Featured Speakers:

‍ ‍Amb. Kelley Currie‍ ‍ UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar

For generations, America's influence has rested on more than military strength or economic power. It has rested on the attractiveness of American ideas—constitutional government, individual liberty, equal citizenship, religious freedom, the rule of law, and the belief that every person possesses inherent dignity. These ideas helped build alliances, rebuild nations after war, and distinguish the United States from authoritarian rivals. Keeping human considerations front and center - including rebuilding former adversaries, promoting human rights, and observing humanitarian principles - has advanced American interests since the end of the Second World War.

Today, as the United States competes with China and Russia for influence around the world, the competition is once again about ideas. Through diplomacy, humanitarian assistance, development, and security cooperation, America exports not only resources but also assumptions about government, family, human dignity, and the relationship between the individual and the state.

Which ideas make America the partner of choice in great-power competition?

This question has taken on new urgency as China and Russia seek to expand their influence across the Indo-Pacific, Africa, Latin America, Eastern Europe, and the Middle East. U.S. security cooperation is one of America's principal foreign policy instruments in this competition. Beyond building military capacity, it strengthens institutions, develops leaders, and shapes the values and ideas associated with American partnership. As nations compete to become the partner of choice, the ideas embedded in these relationships matter as much as the equipment and training they provide.

This discussion asks a fundamental question: What principles are Americans promoting abroad? How can the United States ensure that the principles embedded in its foreign assistance, security cooperation, and public diplomacy strengthen—not weaken—its strategic position while remaining faithful to America's constitutional traditions?

At a time of renewed great-power competition, America's greatest competitive advantage may still be what it has always been: combining strength with goodness in the service of freedom.