Red Line: Public Diplomacy in the Age of Trump

USC Events Calendar: Red Line: Public Diplomacy in the Age of Trump

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Wednesday, August 23 at 12:00pm to 1:00pm
Annenberg Auditorium (ASC), Room 207

3502 Watt Way, Los Angeles, CA 90089

The United States today has two competing foreign policy visions, driven by deep political divides, that have created serious international uncertainty regarding how America sees its role and responsibilities on the global stage. These competing world views are “Indispensable America” vs. “Fortress America."

Those who embrace “Indispensable America” believe that no major global problem can be solved without the United States, but also that no major global problem can be solved by the United States alone. Conversely, those who support “Fortress America” believe in unilateral action and bilateral trade, viewing multilateralism as constraining and disadvantageous, and cooperation with global partners as transactional.

Join P.J. Crowley, a former Assistant Secretary of State and one of America’s most insightful national security commentators, for a conversation on U.S. domestic politics and the future of America’s global leadership in the age of Trump. Crowley will discuss how U.S. domestic politics shaped the foreign policy and public diplomacy of the Obama administration, how they have influenced the first year of the Trump administration, and what this means for America’s global leadership over the long term.

Crowley reviews in his recent book, Red Line: American Foreign Policy in a Time of Fractured Politics and Failing States, how the expansive view of an exceptional America that won the Cold War and sought to establish a new world order led to the eventual strategic overreach that culminated with the invasion of Iraq in 2003. The resulting Iraq Syndrome influenced America’s electoral choices, narrowed its international ambitions, and lowered the risks and costs its people were willing to shoulder.