News
There was something unsettling about gathering peacebuilders in Northern Ireland last week to ask what peace means today - and watching the past return almost literally to the doorstep.
We…
As a result in part of Mershon support, Governing reconciliation: Metagovernance, alignment, and sustainable peace in Northern Ireland was published in Peace and Sustainability …
Peter Mansoor was interviewed by NewsNation on various topics including Iran, Ukraine, and the Pentagon.
View the NewsNation segment.
Nowshin Sharmila’s Mershon-funded research project is a steppingstone for creating new models for ground-level problem-solving. A graduate student in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies who…
Danielle Fosler-Lussier published an article about Ohio State’s Career Allies Academy in Inside Higher Ed.
Sarah Van Beurden co-authored the article Arts across Africa before 1600: An Ever-Growing Void? for the journal African Arts.
Manuscript written…
Peter Mansoor spoke with CNN about the trilateral agreement with the leaders of the US, Denmark and Greenland, which formalized a new Greenland security agreement.
Co-directors Teri Murphy and Derek Congram talked to NBC4 about Mershon Search Lab and our collaboration with Colombia’s Unidad de Búsqueda de Personas dadas por Desaparecidas (UBPD).
We are thrilled to share an Ohio State News story featuring our Mershon Search Lab and our Colombian collaborators Unidad de Búsqueda de Personas dadas por Desaparecidas (UBPD).
Just Security published a contribution from Dakota Rudesill, professor of law and Mershon affiliate, on their online symposium on 9/11 that includes essays by national security…
Peter Mansoor, Mershon Center's Mason Chair in Military History, recently appeared on CNN as one of the military experts unpacking Hegseth's purges of U.S. military leadership.
Madhumita Dutta published an article in The Wire about Jahlma Nallah, a glacial stream that floods in the sun. This phenomenon, affecting thousands of rural mountain households, local…
The Mershon Center for International Security Studies is pleased to announce that Fiona S. Cunningham has been selected to receive the 2025 Edgar S. Furniss Book Award for Under the Nuclear…
Bart Elmore appeared on All Sides with Amy Juravich to talk about whether climate change and affordability are drawing people back to Midwest states.
Dakota Rudesill, professor of law and director of the Mershon Center National Security Simulation, delivered a keynote and led The Ohio State University delegation of seven at the 2026…
Hannah Kosstrin recently published a new book entitled Kinesthetic Peoplehood: Jewish Diasporic Dance Migrations (Oxford University Press 2026), which examines Jewish diasporic dance…
Redemption: MacArthur and the Campaign for the Philippines by Peter R. Mansoor, professor of history and Mershon Center Major General Raymond E. Mason Jr. Chair in Military History, won…
Brooks Marmon, former Mershon Center postdoctoral scholar currently at the University of Arkansas, edited a new book, Edson Sithole: Law, Liberation and the Cost of Dissent (Voices of…
Margaret Newell spoke to NBC Washington about what George Washington smelled like. Spoiler alert: he used a citrusy personal fragrance still available today.
Jennifer Mitzen is quoted in a Global Policy article discussing "China's Ontological Advantage". Mitzen argues that states need "to experience oneself as a whole, continuous person in…
Through support of two new initiatives, the Mershon Center is enhancing the scholarship relevant to national, international, and human security. The Mershon Center is proud to announce that we are…
Peter Mansoor was interviewed on NewsNation about a range of topics including Iran, Ukraine, and the Pentagon.
Peter Mansoor is quoted extensively in a Military Times story about how the US military will retain the lessons of recent wars as combat veterans retire. Doctrine can capture many…
What has been, is, and should be U.S. grand strategy?
That was the question explored at Rethinking American Grand Strategy, an America250 conference, hosted by the…
Laura Dugan talked to ABC 6 about the alleged White House plot unraveled by Knox County mom.
Christopher Gelpi's Opinion piece "Operation Epic Fail: We aren't done paying for Trump- created Iran crisis" was featured in this week's Columbus Dispatch.
Christopher McKnight Nichols talked to the New York Times about the world’s first billionaire and the world’s first trillionaire.
Haifeng Huang and his research were quoted in an Opinion piece in The Guardian about the president’s image and name proliferating in Washington and beyond.
Laura Dugan spoke on JUSTUS podcast about our government’s uneven and counterproductive responses to jihad terrorism.
Peter Mansoor, Mershon Center Mason Chair, was interviewed live by CNN's Jim Sciutto on the latest developments in the Ukraine War. CNN recording here.
H-Diplo recently released a roundtable for Lydia Walker's States-in-Waiting on the Robert Jervis International Security Studies Forum. This forum is one of the most important venues for…
A recently published article in The New Yorker by Ruth Marcus discussed Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’ speech and views against Progressivism and Progressives. Christopher…
Lydia Walker, Assistant Professor, Myers Chair in Global Military History, and Mershon Center affiliate, has been selected as one of five finalists in the History category for the 2026 American…
Teri Murphy is a co-author of the recently published "How Local Rituals Support Social Healing in Conflict-Affected Societies" (University of Notre Dame, 2026).
Yiğit Akin, Associate Professor, Carter V. Findley Chair of Ottoman and Turkish History, received a 2026 Alumni Award for Distinguished Teaching. Ohio State’s Alumni Award for Distinguished…
On April 26, Geoffrey Parker, Distinguished University Professor, Andreas Dorpalen Professor of European History, and Mershon Center affiliate,…
Starting in 2023 and led by Associate Director for Peacebuilding Research Dr. Teri Murphy, the Mershon Center partnered with International Alert Nepal on a three-year research initiative examining…
The Ohio State University, including the Mershon Center, welcomed an Angolan government delegation to campus on April 10, 2026. Dorry Noyes and affiliates Sarah Brooks, Ricardo Cardoso, and Joe…
More than two dozen scholars from renowned institutions across the globe gathered for The Decline of the Liberal International Order workshop held March 21-22 at The Ohio…
On April 6, we hosted an interdisciplinary Mershon Monday conversation about one of the most pressing issues in the sphere of security studies: the shifting landscape of technology and innovation…
Mershon is proud to recognize faculty affiliates who received 2025-2026 endowed and college-wide awards from the College of Arts and Sciences for research, teaching, mentoring and service.
…
Dakota Rudesill talked to NBC4 about how the Iran ceasefire may impact Ohio gas prices.
The Mershon Center for International Security Studies is pleased to announce the recipients of awards from the Spring 2026 grant cycle.
Faculty AwardsSix faculty members from six…
Congratulations Dr. Zickafoose! Alexis Zickafoose, Mershon Center student affiliate, successfully defended her dissertation, Sowing Success: How Women’s Agripreneurship Cultivates…
Peter Mansoor, Mershon Center Major Gen. Raymond E. Mason Jr. Chair of Military History, spoke to News Nation talking about the Strait of Hormuz and the war in Iran.
Professor Mitch Lerner is the next Director of the Mershon Center for International Security Studies. His appointment will begin on July 1, 2026, for a four-year term.
“I am pleased to…
Peter Mansoor spoke to the Sri Lanka Guardian about whether the Iran War will be America’s next Middle East quagmire.
Dakota Rudesill, Mershon Center affiliate and professor of law, talked to WOSU All Sides with Amy Juravich about the reactions of the American public, lawyers, and lawmakers to the US-Iran war.
As the conflict between the United States and Iran has unfolded over the past weeks, Mershon Center affiliates across multiple disciplines have been called on to give expert opinions and analysis…
Peter Mansoor talked to the Christian Science Monitor about the US-Iran war. “We’re winning tactically and operationally,” says Professor Mansoor, who was the executive officer for Gen. David…
Peter Mansoor talked to the Wall Street Journal about the US-Iran war. "When Peter Mansoor, an ex-U.S. Army colonel who did two long tours in Iraq, considers the unfolding war in Iran, he worries…
Christopher McKnight Nichols talked to The Post about the US-Iran war, the Strait of Hormuz, and achieving US aims.
Christopher McKnight Nichols was featured in Greece’s leading newspaper, Kathimerini, offering expert analysis on recent U.S. Middle East policy and U.S.–Iran relations.
The Mershon Center for International Security Studies is pleased to announce that Carlin Evans and Lara Teri have been awarded Chadwick F. Alger Peace and Conflict Resolution Undergraduate Student…
Dorothy Noyes, a world-renowned folklorist and director of The Ohio State University's Mershon Center for International Security Studies, received the 2026 Distinguished Alumni Scholar Award from…
Retired Colonel Peter Mansoor, former Executive Officer to General Petraeus, and Mershon Center Chair of Military History; Writer for The New Yorker Robin Wright; and MS NOW Senior Reporter Josh…
In today's episode of NucleCast, Professor Dakota Rudesill, Esq. examines the legal boundaries that govern the use of military force, with a particular focus on the United States and Iran. Drawing…
Dorothy Noyes, Mershon Center director, published an article on ritual and international order in Global Studies Quarterly.
Dakota Rudesill, law professor and Mershon affiliate, appeared on NPR WAMU 88.5 this morning with Phil Stewart talking about the Iran War, US Constitution, and secret law.
Fresh vegetables. Food processors. Specialized dairy startups. These businesses are all examples of the agripreneurship that is enhancing rural livelihoods and food security. Alexis Zickafoose, Ph…
Dr. Erin Lin, associate professor of Political Science and Mershon Center affiliate, has been honored by the International Studies Association (ISA) with two prestigious awards for her book
Peter Mansoor, Professor and Mershon Center Mason Chair in Military History, spoke to the AP about the fight over Trump’s Iran war powers. "The Constitution gives war powers to two different…
Mershon Center Mason Chair in Military History Peter Mansoor talked to CNN's Erin Burnett about the war with Iran on March 2, 2026.
At our Mershon Monday on February 23, Kevin McClatchy, Associate Professor of Theatre, Film, and Media Arts and 2024-2025 Ohio State Artist Laureate, shared his experiences of incorporating…
Ivan Kurilla, Mershon Visiting Scholar, was recently quoted by The New York Times in an article featuring a small Russian town that sent the majority of its residents to war. "The state…
Teri Murphy, Mershon Center Associate Director, and Derek Congram, Mershon Center Research Associate, witnessed the dignified return of Father Torres in Bogotá, Colombia on February 15, 2026…
Seiba Issifu and Max Woodworth published the article “Formalization from above, resistance from below: Voices of struggle and survival in Ghana’s contested…
Mershon Hayes Chair Christopher McKnight Nichols and Cameron Givens, former Mershon affiliate now at Southern Methodist University, published a review on H-Diplo of State of Silence: The…
Joel Wainwright recently published "The End: Marx, Darwin, and the Natural History of the Climate Crisis", which examines how Marx provides new insights into our environmental crisis when read…
Erin Moore, the Dr. Carl F. Asseff Assistant Professor in Anthropology and the History of Medicine in the Department of Anthropology at Ohio State, is a sociocultural and medical anthropologist…
Christopher McKnight Nichols discusses the Monroe Doctrine, a two-hundred-year-old presidential speech still shaping the role of the US in the world, on American History Hits, a top 25 history…
Mehr Mumtaz published an article on Afghan Refugees in Pakistan in The Conversation that centers the experiences she had during her fieldwork in Pakistan, which was supported by a grant from the…
A fully booked conference – with a wait list – is a great way to kick off celebrations in Ohio for the United States’ semiquincentennial, or America 250. At “New Perspectives on the Northwest…
A January 15, 2026 panel "The Operation in Venezuela: Law, Oil, Geopolitics," featuring Mershon Center affiliate experts and organized by the Mershon Center for International Security Studies was…
Christopher McKnight Nichols, Mershon Hayes Chair and Professor of History, appeared on the Council on Foreign Relations' popular televised podcast "The President's Inbox" talking about the best…
More than 350 members of the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations (SHAFR) responded to a survey that asked them to identify and rank what in their judgment were the 10 best and 10…
Christopher McKnight Nichols, Mershon Hayes Chair, spoke to WOSU's All Sides with Amy Jurvich about US-Venezuela and broader international relations implications.
Congratulations to everyone who received funding during the Mershon Center’s Autumn 2025 grant cycle!
Faculty members from nine departments are pursuing research projects related to national…
Julia Marino and Madhumita Dutta had a critical analysis of semiconductor workforce training programs in the US published in Contemporary Social Science.
Christopher McKnight Nichols talked to WOSU on January 6 about the operation in Venezuela and what comes next.
Peter Mansoor was quoted in a Business Insider story about US troops guarding Venezuela's oil.
Dakota Rudesill, Professor of Law & Mershon affiliate, was quoted in Newsweek.
Mershon Hayes Chair Christopher McKnight Nichols was quoted in a USA Today story about Venezuela.
Nichols said “the Trump administration’s activities overall appear to signify a real departure from post-WWII traditional American leadership in the trans-Atlantic alliance and US-Europe…
The Journal of Populism Studies published an article by Helen Murphey, Mershon Postdoc, on civilizational populism and migration diplomacy.
The protest chant “no drones in Ohio” rang through the Fawcett Center October 24-25, 2025, during the biennial National Security Simulation (“Sim”) presented by the Mershon Center for…
Mershon Postdocs Nicholas Nyachga, Helen Murphey, and Julia Marino review the expert panel discussion of nuclear politics.
Hayes Chair Christopher McKnight Nichols spoke about the meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and the U.S. President to The News on Sunday.
For the first time, the Mershon Center welcomed the Institute for Cybersecurity and Digital Trust (ICDT) to the National Security Simulation (Sim). Photo: Maj. Gen. Mark Bartman and Freddy…
Erin Lin, assistant professor of Political Science and Global Food Politics and Mershon affiliate, received two 2025 Organized Section awards from the American Political Science Association (APSA)…
Check out two new resources developed for community leaders by the Divided Community Project (DCP).
During a trip facilitated by Dayton educators, the Mershon Center, and Law Professor Dakota Rudesill, students from Dayton Public Schools experience the National Security Simulation.
Nerissa Young interviewed Michael McCord, former Chief Financial Officer at DOD and practitioner in last week's National Security Simulation.
On October 20, 2025, Humza Azgher, Joseph Barlage, Emma Guess, and Hayden Price presented their Diplomacy Lab projects at the "Enhancing General and Health Literacy in the Age of Misinformation"…
Mershon Postdocs Nicholas Nyachga, Helen Murphey, and Julia Marino review the environment and security panel and discussion.
Christopher McKnight Nichols talked to CBS News about American billionaires, past and present.
Jennifer Eaglin, Associate Professor of History and Mershon affiliate, published an article on nuclear energy in Brazil’s clean AI campaign in The National Interest.
New Forensic Anthropology lab helping Teri Murphy and Nick Passalacqua assist with forensic training and casework related to the disappeared in Colombia.
Christopher Gelpi, professor of Political Science and former Mershon director, published an article, co-authored with a former Mershon GRA Victoria Gurevich, which came out this week in the…
Peter Mansoor, Mershon Mason Chair in Military History, was on C-SPAN's Washington Journal discussing the recent meeting in Quantico with the President and Secretary of Defense and senior military…
Peter Mansoor, Mershon Mason Chair in Military History, is quoted in The Christian Science Monitor story "From LA to Portland: Tracking Trump’s expansive use of the National Guard."
Congratulations to Erin Lin, Assistant Professor of Political Science and Global Food Politics & Mershon affiliate, who will receive the Yale H. Ferguson Award for her book When the Bombs…
Christopher McKnight Nichols, Mershon Hayes Chair for National Security, talked to Spectrum News about TikTok and national security.
Peter Mansoor talked to Paul Woodadge on WW2TV about his book "Redemption: MacArthur and the Campaign for the Philippines."
Nationalities Papers published an article by Laurie Georges entitled Knowledges that Cannot Be Known: Structuring Azerbaijani Attachment to Nagorno-Karabakh.
Mershon Postdocs Nicholas Nyachega, Helen Murphey, and Julia Marino review conflict and peacebuilding panel and discussion.
Kendra McSweeney was quoted in a story about the U.S. military strike on a vessel off Venezuela. Her comments stem from research conducted with Mat Coleman and supported by Mershon.
The Mershon Center invites applications for a tenured position in peace and conflict studies at the rank of Associate Professor or Professor. The selected candidate will hold the prestigious…
The Mershon Center seeks to appoint up to three Post Doctoral Scholars to join our team. This will be a two-year appointment beginning August 24, 2026, through August 23, 2028.
Tyler Jost is the recipient of the 2024 Edgar S. Furniss Book Award for his book “Bureaucracies at War: The Institutional Origins of Miscalculation” (Cambridge Studies in International Relations,…
Peter Mansoor's article chronicles academic military history in the United States during and after World War II, including The Ohio State University's leadership in the field.
Applications are now open for the Ohio State National Security Simulation (Sim), hosted by the Mershon Center for International Security Studies on October 24 and 25, 2025 at the Fawcett Center. …
Mershon postdoc visiting scholar Eda Ayaydın co-wrote an essay exploring the complex relationship between Turkey and Russia for the London School of Economics.
Mershon Hayes Chair Christopher McKnight Nichols and Postdoctoral Visiting Scholar Eda Ayaydin published an analysis of Arctic cooperation in Foreign Policy. Image credit: MAXIM MARMUR/AFP via Getty…
Mershon Center Gen. Raymond E. Mason Jr. Chair in Military History Peter Mansoor was quoted in a story in The Atlantic on the Department of Defense. Image credit: Ben Kothe
The Mershon Center Wayne Woodrow Hayes Chair in National Security Studies Christopher McKnight Nichols is quoted in a Semafor story on the information wars. Image credit: Al Lucca/Semafor
Steph Pedron is a Mershon affiliate and a Political Science Ph.D. Candidate concentrating in American Politics, Political Methodology, and Political Psychology. Steph is working on a dissertation…
Mershon Postdoctoral Visiting Fellow Eda Ayaydin will represent the Mershon Center for International Security Studies at the 2025 Arctic Encounter Summit (AES) in Anchorage, Alaska July 30 -…
Eda Ayaydin's article for The Arctic Institute critically examines the symbolic and discursive dichotomies embedded in the Arctic Council’s process for assessing non-Arctic states’ observer…
Mershon Postdoctoral Visiting Fellow Eda Ayaydin; and co-author Andreas Raspotnik, Director of the High North Center for Business and Governance at Nord University; published an article in E…
This July, Teri Murphy, Associate Director for Peacebuilding Research at the Mershon Center for International Security Studies, travels to Bogotá, Colombia to host a workshop with co-hosts Roddy…
CBC News Network's Andrew Nichols spoke to Retired U.S. Army Colonel and Mershon Gen. Raymond E. Mason Jr. Chair in Military History Peter Mansoor on the Israel-Iran War and ceasefire on June 24,…
On April 28, the Mershon Center partnered with the Maison des Sciences de l'Homme Val de Loire (MSH) to present a webinar entitled “Franco-American Crossed Perspectives on Academic Freedom.” The…
Mershon Center postdoctoral visiting fellow Eda Ayaydin published the Op-ed "Arctic Exceptionalism: What It Was, What It Could Be - But Should It Be?" in the High North News.
Mershon Gen. Raymond E. Mason Jr. Chair in Military History Peter Mansoor appeared on CNN's Anderson Cooper 360 on June 17 with Ambassador Brett McGurk, whom he worked with in Iraq during the…
On June 11, Mershon postdoctoral visiting fellow Eda Ayaydin, Ph.D. was invited to participate in a workshop on Restoring Arctic Exceptionalism, followed by a high-level conference on…
Mershon Gen. Raymond E. Mason Jr. Chair in Military History Peter Mansoor appeared on Anderson Cooper 360 on CNN June 16 with Ambassador Brett McGurk to discuss the situation with Iran.
In the latest issue of the Federal Sentencing Reporter, Ohio State Geography Professors Kendra McSweeney and Mat Coleman illuminate a profound justice policy story surrounding ‘boat defendants’. …
Dr. Eda Ayaydin is a postdoctoral visiting fellow who is joining us at the Mershon Center this summer.
Dr. Ayaydin is a political scientist specializing in Arctic geopolitics, with a…
Read Dakota Rudesill's essay on extremist militias on federal duty in the Center for a New American Security.
See Mershon Gen. Raymond E. Mason Jr. Chair in Military History Peter Mansoor on CNN International discussing Germany's lifting of range restrictions on the missiles it has provided to Ukraine.
Water towers of the Indus Basin are featured in the newest story for River Ethnographies, part of the Indus River Basin Project funded by the Mershon Center.
The newest story for River Ethnographies, part of the Indus River Basin Project funded by the Mershon Center, features Sangam Chinar.
At our Mershon Monday gathering on April 15, Christopher Leger, a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of History, examined Latvia’s rapidly evolving memory politics in the shadow of Russia’s full…
Alexander Wendt has been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences as a new member.
Peter L. Hahn, a College of Arts and Sciences Distinguished Professor of History, has been named a 2025 Distinguished University Professor, the highest faculty honor at The Ohio State University.…
Ohio State students in the Mershon Center Diplomacy Lab program presented their project to Ambassador Oksana Markarova at the Embassy of Ukraine in the USA on April 18 in Washington, DC.
Mershon Center Gen. Raymond E. Mason Jr. Chair in Military History Peter Mansoor was quoted in a Washington Post Opinion piece by Max Boot.
The Mershon Center is proud to announce that Professor Theodora Dragostinova has been awarded a 2025 ACLS Fellowship from the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS).
At our Mershon Mondays event on March 31, Laurie Georges, a PhD candidate in Political Science, presented her research on the mechanisms of erasure: the intentional removal of peoples and their…
The Mershon Center for International Security Studies is pleased to announce that Carissa Garcia and Molly Hornberger have received Chadwick F. Alger Peace and Conflict Resolution Undergraduate…
Christopher McKnight Nichols talked to USA Today about the history of US-Denmark relations, Wilson Administration and buying the Virgin Islands, Greenland.
At the Mershon Monday event on March 24, Dr. Erin Moore, Assistant Professor in Anthropology, presented her Mershon-funded book project, Investing in Girls: Sex, Money, and the Deceit of…
Listen to Peter Mansoor and Dakota Rudesill discuss how the Signal group chat leak will impact national security on All Sides with Amy Juravich.
At our Mershon Monday event on March 17, Emily Hardick presented her Mershon-funded research on the relationship between the international mobility of performers and cultural diplomacy in the…
Carly Goodman received the 2023 Furniss Book Award for "Dreamland: American’s Immigration Lottery in an Age of Restriction."
Dr. Jacien Carr presented his research on the Poro (men’s power associations) history, folklore, and warfare during the First Liberian Civil War (FLCW) from 1989 to 1997 at the March 3 Mershon…
The Ohio State University recently announced that we are the top producer of Fulbright U.S. Scholars for the 2024-25 academic year among all colleges and universities in the United States with 14…
On February 10, Professor Max Woodworth, Associate Professor of Geography, presented his ongoing research on Taiwan’s “military-dependent villages” (MDVs)—communities forged in the aftermath of…
The 2024 United Nations Climate Change Conference (UNFCCC COP29) took place in Baku, Azerbaijan from November 11–24, 2024. Climate change represents one of the most significant global security…
In November 2024, Mershon Center for International Security Studies Associate Director Teri Murphy was invited to Bogotá, Colombia to learn more about the Unidad de Búsqueda de Personas dadas por…
Rush Doshi, Assistant Professor of Security Studies at Georgetown University, Director of the China Strategy Initiative of the Council on Foreign Relations, and former Deputy Senior Director for…
Research, programs and events made possible by The Mershon Center impact our students, faculty, and community. Diplomacy Lab offers real-life research opportunities for students in cooperation…
The Mershon Center for International Security Studies is pleased to announce its Spring 2025 funding cycle. All proposals are due on February 15, 2025. These are the grants reviewed in spring:
Dear Colleagues, We hope you are all doing well as the semester winds down and the much-needed holiday season approaches. Below are some recent updates from the desk of Christopher McKnight Nichols,…
Our recent symposium on the nuclear non-proliferation regime brought together a diverse group of international experts to discuss the current state and future challenges of this critical global…
On Monday, November 25th, Professor Laura Dugan, PhD Student Jack Wippell, and PhD Student Taylor June (Sociology) introduced the Violence, Ideology and Extremism Working Group (VIEW). VIEW is an…
At our Mershon Monday event on November 18th, Professor Theodora Dragostinova (History) shared her new research project focusing on the cases of over a thousand children who became the unintended …
The Mershon Center supports faculty and student research through grant and scholarship opportunities and is home to programs and research initiatives with unique goals and perspectives on security…
The Mershon Center for International Security Studies at The Ohio State University is delighted to announce this year’s winner of the Edgar S. Furniss Book Award is Carly Goodman, for her book…
On our Mershon Monday on October 21st, we had the pleasure of hearing Richard Herrmann, Professor Emeritus in the Department of Political Science, discuss his recent research on national and…
American Air Power, Diplomacy, and Politics in the Bosnian War
At our Mershon Monday event on October 14th, Chuck Laubach, a doctoral student specializing in military history at The Ohio State…
Law 8896.11/English 7888.01
Spring 2025 Wednesdays, 4:30-6:30 PM
Team-taught by:
Dakota Rudesill (Moritz College of Law; Mershon National Security Simulation Director) Dorothy…
On our Mershon Monday event on September 30, we had the pleasure of hearing Rasel Ahmed speak about his ongoing project, I Remember a Place Called Dhaka, which was recently awarded a…
Climate change is arguably the most serious global security threat confronting humanity, and Ohio State students are at the forefront of crucial climate negotiations. As part of an annual study…
We are thankful to have hosted José O. Pérez, our speaker at the September 23rd Mershon Monday event. José is a Ph.D. candidate in Political Science whose research interests cover Latin America…
At our Mershon Monday event on September 16th, Professor Madhumita Dutta, Associate Professor of Geography and Faculty Affiliate in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, presented her ongoing…
Diplomacy Lab Menu
Connect your spring course to real-world US government projects! The Spring 2025 Diplomacy Lab Project Menu has been released, with over 80 topics from embassies and…
Mershon's faculty and graduate student grants funded some extraordinary research last summer! This week we highlight the work of associate professor in Geography, Max Woodworth, and…
Mershon's faculty and graduate student grants funded some extraordinary research last summer! This week we highlight the work of associate director, Teri Murphy, and the Mershon Center…
Mershon's faculty and graduate student grants funded some extraordinary research last summer! This week we highlight the curatorial work of Political Science Emeritus Professors Paul…
Mershon's faculty and graduate student grants funded some extraordinary research last summer! This week we highlight the curatorial work of Associate Professor of Architecture, Ashley…
Essays originally submitted as a discussion in H-Diplo's Robert Jervis International Security Studies Forum on July 31, 2024. Below are some excerpts to serve as a collective memory of the impact…
The Mershon Center is proud to fund research from faculty at all levels in Architecture, African American and African Studies, Geography, History, and Political Science. Congratulations to Paul…
The Mershon Center for International Security Studies bids farewell to our recent cohort of postdoctoral scholars at the end of summer. Sefa Secen, Zaynab Quadri, and Brooks Marmon are set to…
The Mershon Center is proud to fund new graduate student projects in Anthropology, Geography, History, History of Art, Political Science, Social Work, and Sociology. Congratulations to Paromita…
Congratulations to Lydia Walker on the upcoming publication of her new book, States-in-Waiting, A Counternarrative of Global Decolonization. (Cambridge University Press, May 2024).
Kendra McSweeney, along with seven others at The Ohio State University, has been elected to the 2023 class of American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Fellows.
The AAAS…
Congratulations to Peter Hahn on being named College of Arts and Sciences Distinguished Professor! The title of Arts and Sciences Distinguished Professor serves to honor full professor colleagues…
Congratulations to Professor Margaret Newell on being selected for the Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program award to Ireland for the academic year 2024-2025. She will be the Fulbright-UCD Mary Ball…
The Ohio State Law Journal has published the papers from the Mershon-sponsored symposium, The Ukraine War and the Law, accessible online. Coordinated by Dakota Rudesill, the symposium features a…
Congratulations to Mershon Center Postdoctoral Scholar Brooks Marmon for receiving the Franklin Research Grant from the American Philosophical Society. This grant supports scholars with travel,…
The Mershon Center’s Rick Herrmann speaks on “Cold War: Then and Now” as the keynote address of the Midwest Slavic Conference on Friday, April 5th from 7pm to 8:30pm at the Faculty Club. The…
Congratulations to Mershon Center affiliate Sunnie Rucker-Chang (DSEELC, AAAS, CSEEES) who was awarded a grant in the amount of $113,318 from the US Russia Foundation to support the project …
The Fall 2024 Diplomacy Lab Project Menu is ready for your consideration! Over 70 projects from offices throughout the State Department have been proposed for the autumn semester…
Monday, January 29, 2024
4pm to 5pm
Registration
Faculty: your students can help the State Department develop its global cooperation…
The Mershon Center is delighted to welcome Marc Lynch as a visiting scholar, in residence in Columbus through Spring 2025. Lynch is Professor of Political Science and Director of the Project on…
The Ohio State University's Mershon Center for International Security Studies announces the launch of the Non-State Archive. Lacking access to state archives and often to private funding, social…
The Minsk Game: Ukraine's Unnamed War, 2014-2022
Registration
Abstract:
Why did the Minsk-1 and the Minsk-2 agreements fail? UKRAINE'S UNNAMED WAR: BEFORE THE…
The Mershon Center has just signed an MOU with the US Department of State to make Ohio State a partner in the Diplomacy Lab, a program engaging students and faculty with current foreign policy…
The Mershon Center for International Security Studies announces the opening of its funding cycle for 2024-2025! The competitions, closing on February 1st, are for our Catalyst Grant, Faculty…
The Mershon Center is proud to announce that Danielle Fosler-Lussier, has been awarded an Honorary Membership by the American Musicological Society. This prestigious recognition celebrates her…
Applications for 2024-2026 are now open!
The Mershon Center for International Security Studies at The Ohio State University seeks to appoint up to three Post Doctoral Scholars to join our team…
Congratulations to Carl Smallwood, director of the Mershon-partnered Divided Community Project, who was recently selected to chair the Advisory Commission of the American Bar Association's (ABA)…
Mershon-funded doctoral students Natalie Wright Romeri-Grass and Mohammed Shedeed were awarded the prestigious Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad grants. Natalie will spend nine…
The Mershon Center for International Security Studies at the Ohio State University is delighted to announce that the latest recipient of the Edgar S. Furniss Book Award is Adam B. Lerner, for his…
Dorothy Noyes, Director of the Mershon Center for International Security Studies, was among the panelists at a pivotal discussion titled 'Geopolitical Risk: Current & Future State.' Hosted at the…
This summer Mershon’s Transitioning from Violence Consortium partnered with the US Institute of Peace on a two part theory-to-practice workshop among global experts. This followed on TFV’s year…
For the past three years, Kara Hooser (PhD student, Department of Political Science) and Teri Murphy (Mershon Associate Director) have worked alongside Burundian researchers to analyze the root…
Zaynab Quadri, postdoctoral fellow at the Mershon Center for International Security Studies, investigates the role of the Iraq War in shaping global politics. She dissects the intertwining of …
Mershon's Christopher Nichols appeared on the 'American Prestige' podcast, discussing 'American Grand Strategy.' In this discussion, Nichols explores grand strategy, its difference from first…
In a precarious global landscape, questions surrounding law and the potential for military conflict are more pertinent than ever. Dakota S. Rudesill, Associate Professor at the Moritz College of…
In this powerful multimedia performance developed with funding from the Mershon Center, Kevin McClatchy portrays a US Army Special Forces veteran who is transitioning from military to civilian…
Former U.S. President Donald Trump's recent indictment on counts of obstruction of justice and wrongful retention of classified documents has stirred up a whirlwind of debate. Providing insightful…
This summer’s Serious Games and World Politics Summer Seminar in Mokra Gora, Serbia has begun.
Seven PhD students from Ohio State’s English and Political Science Departments have joined…
Congratulations to Mershon Professor of International Security Alexander Wendt, who has been awarded the 2023 Johan Skytte Prize in Political Science. Often called the "Nobel of Political Science,…
The Mershon Center for International Security Studies mourns the loss of our esteemed colleague, Bear Braumoeller, who passed away on May 3, 2023, in Oslo, Norway, after a sudden, brief illness. A…
Dear friends,
Two co-sponsored conferences will close out Mershon's season next week: Tradition and Disruption in Latinx and Latin American Political Theory, and New Wave Realism V. Of…
On April 20, the Center for Slavic, East European and Eurasian Studies, Ohio State University Libraries, and the Mershon Center for International Security Studies welcomed U.N. Diplomat David A…
The Mershon Center is delighted to announce that Julia Davies and Ruth Elendu have been awarded grants from Chadwick F. Alger Peace and Conflict Resolution Endowed Student Support Fund for their…
The Mershon Center is proud to recognize the recent accomplishments of three of our esteemed affiliates. Firstly, congratulations to Professor David Hoffman for winning a 2023 John Simon…
We are very excited—and proud—to announce that our very own Kendra McSweeney has been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences! Kendra’s election to the AAA&S is in recognition of the…
YouTube Videos of Mershon/College of Public Health Symposium on Far-Right Extremism are Available. The Symposium was a Success, AND it is Just the Beginning
In…
Congratulations to Professor Theodora Dragostinova on receiving the 2022 Alumni Award for Distinguished Teaching.
Faculty members are nominated by students, faculty, and alumni for the…
"The long-term fallout of the Iraq War suggests that the promotion of peace and stability cannot be reduced to discrete military objectives, nor can the United States impose its own economic…
Tommie Sankange was the first black American public figure permanently residing in Zimbabwe who was not a missionary. Why don’t we know more about her?
Mershon Post Doctoral Scholar Brooks…
Margaret Newell, a distinguished professor in The Ohio State University Department of History, was “delighted” to learn she would be receiving $492,000 from the Mellon Foundation.
…
One of the unresolved puzzles in the civil resistance and contentious politics literatures is why some movements that begin seeking limited redress in a certain policy space escalate their claims…
February 10 marked the first of a series of anticipated Mershon events on African affairs. Chase Barney (University of Arkansas) and Lawrence Mukusha (Kent State University) shared their…
The Mershon Center for International Security Studies at the Ohio State University is delighted to announce that the latest recipient of the Edgar S. Furniss Book Award is Rush Doshi, for his book…
"While there is a difference in degree, curbing the discussion of the United States' history of racism, segregation and slavery puts American conservatives in the same camp as Smith's Rhodesia,"…
This month, the Mershon Center takes up the historical, global, and local dimensions of water security, expected to top the 21st century’s agenda for communities, governments, industry, and…
We welcome back our Mershon Monday series on Jan 30, with Yana Hashamova and Sunnie Rucker-Chang (both Slavic + East European Languages and Cultures) presenting their edited volume Cultures of…
This semester marks the launch of a series of African affairs-oriented events at Mershon. With support from the Global Arts & Humanities Discovery Theme on ‘Archival Imaginations’, two seminars…
On November 3rd-4th, the Mershon Center hosted the Comics, Security, and the American Mission Conference in conjunction with the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum, The History Department,…
The Mershon Center for International Security Studies announces the opening of its funding cycle for 2023-2024! The first competitions, closing on March 1st, are for graduate and individual…
Dear friends,
We are happy to welcome you to a new year at the Mershon Center!
Last semester we resumed life in person in a new office, with a new director, two new staff members,…
In a new Foreign Affairs posting, Mershon's John Mueller argues that observers should not underestimate Vladimir Putin's prospects of staying in power. To be sure, history will judge his Ukraine…
Russia expert Fiona Hill visited the Mershon Center this past Thursday as the 2022 Joseph J. Kruzel Lecture speaker.
After an introduction from Ohio State Provost Melissa Gilliam,…
Mershon and the Moritz College of Law co-sponsored the annual national security conference of the ABA's Standing Committee on Law and National Security (SCOLANS), held November 17-18 in Washington…
Mershon post-doctoral scholar Brooks Marmon, a researcher of pan-African diplomacy and transnational political networks in southern Africa, conducted an interview for the Review of African…
Mershon Senior Faculty Fellow John Mueller recently penned for The National Interest a piece examining the current relationship between the United States and China. In "The United States Does Not…
After a two-year wait, Jason Lyall of Dartmouth College received the 2020 Furniss Book Award for Divided Armies: Inequality and Battlefield Performance in Modern War. Lyall was awarded…
Mershon post-doctoral scholar Sefa Secen published "Electoral competition dynamics and Syrian refugee discourses and policies in Germany and France" in European Politics and Society. Secen…
Recent Mershon lecturer and visiting scholar Serhun Al of Izmir University of Economics writes that Turkey's opposition should lead a conflict-resolution process and establish long-lasting peace…
This year's Joseph Fletcher Prize for Best Edited Book in Historical International Relations was awarded to "Ideology in U.S. Foreign Relations: New Histories", edited by the Mershon Center's…
Congratulations to Mershon Center Faculty Fellow, Nicholas Breyfogle, Department of History, who was recently awarded the Herbert Feis Award for distinguished contributions to public history…
Mitch Lerner, professor of history and director of the East Asian Studies Center, was recently elected president of the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations (SHAFR). Founded in…
Theodora Dragostinova’s recent book, The Cold War from the Margins: A Small Socialist State on the Global Cultural Scene (Cornell, 2021), received an Honorable Mention for The Heldt Prize…
"You have to go and run to the image; the image will not run to you," Panh said, speaking about how he tells the story in his films.
Internationally acclaimed Cambodian filmmaker…
In a ceremony in Jakarta in August, Mershon Center fellow and Professor Emeritus of Political Science R. William Liddle was recognized for his six decades of intellectual…
On October 12 and 13, the Mershon Center and the College of Public Health are hosting the virtual symposium, The Far-Right: Examining its Roots and Challenging its Reach. This symposium is…
2020-21 Mershon Graduate Fellow Leyla Tiglay (Ph.D. Candidate, History) was awarded a Peace Scholarship by the United States Insitute of Peace (USIP). Her dissertation examines…
To celebrate life in person, the Mershon Center is instituting weekly lunch conversations, Monday 12-1:30 in the Mershon conference room, Derby 1039. No preregistration is required and no specific…
Dear Mershon friends,
Reasserting ritual amid pandemic and political uncertainties, we wish you a happy academic new year! International, national, and human security urgently demand…
We are pleased to announce Lauren Dahler, a third-year Eminence Fellow at Ohio State, has been awarded the 2022-23 Chadwick F. Alger Student Support Fund scholarship.
Dahler, a double…
The Mershon Center is proud to announce the co-sponsorship of a series with the Center for Historical Research on the topic of "Crisis, Uncertainty, and History: Trajectories and…
The Mershon Center for International Security Studies mourns the passing of longstanding research associate Richard F. Hamilton (January 18, 1930-June 15, 2022). A sociologist of mass politics,…
We are excited to welcome Christopher McKnight Nichols to the Mershon team as the Wayne Woodrow Hayes Chair of National Security Studies. Nichols joins us from Oregon State University, where,…
Mershon’s Comparative National Elections Project (CNEP) has been awarded the 2022 Lijphart/Przeworski/Verba best dataset prize from the American Political Science Association’s Comparative…
We are pleased to announce the 2020 Edgar S. Furniss Book Award has been granted to Jason Lyall for his book Divided Armies: Inequality and Battlefield Performance in Modern War …
It has been a privilege to serve as director of the Mershon Center for the past four and a half years. The center has grown and changed immensely since I took on this role, and this feels like the…
Mershon Graduate Fellow Mariana Miguélez Gómez is a seventh-year PhD candidate in the department of political science and her research project is titled "The “Ethnic Card” and the Commodities Boom…
We are pleased to announce the Mershon Center’s new Programming and Research Leaders:
Theodora Dragostinova (History) and Eric Schoon (Sociology) Thematic area: Peripheries and Centers:…
Dorothy Noyes, an Arts and Sciences Distinguished Professor in the Department of English and professor of comparative studies, has been named director of the Mershon Center for…
This opinion article was originally posted to The Columbus Dispatch on March 2, 2022
Blame for the tragedy in Ukraine must be placed primarily on Vladimir Putin, a…
The COVID-19 pandemic has affected nearly every aspect of the world’s population since restrictions began increasing at the beginning of 2020. And while many restrictions have eased, for our…
Mershon Graduate Fellow Matthew Spearly is a fifth year PhD candidate in the department of political science and his research project is titled "Twenty-First Century Protection: The Politics of…
This article was originally published on Jan. 19, 2022 for the Washington Post's Monkey Cage blog.
Over the past year, white supremacists have been arrested, charged and put on…
The Mershon Center is pleased to announce the appointment of Christopher McKnight Nichols as the Wayne Woodrow Hayes Chair of National Security Studies, pending Board of Trustees approval,…
The Mershon Center for International Security Studies is seeking faculty to join Mershon as Programming and Research Leaders to develop creative programming around a topic of…
An interdisciplinary research proposal supported and co-led by the Mershon Center was recently awarded OSU’s prestigious President’s Research Excellence Program Catalyst grant.
The project,…
On November 5, 2021, there was a terrorist attack at a courthouse in Medina, Ohio, a ransomware cyber attack that shut down Google Voice services, and armed extremist militias battling in Columbus…
This year marks the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. This also marks two decades of the tumultuous "Post-9/11 Era," and the end of 20 years of U.S. military involvement…
We are excited to welcome Laura Dugan to the Mershon team as the Designated Professor of Human Security. Laura joins us from the top criminology program in the country at the University of…
Communities and individuals across the world are in varying states of transition from violence to peace. While the character of violence might differ, from paramilitarism and criminal gangs to…
The Mershon Center for International Security Studies, with support from a generous grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York, have organized a first of its kind “bootcamp” intended to…
The Mershon Center and the Moritz College of Law’s Divided Community Project recently established a partnership with the goals of building peace and strengthening dispute resolution efforts in the…
In recent weeks, community division and violence have re-erupted in Belfast and across Northern Ireland. These flareups are a result of several factors including legacies of conflict, rising…
John Mueller, Mershon Center Senior Faculty Fellow, recently published his newest book "The Stupidity of War." In the book, Mueller argues with wisdom and wit…
Too often, we are told that Russia plays a weak hand well. But, perhaps the nation’s cards are better than we know.
Russia ranks significantly behind the U.S. and China by…
How do people in different European countries perceive China and how are European states likely to deal with China? How will attitudes and perceptions in various European countries affect intra…
*This article was originally posted on the College of Arts & Sciences news Jan. 25, 2021
To maintain American democracy’s integrity, it’s vital to respect, uphold…
The Vietnam War may have ended over four decades ago, but one unlikely population is still dealing with the effects of the war today… Cambodian farmers.
Mershon Center Faculty Fellow Erin…
The United States faces a more serious and diverse threat landscape than any point since 9/11. What’s worse, our enemies are evolving at a fiber optic pace, while the U.S. government is reacting…
Now that the people have voted, the country has entered the transition phase – the two months after election day and before the new Congress is sworn in (Jan. 3) and presidential inauguration day …
Mershon Center Senior Faculty Fellow and Ralph D. Mershon Professor of International Security Alexander Wendt and two co-principal investigators received a $400,000, two-year grant from Carnegie…
Mershon Center Senior Faculty Fellow Dakota Rudesill is co-organizer and co-editor of a series of timely essays now being published at Just Security addressing norms of good government,…
The Program for the Study of Realist Foreign Policy, directed by Mershon Center Senior Faculty Fellow Randall Schweller, held its annual conference October 9-10. This year’s theme focused on the…
The Mershon Center now has access to an exclusive public insights tool from Facebook that allows researchers to analyze trends across thousands of social media accounts over time and understand…
Dear Mershon Community,
As we usher in this new academic year, we get the unique experience of greeting one another and our students from our homes instead of in lecture halls and campus…
Government officials have long accused activists of being outsiders and security threats, but exaggerated security rhetoric simply obscures homegrown anger.
The Mershon Center’s Joe…
By: Peter Mansoor
Posted: Monday, May 11, 2020 - Hoover Institute: Military History in the News
The Allies made sure that German military leaders signed these instruments of…
Do Republicans view Vladimir Putin in the same light that Russians view Donald Trump?
Mershon Center’s Olga Kamenchuk says the findings may explain why congressional Republicans are…
On November 15-16 the Mershon Center for International Security Studies hosted its first annual peacebuilding symposium, “Exploring Obstacles to Social Cohesion in the Aftermath of Violent…
This post is a book overview of Un Siècle de Réfugiés. Photographier l’exil [A Century of Refugees: Photographing Exile] by Bruno Cabanes, Donald G. and Mary A. Dunn Chair in Modern…
In the aftermath of violent conflict, peace practitioners, policymakers, and foundations spend billions of dollars and decades of time trying to rebuild societies torn apart…
After a yearlong process of surveys, focus groups, and analyses, the Mershon Center for International Security Studies is launching its strategic plan for 2019 through 2023, “Interdisciplinary…
This is farmland along a river in Bangladesh.
At least, it used to be.
The stubble on the left is a rice field that used to stretch another 600 meters out into the river. Flooding…
Four Mershon affiliates are part of a $300,000 grant from the State Department to create the Serbian Educational Alliance.
The grant, administered…
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,…