Will America Decline?
dnorris10 February 28th, 2006
David Hendrickson, professor of political science at Colorado College, addresses the question, “Will America Decline?” at the final Great Decisions lecture on Tuesday, Feb. 28, at The College of Wooster. The lecture, which is free and open to the public, will be held in Gault Recital Hall of Scheide Music Center (525 E. University St.), beginning at 7:30 p.m.
Hendrickson will examine a range of military, economic, ideological, and cultural factors. The uses and limits of military power, especially as revealed by the war in Iraq and the prospective war against Iran, are one key topic of investigation. Others include the serious weakening of American finances, the erosion of the perceived legitimacy of America’s position in the world, and the cultural influences at home that hobble the development of a solvent grand strategy. “America,” says Hendrickson, “is not as strong as she seems, but not as weak as she appears because most of the factors pointing to American decline may be reversed by prudent national policies.”
Hendrickson, who has taught at Colorado College since 1983, received a Ph.D. in Political Science from Johns Hopkins University and a B.A. in history from Colorado College. He teaches courses in American foreign policy and international relations, and is the author of five books, including The Imperial Temptation: The New World Order and America’s Purpose (1992) and Empire of Liberty: The Statecraft of Thomas Jefferson (1990), which was nominated by Oxford University Press for a Pulitzer Prize. He was a book reviewer for Foreign Affairs from 1994 to 1998 and has published essays in a variety of foreign policy journals, including Foreign Affairs, The National Interest, Ethics and International Affairs, and World Policy Journal. He was the recipient in 1989 of the Burlington Northern Faculty Achievement Award at Colorado College and has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Olin Foundation, and the Council on Foreign Relations.