International Relations

Politics of the Red Sea: Conversation with Ethan Chorin

April 16, 2026

April 28, 2026|12:30 PM- 2:00 PM |223 Philosophy Hall

Join IIS and Ethan Chorin, Founder and Director Red Sea Futures, to discuss the intense competition between regional and global powers in the Red Sea.

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https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeWXEJQp_2WME3YPEqBUqp_WTepYsq7qycTASMJ…

Headed for a Cliff? Steering Safe Tech in an Era of Deregulation

March 14, 2026

April 8, 2026 | 12:30 - 2:00 PM | 223 Philosophy Hall

*Lunchtime talk*

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Mary Saunders in conversation with Debra Miller Glass, PhD

As artificial intelligence, biotechnology, quantum technologies, and other innovations rapidly advance, global standards - rather than binding regulations - are increasingly shaping how these tools are developed, governed, and deployed.

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Surviving Rupture: California’s Subnational Diplomacy in Today’s World with Evan Reade

March 30, 2026
April 17, 2026| 12:30 – 2 PM | 223 Philosophy Hall Join IIS to learn how the State of California is navigating international cooperation and standing as a global leader during a period of global rupture. About Evan Reade:

Evan Reade ('79) is a career diplomat and national security professional with over three decades of service across the U.S. Department of State, the National Security Council, and the U.S. military. His foreign service postings span four continents, including assignments as Deputy Counselor for Political-Military Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, First Secretary at...

February 5 with Prof. Denise Dresser: Mexico, Venezuela and the U.S. in the Era of Democratic Backsliding and the “Donroe” Doctrine

January 23, 2026

February 5, 2026 | 4:00 - 5:30 PM | 223 Philosophy Hall

Denise Dresser is an academic, public intellectual, columnist, and activist. Her work focuses on Mexican democratization, corruption, the construction of citizenship, and political economy issues from a comparative perspective.

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So You Want to Change the World: Building an Activist Career Amidst Disruption and Opportunity

February 21, 2025
Bennett Freeman

So You Want to Change the World: Building an Activist Career Amidst Disruption and Opportunity

Bennett Freeman

Institute of International Studies, UC Berkeley

February 21, 2025

Thanks to Tom Laqueur for that generous introduction. Tom was a young Assistant Professor of History whose honors historiography seminar inspired me as...

Lord Patten of Barnes: Domestic Politics and Global Leadership

Lord Patten of Barnes
2015

Conversations host Harry Kreisler welcomes Lord Patten of Barnes, Chancellor of the University of Oxford, for a discussion of the challenges facing political leaders as they manage domestic politics charged with nationalism in an interdependent world. Focusing on the case of the United Kingdom, Lord Patten analyzes these forces and their impact on leadership, on political choices, and on the conduct of elections. He discusses the May, 2015 British elections comparing the leadership styles of Thatcher, Blair, and Cameron. He also analyzes Europe’s relations with China and Russia. He...

Kishore Mahbubani: Asia, the West and the Logic of One World

Kishore Mahbubani
2013

Conversations with History host Harry Kreisler welcome Professor Kishore Mahbubani for a discussion of his new book, The Great Convergence. Professor Mahbubani analyzes the global forces propelling global society and economy toward one world. He also discusses the failure to develop a structure for global governance. In dissecting this contradiction he explains how existing global institutions provide an inadequate response for the global transformation that is occurring. Geopolitics and the lingering dominance of the victors of World War II are seen as primary obstacles to...

Kenneth Waltz: Theory and International Politics

Kenneth Waltz
2003

On this edition of Conversations with History, UC Berkeley's Harry Kreisler talks with renowned political scientist Kenneth N. Waltz, about theory, international politics, and the U.S. role in world affairs.

KEYWORDS: Theory, Power, Realism, State Power.

Trita Parsi: Iran, Israel, and the United States

Trita Parsi
2007

Conversations host Harry Kreisler welcomes Trita Parsi,President of the National Iranian American Council, for a discussion of the struggle for power in the Middle East. Drawing on the perspective of the Realist School of International Relations Theory, he focuses on the region's dominant powers--Israel and Iran--and examines the evolution of their relations with each other and with the United States, the world's only superpower.

KEYWORDS: Iran, Israel.

Tom Farer: Confronting Global Terrorism: The Elements of a Liberal Grand Strategy

Tom Farer
2007

Conversations host Harry Kreisler welcomes international lawyer and policy analyst Tom Farer for a discussion of the different world views of liberals and neo-conservatives within the foreign policy community. He analyzes their different perspectives on the U.S. role in the world, on the problem of terrorism, and their choice of means for the conduct of foreign policy. He also discusses the historical continuity in U.S. foreign policy.

KEYWORDS: Torture, Strategy.