Conversations with History: Institute of International Studies, UC Berkeley

See the Conversations with History Blog See a webcast of this interview: Schwenninger

This interview is part of the Institute's "Conversations with History" series, and uses Internet technology to share with the public Berkeley's distinction as a global forum for ideas.

Welcome to a Conversation with History. I'm Harry Kreisler of the Institute of International Studies. Our guest today is Sherle R. Schwenninger, who was editor of World Policy from 1983 to 1991. He is a Senior Fellow at the World Policy Institute, and Co-Director of the Global Economic Policy Program at the New America Foundation.

1. Background ... cusp between Midwest and West ... common sense ... value of public investment ... détente comes home ... university and law school
2. Thinking Outside the Box on U.S. Foreign Policy ... stuck in Cold War paradigms ... new policy journal for new voices ... self-censorship of foreign policy commentators ... changing the terms of the debate
3. The Role of Domestic Agendas ... shaping the conventional wisdom ... reality corrects imbalances ... history viewed through ideological lens ... what is or is not debated
4. The Defacto "Grand Strategy" of Neoliberalism ... 1990s strategy incomplete and unnamed ... promoting liberal democracy through economic development ... lack of overarching view ... democracy through forced interventions
5. Bush's Post-9/11 Grand Strategy ... triumphalism with paranoia ... for us or against us ... Bush doctrine already fading ... the necessity of interdependence ... Bush's cavalier attitude
6. An Alternative Grand Strategy ... focusing on middle-class living standards ... multipolarity ... the problem of U.S. foreign debt ... modeling middle class development on post-Depression America ... out-of-balance consumerism
7. Conclusion ... conventional wisdom and public discourse ... advice for students ... bringing accountability back to public discourse ... divergence of academia and government

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