Soviets occupied Afghanistan from 1979 to 1989 to prevent the country from collapsing. Currently Russia is treating Syria as a client state in similar ways. Afghanistan remains a struggling democracy, often falling into "failed state" category. The Syrian state is almost nonexistent in terms of functional central institutions. This symposium will dig deeper into the two countries' situations, answering such questions as: What are the similarities and differences with regard to the relationship with Russia? What role do regional rivalries (Iran and Saudi Arabia) or intervention (Turkey) play? The panel features Amr al-Azm (left), associate professor of Middle East history and anthropology at Shawnee State University; Alam Payind, director of the Middle East Studies Center at Ohio State University; and Richard Herrmann, professor and chair, Department of Political Science. Read more and register at  go.osu.edu/clientstates

Paul D. Miller is associate director of the Clements Center for National Security at University of Texas-Austin. As a practitioner, Miller served as director for Afghanistan and Pakistan on the National Security Council staff; worked as an intelligence analyst for the Central Intelligence Agency; and served as a military intelligence officer in the U.S. Army, including a deployment to Afghanistan. His most recent book, American Power and Liberal Order: A Conservative Internationalist Grand Strategy, was published by Georgetown University Press in 2016. In this lecture, Miller argues that U.S. security depends on active sustained support of the international order. Read more and register at  go.osu.edu/millerp

This project aims to explore the impact of the culture on the development of effective military organizations and therefore its impact on security from 1861 to the present. The effectiveness of military organizations is dependent on a number of components, among them organization, doctrine, training, weapons technology, leadership, morale, discipline and cohesion, endurance, and the ability to adapt to volatile and uncertain combat environments. Underlying these factors is organizational culture, a vital wellspring of the effectiveness of armies, navies, and air forces throughout history. Yet organizational culture has been largely understudied as a component of military effectiveness. This project aims to fill that void. Organized by Peter Mansoor, Gen. Raymond E. Mason Jr. Chair in Military History. Read more and register at go.osu.edu/militaryorgs

Jennifer Lerner is professor of public policy and management at Harvard Kennedy School of Government and co-founder of the Harvard Decision Science Laboratory. Her research examines human judgment and decision making. Together with colleagues, she has developed a theoretical framework that successfully predicts the effects of specific emotions on judgment and choice outcomes. At this event, Lerner will present a series of studies from her lab revealing that incidental anger systematically biases judgment and decision making by heightening perceptions of controllability and certainty, decreasing perceptions of risk, and increasing risk taking. Read more and register at go.osu.edu/lernerj

Sean Kay is Robson Professor of Politics and Government at Ohio Wesleyan University. He is also an associate at the Mershon Center. Kay has published widely on international security issues including the books NATO and the Future of European Security (1998); Global Security in the Twenty First Century: The Quest for Power and the Search for Peace (3rd edition, 2015); America's Search for Security: The Triumph of Idealism and the Return of Realism (2015); and Rockin' the Free World! How the Rock and Roll Revolution Changed America and the World (2017). At this event, Kay will present his new book which uses interviews with more than 60 American and international rock and roll performers, songwriters, producers, managers, and non-profit activists to show how rock and roll has been a platform of power advancing progress. Read more and register at  go.osu.edu/kays

An Ohio State Founders Day panel discussion to commemorate the 100th anniversary of World War I

The United States initially sent military forces into Afghanistan following the devastating attacks on September 11, 2001, in an attempt to dismantle al-Qaeda and dispel global terror. Sixteen years and three administrations later, U.S. troops remain in Afghanistan without any plans of withdrawal, making the war in Afghanistan the longest in U.S. history. Please join us as we discuss the ongoing conflict and examine the nation's plans for the future with Peter Mansoor, Gen. Raymond E. Mason Jr. Chair in Military History, in an event moderated by Scott Levi, associate professor of history. For those of you unable to attend, this event will be streamed via Facebook Live on the Glenn College Facebook page. The room will be equipped so our audience can listen and participate remotely. Read more and register

In June 2017, Secretary of Defense Mattis in testimony before the House Armed Services Committee identified North Korea aggressively improving its nuclear and missile capabilities as one of the five top threats to peace and security and the international order. What do we know about North Korea's nuclear capabilities and intentions? Are we on the brink of war on the Korean peninsula? What are the key factors influencing the United States' relationship with Russia and China right now? Will the nuclear agreement with Iran hold? What are the implications for the region and for the global community? Lori Esposito Murray, adjunct senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, will help us put these critical topics into context. Read more and register