America's Role in the World: Challenges to American Businesses and Higher Education

At its Summer 2003 meeting, the Business-Higher Education Forum (BHEF) engaged the questions of America's role in the post-Sept.11, 2001 world. Following a series of panel presentations, BHEF members specifically examined the important issues of sustaining, legitimating, and using American power. Six major foreign policy challenges facing the United States were identified: (1) Defeating Islamist terrorism; (2) Stemming the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction; (3) Extending the benefits of globalization; (4) Adapting to a growing China; (5) Averting catastrophic climate change; and (6) Containing virulent infectious diseases. The report concludes that America has confronted many challenges during its history, has always risen to the occasion in the past, and that it is time to do so again. The authors urge advocating a thorough and searching national debate that sees the world as it is, acknowledging both American power and its limits, understanding that accomplishing U.S. goals will often require the cooperation of others, and that there are no simple answers to these challenges.