Coming up at the Mershon Center
Monday, April 16, 2012
New event!
Zhu Feng
China's Policies Toward the Middle East
12:30 p.m., Mershon Center for International Security Studies, 1501 Neil Ave.
 Zhu Feng is professor of international studies and deputy director of the Center for International and Strategic Studies at Peking University. He writes extensively on regional security in East Asia, the North Korean nuclear issue, U.S. national security strategy, and China-U.S. relations.
He is author of International Relations Theory and East Asian Security (People's University Press, 2007) and Ballistic Missile Defense and International Security (Shanghai People's Press, 2001). In additon, he is co-editor of China's Ascent: Power, Security, and the Future of International Politics (Cornell University Press, 2008) and The Past, Present and Future of China-Japan Military-to-Military Exchange and Cooperation (Aiji Press, 2011). Read more and register
Monday, April 16, 2012
Rachel Brewster
Remedies, Reputation and Beliefs: Prices and Sanctions in International Economic Law
3:30 p.m., Mershon Center for International Security Studies, 1501 Neil Ave.
 Rachel Brewster is an assistant professor of law and affiliate faculty member of the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard University. Her scholarly research and teaching focus on the areas of international law and international relations theory and international trade.
Prior to joining the Harvard law faculty in 2006, Brewster served as a Bigelow Fellow at the University of Chicago Law School and clerked for Judge Phyllis A. Kravitch of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. Brewster received her BA and JD from the University of Virginia. She also holds a PhD in political science from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. Read more and register
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Alisher Faizullaev
Making States Sensible: Ritual, Symbols, and Feeling in Diplomatic Practice
3:30 p.m., Mershon Center for International Security Studies, 1501 Neil Ave.
 Alisher Faizullaev is a 2011-12 Fulbright visiting scholar at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy at Georgetown University. Previously, he was ambassador of Uzbekistan to the United Kingdom (1999-2003), Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxemburg. In addition, Faizuallev spent many years in the academic field as director of the Institute of Management, director of the Negotiation Laboratory, and professor in the Department of Practical Diplomacy and at the University of World Economy and Diplomacy in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. He is author of several scholarly and fictional books in Russian and Uzbek, including Diplomatic Negotiations and Politics of Interpersonal Relations. Read more and register
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Raymond Baker
Egypt: Islam, Revolution, and Prospects for Democracy
Noon, Mershon Center for International Security Studies, 1501 Neil Ave.
 Raymond Baker is professor of international politics at Trinity College and director of the International Council for Middle East Studies in Washington, D.C. He is an internationally recognized authority on the Arab and Islamic world. He consults for the Department of State, Department of Defense, USAID, and a variety of other government agencies and private foundations. The author of a series of critically acclaimed studies of Islam and Arab societies, Baker was designated as a Carnegie Scholar in Islamic Studies from 2006-08. His recent books include Cultural Cleansing in Iraq (Pluto Press, 2010) and Islam Without Fear: Egypt and the New Islamists (Harvard, 2006). Read more and register
Thursday, April 19, 2012
New event!
Katherine Meyer
Securing National Science Foundation Funding
3:30 p.m., Mershon Center for International Security Studies, 1501 Neil Ave.
 Please join Mershon Center affiliated faculty and graduate students for a general discussion by Katherine Meyer on securing funds from the National Science Foundation. Meyer is program director for sociology in the Division of Social and Economic Sciences at the National Science Foundation and professor emeritus of sociology at The Ohio State University. She is a faculty affiliate of the Mershon Center and principal investigator of Rentierism and Conflict in the Middle East with Hassan Aly and J. Craig Jenkins, and Dissent/Repression Nexus in the Middle East with J. Craig Jenkins. Read more and register
Friday, April 20, 2012
David Beaver
Social Language Processing: Arab Spring Twitterology and Beyond
3:30 p.m., Mershon Center for International Security Studies, 1501 Neil Ave.
 David Beaver is associate professor of linguistics at the University of Texas at Austin. He researches and teaches on the semantics and pragmatics of natural languages, in particular on how information is organized at the sentence and discourse level. He also has interests in temporal and event semantics, in simulations of language evolution, and in broader philisophical, psychological and computational themes from cognitive science.
He is author of Presupposition and Assertion in Dynamic Semantics (CSLI Publications, 2001) and co-author with Brady Clark of Sense and Sensitivity: How Focus Determines Meaning (Wiley-Blackwell, 2008). Read more and register
Saturday, April 21, 2012
Marwan Muasher
The Arab Awakening: One Year On
4 p.m., Kottman Hall Auditorium, 2021 Coffey Road
 Marwan Muasher is vice president for studies at the Carnegie Endowment. He served as foreign minister (2002-04) and deputy prime minister (2004-05) of Jordan, and his career has spanned the areas of diplomacy, development, civil society, and communications. He is also a senior fellow at Yale University. He is the author of The Arab Center: The Promise of Moderation (Yale, 2008). Muasher's visit is co-sponsored by the Ohio Valley Chapter of the Alumni Association of the American University of Beirut. To attend, email chaptermail@waaaubohiovalleychapter.com by April 15. Read more and register
Other events
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Mary Habeck and Brian Fishman
What is the Future of Al Qaeda?
5:30 p.m., Mershon Center for International Security Studies, 1501 Neil Ave.
  Mary Habeck is associate professor in strategic studies at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, where she teaches courses on military history and strategic thought. Her publications include Knowing the Enemy: Jihadist Ideology and the War on Terror (Yale, 2005) and two sequels, Attacking America: How Salafi Jihadis Are Fighting Their 200-Year War with the U.S. (2011) and Fighting the Enemy: The U.S. and its War against the Salafi Jihadis (2013). Brian Fishman is a counterterrorism research fellow at the New America Foundation and a research fellow with the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point. Fishman was a regular contributor to the CTC's Harmony Project reports; he authored Dysfunction and Decline: Lessons Learned from Inside al-Qa'ida in Iraq, co-authored al-Qa'ida's Foreign Fighters in Iraq: A First Look at the Sinjar Records, and edited Bombers, Bank Accounts, and Bleedout: al-Qa'ida's Road In and Out of Iraq. This event, sponsored by the Alexander Hamilton Society, will be moderated by Peter Mansoor. Read more
Friday-Saturday, April 13-14, 2012
Transformations of the Public Sphere
Organized by Germanic Languages and Literatures, History, Political Science, Spanish & Portuguese, and Center for Latin American Studies
Mershon Center for International Security Studies, 1501 Neil Ave.
Transformations of the Public Sphere investigates the historical and contemporary significance of the public sphere and modern social imaginaries — of the discourses, norms, and ideas shared by members of a given society. The motivation for this conference arises from the growing interdependence of different nations, regions, and communities that demands and generates new ways of political, legal, economic, strategic, and cultural forms of cooperation. What kind of public spaces facilitate and what kind of shared imaginaries support such cooperation? What aspects in society hinder productive communication and interaction? Does productive social cooperation presuppose certain governmental, in particular democratic structures? Answers to these and related questions will be developed by drawing on several relevant disciplines, including, but not limited to social and political science, cultural theory, philosophy, history, history of science, and media studies. Read more
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Michael MacCracken
Are There Climate Engineering Options beyond Mitigation and Adaptation – and Will They Be Needed?
3:30 p.m., 240 Scott Hall (West Campus), 1090 Carmack Road
Michael MacCracken is chief scientist for Climate Change Programs at the Climate Institute in Washington, D.C. His current research interests include human-induced climate change and consequent impacts, climate engineering, and the beneficial effects of limiting emissions of non-CO2 greenhouse gases. He has submitted six legal declarations in support of national level efforts to limit climate change.
Abstract: With climate change and associated impacts growing, the options for avoiding dangerous anthropogenic interference of the climate are narrowing. As the limits of adaptation are emerging and the potential for suffering becomes more obvious, increasing attention is being focused on the potential to limit the effects of anthropogenic climate change through large-scale geotechnical means, often called geoengineering. This presentation will discuss such proposed approaches including the complicated environmental, societal, ethical, and governance issues they raise. Read more
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
When China Met Africa
Film screening and discussion with Kelechi Kalu, Director, Center for African Studies,
and Xiaoyu Pu, PhD Candidate, Political Science
7:15 p.m., 155 Jennings Hall, 1735 Neil Ave.
A historic gathering of over 50 African heads of state in Beijing reverberates in Zambia where the lives of three characters unfold. Mr. Liu is one of thousands of Chinese entrepreneurs who have settled across the continent in search of new opportunities. He has just bought his fourth farm and business is booming. In northern Zambia, Mr. Li, a project manager for a multinational Chinese company is upgrading the country's longest road. Pressure to complete the road on time intensifies when funds from the Zambian government start running out. Meanwhile Zambia's Trade Minister is en route to China to secure millions of dollars of investment. Through the intimate portrayal of these characters, When China Met Africa lays bare the expanding footprint of a rising global power -- pointing to a radically different future, not just for Africa, but also for the world. For more information contact cas@osu.edu or (614) 292-8169.
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Skyler Cranmer
Forecasting the Locational Dynamics of Transnational Terrorism: A Network Analytic Approach
10:30 a.m., Spencer Room, 2130 Derby Hall, 154 N. Oval Mall
Skylar Cranmer is an assistant professor of political science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His research lies at the intersection of political methodology and international relations. His primary research interests are in the development of techniques for statistical inference with network data, particularly as applied to conflict processes.
Abstract: Efforts to combat and prevent transnational terrorism rely, to a great extent, on the effective allocation of security resources. Critical to the success of this allocation process is the identification of the likely geopolitical sources and targets of terrorism. We construct the network of transnational terrorist attacks, in which source and target countries share a directed edge, and we evaluate a network analytic approach to forecasting the geopolitical sources and targets of terrorism. Using a database of over 12,000 transnational terrorist attacks occurring between 1968 and 2002, we show that probabilistic link prediction is not only capable of accurate forecasting during a terrorist campaign, but is a promising approach to forecasting the onset of terrorist hostilities.
Thursday, April 26, 2012
Mark Winne
Who controls the food we eat?
5:30 p.m., Faculty Club Grand Lounge, 181 S. Oval Drive
Stanley Muroff Civil Liberties Forum, John Glenn School of Public Affairs
Is it the consumer or an increasingly small number of food corporations and public officials? Even though we may be winning the battle for healthy and sustainably produced food at the grocery store, we may ultimately lose the war in the public policy arena. As he reviews the current national food landscape, Mark Winne will propose that being a good food citizen is just as necessary as being a good food consumer to assure a food system that is just, sustainable, and democratic.
Winne currently writes, speaks, and consults extensively on community food system topics including hunger and food insecurity, local and regional agriculture, community food assessment, and food policy. He also does policy communication and food policy council work for the Community Food Security Coalition. Winne blogs regularly at markwinne.com and is a regular contributor at civileats.org and foodforthought.net.
He is author of Closing the Food Gap: Resetting the Table in the Land of Plenty and Food Rebels, Guerilla Gardeners, and Smart Cookin' Mamas: Fighting Back in an Age of Industrial Agriculture. Read more and register
Thursday-Friday, May 10-11, 2012
Immigration: Moving Forward
Organized by Germanic Languages and Literatures, History, Political Science, Spanish & Portuguese, and Center for Latin American Studies
11th Floor Thompson Library, 1858 Nel Ave. Mall
Saxbe Auditorium, Moritz College of Law, 55 N. 12th Ave.
Immigration: Moving Forward is the second major interdisciplinary conference of the yearlong campus-wide Conversation on Immigration, organized by the Center for Ethics and Human Values Innovation Group as part of its Conversations on Morality, Poltics, and Society project. The conference will focus on legal rules and government policies concerning immigration in the United States by bringing together a distinguished set of researchers to address the main challenges and opportunities immigration poses in the modern world and how those challenges can be overcome and the opportunities realized. The event aims to interest not only researchers and students, but the broader community. The keynote speaker is Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Jose Antonio Vargas. Read more and register
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Alma J. Powell
9th annual James F. Patterson Land-Grant University Lecture
11:30 a.m., Archie Griffin Ballroom, Ohio Union, 1739 N. High St.
Alma J. Powell, board chair of America's Promise Alliance, will be the keynote speaker for the 9th annual James F. Patterson Land-Grant University Lecture. Join the Office of Outreach and Engagement on May 16 at 11:30 a.m. in the Ohio Union, Archie Griffin Ballroom for this year's event. America's Promise Alliance is committed to seeing that children experience the Five Promises -- the fundamental resources they need to succeed. The Alliance is currently leading a 10-year campaign, Grad Nation, mobilizing America to end the dropout crisis. The university's C. Peter Magrath Community Engagement Award nominee and recipients of the 2012 Engagement Impact Grants and Service Learning Awards will be featured at the Patterson Lecture. Read more and register: http://go.osu.edu/pattersonlecture.
Previous events available for viewing
Han Park, University Professor of Public and International Affairs and director of the Center for the Study of Global Issues at University of Georgia, spoke at the Mershon Center on February 8, 2012.
Park speaks on new regime in North Korea
Watch a streaming video of Han Park speaking about "Kim Jong Un in North Korea: Implications for the Region and Beyond" on February 8 at the Mershon Center for International Security Studies. Park is recognized as a leading expert on domestic and foreign affairs surrounding the Korean peninsula.
Full Archive
Visit the Event Recordings page for the full list of streaming videos from previous events sponsored by the Mershon Center. Note: Streaming videos recorded before Fall 2010 require RealPlayer. If you do not have RealPlayer, you can download it free.
Mershon News
OIA reopens Phyllis Krumm scholarship competition
The Office of International Affairs is re-opening the Phyllis Krumm scholarship, awarded to graduate students for research or study in a European country or China. Please share this opportunity with any eligible graduate students you may know.
Applicants must be enrolled as a graduate student at Ohio State in an academic program of study in any field. The scholarship, typically between $1,000 and $2,000, is awarded for independent travel only, and preference is given to U.S. citizens pursuing a career in diplomatic or other governmental international service. Students must demonstrate an appropriate background for research or study in a European country or mainland China, Hong Kong, Macao or Taiwan. The deadline for completed applications, available at oia.osu.edu, is April 23, 2012.
Hahn examines history of U.S.-Iraq relations in 'Origins'
 Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective is pleased to announce the publication of its April 2012 issue, featuring "A Century of U.S. Relations with Iraq," by Meshon affiliate Peter Hahn.
As the American combat mission in Iraq comes to end, the Obama administration and Pentagon officials have repeatedly assured the world that American involvement with Iraq will continue. They are undoubtedly right. Since the founding of Iraq in the aftermath of World War I, U.S. policy has included cooperation, confrontation, war, and, most recently, an ongoing experiment in state-building. This month, Peter Hahn, an expert on the history of U.S. diplomacy in the Middle East, examines this century of interaction between the two nations, giving readers a context in which to think about the future of that relationship.
Origins is a free, non-commercial publication from the Public History Initiative and eHistory in Ohio State University's History Department. Each month, an academic expert analyzes a particular current issue -- political, cultural, or social -- in a larger, deeper historical context. In addition to the analysis provided in each month's feature, Origins also includes podcasts, images, maps, graphics, timelines, and other material to complement the article.
Origins can be found at http://ehistory.osu.edu/osu/origins/. The podcast is found at http://ehistory.osu.edu/osu/origins/podcasts.cfm. You can also follow Origins on Twitter: OriginsOSU
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