Poli 409: American Conservatism from Goldwater to Trump

Every year, the Department sends two students to represent UMBC at this conference. Past participants have found the conference to be extremely rewarding. The Department covers registration fees and transportation to West Point, while the conference organizers provide room and board while there. If you are interested, please send a brief (one paragraph) letter of interest, including why you would like to go, what makes you qualified to represent the Department and your GPA to: Dr. Brian Grodsky, bgrodsky@umbc.edu. All applications must be received by September 15.

For more information, see below.

The largest and oldest conference of its type, SCUSA is an important means through which we promote civil-military engagement among future leaders from around the world. In addition to 60 cadet delegates, approximately 200 undergraduate and graduate students from over 100 universities and 20-30 countries attend SCUSA each year. Highlights of the conference include the opening senior panel discussion on the evening of November 1st, the keynote banquet address on November 2nd, four roundtable sessions, and a closing session on November 4th at which delegates will present recommendations for U.S. foreign policy developed during their roundtable sessions. Recent keynote speakers have included Dr. Richard Haass, Secretary Madeleine Albright, Ambassador Thomas Pickering, and Lieutenant General (Ret.) Brent Scowcroft.

Our theme this year is "The Politics of the Forgotten and the Aggrieved: Remaking the World Order?" Given today's significant and diverse challenges to the post-World War II liberal international order, our goal is to enable student delegates to grapple with the pressing foreign policy issues that now face our country. During SCUSA, delegates will serve on one of fifteen regional and topical roundtables to discuss questions related to the theme. The delegates will be asked to assess and debate issues such as the impact of populism on U.S. and European domestic and foreign policy, the future of American alliances throughout the world, U.S. responses to climate change amid rising nationalism, and U.S. policies to address ethnoreligious conflict and mass displacement. We hope that delegates will think critically about both the politics of grievance as well as the continued marginalization of various groups throughout the world.

The registration window for SCUSA opens on September 1st and will close on October 20th, or once we have reached our maximum number of participants. The link to the registration website is https://www.eventbrite.com/e/scusa-2017-the-politics-of-the-forgotten-and-the-aggrieved-registration-32053468788. The password for registration is: SCUSA2017. The registration fee for SCUSA is $180 per delegate, which covers all meals and lodging for the student while he or she is attending SCUSA. Your university is responsible for paying the registration fee, as well as air or rail transportation to and from the conference and all associated costs. West Point will provide transportation to West Point from Newark, LaGuardia, and Stewart airports, as well as from Garrison (Metro-North) and Croton-Harmon (Amtrak) train stations. After the conclusion of the conference, we will provide delegates with transportation back to these airports and train stations as well.