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Past Event

A Foreign Policy Event

The U.S. Presidential Election: Observations from the Outside Looking In

Elections, Foreign Policy


Event Summary

The U.S. presidential election is being closely watched by people around the world. Every campaign speech and presidential debate is fodder for blogs and evening newscasts from London to Singapore, from Buenos Aires to New Delhi. What do people in other countries think about the race for the White House? And what is their view of the key issues in the U.S. election?

Event Information

When

Thursday, October 23, 2008
2:00 PM to 3:30 PM

Where

Falk Auditorium
The Brookings Institution
1775 Massachusetts Ave., NW
Washington, DC
Map

Contact: Brookings Office of Communications

E-mail: events@brookings.edu

Phone: 202.797.6105

On October 23, the Brookings Institution will host a panel discussion on the U.S. presidential election featuring the observations of political analysts from around the world. Along with their analysis of the election in the closing weeks of the campaign, the discussion will feature the perspectives from Europe and the Asia-Pacific.

Carlos Pascual, vice president and director of Foreign Policy at Brookings, will provide introductory remarks and will moderate the discussion. Pascual will be joined by Brookings Senior Fellow Justin Vaisse, who served as an advisor on the policy planning staff of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Paris; Visiting Fellow Keiko Iizuka, who is on leave from the Japanese newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun where she serves as the deputy political editor; and Visiting Fellow Michael Fullilove, who also serves as director of the global issues program at the Lowy Institute for International Policy in Sydney, Australia. After the program, panelists will take audience questions.

Transcript

MICHAEL FULLILOVE:  The world, I think, is watching this election. The contest is being followed as closely outside America as it is within America. I think all of it -- speeches, vice presidential peaks, debates -- is being dissected in blogs and op-ed columns in every language. We all know more about Wasilla and Wilmington than we ever suspected we might.

Now, why does the world care so much? Partly it is as Carlos mentioned, the scale of the challenges facing the next president. Bloody conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, nuclear programs in Iran and North Korea, a cooling economy, newly confident competitors, financial collapse, a warming planet. A lot is at stake. But more than that I think it's because the idea of America -- democratic, optimistic and meritocratic -- continues to fascinate.

Participants

Introduction and Moderator

Carlos Pascual

Vice President and Director, Foreign Policy


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