How can the United States reconcile its own interests with the needs of the global community? This global balancing act was the focus of the annual Cline Symposium on April 18 at the University of Illinois.
This year's Cline Symposium featured G. John Ikenberry, a renowned expert on U.S. foreign policy, international relations, and globalization. Ikenberry, a professor from Princeton University, gave the keynote address, "Making U.S. Policy Unilaterally in a Multilateral World."
The symposium also included a public forum entitled "Presidential Power and U.S. Foreign Policy: What Can He Do and When Can He Do It?"
The Cline Symposium is the capstone of a semester-long seminar course for upper classmen in the Department of Political Science that focuses on the role and importance on values in public life. In addition to the public lecture and forum are discussion groups in which the students are called upon to display their mastery of the subject matter when they are asked, as groups, to resolve or debate a key issue related to the topic. These popular discussions are led by alumni of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences whohave expertise on the topic under analysis.
The symposium was established in 1995 with a gift from Richard G. and Carole J. Cline and is organized by the Center for the Study of Democratic Governance. Since that time, the symposium has become a popular and prestigious fixture on the Urbana campus. It is a model of how alumni can enrich and be enriched by involvement in their alma mater.
