Democratic erosion, climate disruption, and forced migration are not isolated policy problems. They present sweeping challenges to decision-makers across the world. IIS convenes students, scholars and practitioners to examine these challenges from a multidisciplinary, global perspective that resists siloed thinking. IIS's approach to this work stream is connective, focusing on speaker and panel series with experts.
The Monday International Relations Thought Series (MIRTH), IIS's ongoing scholarly forum for political science graduate students, is a key component of this work stream, providing a regular venue for engagement with international relations theory.
Authoritarianism is on the rise. What can our Cal community learn from others who have faced this challenge in other contexts?
Fall 2026 speakers in our Authoritarianism in Focus Speaker Series include:
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Prof. Stephen Zunes, University of San Francisco | Understanding US Support For Military Occupations, September 23
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Maria Kuznetsova and Dan Storyev, authors | How to Survive Authoritarianism: A Russian’s Phrasebook for Everyday Life in America, September 29
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Prof. Moritz Pollath, Ludwig Maximilian University | Are We Living in a 1938 Moment? How Autocracies Threaten the West, October 1
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Loubna Mrie, author | Defiance: Awakening, Rebellion, and Survival in Syria, October 14
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Prof. Elisabeth Nugent, Princeton University | Activism in Exile, November 12
- Samantha Iyer, Fordham University | Agrarian Superpower: Food, Development, and the Global Ascendancy of the United States, October 19
- Matt O'Hara, UC Santa Cruz | The Flying Death: Poison, Plunder, and the Quest for a Miracle Medicine in the Amazon, November 12
- Mary X. Mitchell, Rutgers University/ NJIT | Unsettling Sovereignty: International Law, Nuclear Weapons, and US Extraterritorial Power in Postwar Oceania, November 23
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China's Rare Earth Monopoly: Hong Kong Finance and Threats to Taiwan & the Pacific
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Steve Ross, Stimson Center: Understanding the 2026 Bangladesh Election
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Luis Ugalde in conversation with Eduardo Garcia: Mexico's Democracy at Risk
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Can You Say That Here? Free Speech in a Global Context
Event Recording | Event Synopsis
