Joseph S. Nye Jr., '58, considered the co-founder of the international relations theory on "neoliberalism" and currently Distinguished Service Professor at Harvard University spoke at the Woodrow Wilson School on February 21 and 22 as part of the 2012 Richard Ullman Lecture Series.

The Ullman Lecture Series, cosponsored by the Woodrow Wilson School, the Center for International Security Studies (CISS) and Princeton University Press (PUP), honors the Wilson School’s professor of politics and international affairs emeritus, Richard Ullman. The overall series, titled “Presidential Leadership and the Creation of the American Era,” has featured outstanding scholars of international affairs and addresses topics of pressing concern to the world community.  Speakers are invited to share their insights on problems facing policymakers in dealing with a range of issues, including national security, globalization, the international economy, human rights and the challenges posed by changes to our natural environment.

Nye’s February 21 lecture was titled “Presidents and the Transformation of American Foreign Policy in the Twentieth Century.” Nye was introduced by his co-author and longtime friend, Robert Keohane, professor of public and international affairs at the Wilson School. In his discussion, Nye presented a comparative analysis of seven presidents who played “an important role in the creation and development of the American era,” their leadership styles, and to what extent they were viewed as transformational or transactional leaders. Nye examined the presidencies of Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush.

Watch the discussion here:

Introducing Nye at his second presentation on February 22 was Anne-Marie Slaughter, the Bert G. Kerstetter '66 University Professor of Politics and International Affairs at the Wilson School, who saluted Nye as a “public intellectual whose writings on foreign policy have educated millions who might not normally pick up scholarly journals.”

Nye’s second presentation focused on “Ethics and Good Leadership in Foreign Policy.”   Stating that being effective and ethical was considered a measure of good leadership in foreign policy, Nye noted that ethics in leadership was judged in three dimensions:   1) the ends that people or states have; 2) the means they use; and 3) the consequences of their actions.   Nye also discussed what has been viewed as one of the key qualities in judging the ethics of a president in foreign policy: prudence.   Throughout this discussion, Nye wove in examples of the seven presidents he had spoken about during his previous lecture.

Nye’s February 22 lecture can be watched here:

Nye’s Ullman Series lectures will be compiled into a book and published by Princeton University Press.