America's Role in the World

The ninth annual

America's Role in the World Conference

A nonpartisan event convening diplomats, journalists, politicians and scholars to offer expert insight on critical global affairs topics 

April 4-5, 2024
Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies (Shreve Auditorium)
Bloomington, Indiana

The ninth annual event will include discussions on urgent issues facing the next U.S. Presidential administration, AI governance, Indiana’s global economic ties, Africa’s Sahel region, economic fragility in highly indebted countries, and other key topics in global affairs. The Hamilton Lugar School will also recognize Oleksandra Matviichuk, Ukrainian human rights lawyer and 2022 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, with the Global Voices for Change award for her leadership of the Center for Civil Liberties, a human rights organization based in Kyiv.

Past ARW Highlights:

John Kerry, Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, U.S. Department of State

John Kerry, as the 68th Secretary of State, dedicated the Hamilton Lugar School’s building in 2015. Throughout that first visit, Kerry met with our students, and he continues to keep in touch with IU student delegations at the annual United Nations Conference of the Parties (COPs), commending students on their advocacy for global solutions to climate change. Kerry has frequented IU as a distinguished guest on a number of other occasions, including at the opening of the IU Diplomacy Lab. An avid cycler, Kerry was made an honorary member of the IU Little 500 team in 2016.

Amb. Bonnie Jenkins, Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security

Ambassador Jenkins previously served in the Obama Administration as Special Envoy and Coordinator for Threat Reduction Programs in the Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation July 2009 - January 2017.

Global Impacts of Russia’s War Against Ukraine

A discussion with Hussein Banai, International Studies, IU Hamilton Lugar School; Sumit Ganguly, Political Science, Indiana University; Jung H. Pak, Deputy Assistant Secretary, Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs; and Marie Harf, Georgetown University Walsh School of Foreign Service.

Positioning Free Media on the International Agenda

A discussion with Natalia Arno, President & Founder, Free Russia Foundation; José Luis Sanz, Washington DC-based correspondent, El Faro; Veysel Ok, Co-Founder, Media and Law Studies Association; and Nick Benequista, Senior Director, Center for International Media Assistance.

Former Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright

Foreign Policy Challenges Facing the Next Administration

Rohingya Burmese activist Wai Wai Nu

The Future of Human Rights & Equality in Myanmar

Environmental and climate justice activist Catherine Coleman Flowers

The Future of Climate Activism

We have the responsibility to ensure that our first impulse in foreign affairs is one of bipartisanship. And we have the responsibility to speak plainly when we disagree with the administration, but to avoid inflammatory rhetoric that is designed merely to create partisan advantage or to settle partisan scores.

Sen. Richard Lugar, during the Senate debate on the nomination of Condoleezza Rice to be US Secretary of State (2005)

Conference conveners

Rep. Lee Hamilton

Distinguished Scholar and Namesake, Hamilton Lugar School

Lee Feinstein

Founding Dean and Professor of International Studies, Hamilton Lugar School; former U.S. Ambassador to Poland

John Ciorciari

John Ciorciari

Dean, Hamilton Lugar School

For more information

Media Contact:  Email Sarah DeWeese, Director of Communications & Marketing.

Event Contact:  Email Heather Duemling, Director of Special Projects and Executive Assistant to the Dean

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