“The U.S. in a Global Community”

Bonn, May 17-21, 2007

see main Conference Page

Michael M. Gunter, Jr., Rollins College 
The U.S. Environmental Policy and the Issue of Climate Change
This talk addresses U.S. climate change policy, ranging from the good to the bad to the ugly. First pointing out cutting edge environmental awareness and policies in the 20th century, Gunter then discusses why the U.S. abandoned its leadership role in the 1990s and early 21st century, even engaging in unprecedented political manipulation of climate science. He concludes by highlighting a remarkable mix of recent initiatives at the state and local level in the U.S. and suggests improved developments at the national level are on the immediate horizon.

Sustainable Development, Foreign Aid and the Fight Against Terrorism
To date, the war on terrorism has failed to address the root causes of this worldwide threat, one intrinsically tied to the ecological concept of sustainable development. Dependence on the nonrenewable energy source of oil would be a more realistic and effective target for the United States in terms of reducing the long term security threat to our country. Emphasizing alternative energy sources as well as conservation measures must be part of this equation. And we should address fundamental inequities in many of the lands where we get our petroleum as well. Technological advances in transportation and communication combine to bring communities throughout the globe "closer" together than ever before. Our security in the United States is now, more than ever, intrinsically tied to the security and insecurity (either real or imagined) of those on the other side of the earth. As such, we cannot look at the war on terrorism as a simple zero sum game, where one side wins and the other side loses. Sure we must continue to protect ourselves against terrorist attacks. But we must also take a more complex approach, one that recognizes the logic of military strategists such as Carl von Clausewitz. As Clausewitz noted, the results of war are only temporary, and, moreover, these results inevitably sow the seeds for future conflict. We must recognize that, over time, unsustainable development is in no one's best interest. Fighting a successful war on terrorism ultimately means we must first win the battle against unsustainable development.

Discussion Group: Reducing Your Carbon Footprint: What You Can Do
Gunter directs an informal working group discussion which acknowledges the need for government and business initiatives but emphasizes the critical role civil society must play as well. Participants will sketch out this third pillar of civil society and detail how individual efforts fit into the climate change mitigation picture.

Jeremy Mayer, George Mason University
World Leadership Rejected, Accepted, and Mastered: Looking Back on The American Century
The 20th Century has been called the American century, and despite the grandiose sound, there is truth to that title. Emerging from the shaping chrysalis of the 19th century, in which America rose to economic preeminence, the United States became, by the end of the 20th century the unmatched political, military, and economic force in the world. The story of this rise is one of leadership rejected, in the strange interwar years of 1920-1940, and then leadership accepted under the careful leadership of FDR, Truman, and Eisenhower. In the global conflict of the cold war, America behaved with great benevolence and wisdom in certain situations, such as Western Europe and Japan. In other regions, American leadership was far less benign, and American values were sacrificed to America’s perceived national interest in a cold war victory.  These darker aspects of the American century, such as the subversion of the governments of Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Iran, as well as the bleak tragedy of Vietnam, need to be examined if American world leadership is to be fully understood. Despite these moral and political setbacks, America ultimately triumphed in the cold war, and became, almost in spite of itself, an “empire” of sorts. Underneath these massive shifts in America’s role and vision of itself lay the constant tensions between American isolationism, American exceptionalism, and America’s sense of what the world situation demanded of it.

Knee Deep in the Big Sandy or Rising to the New Challenge of World Leadership? US Foreign Policy Since 9-11

The changes in American foreign policy since 9-11 have been radical and far-reaching. These changes are procedural and domestic as well as substantive and international. Prior to 9-11, America believed it was in what some called “the uni-polar moment” in which American leadership and puissance would go largely unchallenged and perhaps even unquestioned. In economics, the “ Washington consensus” of neo-liberalism seemed dominant. Some even spoke of the “end of history” in which Western ideas of capitalist democracy had become human universals. However, these happy musings did not reflect the political realities. The presidential elections of 1992, 1996, and 2000 were remarkably devoid of foreign policy questions, as America paid less attention to global leadership.  Internationally, beneath the surface of American dominance, forces of opposition were emerging. The sudden shock of 9-11 announced the arrival of new challenges to American leadership. What have the major responses of the US to the changing world situation? The most crucial have been the decisions to invade Afghanistan and Iraq, but the US is also shifting on free trade, international law, and perhaps the nature of alliances.  

Discussion group: Foreign Policy
The key turning points in American foreign policy in the 20th century might be identified as: the voting down of the Treaty of Versailles by the Senate in 1919, the building of postwar institutions and the Marshall Plan from 1944-48, the turn away from detente under Reagan in 1981-85.  What might the key turning points in American foreign policy look like in the first 50 years of the 21st century? Will the war in Iraq be seen as such a point, 50 or 100 years from today? How has the "American century" looked from Germany, at different points in the 20th century? Is current American foreign policy likely to promote a second "American century"? Are we in a uni-polar moment in world history? Were we in 1991?

Richard Pells, University of Austin
The Global Impact of American Culture deals with the reasons why American culture in the 20th and 21st centuries has been so popular for so long in so many places. Though American culture—especially movies—seem to dominate the global marketplace, Americans have been and continue to be as affected by foreign talent and ideas as are foreigners by American products and values. Indeed the global popularity of American culture is a result of foreign (especially European) influences on the United States. What America does is embrace and alter what it receives from abroad, and then retransmits a cosmopolitan culture back to the world. This lecture will focus on developments primarily in high culture—literature, painting, architecture—but will also focus on the influence of American music, especially jazz and rock.

Movies and Modern America applies these arguments to the evolution of American movies, and their impact both in the United States and abroad. More specifically, the lecture focuses on the dominance of French and Italian filmmaking in the early 20th century, the reasons for Hollywood's supremacy after World War I, the effect of European refugee filmmakers on Hollywood from the 1930s on, the influence of German expressionism in the 1920s on film noir in the 1940s, and the postwar impact of Italian neo-realism and the French new wave on the "renaissance" in American movies in the 1960s and 1970s. It will also analyze the impact of "method" acting, first developed in re-revolutionary Russia, on American (and ultimately international) acting techniques both on stage and screen. Finally, we will discuss the current state of the American movie industry, and the increasing popularity of foreign films in the United States.

Discussion group: India, Europe, America: a Geocultural Triangle (Pl. read this text in the reader to prepare for the discussion group)