The IEN - IBEI programme on American politics and international security aims to promote the city of Barcelona as a relevant meeting place for American studies, attracting the best international experts and academics as a place for reflection and debate, with special attention to the implications of US foreign policy in the European and Mediterranean framework

It is a program created in 2020 jointly by the Institut d’Estudis Nord-americans (IEN) and the Institut Barcelona d'Estudis Internacionals (IBEI) and modelled on the pattern of the best European programmes of American studies in this area.

The programme aims to promote the capacity for reflection and research from Barcelona on US foreign policy and international security, deepening the knowledge of strategic, geo-political and socio-economic aspects that have a relevant link on this topic.

The main objectives of the programme are to participate in public, academic, and expert debates on US foreign policy and its global implications; and establish relationships and networks with American researchers and research centres in the program’s areas of interest. The program will pay special attention to the implications of US foreign policy in the European and Mediterranean framework, as well as to transatlantic relations.

As part of its rollout, the programme will promote a number of activities, both in the field of research with the aim of attracting international visibility and achieving academic prestige, as well as in the fields of training and dissemination. Highlights include the annual organization of an international conference on the role of the United States in global politics, with a special focus on the situation in the Mediterranean and Africa; and the promotion of academic seminars, outreach and reflection activities on foreign policy, more broadly, on American politics and society, open to all.