September talks focus on US foreign policy in Russia, China

LOUISVILLE, Ky.—The University of Louisville’s McConnell Center will offer three September talks by political scientists through its series “Friends or Foes: U.S. Foreign Policy in Russia and China.”

 The free, public events begin at 6 p.m. in Ekstrom Library’s Chao Auditorium. Here’s the fall schedule:

            --Sept. 7, “Doomed to Rivalry? Understanding Russia’s Relations with the West,” Andrei Tsygankov, San Francisco State University professor of political science and international relations.

 The Russian native will talk about Russia’s history of cooperation, defensiveness and assertiveness with the United States and concentrate on new developments after Vladimir Putin’s return as Russian president, the Ukraine crisis and U.S. President Donald Trump’s election. Tsygankov has published several books in Russian and English, including “Russia’s Foreign Policy” and “Whose World Order? Russian’s Perception of American Ideas after the Cold War.”

      --Sept. 11, “A Pope and a President: John Paul II, Ronald Reagan and the Extraordinary Untold Story of the 20th Century,” Paul Kengor, political science professor and executive director of Grove City College’s Center for Vision and Values.

Kengor will examine the depth of the bond that developed between the two world leaders as they confronted the end of Soviet communism. Both took bullets from would-be assassins six weeks apart in 1981, and that common experience and their similar views on communism contributed to their friendship. Kengor wrote the New York Times best-seller “A Pope and a President” as well as “God and Ronald Reagan” and “The Crusader: Ronald Reagan and the Fall of Communism.”

   --Sept. 14, “The China Challenge: Formulating U.S. Policy and Strategy toward the People’s Republic of China,” Christopher Yung, director of East Asian Studies and the Donald Bren chair of non-western strategic thought at the Marine Corps University.

Yung will highlight the need to set aside traditional ways of evaluating the nature of a threat and coordinating U.S. policy toward China. Yung researches China’s emerging foreign and defense policy and its maritime and warfare capabilities and strategies. He is former senior research fellow and deputy director of the National Defense University’s Center for the Study of Chinese Military Affairs.

The nonpartisan McConnell Center, created at UofL in 1991, prepares Kentucky’s top undergraduate students to become future leaders; offers civic education programs for teachers, students and the public; and conducts strategic leadership development for the U.S. Army.

For more information, contact Gary Gregg at ggregg@louisville.edu or 502-852-3306 or see McConnellCenter.org.

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