Jonas Bunte is assistant professor for public policy and political economy at University of Texas at Dallas. He is a political economist with a particular interest in the politics of finance. Bunte analyzes how distributional consequences of financial flows provide domestic actors the incentive for political action, and how domestic institutions shape this process. In this talk, Bunte will discuss how defense cooperation and economic cooperation are related. His research reveals that (1) defense and economic cooperation mutually increase the other, (2) countries that are highly active creditors in the loan network make for unattractive defense partners, (3) countries that borrow from the same creditors are more likely to cooperate in defense, and (4) governments tend to make loans to the same debtors as their defense partners. Read more and register at go.osu.edu/buntej

Paul Staniland is assistant professor of political science at the University of Chicago, where he co-directs the Program on International Security Policy. His research interests are in civil war, international security, and ethnic politics, primarily in South Asia. His current book project and related articles examine organizational cohesion and fragmentation in insurgent groups. In this talk, Staniland will offer a new theory of how states evaluate armed groups, arguing that ideological perception and instrumental incentives combine to assign groups to six different political roles. These roles, ranging from mortal enemies to business partners to undesirable, determine the strategies that governments pursue and the orders they seek to construct. Read more and register at go.osu.edu/staniland

Jack Snyder is Robert and Renee Belfer Professor of International Relations at Columbia University. His books include Electing to Fight: Why Emerging Democracies Go to War, co-authored with Edward D. Mansfield; From Voting to Violence: Democratization and Nationalist Conflict; Myths of Empire: Domestic Politics and International Ambition; The Ideology of the Offensive: Military Decision Making and the Disasters of 1914; and Religion and International Relations Theory. In this presentation, Snyder will discuss how democracies can counter the push toward populist nationalism by embedding markets in liberal democratically elected institutions. Read more and register at go.osu.edu/snyderj

Alan C. Michaels, dean of Moritz College of Law, will moderate as professors David S. Bloomfield, Ruth Colker, Mohamed S. Helal, and Peter Shane (left) will speak in a panel-style conversation on President Trump's recent executive orders on immigration. Bloomfield is an immigration law specialist. Helal is an international law scholar. Colker and Shane are scholars in constitutional law. The panel includes two Mershon affiliates: Helal, whose research sits at the intersection between public international law and international relations theory, and Shane, an authority on separation of powers who has organized conferences on cybersecurity and online democracy. Students, faculty, staff, and community members are invited to attend.

Richard Samuels is Ford International Professor of Political Science and Director of the Center for International Studies at MIT. His book Securing Japan: Tokyo's Grand Strategy and the Future of East Asia, was a finalist for the Lionel Gelber Prize for the best book in international affairs. He was awarded the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star by the government of Japan in 2011. In this event, the 2017 Brad Richardson Memorial Lecture, Samuels will explore how changes in the regional security environment have interacted with changes in domestic Japanese politics to shape Japan's grand strategic choices. Read more