EVENTS
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Two Concepts of Liberty: American Grand Strategy and the Liberal Tradition
Brown Bag Lunch
Open to the Public - Belfer Center Library, Littauer-369
December 10, 2009
12:15-2:00 p.m.
Speaker: Brendan Rittenhouse Green, Research Fellow, International Security Program
Related Project: International Security
Why did America's grand strategy towards Europe vary so erratically during the 20th century? That is, why did its fundamental alliance and military commitments oscillate between isolation and great power war in the first half of the century, while evincing a steady increase in internationalist engagement from the later half of the Cold War to the present?
Please join us! Coffee and tea provided. Everyone is welcome, but admittance will be on a first come–first served basis.
AP Photo
"Let the Historians Decide"? Politics and the Past in Turkey and Japan
Brown Bag Lunch
Open to the Public - Malkin Penthouse, Littauer 4th Floor
December 3, 2009
12:15-2:00 p.m.
Speaker: Jennifer M. Dixon, Research Fellow, International Security Program
Related Project: International Security
Politicians in both Turkey and Japan have argued that the persistent controversies over aspects of their countries' pasts should be left to the professional analysis and evaluation of historians. This seminar will analyze the politics of the past in each of these states, demonstrating the continued relevance of traumatic or shameful pasts in each country's politics and the ways in which domestic and international considerations influence the shaping of official histories.
Please join us! Coffee and tea provided. Everyone is welcome, but admittance will be on a first come–first served basis.
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Why Arab States Fear Islamist Regimes: Threat Perception and Soft Power Politics
Brown Bag Lunch
Open to the Public - Allison Dining Room, Taubman Building-5th Floor
November 30, 2009
12:15-2:00 p.m.
Speaker: Lawrence Rubin, Research Fellow, Dubai Initiative
Related Projects: International Security, The Dubai Initiative
The Islamist regimes that seized power in Sudan (1989), Afghanistan (1996), and Iran (1979) did not have significant military capabilities when they came to power, and in some cases never achieved it. Yet these Islamist regimes were regarded by neighboring states, including Muslim-majority countries, as serious national security threats. Using comparative case studies of Egyptian and Saudi Arabian responses to the rise of Islamist regimes in Sudan and Iran, this project examines why Arab states regard Islamist regimes with limited military capabilities as threats to their security and analyzes how this threat perception affects domestic and international politics.
Please join us! Coffee and tea provided. Everyone is welcome, but admittance will be on a first come–first served basis.
Photo by Jennifer Keister
States Within States: The Social Contracts of Rebel Groups
Brown Bag Lunch
Open to the Public - Belfer Center Library, Littauer-369
November 19, 2009
12:15-2:00 p.m.
Speaker: Jennifer Keister, Research Fellow, International Security/Intrastate Conflict Programs
Related Project: International Security
How rebels relate to the domestic populations varies widely. Some rebel groups engage in theft, extortion, and kidnapping, while others set up state-like exchanges of security and other public goods for support. The speaker will argue this variations stems from how different rebel groups balance two challenges. Like states, rebels must balance 1) their political goals and efforts to extract concessions from their rivals, and 2) building and maintaining their own organization. Rebels must build and maintain legitimacy in the face of interactions with civilians, the incumbent regime, and international interests. This seminar uses the logic of social contracting to explain this variation and will suggest preliminary findings from field research in Mindanao.
Please join us! Coffee and tea provided. Everyone is welcome, but admittance will be on a first come–first served basis.
China's Nuclear Energy: Policy, Expansion and Security Implications
Non-Belfer Event
Seminar
Open to the Public - Belfer Center Library, Littauer-369
November 17, 2009
9:30-11:00 a.m.
Speaker: Yun Zhou
Related Projects: Managing the Atom, International Security, Science, Technology, and Public Policy
Yun Zhou will present a Managing the Atom Seminar entitled "China's Nuclear Energy: Policy, Expansion and Security Implications" beginning at 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday, November 17, in the Belfer Center Library.
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Agglomeration: Sneaking up on the Balance of Power?
Brown Bag Lunch
Open to the Public - Belfer Center Library, Littauer-369
November 12, 2009
12:15-2:00 p.m.
Speaker: Emma Belcher, Research Fellow, International Security Program/Project on Managing the Atom, Richard N. Rosecrance, Adjunct Professor, Harvard Kennedy School, Senior Fellow, International Security Program
Related Projects: International Security, Managing the Atom, Science, Technology, and Public Policy
This seminar explores the concept of agglomeration as a means of building agreements incrementally, actively excluding potential obstructionist powers, and then inviting them to join the agreement as a fait accompli. It employs the Concert of Europe, the European Union, and the Proliferation Security Initiative as case studies.
Please join us! Coffee and tea provided. Everyone is welcome, but admittance will be on a first come–first served basis.
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New Threats, New Rules? The Future of Preventive War
Brown Bag Lunch
Open to the Public - Belfer Center Library, Littauer-369
November 5, 2009
12:15-2:00 p.m.
Speaker: Thomas M. Nichols, Research Fellow, International Security Program/Project on Managing the Atom
Related Project: International Security
This presentation will examine the concept of preventive war, its evolution as a tool of statecraft since the end of Cold War, and possible means of averting a coming age of uncontrolled preventive war.
Please join us! Coffee and tea provided. Everyone is welcome, but admittance will be on a first come–first served basis.
“Western Impact and Turkey” Seminar 5: State and Religion in the Scope of Democracy and Human Rights
Seminar
Open to the Public - Belfer Center Library, Littauer-369
November 3, 2009
12:15-2:00 p.m.
Related Projects: Religion in International Affairs, International Security
Western Impact and Turkey Seminar 5: State and Religion in the Scope of Human Rights and Democracy
With Dr. Baskin Oran, emeritus professor of international relations, Faculty of Political Science, Ankara University
Chaired by Monica Toft, director of Initiative on Religion and International Affairs
Sponsored by the Kokkalis Program on Southeastern and East-Central Europe and the Initiative on Religion and International Affairs, Belfer Center
Modeling Nuclear Proliferation
Non-Belfer Event
Seminar
Open to the Public - Belfer Center Library, Littauer-369
November 3, 2009
9:30-11:00 a.m.
Speaker: T. Negeen Pegahi
Related Projects: Managing the Atom, International Security, Science, Technology, and Public Policy
Negeen Pegahi will present a MTA seminar entitled "Modeling Nuclear Proliferation," on Tuesday, November 3, 2009 at 9:30am in the Belfer Center library.
Photo by Teresa Cravo
What's In a Label? The Donor Community's Perceptions of "Success" and "Failure"
Brown Bag Lunch
Open to the Public - Belfer Center Library, Littauer-369
October 29, 2009
12:15-2:00 p.m.
Speaker: Teresa Cravo, Research Fellow, International Security/Intrastate Conflict Programs
Related Project: International Security
Despite relatively close positions in the human development index, Mozambique and Guinea-Bissau seem to spark completely opposite reviews from the Western donor community, which has come to regard the former as a success story and the latter as a failure. This seminar questions the striking difference between the two countries' performances according to Western donors' own criteria and discusses the reasons for such a difference of treatment that remains until today.
Please join us! Coffee and tea provided. Everyone is welcome, but admittance will be on a first come–first served basis.
