November 9, 2009

America and the World, featuring Jean Bethke Elshtain

Critics of American foreign policy decry anything that smacks of 'American exceptionalism'. Despite former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright's insistence that America is the ‘indispensable' nation, such claims are either condemned as rampant ethnocentrism or ignored as rhetorical overreach. There are strong grounds for criticism of presumptions of exceptionalism. But might condemnations of American exceptionalism also be a cover for abandoning America's international responsibilities? These and other controversial matters will be explored.

This event is co-sponsored by the Berkley Center, the Tocqueville Forum on the Roots of America Democracy, and the Mortara Center for International Studies.

Jean Bethke Elshtain is the Thomas and Dorothy Leavey Chair in the Foundations of American Freedom at Georgetown University, a three year visiting appointment in the Department of Government, in addition to her permanent position as the Laura Spelman Rockefeller Professor of Social and Political Ethics at The University of Chicago. She is also a Senior Fellow in Residence at the Berkley Center. A prominent public intellectual, Professor Elshtain studies the connections between ethical and political convictions.

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