Heritage Foundation Leadership for America

Location: The Heritage Foundation's Lehrman Auditorium

Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, America emerged as the world’s sole superpower.  Former Socialist French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine coined the word "hyperpuissance" ("hyperpower"), to define America's political, military, and economic strength after 1990.  However, American global leadership was quickly called into question by many in Europe.  The Franco-German axis opposing Operation Iraqi Freedom saw virulently anti-American leaders attempt to deliberately undermine America’s international credibility and legitimacy and promote the European Union as a potential counterbalance – and rival – to American power.  As lead negotiator with Iran and the world’s greatest advocate of international climate change policy, the European Union is an emerging foreign policy actor on the world stage despite the failure of its Constitutional Treaty.

In spite of the fact that new leaders in Germany and France are more pro-American, the question remains whether European countries will unravel themselves from the transatlantic alliance and envelop themselves in the European project.  Does Europe want to lead the international community and can it realistically act as a global policeman?  Or does a strong European Union actually represent a strategic partner for the United States to share the burden of global leadership?  Join our experts who will give the views from Berlin, London and Paris to answer these and other questions.