Cambridge Union debate
The fourth debate of term considered the decline of America. In the run-up to the hotly contested US presidential elections, America is at the forefront of international discourse. This debate will examine America’s role as a superpower, alongside other superpowers, and ask whether we should welcome America’s decline.
Thursday 31st October.
Cambridge Union, Bridge Street, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England
Speakers:
(Proposition)
Professor Mary Kaldor
Mary Kaldor is Professor Emeritus of Global Governance and Director of the Conflict and Civicness Research Group at the London School of Economics. She is the author of many books and articles including International Law and New Wars (with Christine Chinkin, 2017) and Global Security Cultures (2018).
(Proposition)
Dr Steven Thrasher
Steven Thrasher PhD holds the inaugural Daniel Renberg Chair for social justice in reporting and is a faculty member of the Institute of Sexual and Gender Minority Health and Wellbeing. He has worked as a columnist for The Guardian and published his debut book The Viral Underclass: The Human Toll When Inequality and Disease Collide in 2022.
(Proposition)
Student Speaker
(Opposition)
Professor John J. Mearsheimer
John J. Mearsheimer is the R. Wendell Harrison Distinguished Service Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago, where he has taught since 1982. He has written extensively about security issues and international politics and published seven books. In 2020, he received the American political Science Association’s James Madison Award.
(Opposition)
The Rt. Honourable The Lord Howard of Lympne
Michael Howard was the Leader of the Conservative Party and Leader of the Opposition from 2003 to 2005. He previously held cabinet positions in the governments of Margaret Thatcher and John Major, including Home Secretary.
(Opposition)
Shashank Joshi
Shashank Joshi is Defence Editor at The Economist and a Visiting Senior Research Fellow at the Department of War Studies at King’s College London.