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Conference: New Wave Realism

Randall Schweller
September 27 - September 28, 2019
9:00AM - 2:30PM
Room 120, Mershon Center for International Security Studies, 1501 Neil Ave.

Date Range
Add to Calendar 2019-09-27 09:00:00 2019-09-28 14:30:00 Conference: New Wave Realism See photos from this event Organizer Randall Schweller, Department of Political Science Conference Statement Realism as a theoretical perspective has dominated the study of international relations for centuries. From the sophists and Thucydides, to Machiavelli and Hobbes, E. H. Carr and Hans Morgenthau, to Kenneth Waltz, Robert Jervis, and John Mearsheimer, realist thinkers have offered lucid and timely analysis of what makes the clock tick in international politics.  After the Cold War, many non-realists in the field were gleefully proclaiming the death of realism, arguing that it was finished as a useful perspective for understanding world politics. Today, realism is making a comeback. With the rise of China, the return of Russia as a geopolitical player, the ascendance of Trump, populism, autocracy, inequality, economic nationalism, and geoeconomics, and the retreat of democracy and liberalism symptomatic of the decline of the United States and its liberal rule-based international order, the world appears to be moving in directions consistent with traditional realist propositions and expectations. It is a time when the United States, like other major powers, must reevaluate its foreign commitments, rethink its military capabilities, and undertake major reforms to compete on the world stage. The primary aim of this conference is to help foster a community of young realist scholars, who are exploring these new global and national developments by adopting, modifying, restating, and renewing realist theories and concepts. Conference Schedule Friday, September 27, 2019 9-9:15 a.m. Breakfast (coffee, pastries)      9:15-9:30 a.m. Randall Schweller, Opening Remarks 9:30-10:45 a.m. Benjamin Denison, "Regime Change Anxieties: The Regime Security Dilemma and Revisionist Challenges to American Hegemony" Discussant: Alex Thompson 10:45 a.m.-12 p.m. Eliza Gheorghe, "Nuclear Alliances: Strategies of Extended Nuclear Deterrence and the Pursuit of Hegemony" Discussant: Jennifer Mitzen 12-1 p.m. Lunch     1-2:15 p.m. Brian Blankenship, "Promises under Pressure: Reassurance in Asymmetric Alliances" Discussant: Randall Schweller 2:15-3:30 p.m. Mariya Grinberg, "Planning for the Short Haul: Trading with the Enemy in World War I" Discussant: Alex Wendt     3:30-3:45 p.m. Coffee break 3:45-5 p.m. Joshua Byun, "Architectures of Power and Counterhegemonic Coalition-building: Rethinking Franco-West German Security Cooperation, 1945-1965" Discussant: Bear Braumoeller Saturday, September 28, 2019 8:30 a.m. Breakfast (coffee, pastries) 9-10:15 a.m. Lindsey O'Rourke, "Picking your Friends: Foreign Imposed Regime Change and the Quality of Interstate Relations" Discussant: Chris Gelpi  10:15-10:30 a.m. Coffee break 10:30-11:45 a.m. Erik Wisniewski, "Reform and Revision in the International System"  Discussant: Andrew Goodhart 11:45 a.m.-12:45 p.m. Lunch          12:45-2 p.m. Costantino Pischedda, "Window Theory of Inter-rebel War" Discussant: Daniel Verdier      2-2:15 p.m. Randall Schweller, Concluding Remarks Participants Brian Blankenship (University of Miami) Joshua Byun (University of Chicago) Benjamin Denison (University of Notre Dame) Eliza Gheorghe (Bilkent University, Turkey) Mariya Grinberg (University of Chicago) Lindsey O'Rourke (Boston College) Costantino Pischedda (University of Miami) Erik Wisniewski (The Ohio State University) Room 120, Mershon Center for International Security Studies, 1501 Neil Ave. Mershon Center mershoncenter@osu.edu America/New_York public

See photos from this event

Organizer

Randall Schweller, Department of Political Science

Conference Statement

Realism as a theoretical perspective has dominated the study of international relations for centuries. From the sophists and Thucydides, to Machiavelli and Hobbes, E. H. Carr and Hans Morgenthau, to Kenneth Waltz, Robert Jervis, and John Mearsheimer, realist thinkers have offered lucid and timely analysis of what makes the clock tick in international politics.  After the Cold War, many non-realists in the field were gleefully proclaiming the death of realism, arguing that it was finished as a useful perspective for understanding world politics. Today, realism is making a comeback. With the rise of China, the return of Russia as a geopolitical player, the ascendance of Trump, populism, autocracy, inequality, economic nationalism, and geoeconomics, and the retreat of democracy and liberalism symptomatic of the decline of the United States and its liberal rule-based international order, the world appears to be moving in directions consistent with traditional realist propositions and expectations. It is a time when the United States, like other major powers, must reevaluate its foreign commitments, rethink its military capabilities, and undertake major reforms to compete on the world stage. The primary aim of this conference is to help foster a community of young realist scholars, who are exploring these new global and national developments by adopting, modifying, restating, and renewing realist theories and concepts.

Conference Schedule

Friday, September 27, 2019

9-9:15 a.m. Breakfast (coffee, pastries)
    
9:15-9:30 a.m. Randall Schweller, Opening Remarks

9:30-10:45 a.m. Benjamin Denison, "Regime Change Anxieties: The Regime Security Dilemma and Revisionist Challenges to American Hegemony"
Discussant: Alex Thompson

10:45 a.m.-12 p.m. Eliza Gheorghe, "Nuclear Alliances: Strategies of Extended Nuclear Deterrence and the Pursuit of Hegemony"
Discussant: Jennifer Mitzen

12-1 p.m. Lunch    

1-2:15 p.m. Brian Blankenship, "Promises under Pressure: Reassurance in Asymmetric Alliances"
Discussant: Randall Schweller

2:15-3:30 p.m. Mariya Grinberg, "Planning for the Short Haul: Trading with the Enemy in World War I"
Discussant: Alex Wendt    

3:30-3:45 p.m. Coffee break

3:45-5 p.m. Joshua Byun, "Architectures of Power and Counterhegemonic Coalition-building: Rethinking Franco-West German Security Cooperation, 1945-1965"
Discussant: Bear Braumoeller

Saturday, September 28, 2019

8:30 a.m. Breakfast (coffee, pastries)

9-10:15 a.m. Lindsey O'Rourke, "Picking your Friends: Foreign Imposed Regime Change and the Quality of Interstate Relations"
Discussant: Chris Gelpi 

10:15-10:30 a.m. Coffee break

10:30-11:45 a.m. Erik Wisniewski, "Reform and Revision in the International System" 
Discussant: Andrew Goodhart

11:45 a.m.-12:45 p.m. Lunch         

12:45-2 p.m. Costantino Pischedda, "Window Theory of Inter-rebel War"
Discussant: Daniel Verdier
    
2-2:15 p.m. Randall Schweller, Concluding Remarks

Participants

Brian Blankenship (University of Miami)
Joshua Byun (University of Chicago)
Benjamin Denison (University of Notre Dame)
Eliza Gheorghe (Bilkent University, Turkey)
Mariya Grinberg (University of Chicago)
Lindsey O'Rourke (Boston College)
Costantino Pischedda (University of Miami)
Erik Wisniewski (The Ohio State University)