America’s Reputational Security in Crisis? A Fireside Chat

Join us for a lunchtime conversation with historian and academic Nicholas J. Cull from the University of Southern California as we explore his concept of "reputational security"—the idea that a nation's safety and security are strengthened by being well-regarded internationally. Dr. Cull will provide historical context for recent actions by the Trump administration, including the dismantling of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the freezing of foreign aid and proposals to take control of territories such as Greenland, the Panama Canal and the Gaza Strip. We will discuss how these policies impact America's global standing and may pose risks to its national security.

Lunch will begin at 12:15 p.m. and the discussion will begin at 12:30 p.m.

Speaker

Nicholas J. Cull (Ph.D., History) is Professor of Public Diplomacy at USC’s Annenberg School for Communication. He is a scholar on the role of public engagement and soft power in foreign policy and its best-known historian. He is the author of The Cold War and the United States Information Agency: American Propaganda and Public Diplomacy, 1945-1989 (Cambridge, 2008); The Decline and Fall of the United States Information Agency: American Public Diplomacy, 1989-2001 (Palgrave, 2012), Public Diplomacy: Foundations for Global Engagement in the Digital Age (Polity, 2019), and most recently published Reputational Security: Refocusing Public Diplomacy for a Dangerous World (Wiley, 2023).

Moderator

Erik Nisbet is the Owen L. Coon Professor of Policy Analysis & Communication and Director of the Center for Communication & Public Policy in Northwestern University’s School of Communication. He is an expert on public diplomacy whose research focuses on how communication strategies and foreign media influence international public opinion and foreign policy.

Please note that 720 University Place is not an ADA-accessible space. Increasing physical access to buildings and facilities is a goal of the University, but not all buildings and venues have been updated.

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