Salzburg Global Seminar – America’s Changing Role in the World

Thursday, September 24 to Tuesday, September 29, 2015

This session will examine the United States’ changing role in the world and the implications of changes in global, regional and national power for the future of the United States  as a national state and as a global political, economic and cultural power in the 21st century and beyond.

While a new sense of globalism is shared by all countries, it nevertheless still brings with it conflicts and tensions between national groupings. Issues of world-wide concern, such as matters of climate change conflict with commercial imperatives and competition. Cross national groupings emerge even as countries increasingly fragment.  Old tensions between major powers re-emerge in spite of common global concerns.

These international changes coincide with major internal demographic changes within the United States itself, including the dramatic rise in the Hispanic population and an accelerating polarization of United States’ internal politics. In the face of contemporary shifting power relations, including changes in Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC nations) in Latin America, and in Asian nations, the power and influence of the United States, both in terms of world affairs and in terms of its relations with its hemispheric neighbors in the Americas, is evolving.

Conceptions of power and its appropriate use have also changed.  In light of this, can the United States expect to pursue its national interests, using its powerful position in the world, feeling free to intervene in other countries, seizing terrorists in foreign cities, sending drones across national borders, tapping into communications by ordinary citizens and world leaders? Participants and speakers will examine the many global challenges  faced by the United States as it seeks a new global balance in the 21^st century.

Participant Profile
This program will include ca. 50 participants from ca. 25 countries around the world. They will include academics teaching about the United States, and professionals interested in the analysis and conduct of foreign policy, as well as individuals interested in America’s search for a new global balance.

Session format
There will be daily thematic presentations by distinguished speakers followed by plenary discussions.  Topical panels will be organized to include participants. In addition, a number of special discussion groups will be scheduled focusing on specific themes related to the symposium topic.

Key Questions
Some questions to keep in mind throughout the symposium:

• To what extent have expectations of the United States and its role in the world shifted as a result of globalization?
• In a time of changing world powers, especially including shifts in relative power between the United States, China, India and Russia, what role should the United States expect to assume?
• What global and regional challenges should the United States anticipate regarding its national interests?
• How might further globalization, technology development and communication changes be expected to affect the search for a new global balance?

Program Goals and Impact
Through this session, Salzburg Global Seminar seeks to achieve the following:

• Provide university professors from around the world with critical thinking about current issues in American foreign policy
• Examine the challenges faced by the United States as it seeks a new global balance in an era of globalization
• Encourage critical thinking, analysis and evaluation of the United States’ role in a new world balance

For information about being a participant, contact Symposium Director Ms. Marty Gecek, mgecek@SalzburgGlobal.org
The symposium website and a registration form can be accessed at: http://www.SalzburgGlobal.org/go/ssasa13

Session Chair: Dr. Ron Clifton, Retired Counselor, Senior Foreign Service of the United States

Session Co-Chair: Dr. Kees van Minnen, Director, Roosevelt Study Center, Middelburg, The Netherlands; Professor of American History, Ghent University, Belgium
Session Co-Chair: Dr. Alex Seago, Chair, Department of Humanities, Social Sciences  and Communications, Richmond, The American International University London

Confirmed and Invited Faculty (there will be additional speakers)

Irakli Alasania, former Georgian Ambassador to the United Nations; former Minister of Defense, Georgia
Professor Thomas Bender, University Professor of the Humanities and Professor of History, New York University; author of A Nation Among Nations: America’s  Place in World History
Dr. Ted Widmer, Director, John Carter Brown Library at Brown University; former foreign policy speechwriter and special assistant to the president for national security affairs, President Bill Clinton
Dr. Will Dobson (invited), Politics and Foreign Affairs Editor, Slate magazine; former Managing Editor of Foreign Policy magazine
Dr. Fiona Hill (invited), Director, Center of the United States and Europe, Brookings Institution