For advocates of the national security/mass atrocities link, preventing, mitigating, and halting atrocities -- through preventive diplomacy, as in Kenya, or military intervention, as in Libya -- will enhance the United States' strategic posture in key crisis arenas and, over the long-term, strengthen U.S. soft power in conflict-affected regions.

While taking part in an energetic three-day convening at Georgetown University dedicated to “Global Performance, Civic Imagination, and Cultural Diplomacy,” it became clear that the meeting was itself evidence for the continued emergence of a global network linking artists, performers, cultural policy makers, human rights activists, social justice advocates, academics, diplomacy practitioners, and others in international affairs, all variously pursuing new intersections of the arts with cu