What is America's role in the world®?

What is America’s role in the world? More importantly, what should it be? On Thursday, March 5 and Friday, March 6, the IU Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies will bring diplomats, journalists, politicians, and scholars to the IU Bloomington campus to debate these questions and engage with globally-minded students.

Previous guests include former Secretary of Energy Ernest J. Moniz, former US Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power, former Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, Senator Todd Young, the New York Times’ Carol Giacomo, and NPR correspondent Dina Temple-Raston.

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A student experience

Created with the student experience in mind, America's Role in the World addresses major foreign policy challenges with an eye toward a deeper understanding of how they affect and are affected by domestic developments.

A lot of people ask us what the conference is like for Hamilton Lugar School students, and the answer is simple: our students are part of the action.

2020 keynote

Ambassador William J. Burns-president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the oldest international affairs think tank in the United States-will headline the 2020 conference.

Burns retired from the US Foreign Service in 2014 after a thirty-three-year diplomatic career. He holds the highest rank in the Foreign Service, Career Ambassador, and is the second serving career diplomat in history to become Deputy Secretary of State.

His recent book, The Back Channel, recounts some of the seminal moments of his career, giving readers a rare inside look at American diplomacy in action.

Conference sessions

Thursday, March 5

9:30–9:45amAmerica's Role in the World®
Welcome: Lee Feinstein, Dean, Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies
9:45–11amSession 1: Climate Change and the American Public
Is the American political system up to the challenge of addressing global climate change?
11:15am–12:30pmSession 2: National Security Challenges in the 2020s
What are the security challenges and opportunities facing the United States and the world, from weapons proliferation to regional conflict and cybersecurity?
12:45–2:15pmStudent Engagement Lunch (hosted by the HLS Global Student 7)
2:30–3:45pmSession 3: US-China Relations
Although crowded out by other global crises, nothing is more important to global stability than the future of U.S.-China relations.
4–5:15pmSession 4: The Foreign Policy Inbox
A conversation with Ambassador William J. Burns, President, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

Friday, March 6

10–11:15amSession 5: Speaking Truth to Power
Whistleblowers and truth-tellers have played an outsized role in keeping governments honest. They tell their stories on this panel.
11:30am–12:45pmSession 6: The Election and US Foreign Policy
Does foreign policy matter in the 2020 presidential campaign? Former top campaign foreign policy advisors and analysts weigh in.

Conference chairs

Rep. Lee H. Hamilton (ret.)
Amb. Lee Feinstein (ret.)