Francis Fukuyama: The Civil Service and the Future of American Diplomacy

The Union League Club of Chicago and the Chicago Council on Global Affairs

present

Professor Francis Fukuyama: The Civil Service and the Future of American Diplomacy

Expertise, Accountability, and the Stewardship of the American State

Thursday, May 14, 2026

11:30 am to 1:30 pm

Union League Club of Chicago

65 West Jackson Boulevard

Chicago, Illinois

For 155 years, the American civil service has ensured continuity in government through a professional corps of diplomats, analysts, and administrators who put policy into action and carry institutional knowledge from one administration to the next. Created to replace the spoils system, the merit-based civil service has been the backbone of effective government and credible diplomacy. Yet recent reforms have revived an enduring question of how to preserve the value of expertise while ensuring democratic accountability in government.

As the United States approaches its 250th anniversary, the Union League Club of Chicago and the Chicago Council on Global Affairs bring together Francis Fukuyama and Paul Poast, in conversation with Leslie Vinjamuri, to examine the civil service, democratic governance, and the future of American diplomacy.

Attire: Smart Casual

Space is limited. Advance registration is required.

Francis Fukuyama is the Olivier Nomellini Senior Fellow at Stanford University’s Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and director of the Ford Dorsey Master’s in International Policy. A leading scholar of democracy, development, and international politics, he gained global prominence with his influential book The End of History and the Last Man. Fukuyama previously served on the U.S. State Department’s Policy Planning Staff and worked at the RAND Corporation. He has held professorships at George Mason University and Johns Hopkins SAIS and currently edits the journal American Purpose. He received his PhD in political science from Harvard University.

Paul Poast is an associate professor of political science and international relations at the University of Chicago and a nonresident fellow at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. His research examines international security, alliances, diplomacy, and the economic foundations of warfare. At the university, he serves as deputy dean of doctoral education for the Social Science Division and directs the Summer Institute for Social Research Methods. Poast is the author or co-author of several books, including Arguing About Alliances and Organizing Democracy, and his scholarship appears in leading journals on international relations and political economy.

Leslie Vinjamuri serves as president and CEO of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, where she advances research and dialogue on geopolitics, international order, and American leadership. Previously, she directed the U.S. and the Americas Programme at Chatham House in London and served as dean of the Queen Elizabeth II Academy for Leadership in International Affairs. A professor of practice at SOAS University of London, she has led major research initiatives on global governance and human rights. Her career also includes service at USAID, the Congressional Research Service, and fellowships at Harvard and the London School of Economics.

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