The Search for a New Global Balance: America’s Changing Role in the World

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Sep 24, 2015
by Heather Jaber
The Search for a New Global Balance: America’s Changing Role in the World

Researchers and professionals from 27 countries gather to discuss US foreign policy and the implications of a shifting global balance

Is America’s long-standing international power on a downward spiral? From the South China Sea to the Middle East and Eastern Ukraine, current events are sparking debate about the once unchallenged role of the United States as the sole global superpower. Addressing this issue in an increasingly interconnected world, the Salzburg Global Seminar American Studies Association (SSASA) is hosting a session called The Search for a New Global Balance: America’s Changing Role in the World, with 58 academics and professionals from 27 countries gathering at Schloss Leopoldskron from September 24 to 29.Salzburg Global has offered sessions in American Studies since its beginnings in 1947, but in recent years much has changed for America and the global power balance. China is now an established economic powerhouse. Russia is flexing its military muscles again. Both state and non-state actors are causing widespread strife and destabilization in Middle East and forcing millions from their homes in search of asylum across the region and into Europe. Climate change is impacting countries the world over. Despite the global nature of these issues, the United States remains one of the most significant actors. But what is the former hegemon’s role in addressing these challenges? How has this changed and how will it continue to change? The USA itself also faces power balance changes at home as demographics shift and domestic politics become increasingly polarized. Although the USA claims a longstanding title as the model of democracy, its involvement in drone warfare and alleged violations in communications surveillance make this status debatable also. The five days of presentations, panels, and working group discussions in Salzburg will examine this shifting global balance, with discussion topics including American exceptionalism, foreign policy, and power relations with countries in the Middle East and Europe, as well as Russia, China, Japan, and India, and its closer neighbors in Latin America. Recent practices in social media and international media coverage of foreign affairs will also be discussed.Long-serving SSASA faculty member and former director of SSASA’s predecessor the American Studies Center, Ron Clifton will chair the session. The retired counselor in the Senior Foreign Service of the United States will be joined by co-chairs Alex Seago, chair of the Department of Humanities at the American International University London, and Kees van Minnen, director of the Roosevelt Study Center. Additional faculty members include Irakli Alasania, former Minister of Defense of Georgia; Thomas Bender, professor of humanities at New York University; James D. Boys, associate professor of international political studies at Richmond University, London; Edith Chapin, acting executive editor of NPR News; and Ted Widmer, journalist and historian at Brown University, USA. This 13th SSASA program is in partnership with the Roosevelt Study Center in Middelburg, the Netherlands, and is supported by 11 U.S. embassies around the world. Previous SSASA and earlier American Studies Center programs have covered topics such as the impact of sustainable urban living, film and television, and race and immigration. Last year’s SSASA session was Defining America: New Writing, New Voices, New Directions, which discussed new voices and identities in American writing. 


The Salzburg Global program The Search for a New Global Balance: America’s Changing Role in the World is part of the multi-year series Salzburg Seminar American Studies Association. The session is being hosted in partnership with the Roosevelt Study Center. More information on the session can be found here: www.salzburgglobal.org/go/SSASA13. For more information on the Salzburg Seminar American Studies Association, please visit: ssasa.salzburgglobal.org