Speaker: Barak Mendelsohn, Associate Professor of Political Science, Haverford College

The seminar focuses on three factors — material, ideational, and intra-movement — that limit the ability of transnational jihadi groups to attain their objectives. These limitations should inform a less interventionist and more cost-effective strategy of containment.

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

Why do some armed nonstate actors turn to foreign fighters while others avoid them? Examining the case of the Islamic State, this seminar presents a theoretical framework to help understand the considerations that shape actors' decisions regarding foreign fighters.

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

This presentation seeks to problematize al-Qaeda's franchising strategy. Why did al-Qaeda choose to branch out and what accounts for its decision to enter some arenas and not others? Rather than viewing it as an inevitable expansion strategy, this presentation underscores franchising as just one of several ways transnational terrorist organizations can formally expand. It also analyzes models for formal expansion by examining their political aspects in addition to the operational ones.

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