Samantha Power and Libya Policy

The human-rights activist as presidential adviser

Samantha Power

The New York Times reports that Samantha Power, J.D. '99—former executive director of the Harvard Kennedy School's Carr Center for Human Rights Policy, and now at the National Security Council—has an important influence on President Barack Obama's policy toward U.S. military involvement in Libya. 

Read Jennifer Leaning's review of Power's acclaimed book, "A Problem from Hell": America and the Age of Genocide. Harvard Magazine also published "Fixing Foreign Policy," an essay adapted from Power's 2005-2006 Maurine and Robert Rothschild Lecture (delivered under the auspices of the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study)—a critique of the country's international engagements at the height of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Finally, Power's Harvard Law School Class Day address from 2010 is available as well.

Sub topics

You might also like

The Cost of Political Violence

A Harvard discussion on increasing threats and how to stop them

Former Women’s Hockey Coach Sues Harvard

Katey Stone alleges gender bias in handling of abuse allegations that led to her retirement.

Remembering Helen Keller and Anne Sullivan

On a Radcliffe-Harvard memorial to remarkable figures

Most popular

Harvard Confers 11 Undergraduate Degrees

Protestors now found in “good standing.”

Former Women’s Hockey Coach Sues Harvard

Katey Stone alleges gender bias in handling of abuse allegations that led to her retirement.

Remembering Helen Keller and Anne Sullivan

On a Radcliffe-Harvard memorial to remarkable figures

More to explore

Broadway Director from Harvard Adapting Disney

Broadway music director Madeline Benson on art and collaboration

How Political Tension on Campus Creates Risk Aversion

How overheated political attention warps campus life

Harvard Professor on Social Psychology for Understanding War

Two scholars’ extracurricular efforts in the Middle East