The American Empire is a Force for Good: An Intelligence Squared Debate

The American Empire is a Force for Good:
Bernard-Henri Levy, France's leading philosopher, and a publisher, novelist, journalist, and filmmaker; William Shawcross, an internationally renowned writer and broadcaster; and Anne McElvoy, Executive Editor and political columnist of the Evening Standard newspaper, spoke for the motion.

Charles Glass, former ABC News Chief Middle East Correspondent; and Sir Samuel Brittan, a columnist at the Financial Times, spoke against the motion.

The debate, held on October 3, 2003, was chaired by Joan Bakewell, whose broadcasting career spans 35 years.

Intelligence Squared is London's leading forum for live debate, holding regular debates on the crucial issues of the day and inviting the leading intellectual and political lights on the given subject to participate in them. The format of the debates is modeled on the one employed at the Oxford and Cambridge university Unions: a challenging, sharply defined motion; a team of speakers to propose the motion and a like number to oppose it; and a moderator to keep the speakers and the audience in order and force everyone to stick to the issues. After the main speeches and before summation, contributions are asked from the floor: audience participation is a key feature of the occasion, providing a rare opportunity for the public to voice their opinions and to challenge those of the speakers. A vote is taken before the debate begins and then again at the end so as to give a measure, often a very dramatic one, of the extent to which the audience has been swayed by the oratory and arguments of the speakers in the course of the evening.