Benign or Imperial? Reflections on American Hegemony

The Boyer Lectures 2003: Benign or Imperial?
Reflections on American Hegemony, lecture one, And Then There Was One
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/bigidea/stories/s986878.htm

Full transcript
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/boyers/stories/s987423.htm

The Boyer Lectures 2003: Benign or Imperial?
Reflections on American Hegemony, lecture two, Taking on Utopia
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/bigidea/stories/s991558.htm

Full transcript
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/boyers/stories/s987503.htm


>From Sunday, 16 November, international affairs expert Owen Harries presents
the 2003 Boyer Lectures, "Benign or Imperial? Reflections on American
Hegemony."

With the demise of the Soviet Union, the international political system, for
the first time, has only one 'superpower': the United States is the first
'global hegemon'.

Owen Harries outlines how throughout history, hegemons have always been
feared and coalitions formed to confront them. Will this happen in the case
of American hegemony? Or will it be the exception - either because it is too
strong to be confronted or because, as many Americans believe, it is such a
force for good that it should not be confronted?

Mr Harries examines whether the old realist truths of power politics still
apply, and if the rules of the game are affected by "globalisation", the
spread of democracy, and unipolarity. Has 9/11 seriously distorted American
policy or caused the United States to be more true to itself? And who will
challenge American dominance in coming decades?

He also asks, crucially for this nation, whether Australia is favourably
positioned on the American bandwagon, or whether we are in for an
uncomfortable ride.

The series of six lectures will be broadcast weekly on ABC Radio National
each Sunday at 5pm, repeated the following Tuesday at 1pm.


Lecture 3: A Democratic World
Sunday 30 November 2003
Lecture 4: Civilisations and Cultures - Clashing or Merging?
Sunday 7 December 2003
Lecture 5: Challengers
Sunday 14 December 2003
Lecture 6: Punching Above Our Weight?
Sunday 21 December 2003



Owen Harries is a senior fellow at the Centre for Independent Studies in
Sydney, and Editor Emeritus of The National Interest, a leading
Washington-based foreign policy quarterly.

He has contributed to Australian government foreign policy as head of policy
planning in the Department of Foreign Affairs in the late 1970s, and as
senior adviser, successively, to the (then) minister for foreign affairs
Andrew Peacock, and prime minister Malcolm Fraser.

Mr Harries has also made a significant contribution to our understanding of
international foreign policy and has been at the forefront of recent
commentary on America's foreign policy. He has published over 200 articles
in leading international publications including Foreign Affairs, Commentary,
New Republic, Harper's, The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington
Post, The Times (London), and The Spectator. He was editor-in-chief of The
National Interest from its founding in 1985 until 2001.

Mr Harries was editor and principal author of Australia and the Third World
('The Harries Report' 1979), and editor of Liberty and Politics (1976), The
Red Orchestra (1989) and America's Purpose: New Visions of US Foreign Policy
(1991).

In Australia, he has written for The Bulletin, Quadrant, The Australian, The
Australian Financial Review, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.

>From 1978 to 1979, Mr Harries was chairman of the Committee on Australia's
Relations with the Third World. During 1982-3 he was Australian Ambassador
to UNESCO, and from 1983 to 1985 he was a fellow at the Heritage Foundation
in Washington DC.

Mr Harries was born in Wales in 1930 and educated at the Universities of
Wales and Oxford. He served as a pilot officer in the RAF (1952-54). Mr
Harries taught at the Universities of Sydney and NSW from 1956 to 1975.