Speaker: Irina A. Chindea, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, International Security Program

This seminar explores the — at times — conflicting relationship between the external goal of rising and existing hegemons to maximize power and influence in the international system, and the domestic responsibility to provide for the security and well-being of their citizens. In the attempt to make a successful hegemonic bid or consolidate primacy, these powers often end up engaged in expensive international wars, shifting away resources from internal development. This seminar presentation unpacks the key drivers behind this trade-off and assesses its implications.

Please join us! Coffee and tea provided. Everyone is welcome, but admittance will be on a first come–first served basis.

Alliance formation and termination among criminal groups entail costs, not only benefits. Why, then, do criminal organizations enter such costly commitments instead of engaging in sporadic, one-off cooperation, and how do they choose their alliance partners among other criminal groups?

Please join us! Coffee and tea provided. Everyone is welcome, but admittance will be on a first come–first served basis.

Drawing on extensive field research in Mexico, Colombia, El Salvador, and Canada, this seminar presents a theoretical framework at the intersection of international relations theory and comparative politics, linking inter-criminal organization alliance formation and termination to the outbreak and persistence of high-intensity criminal violence.

Please join us! Coffee and tea provided. Everyone is welcome, but admittance will be on a first come–first served basis.