America's Role in the World

America's Role in the World (ARW8)

Raising the heat on foreign policy

March 2-3, 2023
Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies (Shreve Auditorium)

The annual conference on America’s Role in the World® at Indiana University’s Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies addresses the major foreign policy challenges we face, with an eye toward a deeper understanding of how they affect and are affected by domestic developments. The non-partisan conference honors the people for whom the school is named, Rep. Lee H. Hamilton and Sen. Richard G. Lugar, gentle giants of U.S. foreign and their commitment to principled U.S. global engagement.

The eighth annual conference convened scholars, diplomats, activists, journalists, and non-profit and government leaders to examine pressing global challenges to foreign policy, including several panels focused on the global climate crisis.

John Kerry, Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, U.S. Department of State

John Kerry, as the 68th Secretary of State, dedicated the Hamilton Lugar School’s building in 2015. Throughout that first visit, Kerry met with our students, and he continues to keep in touch with IU student delegations at the annual United Nations Conference of the Parties (COPs), commending students on their advocacy for global solutions to climate change. Kerry has frequented IU as a distinguished guest on a number of other occasions, including at the opening of the IU Diplomacy Lab. An avid cycler, Kerry was made an honorary member of the IU Little 500 team in 2016.

Global Voices on Climate

Activists from global organizations, including Climate Clock and the co-founder of World War Zero — representing the next generation to influence climate policy — will discuss their work in taking climate action.

Iran in Transition? Implications for U.S. Policy

Leading journalists and experts will share perspectives on the months-long anti-regime protests in Iran and in the diaspora. Panelists will discuss implications on the future course of politics — both inside Iran and regionally — and prospects for diplomacy on Iran’s nuclear program.

Indiana and the World: Environmentalism Begins at Home

As Indiana is a leading state in EV battery production and clean fuel manufacturing, we will discuss the state’s energy economy with state representatives, experts in economic development, and business leaders.

Economic Diplomacy & Development in Latin America

International development experts will discuss the Americas Partnership for Economic Prosperity (APEP) plan to increase engagement with Latin America and the Caribbean. How can the U.S., partner governments, and the private sector work together to support widely shared growth and security in the region?

Russia’s War Against Ukraine: Scenarios and Global Impact

One year after Russia’s attack on Ukraine, we will hear global and Ukrainian perspectives on the war’s effect on domestic politics, economics, society, and Russia’s international standing.

Frontiers in International Justice

The United States helped galvanize mechanisms of international justice, including through support for the Nuremberg trials after World War II and the tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda in the 1990s. But where does the international justice movement go from here? And will the United States be a supporter or a skeptic of new initiatives to international courts and tribunals to address international challenges?

We have the responsibility to ensure that our first impulse in foreign affairs is one of bipartisanship. And we have the responsibility to speak plainly when we disagree with the administration, but to avoid inflammatory rhetoric that is designed merely to create partisan advantage or to settle partisan scores.

Sen. Richard Lugar, during the Senate debate on the nomination of Condoleezza Rice to be US Secretary of State (2005)

Conference conveners

Rep. Lee Hamilton

Distinguished Scholar and Namesake, Hamilton Lugar School

Sen. Daniel R. Coats

HLS Distinguished Scholar, Former Director of National Intelligence

Ambassador (ret.) Lee Feinstein

HLS Founding Dean (2014-22) and Professor of International Studies

Nick Cullather

Interim Dean, Hamilton Lugar School

For more information

Media Contact:  Email Sarah DeWeese, Director of Communications & Marketing.

Event Contact:  Email Heather Duemling, Director of Special Projects and Executive Assistant to the Dean

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