Walter Russell Mead is the Ravenel B. Curry III Distinguished Fellow in Strategy and Statesmanship at Hudson Institute, the James Clarke Chace Professor of Foreign Affairs and Humanities at Bard College, and the Global View Columnist at The Wall Street Journal. From 1997 to 2010, Mr. Mead was a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, serving as the Henry A. Kissinger Senior Fellow for U.S. Foreign Policy from 2003 until his departure.

American politics are growing increasingly agitated, and rising anger is affecting the business of government too. Does partisan bickering still stop at the water's edge, or does it affect foreign policy too? Noted historian Walter Russell Mead joined the School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership to comment on political polarization in the United States and how the divisions in our country influence trade, diplomacy, and national security.

About the Series

The polarized and compartmentalized intellectual climate on American campuses both mirrors and contributes to similar maladies in American civic life.

To examine the problem and begin to discuss possible solutions both at the level of the campus and society, the School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership, together with its partners in the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication and the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law, is hosting a lecture series and conference, Polarization and Civil Disagreement: Confronting America’s Civic Crisis.