Stephen Walt, the academic dean of Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, criticized the U.S. foreign policy of the past 15 years last night in front of approximately 120 Boston University community members at the College of General Studies, focusing on the events after Sept. 11, 2001 and the occupation of Iraq.
The event was the first in a nine-part series sponsored by BU Votes, a coalition of political student groups on campus — including the College Republicans, College Democrats and the World Affairs Forum — designed to register voters and increase awareness of key issues.
“This is the first time BU has tried doing something like this,” said BU Votes Chair and College Democrats Vice President Rani Woods.
World Affairs Forum President Bruno Hoguet, a CGS sophomore, first contacted Walt to come to BU last spring after Walt co-wrote a controversial paper titled, “The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy.” Walt accepted the invitation to speak, but spoke on a different topic last night.
“I thought the lecture from a Harvard professor would be interesting,” CAS freshman Benjamin Philip said.
Other students were hoping to see the controversy come to life at the event.
“I just want[ed] to see [Walt] rip it up,” CGS freshman Craig Saltzer said.
Woods said she launched the drive after observing little student interest in political affairs.
“We thought it was a pretty sad situation that there wasn’t a voter registration drive on the Boston University campus,” BU Votes board member and College Democrats President Cory Kalanick, a CAS senior, said.
Walt spoke on a variety of topics pertaining to U.S. foreign policy since the fall of the Soviet Union, but focused mostly on what he thought were the foreign policy mistakes made since Sept. 11. Walt prefaced his lecture by describing how the rest of the world viewed the United States 15 years ago and how that viewed has changed.
“On the whole, I think the past 15 years have not turned out the way we expected,” he said.
“America’s global image has dramatically deteriorated since the end of the Cold War,” he said later in the lecture.
Walt addressed some of the issues the United States faces as the sole world superpower and how politicians have viewed this issue, focusing on the main tenets of liberal internationalism and neo-conservatism.
According to Walt, the events of Sept. 11 buoyed the clout of neo-conservatism in the Bush administration. He defined “neo-conservatism” as an ideology that sees the world in stark terms and advocates the use of American power to dictate policy toward others.
Walt spent the rest of his lecture discussing how the Bush administration created support and ultimately how he thought it bungled the occupation of Iraq.
“Planning for the occupation was cavalier and incompetent,” he said.
Walt spent the end of his lecture discussing his views of what U.S. foreign policy should be, including advocating an immediate withdrawal from Iraq and a more selective intervention by the United States in world affairs.
“The 82nd Airborne is a wonderful organization, but not for exporting democracy,” he said.
During his lecture, Walt urged those in the audience to “be skeptical of both [political] parties.”