The Principal Financial Group Center for Global Citizenship will host a lecture about voters’ heightened interest in foreign policy during the presidential campaign season.
Joseph Mussomeli, former U.S. ambassador to the Republic of Slovenia, will deliver “Foreign Policy on the Campaign Trail: Tough Talk is Easy (and Essential)” from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 11, in room 101 of Meredith Hall, 2805 University Ave. The lecture is free and open to the public.
Conventional wisdom insists that American voters are typically much more concerned about domestic issues than they are about foreign policy issues, but this election cycle will be different, according to Mussomeli.
“The increased use of the internet and other technologies, the controversy over which direction we should go as a nation, and the proliferation of dangers and threats against us have made the American public far more interested than usual in what is happening beyond our borders,” he said.
Born in New York in 1952, Mussomeli moved to New Jersey during his youth and started his college education at Rutgers University. After dropping out of school to become an upholsterer and hitchhike through Europe, Mussomeli eventually completed his Bachelor of Arts in Political Science at Trenton College (now the College of New Jersey). He also earned a Juris Doctor from Rutgers School of Law, Camden. After working in New Jersey as a law clerk and as a deputy attorney general, he entered the Foreign Service in 1980. Mussomeli has conducted work on behalf of the U.S. government in its relations with Afghanistan, Cambodia, Bahrain, Morocco, Sri Lanka, North Korea, Egypt, and the Philippines.
For more information about the Principal Financial Group Center for Global Citizenship, including details on other upcoming events, visit www.drake.edu/cgc.