Brown Calls for Global Coordination

Former United Kingdom Prime Minister Gordon Brown sped through a whirlwind agenda in three days as a Visiting Fellow at the Institute of Politics, meeting with students and faculty and delivering a lecture to a packed Forum.

“I think it’s been extraordinary, the intensity of his program here, and he seems to have enjoyed it immensely,” IOP Interim Director John C. Culver ’54 said. “There is one different audience after another, back to back, night and day.”

In an interview with The Crimson, Brown—who served as prime minister from 2007 to 2010—stressed the importance of cross-border cooperation in many contexts, such as the resolution of the financial crisis and the evolution of top-tier universities.

Brown said that more international collaboration would be necessary in the aftermath of the crisis—also a theme of his speech last night—even though some nations may be tempted to retreat into protectionism.

“We’re seeing a seismic shift with the world,” he said, partly because Europe and America are no longer producing all the world’s goods.

Brown said that one of Harvard’s strengths is the broad range of nationalities and perspectives represented on campus.

“I think the best universities are international and cosmopolitan,” Brown said. “The more people can study with each other across borders and boundaries, the more our global society will be enhanced.”

Prior to moving to 10 Downing, Brown served as Chancellor of the Exchequer for 10 years, and he contrasted these experiences in terms of the sweeping portfolio that the Prime Minister manages.

“As finance minister, you deal with the big questions about jobs growth and the economy, which, of course, are, at the moment, the central issues for every country,” Brown said. “But in the job I had until only a few months ago, you are also dealing with terrorism, foreign relations, and defense issues. The month I started we had a terrorist threat, a bomb, foot and mouth disease, a swine flu epidemic, and big flash floods. You have to be prepared for anything.”

During Brown’s visit, he ate dinner with about 100 undergraduates, had pizza with about 50 freshmen, and spoke to the Woodbridge Society, the International Relations Council, and the Harvard College British Club.

Several British students at Harvard said they relished the chance to meet a figure who has played such a long-running and prominent role in their nation’s politics.

“I was so excited because, for me, every political memory I have has involved Mr. Brown,” Visiting Fellows coordinator Sophie A. Fry ’13 said.

Brown has been to Harvard multiple times, yet his staff—made up of an aide and some security—is fascinated by the House system and students’ distaste for the Quad, said Katie R. Zavadski ’13, one of Brown’s three undergraduate liaisons.

—Staff writer Monika L.S. Robbins can be reached at mrobbins@college.harvard.edu.