Read the lecture in print.

Read the lecture in print.

Overview

Making war cleaner has made it endless. Samuel Moyn, Henry R. Luce Professor of Jurisprudence at Yale University, examines the origins of ‘humane’ warfare and argues that its embrace by policymakers has led to the justification of U.S. involvement in armed conflict across the world.

Join the Center for the Study of Economy & Society for the fourth installment of its lecture series on “The American State in a Multipolar World,” featuring distinguished scholars and public intellectuals Francis Fukuyama, Jeffrey D. Sachs, Joseph Nye, Samuel Moyn, and Theda Skocpol, as they discuss the future of American foreign policy.

About the Speaker

Samuel Moyn is Henry R. Luce Professor of Jurisprudence at Yale Law School and Professor of History at Yale University.  He received his PhD in modern European history from the University of California at Berkeley and his JD from Harvard University.  Before joining the faculty of Yale, he was the James Bryce Professor of European Legal History at Columbia University and the Jeremiah Smith, Jr. Professor of Law and Professor of History at Harvard University.  He is the author of several books on European intellectual and human rights history including, among others, Christian Human Rights (2015), Not Enough: Human Rights in an Unequal World (2018), and Humane: How the United States Abandoned Peace and Reinvented War (2021).  His research spans legal scholarship in international law, human rights, the law of war, and legal thought as well as the intellectual history of twentieth-century European moral and political theory.

Read the full transcript here.

October 18, 2021

Francis Fukuyama was the first speaker in the Center for the Study of Economy & Society’s fall lecture series, “The American State in a Multipolar World.” His lecture, introduced by Cornell President Martha E. Pollack, highlighted the key challenges facing global democracy: pandemic, climate change, and political polarization.

Photography: Dave Burbank

Read the lecture in print.

Overview

What role should the United States play in an increasingly multipolar international order?  Should it continue to play the role of international policeman or should it cede influence to rising powers and focus on domestic problems? Andrew J. Bacevich, Professor Emeritus of International Relations and History at Boston University, takes up the challenge posed by U.S. foreign policy in the 21st century to propose a new security paradigm, one that prioritizes the security and wellbeing of the American people where they live.

Join the Center for the Study of Economy & Society for the fifth installment of its 2021-2022 lecture series, “The American State in a Multipolar World,” featuring distinguished world experts, Francis Fukuyama, Jeffrey D. Sachs, Joseph Nye, Samuel Moyn, and Andrew J. Bacevich, as they discuss the future of American foreign policy and the threat of a new Cold War.

What You’ll Learn

• An alternative view on the future of American hegemony from a leading expert on U.S. foreign policy
• How the U.S. can achieve security without sacrificing its moral center
• Key challenges to global peace and cooperation and how to navigate them

About the Speaker

Andrew J. Bacevich is Professor Emeritus of International Relations and History at Boston University and President and Chairman of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. A graduate of the U.S. Military Academy and a retired U.S. army colonel, he received his PhD in American Diplomatic History from Princeton University. Before joining the faculty of Boston University, he was a professor at West Point and Johns Hopkins. Bacevich was a 2004 Berlin Prize Fellow at the American Academy in Berlin and has held fellowships at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins, the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, and the Council on Foreign Affairs in Washington, D.C. He is the author of numerous books on U.S. foreign policy, including most recently, After the Apocalypse: America’s Role in a World Transformed (2021), The Age of Illusions: How America Squandered Its Cold War Victory (2020), and America’s War for the Greater Middle East: A Military History (2016).

Overview

What does the end of “The American Century” mean for U.S. foreign policy and global cooperation? How can the goals of sustainable development help move us towards a more equitable society? Jeffrey D. Sachs, a world-renowned expert on economic development, considers the failures of American exceptionalism and lays out a vision of how technological dynamism and global cooperation can secure a better future for the United States and for the world.

Join the Center for the Study of Economy & Society for the third installment of its fall lecture series, “The American State in a Multipolar World,” featuring distinguished world experts, Francis Fukuyama, Jeffrey D. Sachs, Joseph Nye, and Andrew J. Bacevich, as they discuss the future of American foreign policy and the threat of a new Cold War.

What You’ll Learn

• How the goals of sustainable development promote a more equitable society
• The role of American exceptionalism in threatening international peace
• How a U.S.-China Cold War would threaten global cooperation on climate action

About the Speaker

Jeffrey D. Sachs is a University Professor and Director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University, where he directed the Earth Institute from 2002 until 2016. He is also President of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network and a commissioner of the UN Broadband Commission for Development. He has been advisor to three United Nations Secretaries-General, and currently serves as an SDG Advocate under Secretary General António Guterres. He spent over twenty years as a professor at Harvard University, where he received his B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. degrees. He has authored numerous bestseller books. His most recent book is The Ages of Globalization: Geography, Technology, and Institutions (2020). Sachs was twice named as one of Time magazine’s 100 most influential world leaders and was ranked by The Economist among the top three most influential living economists.

Overview

Will the rise of China lead to conflict with the United States? Or is cooperation still possible in the current political order? Joseph S. Nye, Jr., University Distinguished Service Professor, Emeritus and former Dean of the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, offers a fresh perspective on the future of U.S.-China relations, suggesting that cooperative rivalry offers a path to preventing conflict and solving crises.

Join the Center for the Study of Economy & Society for the second installment of its fall lecture series, “The American State in a Multipolar World,” featuring distinguished world experts, Francis Fukuyama, Jeffrey D. Sachs, Joseph Nye, and Andrew J. Bacevich, as they discuss the future of American foreign policy and the threat of a new Cold War.

What You’ll Learn

• Whether geopolitical rivalry prevents cooperation
• How empowering others helps nations achieve their own goals
• The key challenges facing the international community in the 21st century

About the Speaker

Joseph S. Nye, Jr. Is University Distinguished Service Professor, Emeritus and former Dean of the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.  He earned his bachelor’s degree from Princeton University, attended Oxford University on a Rhodes Scholarship, and earned a Ph.D. in Political Science from Harvard University. He has previously served as the U.S. Assistant Secretary of Defense for Security Affairs, Chair of the National Intelligence Council, and Deputy Under Secretary of State for Security Assistance, Science and Technology.  He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the British Academy, and the American Academy of Diplomacy.  He has written extensively on U.S. diplomacy and foreign policy and was named as one of the top 100 Global Thinkers in 2011 by Foreign Policy.  His most recent books are Do Morals Matter? (2019), Is the American Century Over? (2015), and Presidential Leadership and the Creation of the American Era (2013).