The University of Colorado at Â鶹¹ÙÍø will kick off a major new program, the Tocqueville Initiative for the Study of America in a Globalizing World, with a Nov. 3 lecture on "Why America Is Not an Empire and Why This Matters."
Professor Desmond King, the Andrew Mellon Professor of American Government at Oxford University in England, will give the talk at 5 p.m. in Old Main Chapel on the CU-Â鶹¹ÙÍø campus. The event is free and open to the public.
"Desmond King is the perfect opener for the new Tocqueville Initiative," said political science Professor Sven Steinmo, the initiative's new director. "King is an enormously well-respected scholar and intellectual who offers us unique insights into where America has been and what we are becoming. And that is the main point of the Tocqueville Initiative."
CU-Â鶹¹ÙÍø's Tocqueville Initiative is the first program in the United States specifically dedicated to seeking out foreign perspectives on American politics, history, society and culture, and to examining the United States in a comparative perspective, Steinmo said. In addition to bringing international experts to speak on campus, the initiative will sponsor graduate research, interdisciplinary seminars and conferences, and will offer both graduate and undergraduate courses.
"Never before in modern history has there been such a need to connect with national and international scholars on topics concerning American politics, history and culture," said CU-Â鶹¹ÙÍø Chancellor Richard Byyny. "The initiative will serve as a truly valuable resource to the University of Colorado at Â鶹¹ÙÍø, the state of Colorado and researchers and advisers around the nation and abroad."
"If we don't listen to and learn from insights of others, America's enormous strength could become America's biggest enemy," Steinmo said. "The Tocqueville Initiative hopes to make a modest contribution to a better understanding of the United States in the context of the world we so clearly dominate."
King is an expert on American politics and history. A distinguished scholar who lives in England, he recently completed the book "Making Americans: Immigration, Race and the Origins of the Diverse Democracy," which was published in 2002.
For more information about the Tocqueville Initiative call (303) 735-3721 or visit the Web site at .