Robert Lieber

What is the most fascinating question in your field or research?
The unique attributes of American exceptionalism — why the U.S. is not ordinary.

How did you narrow your focus to what you study today?
I’ve been interested in foreign policy since I was a little kid. My parents talked and argued about it around the dining room table with their friends. You know how other kids have lemonade stands? When my sister and I were young, on one occasion, we set up a voting booth for the presidential election. I have been interested in politics all along. My wife has a Ph.D. in political science, and we met in student politics at the University of Wisconsin. I think one should have an interest in the society in which one lives. It would be strange not to be interested in politics, especially if you’re a political scientist.

What’s the greatest challenge you face in teaching?
Right now, I find that the quality of writing by my undergraduate students is very uneven. Some write well enough to be published, but a lot of them do not write as well as I would expect at an elite university, which is what Georgetown represents. This may be a factor in which students are too careless. I often see problems of syntax, grammar, of word choice, and I say to myself, “This student can’t not possibly read what she has just written.” But I also wonder if whether at the high school level, the focus on identity and non-serious subjects may have detracted from the teaching of writing. I don’t know the answer to it, and I often tell my students that the good news is that writers are made, not born. I think another problem, which is not so severe as at other universities, is a problem of political correctness. I think it’s a threat to academic inquiry to the open exchange of ideas, which is really the mission of the university, and we ought to be wary of that.

What’s the biggest challenge that America faces today?
America’s world role. The need for the U.S. to remain actively engaged and to continue to play a leading role in world affairs. The United States, still, by most dimensions, is the most powerful country in the world. And in population, we’re number three. … The real issues are those of policy, leadership, choices, and resolve. We have the capacity to continue to play a leading role, but the question is whether we have the will and the judgment to do so. Many people, including the president, have articulated a case for a major pullback and reduction in our world role. The problem with that is you can’t just retreat into a fortress. American engagement remains essential for a stable, prosperous, less violent world order. And it’s a myth that by pulling back and disengaging, others will step up to help to support international institutions and international order.

What would be your ideal course to teach?
I think my American foreign policy lecture course, “Contemporary America.” I enjoy it thoroughly.

What drew you to Georgetown? 
My wife and I both had interests that were more oriented toward Europe and the Middle East. At U.C. Davis, which was an excellent university, those things were more remote, geographically and conceptually, and while I was on leave from California, writing a book at the Woodrow Wilson Center here, Georgetown offered me a professorship, and we decided to stay.

What are your impressions of Georgetown students?
From time to time, I go out to lunch with students, especially in my bigger course, not this semester, but occasionally. I enjoy teaching them. They want to be in my courses, rather than just take them because of the requirement. I find them attentive and engaged. I find that they often think they know more about a subject than they really do, but I generally find them open-minded, willing to express ideas. I encourage them to disagree, and I hope I don’t intimidate them.

What would you be doing if you weren’t in academia?
In another universe, a movie critic or a restaurant critic. My favorite type of movie is film noir. Some movies by name — “The Third Man,” “Casablanca,” “Annie Hall.” As far as restaurants, I like Thai, Italian and [places that are] not too noisy. No one should ever go to a restaurant that is so noisy you cannot hold a normal conversation at a table, and yet, students and friends do that all the time. It’s crazy — it makes no sense. You should not have to pay to go to a restaurant where you have to shout and be heard.

Anything you’d like to add?
It’s important that Georgetown focus on the things it does best, which has to do with teaching, and scholarship, and the lively exchange of ideas. There’s a tendency for universities to engage with too much navel gazing, too much endless and time-consuming dialogues about the purpose of the university, but what we do best is what we ought to do.

Interview by Penny Hung