2023-2024

Speaker Event with Professor Shibley Telhami

January 25 | 4:00PM | 223 Moses Hall

American college campuses have been at the center of charged political disputes in the weeks since Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, and the subsequent attacks by Israel on Gaza. These heated debates have focused on the pressures on university presidents to take a stand, the behavior of student groups, allegations of antisemitism, and the censorship of pro-Palestinian speech. But less attention has been paid to one group directly affected by the controversies: the scholars who work on and teach about the Middle East, who often concentrate professionally on issues related to the Israeli-Palestinian issue. Presenting findings from opinion polling among scholars before and after the war started, carried out by the Middle East Scholars Barometer, Shibley Telhami will discuss the results and the ramifications.

National Security in an Uncertain World

February 13 | 4:00PM-6:00PM | Banatao Auditorium

Dr. Kimberly S. Budil will join BRSL for a discussion on the role of the national laboratories, specifically Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, in today’s strategic ecosystem. She’ll discuss the Lab’s scientific vision, goals, and objectives, and touch on its critical programs related to national security and frontier challenges to strategic stability.

How Understanding Moral Thinking Can Help Us Understand Debates About Academic Freedom

February 22 | 223 Philosophy Hall| 4:00PM

Moral thinking is inescapable in social life—we naturally see behaviors as deserving praise or condemnation and people as heroes or villains. Shared moral values bind groups together and motivate people to punish deviants. Disagreements about academic freedom on campus are so charged because for many people, the underlying issues are moral. In this talk, he will describe some insights from the scientific study of morality and how they can help us understand current debates about academic freedom and campus culture. 

Political Interference and Academic Freedom in Florida--A Discussion on the Recent AAUP Report

Post-Imperial Possibilities: Eurasia, Eurafrica, Afroasia

Based on a recent book, this lecture examines three transcontinental projects aimed at finding alternatives to both empire and nation-state: Eurasia, Eurafrica, and Afroasia. The theory of Eurasianism was developed after the collapse of imperial Russia by exiled intellectuals alienated by both Western imperialism and communism. Eurafrica began as a design for collaborative European exploitation of Africa but was transformed in the 1940s and 1950s into a project to include France’s African territories in plans for European integration. The Afroasian movement sought to replace the vertical relationship of colonizer and colonized with a horizontal relationship among former colonial territories that could challenge both the communist and capitalist worlds. Both Eurafrica and Afroasia floundered, victims of old and new vested interests. But Eurasia revived in the 1990s, when Russian intellectuals turned the theory’s attack on Western hegemony into a recipe for the restoration of Russian imperial power. 

Germany in the World, 1500-2000: Reflections on a Theme

March 12th | 4:00-6:30PM | 223 Philosphy Hall

David Blackbourn’s Germany in the World: A Global History, 1500-2000 appeared last summer. A reviewer in the Economist said that “Readers of this book will never see Germany in quite the same way again”. In this lecture, the author discusses the thinking behind the book, talks about the challenges it presented, and draws out some of the main themes. There should be something for (almost) everyone, whether you are interested in merchants or missionaries, the German Atlantic or National Socialism, the works of Albrecht Dürer or the films of Fatih Akin.

Webinar. Organizing and Fighting Attacks on University Autonomy and Academic Freedom

March 15th |10:30AM | Zoom | 

Most markedly in Florida and Texas, but now in many other states across the country, legislation aims to restrict what can be taught in universities, what topics and issues can be the subject of research or campus programming, and what analyses of history and social conflict are permissible to discuss. Our panel will bring together scholars and leaders who are active in national initiatives to speak out, organize, and respond to legislative attacks on academic freedom.

Collaborators and Competitors–China and the US in the Current Geopolitics of International Higher Education

March 28 | ZOOM | 12:00PM 

The speakers will look at how student mobility, research cooperation, and other forms of Sino-American academic collaboration have been complicated by a host of issues including domestic political pressures, geopolitics, economic imperatives, the safeguarding of intellectual property, and concerns about academic freedom.

The Meaning of Brexit and the Future of the United Kingdom

April 10 | 4:00-5:30PM | 223 Philosophy Hall 

The Brits are well known for their strange antics but many people around the world found Brexit truly surreal. Cambridge history professor David Reynolds will try to explain why the British found it so hard to live inside the European Union and why they found it equally hard to leave – making fools of five prime ministers along the way. He will offer colorful portraits of figures such as Boris Johnston and David Cameron. And he will reflect on another problematic union – the “United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland” – examining its roots in centuries of English empire-building and asking whether the UK can really hang together in an era of mounting nationalism.  

Career Talk with Brandon Williams: From History to National Security Policy Research

April 11 | 5:00PM - 6:00PM |223 Philosophy Hall 

In this talk, intended more as a conversation than lecture, Brandon will discuss his career pivot into national security policy research and analysis. He’ll outline his path, lessons, and general advice for those considering a career in national security. He switched from academic history to technology and national security policy during his final dissertation year. It was neither easy nor linear. He recommends reading Andrew Reddie’s “We Want You” in Emerging Technology Policy Careers for those intrigued by the national labs and federally funded research and development centers.

The Nexus Between Climate Change and National Security

April 19 | 4:00PM | Berkeley Law Room 100

The Alexander Hamilton Society at Berkeley is pleased to host General John Allen, United States Marine Corps (Retired), and the Honorable Janet Napolitano, former Secretary of Homeland Security, for a panel discussion on the nexus between climate change and national security. The event will be held in Berkeley Law Room 100 from 4:00 PM to 5:45 PM on Friday, April 19th. This talk is co-sponsored by the Institute of International Studies, the Center for Security in Politics, the Berkeley Risk and Security Lab, the CITRIS Policy Lab, the Center for Long-Term Cybersecurity, and the Berkeley Center for Law and Technology. 

The Taming of Scarcity and the Problems of Plenty – Rethinking International Relations and American Grand Strategy for a New Era

April 24 | 4:00PM-5:30PM | 223 Philosophy Hall 

The underlying structure, incentives and costs shaping international relations, state behaviour and the nature of power are profoundly different today to how they were in the past, in ways that are scarcely recognised and widely misunderstood. For much of history, world politics was marked by profound scarcity in resources, information and security. A series of historical revolutions has largely tamed this scarcity in ways few could have imagined. These revolutions, however, have generated new, potentially catastrophic challenges for the world – the problems of plenty. In this Adelphi book, Francis J. Gavin argues that the institutions, practices, theories and policies that helped explain and largely tamed scarcity by generating massive prosperity, and which were sometimes used to justify punishing conquest, are often unsuitable for addressing the problems of plenty.

MIRTH: Rose McDermott

January 29 | 223 Philosophy Hall | 3:00PM

On Monday afternoons during the academic year, IIS hosts a colloquium centered around contemporary research in International Relations. At the majority of MIRTH seminars,  an external speaker presents and receives feedback on new research, bringing a steady stream of fresh ideas to campus and providing an opportunity for graduate students across cohorts, departments, and other nearby universities to engage with research-in-progress.

MIRTH: Swati Srivastava

February 19| 223 Philosophy Hall | 3:00PM

On Monday afternoons during the academic year, IIS hosts a colloquium centered around contemporary research in International Relations. At the majority of MIRTH seminars,  an external speaker presents and receives feedback on new research, bringing a steady stream of fresh ideas to campus and providing an opportunity for graduate students across cohorts, departments, and other nearby universities to engage with research-in-progress.

MIRTH: Allison Carnegie

March 4| 223 Philosophy Hall | 3:00PM

On Monday afternoons during the academic year, IIS hosts a colloquium centered around contemporary research in International Relations. At the majority of MIRTH seminars,  an external speaker presents and receives feedback on new research, bringing a steady stream of fresh ideas to campus and providing an opportunity for graduate students across cohorts, departments, and other nearby universities to engage with research-in-progress.

MIRTH: Kai Thaler

April 1

On Monday afternoons during the academic year, IIS hosts a colloquium centered around contemporary research in International Relations. At the majority of MIRTH seminars,  an external speaker presents and receives feedback on new research, bringing a steady stream of fresh ideas to campus and providing an opportunity for graduate students across cohorts, departments, and other nearby universities to engage with research-in-progress.

MIRTH: Jennie Barker

April 15

On Monday afternoons during the academic year, IIS hosts a colloquium centered around contemporary research in International Relations. At the majority of MIRTH seminars,  an external speaker presents and receives feedback on new research, bringing a steady stream of fresh ideas to campus and providing an opportunity for graduate students across cohorts, departments, and other nearby universities to engage with research-in-progress.