Can the United States effectively use its military power to regulate international relations and to create or foster domestic governments in other countries that are acceptable to us? And if we can, should we? These are the key questions that Professor Stephen P. Rosen, of the Kennedy School of Government, whose current book project is titled "Analyzing Imperial Strategy," will address.

Properly speaking, says Professor Rosen, the subject is "A New American Empire," with a question mark, because we are obviously embarked on a trajectory which might lead us towards a longstanding empire, but there are choices to be made, and the book has not been written yet. Specifically, three questions will be addressed: 1) What is an empire and what distinguishes it from other large and powerful states? 2) What are the choices we face as a nation in this realm of foreign policy? 3) What might be the implications for Harvard, and other leading institutions of higher learning, of the different kinds of roles that the United States, and the University itself, might play in the world?