University’s Walker Institute to host talk on American foreign policy

COLUMBIA, SC – Stanford University professor of international studies Dr. Stephen Krasner will give a public talk on American foreign policy at 3 p.m. Monday, Oct. 13, at the University of South Carolina.

Titled Responsible Sovereignty: A Strategic Goal for American Foreign Policy, the talk will take place in Lumpkin Auditorium on the eighth floor of the Moore School of Business. It is free and open to the public.

Krasner says the United States faces historically exceptional foreign-policy challenges as a result of the spread of weapons of mass destruction and globalization.

He says developing responsible sovereign states throughout the world is the key to security. 

There is no consensus on an appropriate grand strategy for the United States, an overarching goal to guide American policy in many specific issue areas, said Krasner. The United States ought to aim at creating a world of responsible sovereign states – states that can govern effectively within their own territory and play by the existing international rules of the game. Creating a world of well-governed states will not be easy, but it offers the best chance for a world in which not only Americans, but also others, could enjoy peaceful and prosperous lives. 

Krasner is the Graham H. Stuart Professor of International Relations at Stanford and a senior fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute and the Hoover Institution. He is a former director of policy and planning at the U.S. Department of State, where he worked on foreign-assistance reform and energy policy from 2005 – 07. In 2002, he was director of governance and development at the National Security Council. He has written or edited numerous books on American foreign policy, sovereignty and world politics. 

The lecture is part of a series of lecture offerings by the Walker Institute of International and Area Studies. For more information, call Kelly O’Reilly at 803-777-8180, or visit the Web site: www.cas.sc.edu/iis/