Numerous generations of Americans have had to respond to foreign tyrants. The Greatest generation stood up to Hitler, Mussolini, Hirohito, and Stalin. The Baby Boomers grappled with Castro, Khomeini, Hussein, and Qaddafi. Currently, the United States is wrestling with how to deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s aggressive foreign policy maneuvers.
These foreign tyrants, authoritarian leaders, and dictators are also known as strongmen.
But what makes a strongman? What accounts for their rise to power? Why is the globe seeing a proliferation of such individuals at this moment?
A panel of foreign policy experts, including the U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for Global Criminal Justice; the Executive Director of the International Bar Association; and the former Chief Prosecutor of an International Criminal Tribunal; and others seek to answer these questions.
In addition to looking at the rise and the ruling tactics of strongmen leaders, they’ll also discuss how the international community should respond to these figures and the movements on the global stage.
GUESTS:
- Michael Scharf, Dean, School of Law; Case Western Reserve University
- Mark Ellis, PhD, Executive Editor, International Bar Association
- Greg Noone, PhD, Director, Fairmont State University National Security and Intelligence Program
- Paul Williams, PhD, President, Public International Law and Policy Group
- Shannon French, PhD, Director, the Inamori International Center for Ethics and Excellence; Case Western Reserve University
- David Crane, Former Chief Prosecutor, Special Court for Sierra Leone
- Beth van Schaack, Ambassador at Large for Global Criminal Justice, U.S. Department of State