Thinking beyond Boundaries: Contemporary Challenges to U.S. Foreign Policy
Fotini Gan ‘12
For an international relations student fascinated by diplomacy, security, and negotiation strategies, the 63rd SCUSA Conference at West Point is an intellectual playground. The conference was a fast-paced weekend that asked young, internationally-focused civilian and military students from the U.S. and across the world strategizing to find the solutions to our national security’s most pressing problems in three days. It is amazing what you can learn and the amount of people you can engage with when you run on a military schedule of waking up at dawn. Above all, it is easy to say that many of the people you meet in your group will become friends after the conference is over and important connections if you intend to stay in the IR field.
When you arrive at the SCUSA sign-in, the first thing that will strike you is how structured and rigid West Point appears; it is a military academy after all. The second thing you will notice is how personable and engaged the West Point cadets are, and once the ice starts to break over dinner, you will be intrigued by the diversity of everyone’s personal and academic backgrounds and experiences. It will be an exciting weekend indeed.
I was a member of one of several roundtables: Challenges and Opportunities in Sino-American Relations. While everyone had studied about China to some extent we all brought vastly different perspectives and experiences to the table. My group consisted of Swedish, German, Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese international students and cadets as well as American students and cadets from across the U.S. As a result, we all had different opinions as to how to structure and write our policy paper. Though it took two days to discuss and negotiate, we managed to pull together with a solid piece by the last day of the conference—as every roundtable is required to do.
An overarching goal of SCUSA is to bring together military and civilian students who study similar topics and establish a kind of relationship or social capital between the two groups. Among the civilian students, we noticed that for many of us it was the first time meeting young members training to become leaders in the U.S. or in foreign militaries, and we had several misconceptions about the U.S. military—ranging from difference in education to women’s issues. At meal time or during down times, cadets and civilian students discussed everything from history to political issues and how we grew up to why we decided the track we chose in life.
I think that is one of the most important things to be gained from the SCUSA experience: meeting people from military or civilian life that you would never encounter normally. SCUSA offers an opportunity to really color your academic experience as an international relations student and apply issues of international security and military to real people. I will not say it “takes theories out of the classroom,” because you are in a classroom for much of the time, but it definitely brings a new depth to what you study at Syracuse University by applying those ideas in a different environment.
Overall, I only have positive words about SCUSA 63 and I am honored I had the opportunity to attend and participate. I urge everyone who is accepted to future conferences to attend with an open mind and be willing to engage with others, and also, don’t forget to do the reading.