Grand Strategy and the American Century: Enduring Trends and Emerging Challenges

YALE Brady-Johnson Program in Grand Strategy

Grand Strategy and the American Century: Enduring Trends and Emerging Challenges March 30-31, 2017 Horchow Hall, GM Room 55 Hillhouse Ave., New Haven CT

(Final Version, February 28, 2017)

The past one hundred years since U.S. entry into World War I in 1917 are often called the “American Century.” This period was marked by almost continuous growth in U.S. involvement in world affairs leading up to superpower status during the Cold War period, and ultimately to the position of preponderant power during the past quarter century since the fall of the Soviet Union. As such, the past century is a period of considerable continuity in U.S. grand strategy. At the same time, the United States has had to face evolving challenges to its core international goals, from the peril of German domination over Europe (twice), to the need to contain communism, to interstate terrorism. Indeed, the first quarter of the American Century were shaped by strong isolationism sentiment in the United States – a sentiment that now seems to be resurgent.

This conference aims at evaluating the evolving trends in U.S. strategy during this period and extrapolating lessons for current and future U.S. foreign policy. Panels will cover the U.S. participation in World War I, the interwar period, the Cold War and its end, and the “unipolar moment” of American dominance, as well as analyze emerging challenges and constraints to U.S. grand strategy, such as international law, climate change, global pandemics, and human displacement and migration. Participants are drawn from the fields of history, political science, international law, and global health.

Conference Program

DAY 1 – March 30, 2017

08:30-09:00 Breakfast

09:00-09:15 Opening Elizabeth Bradley (Yale University) Remarks Nuno P. Monteiro (Yale University)

09:15-10:45 U.S. Participation in World War I

Chair: Paul Kennedy (Yale University)

Presenters: Christopher Capozzola (MIT) Christopher Nichols (Oregon State University) John Maurer (Naval War College)

1 10:45-11:00 Coffee Break

11:00-12:30 U.S. Strategy in the Interwar Period

Chair: Beverly Gage (Yale University)

Presenters: Patricia Clavin (Oxford University) Charlie Laderman (Cambridge University) David Milne (University of East Anglia)

12:30-02:00 Lunch

02:00-03:30 U.S. Strategy during the Cold War

Chair: John Lewis Gaddis (Yale University)

Presenters: Elizabeth Borgwardt (Washington University in St. Louis) Fredrik Logevall (Harvard University) Erez Manela (Harvard University) Arne Westad (Harvard University)

03:30-04:00 Coffee Break

04:00-05:30 Keynote Session

A debate on the future of U.S. grand strategy with: Barry Posen (MIT) and Thomas Wright (Brookings) Moderated by Nuno Monteiro (Yale University)

05:30-07:00 Break

07:00-09:00 Dinner

Venue: The Graduate Club 155 Elm St, New Haven

DAY 2 – March 31, 2017

08:30-09:00 Breakfast

09:00-10:30 U.S. Strategy and the End of the Cold War

Chair: Christopher Miller (Yale University)

Presenters: Hal Brands (Johns Hopkins University)

2 Serhii Plokhii (Harvard University) Mary Sarotte (University of Southern California)

11:00-12:30 U.S. Strategy in the Unipolar Moment

Chair: Nuno Monteiro (Yale University)

Presenters: Charles Kupchan (Georgetown University / CFR) John Mearsheimer (University of Chicago) Stephen Walt (Harvard University) William Wohlforth (Dartmouth College)

12:30-02:00 Lunch

02:00-04:00 Emerging Challenges to U.S. Grand Strategy

Chair: Aleh Tsyvinski (Yale University)

Presenters: International law: Daniel Abebe (University of Chicago Law School) Migration: Sunil Amrith (Harvard University) C limate change: Joshua Busby (U Texas at Austin) Global pandemics: Kristina Talbert-Slagle (Yale University)

04:30-05:30 Wrap-Up Discussion: The Future of U.S. Grand Strategy

Moderators: John Lewis Gaddis (Yale University) Beverly Gage (Yale University)

05:30-07:00 Break

07:00-09:00 Dinner

Venue: The Quinnipiack Club 221 Church St, New Haven