Great Decisions
Great Decisions is a nationwide, non-partisan program sponsored by the Foreign Policy Association intended to broaden public involvement in foreign affairs. It was launched over 50 years ago, and today tens of thousands of participants take part in discussion groups each year. Our library is proud to be hosting our seventh year of participation in the Great Decisions Program.
Eight topics have been selected this year for discussion. The Foreign Policy Association provides a Great Decisions Briefing Book if participants choose to read articles in advance, and each program begins with a video presentation outlining the issues of the evening’s topic. After the short video, a facilitator provides insight and leads a discussion.
This free, in-person program will take place in Lake Travis Community Library meeting room in Lakeway. No registration is required.
2025 Topics
America at a Global Crossroads
Thursday, March 13 at 7pm
Facilitated by Rodger Baker
The U.S., polarized and divided, faces a world overflowing with challenges, dangers, and uncertainties. Conflict and disorder have become the defining features of world politics.
The Evolution of U.S. Leadership in the Global Economy: Dilemmas and Choices
Thursday, March 27 at 7pm
Facilitated by Rachel Wellhausen
Over the past two presidential terms, the U.S. has strongly pivoted away from neoliberalism as a foreign economic policy approach.
Competition, Cold War, or Conflict? Navigating U.S.-China Relations in Tense Times
Thursday, April 10 at 7pm
Facilitated by Zhizhen Lu
There is one thing that people can actually agree on across the aisle in Washington, DC: The United States is in a strategic competition with a rising China that poses a range of economic, political, and military security challenges.
India: Between China, the West, and the Global South
Thursday, April 24 at 7pm
Facilitated by Rodger Baker
As the Republic of India marks its 75th anniversary in January 2025, the world’s most populous nation and largest democracy continues to defy simple categorization.
International Climate Cooperation in an Era of Geopolitical Turmoil
Thursday, May 8 at 7pm
Facilitated by Michael Mosser
Over the past 30 years, climate change has become one of the central global challenges of the modern era, one that has hugely important consequences for the livability of the planet.
The Future of NATO and European Security
Thursday, May 22 at 7pm
Europe is frightened and frightening for the first time really since the 1980s, when nuclear sabers were rattling as the Soviet Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) both deployed contending intermediate range missiles along the dividing line of the military alliances. With Russia’s continued barbarity in Ukraine there is no escaping that Vladimir Putin intends not to be “European.”
AI and American National Security
Thursday, June 5 at 7pm
Facilitated by Matthew Bey
Artificial intelligence (AI), especially generative AI, is often claimed as an emerging technology that will disrupt all facets of society.
American Policy in the Middle East: Taking Stock and Looking Ahead
Thursday, June 19 at 7pm
Facilitated by Matthew Bey
Analysts of American policy in 2025 have the unusual advantage of being able to assess the new president’s likely policies against the backdrop of what he did in his first term, four years earlier. The prognosis is not positive.