Gen Z and U.S. foreign policy: Is this where the status quo meets its match?

March 30, 2021

1:00 pm - 2:00 pm

Zoom Webinar

WATCH VIDEO OF THE EVENT BELOW

Co-sponsored event by the John Quincy Adams Society and the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft

The young under-25 cohort — Generation Z — has only known a United States at war, and the failures of those war policies, particularly in the Middle East and Afghanistan. They grew up during an economic recession at home, and amid a War on Terrorism, only to come of age during a new potential new Cold War with China. It turns out they have a lot to say on foreign policy and national security — but don’t expect them to respond as a monolith or reflect older, status quo thinking on the issues.

To discuss their positions on endless wars, the U.S. military footprint, regional flashpoints, and Gen Z’s future impact on policy, the Quincy Institute and the John Quincy Adams Society are sponsoring a panel featuring Natalie Dowzicky, manager of Libertarianism.org, Sam Fraser, editor at QI and ResponsibleStatecraft.org, and Laila Ujayli, associate editor at Inkstick Media. John Allen Gay, executive director of the JQAS, will moderate.

Panelists

Laila Ujayli

Laila Ujayli is passionate about the intersection of narrative and policy, concentrating on using stories to reorient US security policy toward human needs. She is an associate editor at Inkstick Media and a graduate student of public policy at the Blavatnik School of Government, where she is a Rhodes Scholar. She also holds a master’s degree in Film Aesthetics from the University of Oxford and a double BS in English and international relations from The Ohio State University. She previously worked on reimagining US security spending as a Herbert Scoville Jr. Peace Fellow at Win Without War.

Sam Fraser

Sam Fraser is a communications associate at the Quincy Institute and an assistant editor at Responsible Statecraft. He holds a B.A. in International Relations from Claremont McKenna College, where his studies centered on U.S. foreign policy and Latin America, and he has conducted research on human rights and transitional justice in Argentina. His undergraduate thesis focused on the longstanding impunity of members of the foreign policy elite. Sam's writing has appeared in Responsible Statecraft and you can follow him on Twitter at @SxmFrxser.

Natalie Dowzicky

Natalie Dowzicky is the manager of libertarianism.org. She is an alumna of Young Voices where her foreign policy writing appeared in the Washington Times, the Washington Examiner, the American Conservative, and the National Interest. She is also the co-host of the pop culture and politics podcast, Pop & Locke. You can follow her work on twitter @Nat_Dowzicky.

John Allen Gay

John Allen Gay is executive director of the John Quincy Adams Society, a national network of student groups centered on a vision of foreign policy restraint. He is coauthor, with Geoffrey Kemp, of War with Iran: Political, Military, and Economic Consequences. He holds a master’s degree in international relations from Syracuse University’s Maxwell School and a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from the College of William & Mary.