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Paul Beck
Professor Emeritus of Political Science, Sociology and Communication
"How Donald Trump scrambles the general election map"
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John Mueller
Senior Research Scientist
Mark Stewart
Visiting Scholar
"Conflating Terrorism and Insurgency"
"Islamic terrorism threat overrated, says professors claim in new book"
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Peter Shane
Jacob E. Davis and Jacob E. Davis II Chair in Law
"Senate must do its job on Supreme Court nomination: Sherrod Brown"
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Mershon Memo is a weekly e-mail newsletter distributed by the Mershon Center for International Security Studies, a unit of the
Office of International Affairs at The Ohio State University.
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Wednesday, March 9, 2016
6 p.m., 120 Mershon Center, 1501 Neil Ave.
Co-sponsored by the Middle East Studies Center
 The symposium will address the complex issues related to extremist jihadi groups in the Middle East. Panelists will provide detailed background information on these groups as well as the on area they operate in. They will then provide an up-to-date analysis of the current situation in these regions. They will conclude with a discussion of the implications for U.S. foreign policy followed by a Q and A session. Panelists include
Amr Al-Azm (left),
associate professor at Shawnee State University and an active member of the Syrian opposition; Alam Payind, director of the Middle East Studies Center; and Richard Herrmann, director of the Mershon Center for International Security Studies. Read more and register at
go.osu.edu/jihadis
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Thursday, March 10, 2016
3:30 p.m., 120 Mershon Center, 1501 Neil Ave.
Elizabeth Hurd is associate professor of political science at Northwestern University with a courtesy appointment in religious studies. She teaches and writes on religion, politics and international public life. Her work pursues an integrative approach to the study of politics and religion focusing on dilemmas of national and international governance involving difference, equality, power, law, and pluralism. Her books include
The Politics of Secularism in International Relations (2008) and
Beyond Religious Freedom: The New Global Politics of Religion (2015), both published by Princeton. In this talk, Hurd introduces the central argument of
Beyond Religious Freedom. The book is a study of state-sponsored global efforts to promote religious freedom, religious engagement and the rights of religious minorities. Read more and register at
go.osu.edu/hurde
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Monday, March 21, 2016
Noon, 120 Mershon Center, 1501 Neil Ave.
Patricia Owens, professor of international relations at University of Sussex, is author of
Economy of Force: Counterinsurgency and the Historical Rise of the Social (Cambridge, 2015), and
Between War and Politics: International Relations the Thought of Hannah Arendt (Oxford, 2007). In this talk, Owens will present a new history and theory of counterinsurgency with major implications for social, political and international thought. Retrieving the surprisingly neglected language of household governance, or oikonomia, she will show how the techniques and domestic ideologies of household administration are highly portable and play a remarkably central role in international relations. Read more and register at
go.osu.edu/owensp
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Thursday, March 24, 2016
12:30 p.m., 120 Mershon Center, 1501 Neil Ave.
Daniel C.K. Chow is Frank E. and Virginia H. Bazler Chair in Business Law at The Ohio State University College of Law. He teaches and writes in the areas of international trade law, international business transactions, international intellectual property, and the law of China. In this talk, Chow will discuss the challenge posed by the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), which China opened in January, to the U.S.-dominated World Bank and International Monetary Fund. The AIIB represents not only a rival to the World Bank and IMF but a challenge to the way the United States has conducted international trade for the past 70 years. The rise of the AIIB could be the first indication that China will displace the United States as the final arbiter of the rules of international trade in the 21st century. Read more and register at
go.osu.edu/chowd
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Monday, March 28, 2016
Noon, 120 Mershon Center, 1501 Neil Ave.
Keren Yarhi-Milo is assistant professor of politics and international affairs at Princeton University. Her research and teaching focus on international relations and foreign policy, with a specialization in international security, including foreign policy decision-making, interstate communication and crisis bargaining, intelligence, and U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East. Yarhi-Milo's book
Knowing The Adversary: Leaders, Intelligence Organizations, and Assessments of Intentions in International Relations (Princeton, 2014) explores how and why civilian leaders and intelligence organizations select and interpret an adversary's signals of intentions differently. It is winner of the
Edgar S. Furniss Book Award, given annually to an author whose first book makes an exceptional contribution to the study of national and international security. Read more and register at
go.osu.edu/yarhi-milo
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Yarhi-Milo wins Furniss Book Award, speaks March 28
States are more likely to engage in military buildups and pre-emptive strikes if they think their adversaries pose a tangible threat. But how do they make that determination?
 Keren Yarhi-Milo explores this question in Knowing The Adversary: Leaders, Intelligence Organizations, and Assessments of Intentions in International Relations (Princeton University Press, 2014), winner of the Edgar S. Furniss Book Award, given annually by the Mershon Center.
Yarhi-Milo will speak at the Mershon Center at noon on Monday, March 28, 2016, about her latest research on "Who Fights for Reputation in International Politics? Leaders, Resolve and the Use of Force." Read more and register at go.osu.edu/yarhi-milo.
In her book, Yarhi-Milo examines three cases in which states must determine whether adversaries pose a threat: Britain's assessments of Nazi Germany's intentions in the 1930s, America's assessments of the Soviet Union's intentions during the Carter administration, and the Reagan administration's assessments of Soviet intentions near the end of the Cold War.
She advances a new theoretical framework -- called selective attention -- that emphasizes organizational dynamics, personal diplomatic interactions, and cognitive and affective factors.
Yarhi-Milo finds that decision makers tend to determine the intentions of adversaries on the basis of pre-existing beliefs, theories, and personal impressions, while intelligence organizations tend to focus on changes in military capabilities.
The Furniss Award commemorates the founding director of the Mershon Center, Edgar S. Furniss, and is given annually to an author whose first book makes an exceptional contribution to the study of national and international security. Previous winners include John Mearsheimer, Barry Posen, and Stephen Walt.
Keren Yarhi-Milo is assistant professor of politics and international affairs at Princeton University's Politics Department and Woodrow Wilson School for Public and International Affairs.
Her research and teaching focus on international relations and foreign policy, with a specialization in international security, including foreign policy decision-making, interstate communication and crisis bargaining, intelligence, and U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East.
Yarhi-Milo's articles have been published or are forthcoming in International Studies Quarterly, International Organization, International Security (forthcoming), and Security Studies (forthcoming).
Yarhi-Milo holds a Ph.D. and master's degree from University of Pennsylvania, and a B.A., summa cum laude, in political science from Columbia University.
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5 p.m., Faculty Club Grand Lounge, 181 S. Oval Drive
Sponsored by College of Arts and Sciences
 Jennifer Siegel is associate professor of history and a faculty affiliate of the Mershon Center. Her talk will examine the give and take between high finance, international politics and domestic pressures through the lens of the early twentieth century Anglo-Russo-French financial relationship. The story of British and French private and government loans to Russia in the late imperial period up to the Genoa Conference of 1922 is a classic tale of money and power in the modern era-an age of economic interconnectivity and great power interdependency. Imperial Russia was the foremost international debtor country in pre-World War I Europe. From the forging of the Franco-Russian alliance onwards, Russia's needs were met, first and foremost, by Russia's allies and diplomatic partners in the developing Triple Entente. In the case of Russia's relationships with both France and Great Britain, an open pocketbook primed the pump, facilitating the good spirits that fostered agreement. And Russia's continued access to those ready lenders ensured that the empire of the Tsars would not be tempted away from its alliance and entente partners. Read more and register and see more about Siegel's research here and here. |
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3 p.m., 200 Campbell Hall, 1787 Neil Ave.
Sponsored by Center for Folklore Studies
 Guinness World Records once dubbed Star Trek's Klingon the world's "most widely spoken fictional language." Though it is a conlang (or constructed language) whose sound system and grammar are unlike those of any other language, its development is rooted in more traditional (and earthbound) linguistic traditions. This talk by Marc Okrand, the linguist who developed Klingon, will review the origins of the language, how the study of an extinct American Indian language influenced the way its structure evolved, and how it fares in the "real world." A lunch for students is also available. Read more and register |
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6:30 p.m., Trinity Lutheran Seminary, 2199 E. Main St., Room 014, Bexley
Sponsored by Interfaith Power and Light
 Aaron B. Wilson, research associate in the Polar Meteorology Group at the Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center and active member of the State Climate Office of Ohio, will speak on "Extreme Weather in a Warming World: Impacts on Ohio and Beyond" as part of Ohio Interfaith Power and Light's (OhIPL) State of the Climate event on March 10th from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. OhIPL hosts this annual video-conference featuring a leading climate scientist from the Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center. The presentation, hosted by Trinity Lutheran Seminary, will be broadcast to various regional locations. Read more and register |
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4:30 p.m., East Ballroom, Ohio Union, 1739 N. High St.
Sponsored by Provost's Discovery Themes Lecturer Program
 Zika, Ebola, SARS, AIDS, and countless other deadly viruses all have one thing in common: the bugs that transmit these diseases all originate in wild animals and pass to humans by a process called spillover. With the advent of international air travel, the viruses that spill over can now spread more quickly and over a larger area than ever before. Go along with David Quammen on an astonishing quest to learn how, where from, and why these diseases emerge, and face the terrifying question: What might the next big one be? Quammen is an author and journalist whose book Spillover (2012), a work on the science, history, and human impacts of emerging diseases was short-listed for eight national and international awards and won three. More recently he published Ebola (2014) and The Chimp and the River (2015). Read more and register |
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Columbus Council on World Affairs to give annual awards
The Columbus Council on World Affairs is proud to announce that the 2016 International Company of the Year Award will be presented to Abbott.
Roger Bird, senior vice president for Abbott, will be present to accept the award. Past honorees include some of the region's most dynamic global players such as Cardinal Health, LBrands, Battelle, Honda, Nationwide, AEP, and others.
 Abbott is committed to helping you live your best possible life through the power of health. For more than 125 years, Abbott has brought new products and technologies to the world -- in nutrition, diagnostics, medical devices and branded generic pharmaceuticals -- that create more possibilities for more people at all stages of life. Today, 74,000 people are working to help people live not just longer, but better, in the more than 150 countries Abbott serves.
In addition, the council will recognize participants of its Global Scholars Diploma program.
The
Columbus Council on World Affairs International Awards Ceremony will take place Thursday, March 10, at 11:30 a.m. at Hyatt Regency, 350 N. High St. in Columbus.
Read more and register
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