Samantha Power, who won the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction for her book, “A Problem From Hell: America and the Age of Genocide,” discussed U.S. policy toward genocide during a lecture Nov. 14 in McCrary Theatre. Details...
During the lecture, sponsored by the Liberal Arts Forum and the General Studies program, Power explored several cases of genocide that occurred during the 20th century, and explained the similarity in U.S. response during events such as the Holocaust and in places as diverse as Armenia, Iraq, Cambodia, Bosnia, Rwanda, and Darfur. U.S. response to such atrocities, she said, has varied from such strategies as simply denouncing genocide up to and including use of military force. Power argued that the factor that has most often determined the level of U.S. response has been U.S. strategic and economic interest.
“While these things seem to be mere humanitarian abuses or genocide, many of these cases would, over time, implicate that which is dear to every American,” she said. “What seem like internal atrocities almost inevitably spill over into the neighborhood.”
Power criticized U.S. failure in non-strategic places like Rwanda, where the U.S. and other countries failed to take action even as 800,000 people were killed in 100 days’ time. Many members of the Clinton administration, Power noted, have looked back on that failure with regret.
“When people are dying, the best reason, and sometimes the only reason, to deal with these cases is because they’re dying.”
Power said that many in the U.S. learned from its failures in the past, and believes that grassroots organizations and churches have been especially effective in bringing attention to more recent instances of human rights abuses. However, she said that the war in Iraq and the Bush administration’s aggressive foreign policy and mishandling of domestic situations like Hurricane Katrina are ultimately detrimental to U.S. prestige and power in the world.
“We’re in a moment now where U.S. influence is greatly reduced, not just because of Iraq, but because of a number of other factors,” she said. “Without U.S. leadership, it is not clear who will step up and ensure that genocide is left in the 20th century.”
Power is professor of practice in public policy at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. She analyzes America’s policy toward genocide in the 20th century and why American leaders fail to stop it. She uses exclusive interviews with top policy makers, access to newly declassified information and her own reporting to trace U.S. policy on genocide.
Power was founding executive director of the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at Harvard from 1998 to 2002. She covered the wars in the former Yugoslavia as a reporter for U.S. News & World Report, the Boston Globe and the Economist from 1993 to 1996.
Power is a graduate of Yale University and the Harvard Law School. In addition to “A Problem From Hell,” she serves as editor, with Graham Allison, of “Realizing Human Rights: Moving from Inspiration to Impact.”