified, reduced, and exoticized. And there's no need to even try to understand them. One word, like autocracy, is sufficient to basically exhaust the entire question. And that is the problem. We need to understand that lumping Russia and China together obviously overlooks the many ways in which these countries are different culturally, the ways in which their geopolitical interests don't always align, their histories are very different. And the same thing with every node of this triangle. And so, I think education is our main purpose.

[58:07] Anna Vassilieva: Hopefully, people will learn how to talk to each other and figure out a grand strategy that doesn't involve violence but involves diplomacy. It's about resurrecting diplomacy. I do believe in the power of communication. This is why Peter and I work very, very intently on selecting the best, the intellectuals who would carry the torch.

[17:28]  Anna Vassilieva: I've been teaching for 40 years, Laurie. 40, 4-0. It's hard to believe. But I understood one of the faults of international education, international politics, and so on and so forth is that we teach the differences. We base our education on what is different. And in the last 15 or 10 years, whenever the wisdom hit me, I've started to build my courses on what is the same about us. What is the same about us? Let's watch the movies, let's listen to the language, let's learn poetry, let's see art, and figure out what's the same about us. And once we know what's the same about us, then let's talk about the differences. So, that's how I would begin. And that's, for me, the philosophy of the Monterey Trialogue.