EVENTS
NATO and the Projection of Partial Democracy: The Eastern Neighborhood, the Western Balkans, Afghanistan, and Libya
Brown Bag Lunch
Open to the Public - Belfer Center Library, Littauer-369
May 16, 2013
12:15-2:00 p.m.
Speaker: Henrik Larsen, Research Fellow, International Security Program
Related Project: International Security
NATO by its rise as a political actor since the end of the Cold War has emphasized democratization as an increasingly important soft power objective in its relations with third countries. The seminar explains NATO's democratic agenda focusing on two regions and two operations: (1) the 'halted' enlargement vis-à-vis Georgia and Ukraine; (2) the ongoing enlargement process in the Western Balkans; (3) the state-building effort and drawdown from Afghanistan; (4) the 2011 intervention in Libya in the context of the Arab Spring.
Please join us! Coffee and tea provided. Everyone is welcome, but admittance will be on a first come–first served basis.
AP Photo
Did Democracy Promotion Cause the Arab Spring?
Brown Bag Lunch
Open to the Public - Malkin Penthouse, Littauer 4th Floor
May 21, 2012
12:15-2:00 p.m.
Speaker: Heidi Lane, Research Fellow, International Security Program
Related Project: International Security
THIS EVENT IS POSTPONED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE
The emerging dominant narrative of the Arab Spring, even as its direction continues to unfold in different ways, is one in which popular protest is driven by citizens who can no longer tolerate political and economic stagnation, the absence of basic religious and political freedoms, and top-down corruption within their national institutions. This seminar will explore the basis for an alternative explanation. Has the Arab Spring instead been facilitated and perhaps even hastened by democracy promotion over the past two decades?
Please join us! Coffee and tea provided. Everyone is welcome, but admittance will be on a first come–first served basis.
Aisha Ahmad Photo
The Mosque and the Market: An Economic Explanation of Political Islam in Somalia
Brown Bag Lunch
Open to the Public - Belfer Center Library, Littauer-369
January 26, 2012
12:15-2:00 p.m.
Speaker: Aisha Ahmad, Research Fellow, International Security Program/Initiative on Religion in International Affairs
Related Project: International Security
The international community has spent billions of dollars and lost thousands of lives in efforts to rebuild failed states. However, international initiatives to reconstruct state institutions from the top-down have largely failed to produce de facto statehood on the ground. In contrast, in these same cases, certain Islamic movements have demonstrated a remarkable state-building capacity, particularly the ability to centralize political power. What makes Islamic groups better state-makers than internationally sponsored state-building projects? Using original field research and survey data from war-torn Somalia, this seminar demonstrates exactly why and how the local business community in Mogadishu worked with the Islamic Courts Union movement from 2004–2006 to produce an unprecedented degree of political change.
Please join us! Coffee and tea provided. Everyone is welcome, but admittance will be on a first come–first served basis.
AP Photo
The Chinese Mirror Has Two Faces? Explaining China's Deployment to UN Peacekeeping Operations
Brown Bag Lunch
Open to the Public - Belfer Center Library, Littauer-369
November 10, 2011
12:15-2:00 p.m.
Speaker: Courtney J. Richardson, Research Fellow, International Security Program
Related Project: International Security
The evolving discussion about the rise of China has recently turned to Beijing's role in global governance vis-a-vis securing Afghanistan, addressing the Arab Spring, and disciplining pariah states. However, an over-looked example of China's global governance activities is Beijing's role in United Nations (UN) peacekeeping missions. China now deploys the most peacekeepers out of the permanent members of the UN Security Council, yet explanations for China's decisions regarding when and where to deploy its assets are still unclear.
Please join us! Coffee and tea provided. Everyone is welcome, but admittance will be on a first come–first served basis.
Killing in the Name of God or Land? Religious Violence along Civilizational Faultlines
Brown Bag Lunch
Open to the Public - Belfer Center Library, Littauer-369
May 19, 2011
12:15-2:00 p.m.
Speaker: John F. McCauley, Research Fellow, Initiative on Religion in International Affairs/International Security Program
Related Projects: International Security, Religion in International Affairs
Samuel Huntington warned of increasing violence along religious "faultlines", particularly those involving Islam. He drew special attention to the Muslim-Christian divide in Africa. This project examines that concern empirically: how does religious violence along the religious faultline in Africa compare to religious violence in, for example, the Middle East? If conflict patterns differ at the geographic cores and peripheries of religious civilizations, why is this so?
Please join us! Coffee and tea provided. Everyone is welcome, but admittance will be on a first come–first served basis.
International Money or Global Commodity? The Maria Theresa Thaler and Imperial Power in the Interwar Period
Brown Bag Lunch
Open to the Public - HKS - Littauer -166
April 28, 2011
12:15-2:00 p.m.
Speaker: James Esdaile, Ernest May Fellow in History and Policy, International Security Program
Related Project: International Security
International money of any sort is generally a poorly understood historical concept, but this significance is particularly obscure when it comes to the Maria Theresa Thaler or dollar (MTT), and its role in supporting regional and international commerce in the non-European world from the 18th to the 20th centuries. This seminar wishes to shed some light on the MTT’s commercial role in the Western Indian Ocean and also its integral position in either supporting or hindering European imperial rule
Please join us! Coffee and tea provided. Everyone is welcome, but admittance will be on a first come–first served basis.
Photo by Teresa Cravo
'Failed States' and Development Aid: The Impact of Labels in Global Interventionism
Brown Bag Lunch
Open to the Public - Perkins Room, Rubenstein-415
March 10, 2011
12:15-2:00 p.m.
Speaker: Teresa Cravo, Associate, International Security Program
Related Project: International Security
Talk of "failed states" became pervasive after the Cold War not only among strategic planners and international relations scholars, but also in the literature on development aid. The concept brought together two epistemic and policy communities that were never too far apart—development and security. But how does the label of "failure" become attached to particular states, and what are its implications for a country's interaction with the West? Using the case study of Guinea-Bissau, this presentation looks at how and why these representations are produced and sustained, as well as the consequences specifically for the development field.
Please join us! Coffee and tea provided. Everyone is welcome, but admittance will be on a first come–first served basis.
AP Photo
Top-Down Peacemaking: Why Regional Peacemaking Begins with States, Rather than Societies
Brown Bag Lunch
Open to the Public - Belfer Center Library, Littauer-369
March 3, 2011
12:15-2:00 p.m.
Speaker: Norrin M. Ripsman, Research Fellow, International Security Program
Related Project: International Security
This seminar will examine three successful peace settlements (of varying degrees of success), Franco-German reconciliation after World War II, the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty of 1979, and the Israeli-Jordanian peace treaty of 1994, to determine what brings regional rivals to bury the hatchet and what accounts for variations in the quality of peace.
Please join us! Coffee and tea provided. Everyone is welcome, but admittance will be on a first come–first served basis.
AP Photo
Can Sanctions Prevent the Spread of Nuclear Weapons?
Brown Bag Lunch
Open to the Public - Kalb Seminar Room (Taubman 275)
February 24, 2011
12:15-2:00 p.m.
Speaker: Neerada Jacob, Research Fellow, Project on Managing the Atom/International Security Program
Related Projects: International Security, Managing the Atom, Science, Technology, and Public Policy
Economic sanctions have long been derided as ineffective instruments of foreign policy and yet continue to remain a principal tool for preventing the spread of nuclear weapons across nations. This seminar will analyze the impact of sanctions on nuclear programs based on case studies of Taiwan, Iraq, Libya, and Iran. It offers an understanding of the limits and possibilities of sanctions, showing that they can sometimes play a critical role in coercing nuclear aspirants.
Please join us! Coffee and tea provided. Everyone is welcome, but admittance will be on a first come–first served basis.
AP Photo
Justice Denied: Amnesty, Pardons, and Prosecutions in Post-apartheid South Africa
Brown Bag Lunch
Open to the Public - Belfer Center Library, Littauer-369
February 11, 2010
12:15-2:00 p.m.
Speaker: Yvonne Malan, Research Fellow, International Security/Intrastate Conflict Programs
Related Project: International Security
South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) was the first such commission to grant amnesty to individual perpetrators who committed gross human rights violations, on condition that they meet certain requirements. Perpetrators who did not apply for amnesty or who were denied amnesty could be prosecuted, and the TRC provided the government with an extensive list of names for prosecution.
Since the TRC completed its task, however, the government has largely failed to prosecute these perpetrators and has attempted a second round of amnesty via prosecution guidelines and pardons. The presentation examines this process as well as attempts by victim rights groups to stop it.
Please join us! Coffee and tea provided. Everyone is welcome, but admittance will be on a first come–first served basis.
