« America at a Crossroads: Politics, Power and Global Challenges » a five-part conference series exploring the key political, institutional, and geopolitical challenges facing the United States today.
Led by Boyd K. Rutherford, the series offers a distinctive opportunity to examine contemporary American politics through the perspective of a political practitioner with first-hand experience at both the federal and state levels. Drawing on his experience in public office and political life, Boyd K. Rutherford will provide an informed perspective on the forces currently reshaping American politics and America’s role in the world.
This session examines the foreign-policy implications of the “America First” approach and considers what the principle means in practice for the United States’ role in international affairs. Particular attention will be paid to the apparent tension between an approach that emphasizes national sovereignty, reduced international commitments, and a greater focus on domestic priorities, and the administration’s willingness to employ military, economic, and diplomatic pressure abroad.
The discussion will consider whether military interventions and the use or threat of force in countries such as Iran and Venezuela, as well as pressure directed toward Cuba and longstanding U.S. allies, can be reconciled with the administration’s stated commitment to an “America First” foreign policy. More broadly, the session will explore the apparent tension between a desire to limit U.S. involvement overseas and the continued exercise of American power on the international stage.
Trade and economic security will constitute another major theme. The administration’s use of tariffs and trade policy will be examined as instruments intended to encourage the reshoring of strategic industries, strengthen domestic manufacturing, and reduce American dependence on vulnerable international supply chains.
The session will also place current debates over NATO and European security within a longer historical perspective. Previous U.S. administrations have repeatedly called upon European allies to increase defense spending and assume greater responsibility for their own security. The Trump administration’s more confrontational rhetoric toward NATO, combined with its willingness to question established alliances and act unilaterally, will be examined in this context. The discussion will also consider whether these policies have, paradoxically, contributed to greater European investment in defense and renewed efforts to strengthen European security capabilities.