America at 250: Revolution, Liberty, and the Future of the West Vérifié

This landmark conference from MCC Brussels is a chance to both assess the legacy of the American founding, understand the emerging disagreements within the Western alliance, and provide a forum for a friendly yet robust exchange of views across the Atlantic.

The major anniversary of the founding of the United States of America comes at a decisive time for America, Europe, and the now-strained “Western alliance”. President Donald Trump’s second Presidential term has raised profound questions about war, sovereignty, and, indeed, about the fragility of Western civilisation. Disagreement between the United States and European powers – about military spending, energy, migration, and the broader threats faced by the West – has reached an almost unprecedented level. Some even say that the West itself is being torn apart.

The United States’ founding – a historic struggle of independence for freedom, virtue, and “public happiness” – has repeatedly raised the issue of the unity of the West. The tension between the “new” and “old” worlds has historically been a source of dynamism for Western civilisation. The risk-taking, freedom-oriented spirit associated with the United States has been both a source of inspiration and challenge to the tradition-bound societies of the European continent. Similarly, American Patriots have repeatedly looked to the European tradition for inspiration and anchorage. Yet today, the dynamic appears to be less one of creative tension than incomprehension or perhaps outright hostility.

At the heart of the issue stands the return to national interest as the guiding principle of international affairs. For 80 years since the Second World War, the construction of a supranational system of international institutions and the existence of shared threats like the Soviet Union or global terror have allowed Western leaders to ignore the reality of national difference. The emergence of an American administration determined to return national interest to the centre stage of foreign policy has shattered the illusions of those who had been on holiday from history.

For many Europeans, this new national interest is confusing and contradictory: the Americans demand European territories and European support in foreign wars; they ask Europe to get serious about defence whilst looking to do a deal with a revanchist Russia. Americans are equally bewildered: they look to a continent which was once home to shared values, and see unprecedented demographic change, sclerotic economies, and authoritarian and technocratic institutions which repeatedly clamp down on free speech and democracy.

In this context, how are we to understand the civilisation of the West – are we seeing an emergence of “two Wests”, or the messy road to a new civilisational compact? How should patriots from both sides of the Atlantic understand their different and similar national interests? What do these mean for major questions of war and of peace? On the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, how do we assess the legacy, meaning and vitality of the American founding today?

Programme

10:00
Welcome coffee

10:30
Welcome lecture
Frank Furedi, executive director, MCC Brussels

11:00
Panel I: Revolution or Hegemony? Re-assessing America’s Contribution to Western Civilisation

The American Revolution was not only a national founding, but a decisive moment in the development of Western civilisation. Drawing on European traditions of liberty, constitutional government and self-rule, the United States transformed those ideas in the New World and emerged as a distinct centre of power within the West. Its rise inspired Europe, challenged imperial assumptions and reshaped the post-war order. On the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, this panel asks what remains vital in America’s revolutionary inheritance — and whether its confidence in freedom, risk and self-government can still renew the West.

• Francesco Giubilei, President, Tatarella Foundation; President, Nazione Futura
• James Hankins, academic; author, The Golden Thread: a History of the Western Tradition
• Rita Koganzon, associate professor in the School of Civic Life and Leadership at the University of North Carolina; author, Liberal States, Authoritarian Families
• Albrecht Rothacher, retired EU diplomat, author

12:30
Lunch

13:30
Panel II: America and Europe: A civilisational split?

For generations, America and Europe were understood as two halves of one Western civilisation. Today, that assumption is under severe strain. Disputes over borders, energy, industry, free speech, patriotism, migration and democratic legitimacy raise the question of whether the Atlantic relationship is experiencing temporary political tension or a deeper civilisational rupture. Has Europe drifted towards technocracy and managed decline, as some American critics argue? Or has America itself taken a different moral and political path? This panel asks whether the West can be renewed around a shared inheritance of liberty, sovereignty and self-government — or whether two Wests are emerging.

• Matthew Crawford, philosopher, Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture at the University of Virginia
• Dr Anatol Lieven, Andrew Bacevich Chair in US Diplomatic History, Director, Eurasia Program, Quincy Institute
• Thibaut Mercier, president, Cercle Droit et Liberté
• Peter Wood, President of the National Association of Scholars

15:00
Coffee

15:30
Panel III: America vs Europe: Whose national interest?

The return of national interest is reshaping international politics — not only between rivals, but also among allies. America and Europe no longer assume that their strategic priorities naturally align. Defence spending, industrial policy, energy security, China, Ukraine, the Middle East, Greenland, free speech and digital regulation are now openly contested across the Atlantic. This panel asks how patriots on both sides should navigate a world in which allies bargain more directly and disagree more sharply. Can the Western alliance survive divergent national priorities? And does the future point to managed rivalry, renewed realism, or a new compact between sovereign nations?

• Marieke Ehlers MEP, PVV, Patriots for Europe Group
• Matt Mowers, President, Valcour global strategy firm, Founding Board Member of the EU-US Forum (TBC)
• Hermann Tertsch MEP, VOX, Patriots for Europe Group

17:00
Drinks reception

19:00
Close