Shira E. Cohen is a Ph.D. candidate in Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley, specializing in International Relations, with a Designated Emphasis in the Study of Religion. She is an affiliated researcher at Georgetown University’s Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service and was a Hans J. Morgenthau Pre-Doctoral Fellow at the University of Notre Dame in 2025–2026. Her research examines international security, military strategy, and the intersection of religion and international relations, with a particular focus on religious signaling, coercion, and strategic...
Event Hosted By the Alexander Hamilton Society of Berkeley Featuring U.S Naval War College Associate Professor Ian Easton and UC Berkeley School of Law Professor Chris Hoofnagle.
Join the Alexander Hamilton Society of Berkeley for their first speaker event of the year: a conversation on cross-strait relations and U.S. foreign policy toward China! This conversation will be moderated by Professor Chris Hoofnagle, and there will be free pizza.
Public talk by Professor Stephen Zunes, University of San Francisco
What is the most effective means by which the United States can support popular struggles for freedom around the world? Does Washington have the credibility to support such movements in light of its ongoing backing of allied authoritarian regimes and occupation armies? Can the U.S. take credit (or blame) for some of these pro-democracy struggles? What kinds of policies have proven effective and which have ended up strengthening the regime or risking civil war? Professor Stephen Zunes examines the...
Public talk by Eva Buzo Executive Director, Humanus
For too long, the field of international justice has been satisfied with “paper victories” - legal precedents and symbolic judgments that look good in a briefing but fail to manifest as tangible change on the ground. Systemic shifts are required for the human rights sector to remain effective in an increasingly volatile global landscape. To be truly victim-centered, human rights defenders need to shift their priorities away from in-principle victories to approaches that actually...
Yue Lin is a Ph.D. Candidate in Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley, with a Designated Emphasis on Political Economy.
In the dissertation, Yue studies an extreme version of economic de-globalization: the rising trend of advanced democracies leveraging national security to restrict multinational enterprises from both emerging and established markets. She documents the political origins of this growing trend in U.S. Congress, and the socio-political strategies multinational corporations adopt to mitigate geopolitical risks. Her dissertation received the...
Public lecture by Professor Amitav Acharya Distinguished Professor of International Relations, American University The Institute of International Studies & the Goldman School of Public Policy are pleased to welcome Prof. Amitav Acharya for a public talk at IIS. Since the dawn of the twenty-first century, the West has been in crisis. Social unrest, political polarization, and...
How may global governance and multilateral cooperation evolve in a world without US leadership?
Thursday, April 30, 2026 223 Philosophy Hall 12 - 2:30 PM *Lunchtime talk*
Panelists:
Philip Yun - IIS Senior Fellow and President, Commonwealth Club of California Steve Vogel - UC Berkeley Professor of Political Economy Amy Hawthorne - Expert...
Join IIS and Ethan Chorin, Founder and Director Red Sea Futures, for a lunchtime talk to discuss the intense competition between regional and global powers in the Red Sea. Over one fifth of the world’s trade passes through this critically important waterway.
