Mershon Center for International Security Studies
February 4, 2019
In This Issue
In the Media
Paul Beck
Academy Professor of Political Science

"Sherrod Brown Could Be Bernie Sanders' Biggest Threat in 2020" 
Mother Jones
January 28, 2019
Rachel Bowen
Associate Professor of Political Science
 
"Guatemala and the Border Crisis"
WNYC-FM
January 31, 2019
 
"Guatemala in crisis after president bans corruption investigation into his government"
The Conversation
January 15, 2019
Mitch Lerner
Associate Professor of History
 
"Trump in turmoil raises stakes on North Korea summit"
UPI
January 24, 2019
About Mershon Memo
Mershon Memo is a weekly e-mail newsletter distributed by the Mershon Center for International Security Studies, part of the College of Arts and Sciences at The Ohio State University.
Mershon Events
Monday, February 4, 2019

Sara Koopman
"What Does a Feminist Peace Look Like? Colombia's Struggles Over the World's Most Inclusive Peace Accord"
3:30 p.m., 014 Psychology Building, 1835 Neil Ave.
Co-sponsored with Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies

Sara Koopman Sara Koopman is assistant professor in the School of Peace and Conflict Studies at Kent State University. Her research focuses on feminist political geography, including alternative securities, international accompaniment, gender and security, peacebuilding in Colombia, and social movements and solidarity. Specifically, her work explores global North-South solidarity efforts, how it can fall into colonial patterns, and how it can be decolonized. She will discuss events around the Columbian accords' recognition that those already marginalized because of age, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation and other categories suffered differently during the war, and thus need targeted measures to build peace. Read more and register
Friday, February 8, 2019

Global Water Contexts Forum 
"A Vision for the Future of Water Security"
Research Commons, Room 340 Colloquia Space
18th Ave Library, 175 W. 18th Ave.
Co-Sponsored with Middle East Studies Center

MESC Water Forum
Kayseri Falls, Turkey
Join us as we explore global water issues in connection to water research happening at Ohio State. We are seeking to build a research community that will draw together multiple perspectives on issues pertaining to water resources and the role of water in human societies. Please begin considering the following question to spark creative thinking: What if the Middle East had the capacity to solve the global water crisis? The forum will open with a keynote by Vanesa Rodríguez Osuna (via Skype), senior scientist at CUNY Advanced Science Research Center and project director at sequa gGmbH. She will present a vision for the future of water security that she and her colleagues developed at the request of the UN's High Level Panel on Water. Read more and register
Tuesday, February 12, 2019

John Horne
"War as Revolution, 1904-1923"
3:30 p.m., 120 Mershon Center, 1501 Neil Ave.

John Horne John Horne is professor emeritus of modern European history at Trinity College Dublin and Member of the Royal Irish Academy. He is the author and editor of a number of books and over 100 chapters and articles, many relating to the Great War. Among his latest publications are (ed.) A Companion to World War One (Oxford, Blackwell-Wiley, 2010); (ed.) Vers la guerre totale: le tournant de 1914-1915 (Tallandier, 2010); and with Robert Gerwarth, War in Peace: Paramilitary Violence in Europe after the Great War (Oxford, 2012). In this talk, he will ask whether World War I was really a large-scale revolution. Read more and register at go.osu.edu/hornej
Tuesday, February 19, 2019

Aaron James
"Modern Money and Sovereign Obligations"
3:30 p.m., 120 Mershon Center, 1501 Neil Ave.

Aaron James Aaron James, professor of philosophy at University of California-Irvine, works on rationalism and the foundations of moral and practical judgment, with a focus on constructivism (what it is, how it might explain objectivity, and whether it could provide a foundational theory). He is author of Fairness in Practice: A Social Contract for a Global Economy (Oxford, 2012), and is planning a book on the morality and political economy of distribution for a world of increasing ecological scarcity and lower growth rates (at least in the advanced world). In this talk, James will discuss the potential consequences of Modern Money Theory (MMT) for trade partner countries. Read more and register at go.osu.edu/jamesa
Thursday, February 21, 2019

Ludivine Bantigny
"1968: General strike, practices and hope"
3:30 p.m., 120 Mershon Center, 1501 Neil Ave.

Ludivine Bantigny Ludivine Bantigny is assistant professor of history at University of Rouen Normandy. In recent years, her research has been devoted to the 1968 event and the various mobilizations that followed (feminisms, "sexual revolution", political cultures). She is the author of 1968, de grands soirs en petits matins (Seuil, 2018); La France à l'heure du monde. De 1981 à nos jours (Seuil, 2013, 2019); and «Prolétaires de tous les pays, qui lave vos chaussettes ?». Le genre de l'engagement dans les années 1968 (PUR, 2017, with Fanny Bugnon and Fanny Gallot). In this talk she will discuss the the projects that were forged by the protagonists of the social and political movement in 1968. Read more and register at go.osu.edu/bantignyl
Mershon News
Dorothy Noyes Tartu
Dorothy Noyes (left) was honored at the University of Tartu's 99th Anniversary Celebration in December.

Noyes receives honorary doctorate
from University of Tartu in Estonia
Mershon affiliate Dorothy Noyes, professor of English and Comparative Studies and former director of the Center for Folklore Studies, was awarded an honorary doctorate in folkloristics at the 99th Anniversary Celebration of the University of Tartu in Estonia on December 1, 2018.

Dorothy Noyes Currently serving as president of the American Folklore Society, Noyes was recognized for contributions to international folkloristics and for fruitful collaborations with Tartu's Department of Estonian and Comparative Folklore.

Noyes' ethnographic and historical research addresses the traditional public sphere in Romance-speaking Europe; she also writes on folklore theory and on the international policy careers of culture concepts.

"Dorothy Noyes is a highly esteemed scholar of festival and political performance and an outstanding specialist in folklore theory and history," the University of Tartu said. "Fluent in Catalan, French, Spanish and Italian, she has conducted extensive research on and in Catalonia and western Europe more broadly. Her path-breaking research, which combines folklore studies with insights drawn from political science and international relations, has opened up new opportunities for scholars interested in exploring expressive culture as a means of agency in diverse contexts, past and present."

Noyes is the author of Fire in the Plaça: Catalan Festival Politics After Franco (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2003); Humble Theory: Folklore's Grasp on Social Life (Indiana University Press, 2016); and Sustaining Interdisciplinary Collaboration: A Guide for the Academy, with Regina F. Bendix and Kilian Bizer (University of Illinois Press, 2017). Her current book project is Exemplary Failures: Gesture and Pedagogy in Liberal Politics.

Read more and see more photos at go.osu.edu/noyestartu
Other Events
Tuesday, February 12, 2019

Brenden Wood
"Civilian Control in Carceral Space"
11:30 a.m., 100 Enarson Classroom Building, 2009 Millikin Road
Sponsored by Center for Slavic and East European Studies

Brenden Wood Graduate student Brenden Wood will discuss his thesis research on accountability between Russian civil society and the federal government in regard to prison reform. The talk will focus on the Russian Civic Chamber, an institution meant to function as an intermediary between the federal government and civil society, but criticized as being ineffective due to its lack of constitutional authority and the fact that its members are in part appointed directly by the Kremlin. Wood will demonstrate that prison activism in the Chamber is not completely debilitated or controlled, but rather that the Chamber is able to exercise a relatively high degree of autonomy. As a result, an active prison rights community is operating within civil society in spite of the growing limitations. Read more
Wednesday, February 13, 2019

Syrian Civil War: American Policy in Syria
Featuring Michael Singh and Randall Schweller
6 p.m., 006 Psychology Building, 1835 Neil Ave.
Sponsored by Alexander Hamilton Society at Ohio State

Michael SinghThe Alexander Hamilton Society at Ohio State is pleased to announce our first public event of the semester! Join us for an expert-led debate featuring Michael Singh (left), Lane-Swig Senior Fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, and Randall Schweller of the Ohio State Political Science Department. Mershon Center Director Christopher Gelpi will moderate. Audience members will have the chance to ask these experts questions during a 30 minute Q and A at the end of the event. Free pizza and Coke products will be provided beforehand. Further details on the speakers as well the event's time and place can be found below. We hope to see you there! Read more and register
Other News
Armenian revolution is topic of latest 'Origins' post

Origins has published a new piece: " Dispatches from the Armenian Revolution" by Pietro Shakarian.

Nearly 30 years have passed since the dissolution of the Soviet Union. In that time, the former Soviet Republics have followed different political trajectories. The Baltic States have joined the European Union while Ukraine has become an international hotspot since the 2014 Russian invasion. 

Armenia, too, has undergone political turmoil, including revolution in 2018. As historian Pietro Shakarian argues this month, this recent, peaceful transition of power was rooted in Armenia's political past but its success might well prove a model for other countries in the region.

About Origins: Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective is a monthly ad-free magazine that features top scholars on today's most pressing topics. Published by The Ohio State History Department, its authors include National Book Award winners and world-renowned scholars. You can also explore reviews of popular history books on the Origins website as well as the new monthly feature Milestones.
Taste of OSU
Find international food, cultural exhibits and performances at Taste of OSU on February 15

Taste of OSU is an Ohio State signature event that provides an exciting evening of international cuisine, cultural exhibits and vibrant performances presented by 44 student organizations to a crowd of 4,000 attendees. Taste of OSU 2019 will take place on Friday, February 15, from 5-8:30 p.m. in the Ohio Union.

The event is free and open to the public. To sample the array of international dishes prepared by the student organizations, attendees must purchase $1 tickets. Food tickets will be available for purchase with BuckIDs from February 4-14 at the Office of International Affairs in Enarson Classroom Building and February 11-14 at the Ohio Union. On February 15, tickets will be available for purchase at the Ohio Union with cash or BuckID.

Each organization that will serve international cuisine, exhibit a cultural display or perform a dance or activity will incorporate the distinct flavors and characteristics of the countries their students represent.
Workshop shows how to find funding opportunities

Want to learn strategies for finding funding opportunities and creating custom funding alerts relevant to your research? Join Jeff Agnoli from the Office of Research for this interactive workshop, where you will learn more about using the SPIN funding opportunities database and accessing other funding and grant writing resources available to researchers at Ohio State. Attendees are encouraged to bring their own laptops or tablets for hands-on participation. Read more and register

Who: OSU faculty, postdocs, and graduate students
When: Tuesday, February 19, 10-11 a.m.
Where: Research Commons, 3rd floor of 18th Avenue Library

This event will be livestreamed. To join remotely, visit carmenconnect.osu.edu/funding-sp19
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