FIU to host Geopolitical Summit

Prominent scholars will discuss American foreign policy, its challenges and possibilities in the GC Ballrooms at UP.

By Sissi Aguila

FIU President Modesto A. Maidique will host “America and the Rising Powers: A Geopolitical Summit,” an unprecedented gathering of some of the world’s foremost economic, foreign policy and international relations experts, on Tuesday, Feb. 24.

The summit will feature distinguished speakers Francis Fukuyama, Robert Kagan, Parag Khanna and Fareed Zakaria, who will cover such topics as “Reconsidering Democracy and the Neoconservative Legacy,” “The Return of History and the End of Dreams,” “The Second World: Empires and Influence in the New Global Order,” and “The Post American World.” FIU faculty members will serve as panelists on each subject.

The academic conference aims to provide participants an opportunity to reflect on the shifting power of the world and its impact on the United States as well as acquire a sense of the analytical skills necessary to understand the nation’s foreign policy.  

Scheduled from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., the event will also honor FIU’s new School of International and Pubic Affairs, which brings together international, governmental and social studies with the goal of deepening understanding for an increasingly global society. The university has made a major commitment to making “international” a part of each student’s experience.

For more information on the summit, a Web site will be up by Jan. 23. Those interested can access the site through a focus bottom on the FIU home page.