To compete and thrive in the 21st century, democracies, and the United States in particular, must develop new national security and economic strategies that address the geopolitics of information. In the 20th century, market capitalist democracies geared infrastructure, energy, trade, and even social policy to protect and advance that era’s key source of power—manufacturing. In this century, democracies must better account for information geopolitics across all dimensions of domestic policy and national strategy.
Political scientists and members of the policy community generally agree that status (prestige) is an important commodity in world politics. However, because scholars and policymakers have focused so long on the question of whether status matters, their understanding of the consequences of status for international conflict are sketchy at best. This seminar focuses on when status is likely to matter most to leaders and states and provides evidence on the relationship between status concerns and the initiation of interstate conflict. The speaker will then use a controlled laboratory experiment and a unique sample of real world leaders to show how the causal mechanisms might operate on the individual level.
Please join us! Coffee and tea provided. Everyone is welcome, but admittance will be on a first come–first served basis.