PUBLISHED February 10, 2004 IN Campus

George Soros to Lecture at Duke Feb. 17

The international investor, philanthropist and author will present a public lecture based on his book, "The Bubble of America Supremacy: Correcting the Misuse of American Power"

By Duke Today Staff

Note to editors: George Soros will be available to speak with the media at 4:15 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 17. Reporters interested in speaking with Soros should contact Karen Kemp in advance.

DURHAM, N.C. -- International investor, philanthropist and author George Soros will present a lecture based on his book, "The Bubble of America Supremacy: Correcting the Misuse of American Power," on Tuesday, Feb. 17, at Duke University.

The 5 p.m. lecture, which is free and open to the public, will take place in the Reynolds Theater at the Bryan Center. Parking is available in the parking garage adjacent to the Bryan Center.

In his latest book, Soros argues that the current U.S. administration has based its foreign relations on military might rather than on principles of international law. Soros believes this assertion of American power in the world resembles a financial "bubble" -- the boom in a boom/bust cycle that promises to deliver long-term negative consequences.

Immediately following the lecture, Soros will take questions from the audience and Duke Provost Peter Lange, former chair of the Duke political science department with expertise in comparative politics and Europe, will moderate a panel discussion. The panelists include Duke political science professor Peter Feaver, an expert on U.S. defense policy; political science professor Robert Keohane, a scholar of international finance and international relations; and Bruce Jentleson, director of Duke's Terry Sanford Institute of Public Policy and author of a book on U.S.-Iraq relations.

"George Soros long has been a leading figure in international affairs and the world of philanthropy, and we are pleased the Duke community will have this opportunity to engage with him," Jentleson said.

Soros, chairman of Soros Fund Management LLC, is founder and chairman of the Open Society Institute (OSI). He also established a network of philanthropic organizations working on social, legal and economic reform programs in more than 50 countries -- primarily in Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union -- but also in Africa, Latin America, Asia and the United States. OSI and the Soros foundations spend more than $400 million annually.

A native of Hungary, Soros founded Central European University in 1992, with its primary campus in Budapest. His previous books include "George Soros on Globalization" (2002); "Open Society: Reforming Global Capitalism" (2000); "The Crisis of Global Capitalism: Open Society Endangered" (1998); and "Opening the Soviet System" (1990).

Soros' visit is co-sponsored by the Terry Sanford Institute of Public Policy and the Duke Center for International Development, along with the Office of the Provost, the Center for International Studies' Program on Globalization, Equity and Democratic Governance, and the Kenan Institute for Ethics.