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Former
French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin, Authors Samuel Huntington and
Robert Kaplan October 16, 2002-- Three of the world’s most provocative observers of global issues will speak at a University of Virginia symposium on “America in the World” Nov. 7-8. The public event, the inaugural Levinson Lectures on Religion, Culture and Social Theory, will feature Lionel Jospin, former prime minister of France; political scientist Samuel Huntington of Harvard, author of “The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order;” and Robert D. Kaplan, award-winning journalist and best-selling author of nine influential books on international affairs. Huntington, a leading scholar of world politics, will give the program’s keynote address at 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 7, in Alumni Hall. On Friday, Nov. 8, Jospin and Kaplan will speak in Old Cabell Hall auditorium. Jospin will talk at 9 a.m. and Kaplan at 10:30 a.m., followed by a noon panel discussion with all three symposium participants. Around the world today, “America is as likely to evoke exasperation and anger as admiration,” said Steven L. Jones, associate director of U.Va.’s Center on Religion and Democracy, sponsor of the event. For some, America means equality and opportunity, for others it is an empire eroding their own societies, while many others are ambivalent. The three speakers will look at the nature, meaning and future of American global primacy. Huntington, proponent of the controversial thesis that western democracy will dangerously clash with other world views, is author or editor of more than a dozen books. He is a founder of the influential journal Foreign Policy and served in the Carter administration as coordinator of security planning for the National Security Council. He will speak on such questions as what America means to different civilizations and what the current war on terrorism might mean for the future of American leadership. Jospin, who served as Socialist prime minister of France from 1997 until this year, was narrowly edged out of the French presidential race last spring and retired from politics. His talk will be his first public address since retiring. Author of a new book on globalization, he will offer European perspectives about America’s place in the world. Kaplan, whose books and essays on the Muslim word and the Balkans have strongly influenced U.S. foreign policy, is an international correspondent for the Atlantic Monthly. In the 1980s, he was the first to warn in print of a future war in the Balkans, and his articles “The Coming Anarchy” and “Was Democracy Just a Moment?” have been widely debated. His many highly praised books include “Balkan Ghosts,” “The Ends of the Earth,” “An Empire Wilderness,” “Eastward to Tartary” and, most recently, “Warrior Politics: Why Leadership Demands a Pagan Ethos.” He will explore attitudes toward America in the less-developed regions of the world. The Levinson Lectures are endowed by Frank and Wynnette Levinson of Palo Alto, Calif., who are among U.Va.’s most generous benefactors. Both the Thursday and Friday programs will be webcast live at http://religionanddemocracy.lib.virginia.edu/ ### For details, please contact the Center on Religion and Democracy at (434) 924-7705. Media contact: Bob Brickhouse, (434) 924-6856 |
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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: Contact the Office
of University Relations at (434) 924-7116. Television reporters
should contact the TV News Office at (434) 924-7550. |
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