Professor Duncan Richard Shaw鈥檚 American Foreign Policy聽class at our聽Madrid campus聽received an engaging speaker recently. Professor Erik Baum, of Suffolk University, gave a masterclass titled 鈥淭he Positive and Negative Aspects of US Foreign Policy Today鈥.
Under the initial premise that 鈥測ou can鈥檛 separate the foreign policy from what happens domestically鈥, Professor Baum analyzed some of the recent events that have taken center stage in American foreign policy and the media, such as the war on Ukraine, the immigration issues, climate change and the semiconductor crisis, to see how they had been perceived by the聽American聽population and handled by the聽US聽Government.
Baum referred to聽,聽 to illustrate the fact that foreign policy matters are not high on the list of perceived problems by the American population. Inflation and the economy in general聽are high on that list. He explained聽that this is because聽US聽civil society sees foreign policy issues as far聽removed聽from their daily lives. Rather, it is big corporations and businesses the ones pushing the government on foreign policy matters.
Dr Baum聽expressed positive views on Biden鈥檚 reaction to the war on Ukraine, 鈥渂ecause he took care of things without interfering鈥, having learned from the latest US involvement in world affairs.聽Baum concluded with the hope that this聽聽could mark a new era for US involvement in world affairs, using diplomacy rather than strength.聽
Students were engaged and contributed to the session with their own opinions on this topic.
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