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Thursday, March 28
The Indiana Daily Student

Top scholars address foreign policy issues

From left to right: Professor of practice Elaine Monaghan moderates panelists New York Times Columnist Roger Cohen; former Rep. Lee Hamilton, D-9th district; Research Fellow at the Stanford University Hoover Institution Kori Schake; and Executive Director of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States Philip Zelikow. The topic of the panel was The New Administration's Foreign Policy Inbox, which was part of The School of Global & International Studies' America's Role in the World: Issues Facing the New President event.

As President Trump’s approval rating continues to decrease and tension between political parties builds, the new administration must confront some of the most significant global issues in decades, according to a number of panelists Wednesday night.

Some of the country’s top scholars and practitioners on foreign policy discussed these issues at “America’s Role in the World” conference Wednesday and Thursday in the Global and International Studies Building.

The panelists were Roger Cohen, a columnist with the New York Times; former Rep. Lee H. Hamilton, D-9th District; Kori Schake, a research fellow at the Hoover Institution; and Philip Zelikow, an attorney, diplomat, academic and author. The conversation was moderated by the Media School’s Elaine Monaghan, professor of practice in 
journalism.

Senior Corey Gary, who is studying advertising and 
public relations, said he came to the conference because he’s interested in foreign policy and the new administration’s stance on it.

“I think that hearing experts talk is key,” Gary said. “I wish more people in the country would take time out of their day to hear experts,” Gary said. These people are talking about substantial things. You don’t hear that coming from our president too much.”

Monaghan opened the 
discussion by asking the panelists if they thought the administration is doomed to fail because of its lack of political experience. Although the panelists did not think it will, they cited incoherence, inconsistence, dysfunction and lack of leadership as fundamental issues facing the 
administration.

Hamilton said he is worried American leadership is not present in the world today. He said Trump and his administration are not stepping up to lead the world as they should.

“Mr. President Trump, I don’t know what your problems are,” Hamilton said.

He said that on almost every continent today there’s stress and conflict and the United States must step up and lead with its fundamental and democratic values in attempt to make the quality of life for all people better than it is currently.

Cohen said he was alarmed because of Trump’s elementary understanding of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the administration’s inconsistent stance on their commitment to the organization. Trump’s administration is sending members of NATO mixed signals regarding their position within the organization, which he said is concerning for 
maintaining foreign relations.

“We’ve seen a great deal of incoherence,” Cohen said. “We’ve seen some rudeness and we’ve seen a very alarming determination of the president to reduce, drastically, the importance of the state department in conducting American foreign policy.”

Cohen said the administration must realize trade deals are not just trade deals. Trade deals set up framework for maintaining positive international diplomacy, he said.

The administration’s decision to disregard many of these trade deals is concerning and will potentially be devastating to the U.S.’s international relationships, Cohen said.

Zelikow said there are three main issues the administration cares about: economic nationalism, radical Islamist terrorism and an aloofness regarding how other countries deal with foreign policy.

“The president is an open book if one cares to read it,” Zelikow said.

Although he said the issues Trump and his administration are focusing on are clear, Zelikow said there is a lack of clarity and coherence in their strategies to solve these issues.

Zelikow said their strategies are not determined by policy, but rather by the administration’s cultural positions, which raises concerns.

“The administration could remain reactive and dysfunctional, or they can adjust by creating a functional system with clear strategies,” Zelikow said

Schake said almost every presidential transition is a mess, but this one has been messier than most because the administration has failed to answer basic questions for the American people.

However, she said she is not as optimistic as most people are about the 
administration.

The history of the U.S. is easy to idealize but unsteady nonetheless, Schake said. There are many instances in which the U.S. did not have a committed role in foreign policy, even if history makes it out to seem as if it did, she said.

“We are a government built to be run by amateurs,” Schake said. “The system has a lot of built in stabilizers.”

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