David C. Speedie

Founder and Former Director, U.S. Global Engagement Program

David Speedie is the founder and former director of the Council's program on U.S. Global Engagement. He is a founding member of The American Committee for East-West Accord.

In 2007–2008, Speedie was also a senior fellow at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government.

Speedie worked at Carnegie Corporation of New York from 1992 to 2007. He joined the Corporation as a program officer in the cooperative security program and was appointed program chair in March 1993, a position he held for almost 12 years. In 2004, he was appointed to serve as special advisor to the president and director of the Corporation's project on Islam.

He was recruited from the W. Alton Jones Foundation where he was codirector of the secure society program and directed, over a five year period, programs in the arts, urban affairs, and the environment. In the 1980s, Speedie was a consultant to nonprofits in management, marketing, and fund-raising as well as director of cultural affairs for Mayor Bill Green in Philadelphia. He also served as the bicentennial liaison officer at the British Embassy in Washington.

For three years, Speedie was a professor of English and drama at the University of St Andrews in his native Scotland. Speedie holds an Honours M.A. [First Class] in Anglo-Saxon and Medieval Studies and an M.Litt. from the University of St Andrews. He was a visiting research fellow as a Kennedy scholar at Harvard University from 1971–1973. He has been a book editor and writer for the National Endowment for the Arts' Community Vision, a freelance journalist on politics for The Scotsman, and most recently, a reviewer for the International Journal of Middle East Studies. He is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Featured Work

London riot police push rioters in Camden, August 2011. CREDIT: <a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2011_London_riot_police_push_rioters_in_Camden.jpg" target=_blank">Wikimedia</a>

AUG 16, 2011 Article

Reflections on the UK Riots: Let's Not Rush to Judgment

In the UK, the debate rages as to root causes of the August 2011 riots, and along predictable lines. But as is so often the case ...

Boris Yeltsin in Moscow 1989.<br>Credit: <a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Boris_Yeltsin_1_February_1989-1.jpg" target="_blank">Wikimedia Commons</a>

AUG 5, 2011 Transcript

Thomas E. Graham on the End of the Cold War and Beyond

Graham discusses the turbulent period of the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s in Russia, including the relationship between Yeltsin and Gorbachev and the role ...

Yeltsin speaking near the Council of Ministers building, <br>August 19, 1991. CREDIT:  <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Boris_Yeltsin_19_August_1991-1.jpg" target="_blank">Wikimedia Commons</a>

AUG 1, 2011 Transcript

Gennady Burbulis on the Dissolution of the USSR

Burbulis was one of the drafters and signers of the 1991 Belavezha Accords, which declared the Soviet Union effectively dissolved. In this interview he discusses the ...

JUL 28, 2011 Podcast

Education for Employment Foundation: New Opportunities for Middle East Youth

Carnegie Council's David Speedie and Ronald Bruder, founder of the Education for Employment Foundation, discuss the Foundation's work in providing job training for at-risk youth ...

JUL 18, 2011 Transcript

Ambassador Jack Matlock on the 1991 Soviet Coup Attempt

Today, almost all Russians are convinced that the U.S. brought down the USSR by military and economic pressure. But this is the opposite of ...

<a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Boris_Yeltsin_22_August_1991-1.jpg" target=_blank">Boris Yeltsin, August 22, 1991</a>. CREDIT: <a href="http://www.kremlin.ru "target=_blank">www.kremlin.ru</a>

JUN 14, 2011 Transcript

Alexandr Urmanov on Democratic Elections and Campaigning for Yeltsin

Urmanov recalls his relationship with Yeltsin--he directed his presidential campaign in 1989/1990--and with the Krieble Institute, which trained Russians in election techniques. Urmanov brought Institute ...

Moscow's Red Square. CREDIT: <ahref="http://www.flickr.com/photos/javisitges/3659272667/" target=_blank">Giikah</a>

JUN 10, 2011 Podcast

Mikhail Reznikov on Working to Bring Democracy to Russia

When Krieble Institute representatives from the U.S. first visited Russia, it was "like a collision of civilizations," recalls Reznikov. He got involved in Russian ...

CREDIT: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/bobaliciouslondon/4951912801/" target="_blank">Bob Bob</a> (<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en" target="_blank">CC</a>)

MAY 27, 2011 Podcast

Rise of the Rest IV: Critical Regions in Crisis

Optimistic and bleak by turns, a panel of experts analyzes the dilemmas facing the rising and existing powers--from protests across the Middle East, to the ...

Moscow City Hall by <a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mosdumanew.jpg" target=_blank>Alexei Troshin</a>

MAY 19, 2011 Transcript

Interview with Gavriil Popov, First Democratically Elected Mayor of Moscow

Gavriil Popov was mayor of Moscow in the turbulent days of the early 1990s, and his key appointees played crucial roles in bringing about the ...

Former KGB Headquarters by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/malinki/2514145204/" target=_blank">Malinki</a>

MAY 18, 2011 Podcast

Evgeny Savostiyanov on Dismantling the Moscow Communist KGB

Evgeny Savostiyanov was one of two key appointments made by "reformist" Mayor Gavriil Popov during his brief tenure as mayor of Moscow from 1990-92. Savostiyanov ...