The annual Wheatley International Affairs Conference draws students from across the United States, offering opportunities for first-rate instruction, networking, energetic exchange of ideas and collaborative work on international policy issues. WIAC 2014 will be held February 25-28, 2014, at Aspen Grove, a beautiful mountain retreat located adjacent to Sundance Ski Resort.
STUDENTS COME FROM ACROSS THE NATION INCLUDING: Cornell Stanford Tulane West Point Notre Dame Oregon State University of San Diego University of Arizona Aspen Grove is a beautiful mountain retreat located adjacent to Sundance Ski Resort University of Utah
Previous WIACs WIAC 2010 The Rise of Asia WIAC 2012 Human Security WIAC 2013 International Development PREVIOUS KEYNOTE SPEAKERS Fidel V. Ramos Former President Republic of the Philippines Ralph A. Cossa President Pacific Forum Center for Strategic & International Studies John Nagl Senior Fellow Center for a New American Security Lant Pritchett John F. Kennedy School of Government Harvard University Georg Kell Executive Director UN Global Compact
ROUNDTABLES In roundtables, students analyze, and develop recommendations on a foreign policy issue. Students present their recommendations for positive critical feedback from other students, roundtable chairs, and keynote speakers.
DIPLOMACY: BRIDGING RELIGIOUS DIVIDES FEBRUARY 25-28, 2014 If one had to convey a single message to U.S. foreign policy practitioners, it would be that religion matters. For good or for ill, the world is growing increasingly religious. [A]ll of the major world religions share core tenets about neighborly concern and the betterment of humanity, tenets that under the right circumstances can be used to bridge differences between adversaries. WIAC 2014 will explore the potential of commonly-held religious values to serve as the basis for a faith-based component to traditional diplomacy that can assist in countering extremist tendencies. ~ Dr. Doug Johnston, Visiting Senior Fellow at the Wheatley Institution
WIAC 2014 Keynote Speaker INTERFAITH YOUTH CORE Eboo Patel President and Founder Interfaith Youth Core (IFYC). Eboo s core belief is that religion is a bridge of cooperation rather than a barrier of division. He s inspired to build this bridge by his faith as a Muslim, his Indian heritage, and his American citizenship. Author - Acts of Faith: The Story of an American Muslim, the Struggle for the Soul of a Generation and Sacred Ground: Pluralism, Prejudice, and the Promise of America. Interfaith Youth Core (IFYC), a Chicago based organization building the interfaith movement on college campuses The Interfaith Youth Core (IFYC) views religious and philosophical traditions as bridges of cooperation and their interfaith movement builds religious pluralism The IFYC thinks pluralism is achieved by two things: The science of interfaith cooperation: by creating positive, meaningful relationships across differences, and fostering appreciative knowledge of other traditions, attitudes improve, knowledge increases, and more relationships occur. These three are mutually reinforcing and backed by social science data, what we call the interfaith triangle. The art of interfaith leadership: people who create and foster opportunities for positive knowledge and opportunities for engagement move others around the interfaith triangle and lead to a community marked by pluralism.
WIAC 2014 Keynote Speaker INTERNATIONAL CENTER FOR RELIGION AND DIPLOMACY Dr. Doug Johnston President and Founder International Center for Religion and Diplomacy In 2007, he received the Founding Spirit Award from The Washington Times at and in 2008 was identified in a leading Christian journal as The Father of Faith-based Diplomacy. More recently, he was recipient of the 2011 International Trustbuilder Award from Initiatives of Change International. Author Religion, Terror, and Error: U.S. Foreign Policy and the Challenge of Spiritual Engagement For 14 years, the ICRD has been using religious values to bridge differences between adversaries and to counter religious extremism. Among its accomplishments: 1. Helped end the 21 year civil war in Sudan; 2. Eased religious tensions in Kashmir; 3. Secured release of 21 Korean missionaries from the Taliban; 4. Facilitated back-channel communications with Iran.
A Paradigm Shift For several decades, the prevailing school of thought underlying U.S. foreign policy has assumed that religion would be a declining factor in the life of states and in international affairs. However, experience has shown and projections indicate that the exact opposite is increasingly true. To neglect religious institutions and thinking would be to render incomprehensible some of the key issues and crises in the world today. Barry Rubin, The Washington Quarterly, March 1990
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE OFFICE OF FAITH-BASED COMMUNITY INITIATIVES Launched August 7, 2013 New office to engage with faith-based groups to advance US diplomacy and development goals. Will work with religious leaders to address both religious and non-religious causes of violence. A major change in US views on religion and conflict ICRD partners with State Department in this work.
2014 WIAC ROUNDTABLE TOPICS o Religion as a Defining Element of Culture o Legal and Political Impediments to Religious Engagement o Religion s Role in Countering Extremism o Religion, Conflict Transformation and Peacebuilding o Faith-based NGOs and International Diplomacy o Religion and Conflict: Just War and U.S. Military Intervention o Islam: Building Bridges, Establishing Peace o Female Faces of Faith: Women in Peacebuilding
DIPLOMACY: BRIDGING RELIGIOUS DIVIDES FEBRUARY 25-28, 2014 JOIN US FOR WIAC 2014 REGISTER BEGINNING OCT. 21 AT WIAC.BYU.EDU