PWAD course invites former U.S. Ambassador to talk on foreign policy and immigration

Ambassador Anthony Quainton spoke at UNC on Tuesday about United States foreign policy as part of a Peace, War and Defense course taught by professor Ted Leinbaugh. 

Quainton, former director general of the United States Foreign Service and former U.S. Ambassador to the Central African Republic, Nicaragua, Kuwait and Peru, gave a talk entitled “The Year Ahead in Foreign Policy: Victimization, Fraternization and Demonization.”

Although Quainton joked that he is “not a crystal ball,” he has a lot of global political knowledge, having worked all over the world for nearly 40 years and serving the United States in every continent except Antarctica. Given his extensive experience, he was invited by Leinbaugh to share his views of the future of foreign policy. 

Quainton focused on how the United States, specifically under the Trump administration and following the recent midterm elections, is currently behaving on a global scale and how the administration might act in the future. Quainton highlighted how President Trump has changed the dynamic of foreign relations and how immigration has become more of a challenge for the administration than international trade.

Leinbaugh brings in speakers like Quainton to give further context to the curriculum and has many other guests planned for the spring 2019 semester, including Sir Christopher Meyer, former British ambassador to the United States, and Harold Koh, a professor of international law at Yale Law School. 

“Often, my guests are not only leaders with practical experience in the world of diplomacy, but I try to get guests who understand the broad reach of history and how history has shaped the world we live in today,” Leinbaugh said.

Leinbaugh’s course, Epic, Empire and Diplomacy, looks at older, notable epics like "the Iliad," the "Aeneid," "Beowulf" and the "Epic of Gilgamesh," among others. He created this course because he wanted to combine study of these texts with diplomacy. 

“I thought that it’s important, in the classroom, not only to enjoy old books and big books but see how ideas that we see as values representing the United States — ideas of democracy, for example — how those come into play in the world that we live in,” Leinbaugh said.

Carolina Fowler, a junior double majoring in Peace, War and Defense and Global Studies, attended the event and said she valued the insights that Quainton gave. 

“I thought he did a fantastic job of giving a quick synopsis of the entire political atmosphere and environment of the world,” Fowler said. “I think it will be incredibly interesting to see what the administration does in the last half of its reign, and I think it would be further interesting to see what happens if he (Trump) is re-elected.”

Fowler studied in London over the summer and took Epic, Empire and Diplomacy. She said she enjoyed the course. 

“The whole time I felt like I was dreaming, actually,” Fowler said. “I felt like I needed to pinch myself. The whole time I was straddling the past and the present and the future in ways that I never realized they really connected. I never considered that ancient history could mean anything now.”

Fowler and her peers delved deeply into the texts to find out their themes and their contemporary applications. They were also able to handle artifacts and have conversations with leading scholars and politicians to relate what they read to current issues, like Brexit.

Leinbaugh acknowledged the support of the Transatlantic Forum for Education and Diplomacy Board of Directors and Joan H. Gillings in helping support for this kind of programming.

“It’s an important major for students who have an interest in all things global,” Leinbaugh said. “I realized that ancient texts that I enjoy reading have a global impact in the world today, and the best way to bring that home, I think, is to have global leaders come into the classroom.”

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