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Public Policy Professor James Coyle Explores US Values and National Security

As both a world superpower and a nation built specifically to promote and preserve certain values, America holds a unique political standing in the international community that is often under threat. James Coyle, adjunct professor at the Pepperdine School of Public Policy (SPP), will address America's national security efforts as a reflection and protection of its values in a special lecture at 12:10 p.m. on Thursday, Mar. 12, in room 175 of SPP on the Drescher Graduate Campus.

The lecture, titled, "U.S. National Security Permanent Values and Interests," will explore the reasons why the United States of America has emerged as the world's only superpower. "There are other continental-sized powers with similar attributes who have not," says Coyle. "What is the difference between the United States and Canada, Russia, Brazil, India, or China? There are numerous hypotheses out there, but one factor that needs to be factored into the equation is America's value system."

Coyle points to the concept of individualism as the core value at the heart of the American political and cultural system. Citing the three certain individual rights bestowed from the Founding Fathers upon citizens in the Declaration of Independence - life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness - Coyle says, "From individualism comes a belief in individual rights, and capitalism, leading to democracy and equality. US National Security policy is designed to defend these values from the onslaught of 'all enemies, foreign and domestic,' and to further those rights for American citizenry and mankind."

As the US government has changed hands, certain foreign and domestic policies will be changed, but the overriding value system of the country remains constant. Says Coyle, "The way these values are advanced can differ. Every administration accepts the responsibility to protect the homeland: some do it by sending expeditionary forces abroad, others do it by bringing those same forces home. But none abjure their responsibility of defense."

Coyle, an adjunct professor at SPP, is the director of the Center for Global Education at Chapman University. His areas of teaching expertise include terrorism, national security strategy, Middle East politics, issues in intelligence, comparative politics, international relations, American politics, European and Eurasian politics, and political risk analysis.

Over the past 25 years, Coyle has held a number of positions in the federal government, including director of Middle East studies at the U.S. Army War College; first secretary for political-military affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Ankara; senior political analyst for Palestinian affairs; and special assistant to the FBI/New York Joint Terrorism Task Force. He is co-author of Culture and Conflict in the Middle East (Prentice-Hall 2003).

For more information about Coyle's lecture, contact the School of Public Policy at (310) 506-7490.