An interesting conference hosted sponsored by The Coalition For A Realistic Foreign Policy...
realisticforeignpolicy.org
Monday, April 19 - A half-day conference co-hosted with Current History to be held on on the campus of Swarthmore College in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania. (Details)
Monday, April 19, 2004, 1:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Science Center, Auditorium 101
Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, Pennsylvania
Co-sponsored with Current History
In recent months, scholars and policymakers have debated the perils and promise of an American Empire. Some argue that the United States has always been an empire, and that we are only now coming to terms with our imperial status. Others argue that the Founders opposed empire on moral and practical grounds, and that empire runs contrary to deeply held American traditions and values. How do we characterize the conduct of U.S. foreign policy in the 21st century? If the United States is not an empire, what is it? If we cannot call our foreign policies “imperial,” what are they? Speakers will consider these and other questions at this half-day conference.
1:00 pm Welcome and Introduction of Keynote Speaker
Conference Co-Chairs, Christopher Preble, Coalition for a Realistic Foreign Policy, and Bill Finan, Editor, Current History
Keynote Address "The American Imperium"
John Mearsheimer, R. Wendell Harrison Distinguished Service Professor of Political Science, University of Chicago
2:00 pm - Panel I - International Reactions to American Empire: Balancing, Balking, Bandwagoning, and Bashing
Seyom Brown, Lawrence A. Wien Professor of International Cooperation, Brandeis University
Leon Hadar, Research Fellow in Foreign Policy Studies, The Cato Institute
Bruce Cumings, Norman and Edna Freehling Professor of History, The University of Chicago
Rajan Menon, Monroe J. Rathbone Professor of International Relations, Lehigh University
James Kurth, Claude Smith Professor of Political Science, Swarthmore College, Moderator
The international community has responded, and is likely to respond in the future, in a variety of different ways to the spread of the American Empire. The responses move beyond traditional balance-of-power action and reaction, whereby would be rivals form alliances to check American power. The panelists will discuss how America’s global behavior is responsible for new forms of international cooperation and the formation of ad hoc coalitions, not always easily recognizable by policymakers and analysts.
3:30 pm - Panel II - The American Empire in Context: Past, Present and Future
Stanley Kober, Research Fellow in Foreign Policy Studies, The Cato Institute
David Isenberg, Senior Analyst, British American Security Information Council
John Peterson, President, The Arlington Institute
David C. Hendrickson, Professor of Political Science, Colorado College
Christopher A. Preble, Coalition for a Realistic Foreign Policy, Moderator
The Bush administration’s National Security Strategy pledges to “make the world not just safer, but better,” but if we attempt to impose our values by force, do we compromise our long-standing tradition of not going abroad in search of monsters to destroy? The panelists will compare American policies with those of empires past, will consider the details of the U.S. troop presence throughout the globe, and will propose a new view of American Empire from the perspective of future generations.
5:00 pm Concluding Remarks
Christopher Preble and Bill Finan, Conference Co-Chairs
The conference is free of charge. Registration is not required. If you would like to learn more about Current History and its special issue on the American Imperium (November 2003), visit www.currenthistory.com.
Contacts:
Christopher Preble, 202/218-4630, cpreble@realisticforeignpolicy.org
Bill Finan, 215/482-5465, bfinan@currenthistory.com
James Kurth, 610/328-8102 |
