On Eve of G20 Summit, British Prime Minister Discusses the New Multilateralism

      The British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, above left and inset right, came to NYU on March 25 to discuss “A New Multilateralism in the 21st Century,” with Madeleine K. Albright, center, former U.S. secretary of state and now principal of The Albright Group LLC, and Paul Volcker, right, former chairman of the Federal Reserve and current chair of President Barack Obama’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board. The event was hosted by President John Sexton and moderated by Ellen Schall, dean of the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service.
      “For the first time, countries in all parts of the world are recognizing that we need to work together with the same principles that are necessary to restructure the banking system,” said Brown to a packed crowd in the Kimmel Center’s Eisner and Lubin Auditorium. “The values that appeared to divide us by religion and by culture and by nationality are actually not values that divide us at all, but [ones] around which we can unite.”
      Albright, who noted that she used to be called “Multilateral Madeleine,” agreed, warning against those inclined to “pull up the drawbridge” in difficult times.
      “We have to stay away from the concept of protectionism,” said Albright. “It doesn’t take a brain surgeon to figure out that any of these [issues cannot] possibly be dealt with by one country alone.”