International Security Program

Please join us for a reception to celebrate the publication of Israeli National Security: A New Strategy for an Era of Change (Oxford University Press, 2018) by International Security Program Senior Fellow Chuck Freilich.

Refreshments provided. No need to RSVP.

Speaker: Nina Silove, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, International Security Program

This seminar addresses the questions of the existence and effects of comprehensive, long term "grand plans" in international politics and their effects on state behavior by examining a least-likely case for finding the existence of operative plans: the responses of the United States to the rise of China.

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

Speaker: Andrew D. Taffer, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, International Security Program

This seminar will explore China's contemporary strategy in its offshore territorial conflict with Japan. It will present evidence to suggest that Beijing has adopted a "wedging" strategy in the disputes aimed principally at weakening Japan's with the United States. Along with a close empirical analysis, it is highlighted that much of Beijing's conduct has corresponded with principles of coalition wedging established in Chinese writings and which the Chinese Communist Party has historically employed. The research is then situated in terms of—and used to critically analyze—the international relations literature on "wedging."

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

Speaker: Kate Cronin-Furman, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, International Security Program

Why do state perpetrators of mass atrocities stubbornly deny their crimes long after the evidence of guilt is clear? This talk will present an argument that such denials, even when totally unconvincing, can successfully affect members of the international community’s incentives to intervene. Evidence from Burma and Sri Lanka illustrates the specifics of this strategy and the conditions under which it is likely to succeed.

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

Speaker: Paul Fraioli, Research Fellow, International Security Program

This seminar will present Chinese and Russian ideas about global order and international law that emerged during the Cold War, trace their historical antecedents, and present contemporaneous reactions to these views from policymakers in the U.S. government. It will also discuss how these ideas illuminate current topics, including “new form of great power relations” between the United States and China, and debates over several maritime and landed territorial disputes.

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

Speaker: Payam Ghalehdar, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, International Security Program

This seminar presents a novel argument about U.S. regime change that centers on the emotional state of U.S. presidents. It develops the concept of "emotional frustration," an unpleasant emotional state marked by the perception that the behavior of a target state is driven by anti-American hatred. Emotional frustration produces aggressive tendencies, which impulsively spur the turn to military force and make regime change an attractive tool to strike the target state and relieve frustration.

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

Speaker: Chad Ellsworth, Research Fellow, International Security Program

The United States Air Force must mature its ability to act quickly, operationally, and logically, in response to dynamic adversaries within an ever-changing geopolitical environment. The Air Force logistics enterprise must take steps now to ensure it meets the demands of the future. What steps should be taken by senior leaders now to drive needed change? This seminar will look at the Air Force initiative to transform its logistics support enterprise.

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

Speaker: Ariane Tabatabai, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, International Security Program

Ariane Tabatabai will discuss the role of strategic culture in shaping Iran's national security policies. She will map the Iranian national security decision-making process and the drivers framing the country's security thinking and policies.

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

Speaker:  A. Bradley Potter, Research Fellow, International Security Program

This seminar will examine the United States' experience ending wars from Vietnam to Iraq. In particular, it will consider the role senior political and military leaders played in crafting American approaches to bringing wars to a close. The importance of historically informed ideas about the utility of force and the nature of war termination feature prominently in exploring just how leaders might matter in ending wars.

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

Speaker: Michael Beckley, Research Fellow, International Security Program

The United States has been the world's dominant power for more than a century. Now many analysts believe other countries are rising. Is the United States doomed to decline? Is the unipolar era over? In this seminar, Michael Beckley argues that the United States has unique advantages over other nations that, if used wisely, will allow it to remain the world's sole superpower throughout this century.

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