HWS News
26 May 2026 Debating a World Without Rules
Former U.S. Ambassador Nicholas Burns sparks campus-wide conversations on global instability, democracy and the future of international order.
At the annual Anderton Forum for Global Engagement earlier this semester, former U.S. Ambassador to China R. Nicholas Burns advised Hobart and William Smith students that the collaboration of international forces after World War II is eroding under pressure from rising authoritarian powers, weakened alliances and growing global instability.
Packed shoulder-to-shoulder in the Vandervort Room of the Scandling Campus Center, students, faculty and community members listened as Burns described what he called “the war and peace challenges the U.S. is facing around the world,” from strained alliances and global trade disputes to tensions involving China, Russia and Iran.
But the conversation did not end when the lecture concluded.
In classrooms, in the Café and later at the International Relations Department’s monthly World Politics Wednesday gathering, students continued debating Burns’ assessment of the modern world — and whether the international system he described had ever functioned equally or effectively for everyone.
For Professor and Chair of International Relations Stacey Philbrick Yadav, that engagement represents the very purpose of the Anderton Forum.
“Most seemed to agree that the rules-based order is not functioning well — it isn’t — but there was a wider range of views regarding how well and for whom that rules-based order worked well in the past,” Philbrick Yadav says. “I think it’s a healthy sign that students wanted to talk about these disagreements and that they brought them to class.”
Professor of History Lisa Yoshikawa introduced Burns, who is a trained historian who became one of the nation’s most accomplished career diplomats, serving as U.S. Ambassador to NATO to Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, the State Department’s third highest-ranking position. Burns served as U.S. Ambassador to China from 2021 to 2025 and worked under both Republican and Democratic presidents during a diplomatic career spanning more than four decades.
“He was here to talk about issues of global significance and forms of uncertainty that feel greater than any we have felt in years, perhaps in decades,” Yoshikawa explains.
Established in 2022 by former Trustee James F. Anderton IV ’65, the Anderton Forum for Global Engagement brings leading experts to campus to share perspectives on urgent international issues and encourage dialogue across differences.
“We know, as Jim Anderton knows, and as former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch reminded us when she inaugurated this series in 2023, that we do not have the luxury of looking away from difficult challenges,” Philbrick Yadav said.
Burns acknowledged at the outset that speaking about global instability without sounding overly political or pessimistic posed its own challenge. “It’s a heavy duty,” he said.
During his visit to HWS, Burns also met with students in Philbrick Yadav’s classes, where discussions extended to negotiations with Iran and the challenges of navigating conflicts involving authoritarian governments with deeply entrenched leadership structures.
In a conversation with President Mark D. Gearan, Burns discussed the complexity of balancing competition and cooperation with China, as well as the broader uncertainty surrounding conflicts in the Middle East.
The forum sparked sustained engagement among students in the days that followed.
Philbrick Yadav recalled one introductory international relations class in which a student described agreeing with much of Burns’ lecture while overhearing another group of students sharply criticizing it afterward in the Café. Another student then raised her hand and said she had been part of that conversation.
Philbrick Yadav says she sees that as evidence of meaningful intellectual engagement.
“Late April is a time when students are often exhausted and preoccupied with preparing for finals,” she says. “It was terrific to see them so thoroughly engaged with matters of pressing significance in the world. This is exactly what we hope that a visit like this will inspire.”
Top: Former U.S. Ambassador Nicholas Burns converses with President Mark D. Gearan at the Anderton Forum on April 28.
