His other main area of research will continue to involve the new strategic dynamics in Asia. During the coming academic year, Professor Toft will continue her research on nationalism, ethnic conflict, civil wars, and international relations. The nature of American national interests in the post-Cold War world is the subject of extensive discussion, controversy, and uncertainty. Much of this is the result of the unfamiliar and ambiguous nature of that world. Much of it also, however, comes from uncertainty and confusion concerning American national identity.
National interests derive from national identity.
People variously argue that the United States is a universal society, an exceptional country, a Western society, a multicultural one, and one defined by a political creed. The end of the Cold War has brought to the fore potentially serious divisions in the United States over how it defines itself. With support from the Smith Richardson and Bradley Foundations, Samuel Huntington is working on a study of changing conceptions American national identity and their implications for the American role in the world. With the support of the United States Department of Defense, the Olin Institute sponsored the first of a series of meetings with the Party School of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. The first meeting was the China Forum, held at Harvard in May 2000.