February 12, 2004

Robert Kagan specializes in U.S. leadership and foreign policy. An expert on transatlantic relationships and diplomacy, he views the changes over the past 50 years and their ramifications for the future. Kagan's new book, Of Paradise and Power, America and Europe in the New World Order, is a best-selling explanation of why Americans are more willing to go to war than Europeans.

“On the all-important question of power,” reads one passage from the book, “the efficacy of power, the morality of power, the desirability of power, American and European perspectives are diverging.” A more populist version of the same point – “Americans are from Mars and Europeans are from Venus” – has already made him famous.

Americans, says Kagan, have a lower level of tolerance for insecurity than Europeans, mainly because we have the military capability to take on enemies. We have power and are willing to use it, particularly after September 11. Kagan believes that Europeans, still traumatized by past world wars and softened by the American protection during the Cold War, have forgotten that it is sometimes necessary to fight to preserve freedom.

Since World War II, Kagan points out, the U.S. has guaranteed Europe's security, allowing it to focus its energies inward. Europeans are witnessing cooperation among former enemies. Under the umbrella of the European Union, they are “entering a post-historical paradise of peace and relative prosperity.”

Sparking debate on both sides of the Atlantic, Kagan suggests that the disparity of power has led Europe to duck responsibility for policing terrorists and rogue nations. He compares the U.S. and Europe to two men confronting a dangerous bear, one armed only with a knife and the other with a rifle. The one with the knife will choose to lie low, while the other with the gun will find greater security in trying to shoot the bear.

Kagan writes, “The problem today, if it is a problem, is that the United States can ‘go it alone' and it is hardly surprising that the American superpower should wish to preserve its ability to do so.” He describes the President Bush administration's foreign policy as realist-nationalist.

Neal Conan
(Photo by Antony Nagelmann)

Kagan is cofounder, with William Kristol, of the Project for a new American Century and a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He also is a contributing editor to the Weekly Standard , the New Republic and the Washington Post. Prior to joining the Carnegie Endowment, he worked in the Department of State as a deputy for policy in the Bureau of Inter-American Affairs and was a member of the policy planning staff as principal speechwriter for Secretary of State George P. Shultz during President Reagan's administration. He is a graduate of Yale University and Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government. He is married to Victoria Nuland, former deputy U.S. ambassador to NATO, is foreign-policy advisor to Vice President Richard Cheney.

Kagan will be interviewed by award-winning journalist Neal Conan, host of “Talk of the Nation” on NPR. Conan's show is a news-talk-call-in which reaches three million listeners a week.

Thursday, February 12, 2004

11 a.m. Discussion with students and faculty at the University of Louisville, Ekstrom Library Auditorium, moderated by Rodger Payne, political science professor. Limited to university students, faculty and staff.

The Kentucky Center

5 Riverfront Plaza, Downtown Louisville

The evening's activities are as follows:

5 p.m. Borders Books book sale and wine and cheese reception provided by Brown Forman, Lobby

6 p.m. Interview with Robert Kagan by NPR‘s Neal Conan, Bomhard Theatre.

Live taping with WFPL 89.3 and KET, The Kentucky Network Master of Ceremonies is Forum Editor/Book Editor Keith Runyon of The Courier-Journal

7 p.m. Q & A followed by book signing on Bittners' stage set

A $16 ticket includes the above three events. A limited number of discounted tickets of $5 each are available for U of L students, faculty and staff at the KCA box office --U of L photo ID is required.

8:00 p.m. Dinner with the author, hosted by the University of Louisville President James Ramsey, in the Mary Anderson Room.

A $100 package ticket includes the above events plus dinner with Robert Kagan. (Proceeds go to the nonprofit Kentucky Author Forum; $35 is tax-deductible.)

Tickets are available at The Kentucky Center, 502-584-7777 (1-800-775-7777).

Robert Kagan will be the guest on “State of Affairs on Feb. 12 to talk with host Julie Kredens from 1-2 p.m. . Listeners can reach the program by calling 814-TALK (8255) or toll free: 1-877-814-TALK. Neal Conan will be their guest the following day on Feb. 13 at 1 p.m.

A taped version of the event will be made available at The Louisville Free Public Library, St. Matthews/Eline Branch, 3940 Grandview Ave. , at 11 a.m. Monday, Feb. 16. There is no fee involved, but those interested must sign up in advance due to limited seating. Call the library directly at 574-1771 for further information.

WFPL 89.3 FM and Kentucky Educational Television (KET) will record the event for future broadcast, which will be distributed nationally to PBS affiliates nationwide, under the title: “A Conversation with Robert Kagan.”

NOTE TO TV: Access to a live feed to the event is available through KET. If interested, please contact Duncan Hart at 859-258-7296.

The University of Louisville Kentucky Author Forum series is produced by Mary Moss Greenebaum and sponsored by the University of Louisville in partnership with The Humana Foundation and Brown-Forman, in cooperation with Borders Books & Music; Bittners of Louisville; WFPL, Louisville's NPR Station for News; The Courier-Journal; KET, the Kentucky Network; and The Kentucky Center.

624 West Main, Second Floor
Louisville, Kentucky 40202
Phone 502.589.2884
Fax 502.589.4334
email KYFORUM@aol.com