The 2024 Mexican presidential elections will mark an important milestone in Mexican history. These will be the largest in Mexico’s history. Voters will choose the president, along with the winners of 628 seats in Congress and thousands of local positions. Plus, the country is almost certain to elect its first woman president. What is at stake? Ninety-six million Mexicans face a monumental decision: opt for the continuation of the so-called “Fourth Transformation” or for the established opposition parties that banded together to try to defeat the incumbent MORENA party. Our experts will explore various issues at play, from the political legacy of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and the main electoral cleavages to how deeply polarized the Mexican electorate is and what we should expect to happen, given its likelihood, if MORENA wins the election.

For more information on the speakers please click on the View Event button!

Careers in the Tech Sector
Christian Oestlien is Vice President, Product Management at YouTube, member of Board Of Governors at Keck Center for International and Strategic Studies and Vice President, Product Management at Twitter. As Vice President of Product Management, Christian leads the product teams for YouTube TV, Sports, Video Infrastructure, Privacy and Indentity. He joined YouTube in 2015 from Twitter, where he had been Vice President, Product Management. Before this, he spent seven years with Google in various product management roles, and earlier was in product management at Yahoo. Mr. Oestlien has an MBA in Technology, Marketing, and Entrepreneurship from University of California Berkley and a BA in International Relations and Economics from Claremont McKenna College.

Mr. Oestlien will share insights on his career trajectory, challenges and new developments in his field, and engage in student Q+A.

Reporting on the War in Ukraine
Anna Romandash is an award-winning journalist from Ukraine with extensive experience in Europe, the Middle East, and USA. The Mgrublian Center for Human Rights, Keck Center for International and Strategic Studies, and the Department of Religious Studies hosted Ms. Romandash during AY 22-23 for a special series of programs reporting on the war in Ukraine. She has contributed her research to Freedom House, Deutsche Welle, US Embassies, the ICJ and the Council of Europe, and held fellowships at CNN and other international news organizations. She was named Media Freedom Ambassador of Ukraine for her human rights and media work, and was among the winners of the European Institute of Mediterranean contest for her reporting. Ms. Romandash returns back to CMC to report on the ongoing war in Ukraine.

Co-sponsored with the Mgrublian Center for Human Rights.

American Power After the Financial Crisis
Jonathan Kirshner is Professor of Political Science and International Studies. His research and teaching interests focus on international relations, political economy (especially macroeconomics and money), and politics and film. His current research includes projects on classical realism, the international political implications of the financial crisis and its aftermath, and the politics of mid-century cinema.

Professor Kirshner will join us on Zoom to discuss the evolving landscape of American power in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis. In this thought-provoking talk, Professor Kirshner will explore how the crisis reshaped the global perception of American economic dominance and its ramifications on geopolitical dynamics.

Sovereign Funds: How the Communist Party of China Finances Its Global Ambitions
Dr. Zongyuan Zoe Liu is Maurice R. Greenberg fellow for China Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). She researches issues in the areas of international political economy, global financial markets, and energy security in East Asia and the Middle East. Dr. Liu is the author of Can BRICS De-dollarize the Global Financial System? (Cambridge University Press, 2022) and Sovereign Funds: How the Communist Party of China Finances Its Global Ambitions (Harvard University Press, 2023). She is also a columnist at Foreign Policy. Dr. Liu received her PhD in international relations from Johns Hopkins University and she is also a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) charter holder.

No other country in history has so rapidly transformed its economy from being among the world’s poorest and most isolated to one of the world’s largest economies, at the heart of the global supply chain, and a leading source of international investment capital. For the last two decades, China’s sovereign funds have played a significant role in China’s economy, mitigating financial crises and tempering exogenous shocks. In this talk, Dr. Liu will discuss how sovereign funds have supported China’s industrial policies by financing the state’s procurement of strategic overseas assets, bankrolling Chinese enterprises’ mergers and acquisitions abroad, and sponsoring the development of indigenous Chinese technology startups. As Dr. Liu makes clear, sovereign funds are not just for oil exporters. The Communist Party of China is a leader in both foreign exchange reserves investment and economic statecraft, using state capital to encourage domestic economic activity and create spheres of influence worldwide.

China’s Crisis of Confidence
Li Yuan 袁莉 writes the New New World column for The New York Times, which focuses on the intersection of technology, business and politics in China and across Asia. Ms. Yuan joined The Times in May 2018. Before that, she worked for The Wall Street Journal in New York, Beijing, and Hong Kong as a reporter and an editor for 14 years, covering the early days of the mobile internet, the launch of the iPhone and China's rise as a technology power.

In May 2022, Ms. Yuan co-founded a Chinese-language podcast "Conversations with Yuan Li” 不明白播客. She is the producer, the host, and the face of the podcast which grew to rank No. 8 in Spotify’s most popular news podcasts in the United States by Nov. 2022, ahead of The Rachel Maddow Show, The Journal by The Wall Street Journal and the BBC. The podcast is Ms. Yuan’s personal project that was approved by The New York Times. She aims to provide uncensored interviews with experts and ordinary Chinese about current affairs in China. Ms. Yuan is a graduate of Columbia University and George Washington University. She grew up in China's northwestern Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. She worked for the Xinhua News Agency in Beijing, Bangkok and Kabul, Afghanistan, as an editor and a foreign correspondent.

After three decades of breakneck growth, China is facing record youth unemployment, a deep housing slump, stagnant spending and deflation. A crisis of confidence is brewing inside China, where a growing number of people are trying to flee the country, "lying flat" and not having children. They worry that it’s the beginning of something they don’t dare to imagine and fear that the government doesn’t have solutions. In her talk, Ms. Yuan will address these developments and provide insights on consequences for China’s present and future.

Careers in the Humanitarian Sector
Karin Wachter is the Director of the Office of Refugee Health at the Southwest Interdisciplinary Research Center (SIRC) and Associate Professor at Arizona State University School of Social Work (SSW) and Watts College of Public Service & Community Solutions. Dr. Wachter’s research examines the forced migration experiences of women to inform psychosocial interventions for women, their families, and their communities. Her work abroad as a humanitarian aid provider focused on violence against women and girls in war and displacement, primarily in African contexts. Dr. Wachter is also an evaluator and researcher for U.S. based refugee resettlement agencies. Her research is published in a number of journal articles and technical reports, including Current Psychology, Violence Against Women, and Journal of Immigrant & Refugee Studies.

Please join us for a conversation on careers in humanitarian organizations and broader work and research related to refugees and migration. Dr. Wachter will also address how gender has shaped both her work and career.

A Gender and Security Program (funded by the Keck Center).

Careers in law for International Relations/Government Students
This panel focuses on careers in law for students majoring in International Relations and Government. Students will engage in Q&A with the panelists learning from their expertise and experiences in the field of law. Please click on View Event for more information on our distinguished panelists.

Please Register Here!

Careers in Security and Defense
Shawn G. Skelly is currently performing the duties of Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness, previously having served as Assistant Secretary of Defense and Readiness. She helps formulate training, readiness, and health policy for the armed forces. Until 2008, Ms. Skelly also served in the U.S. Navy, with 20 years in active duty. Afterwards, she worked in the private sector at ITT Elixis, later joining the Obama Administration and holding roles in the Departments of Defense and Transportation focusing on logistics and personnel. As the DoD’s highest-ranking openly trans official, Ms. Skelly co-founded the organization Out in National Security and has previously participated in other organizations devoted to LGBTI advocacy in government. Ms. Skelly is from New York City, studied history as an undergraduate at the University of South Carolina, and received her master’s degree in national security and strategic studies at the U.S. Naval War College.

Please join us for a candid conversation on a career trajectory spanning from the military into DoD civilian leadership and the impact of gender on both current work and career.

A Gender and Security Program (funded by the Keck Center).

Endgame Scenarios for the Russia-Ukraine War
The brutal war in Ukraine has lasted nearly two years with no end in sight. The costs of the war are extraordinarily high. Tragically, many hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian troops and civilians have died in this war and over ten million civilians have been internally and externally displaced. Russian casualties are also great, estimated to be as high as 300,000. However, Kyiv and Moscow’s resolve to continue fighting remains strong, even as supplies and support from outside countries have dwindled. More importantly, neither side in this war wants to surrender or settle for a negotiated peace that includes a loss of territory. Wars end and this one must eventually end as well, even though there is no prospect of this on the horizon. This panel brings together professors Alexseev, Orenstein, and Appel who will use their with deep expertise on Russia and Ukraine to consider the possible endgame scenarios for the Russia-Ukraine war.

Please Register Here!

The Sentinel State: Surveillance and the Survival of Dictatorship in China
Minxin Pei is Tom and Margot Pritzker ’72 Professor of Government and George R. Roberts Fellow at Claremont McKenna College. His areas of expertise include China, comparative politics, the Pacific Rim, U.S./Asia relations, and U.S./China relations. He is also a non-resident senior fellow of the German Marshall Fund of the United States. In 2019 he was the Library of Congress Chair on U.S.-China Relations. Prior to joining Claremont McKenna College in 2009, he was a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and served as its director of the China Program from 2003 to 2008. He is the author of From Reform to Revolution: The Demise of Communism in China and the Soviet Union (Harvard University Press,1994), China’s Trapped Transition: The Limits of Developmental Autocracy (Harvard University Press, 2006), and China’s Crony Capitalism: The Dynamics of Regime Decay (Harvard University Press, 2016).

In his talk Professor Pei will address his upcoming book on the endurance of China’s dictatorship. For decades China watchers argued that economic liberalization and increasing prosperity would bring democracy to the world’s most populous country. Instead, the Communist Party’s grip on power has only strengthened. Why? The answer, Professor Pei argues, lies in the effectiveness of the Chinese surveillance state. And the source of that effectiveness is not just advanced technology like facial recognition AI and mobile phone tracking. These are important, but what matters more is China’s vast, labor-intensive infrastructure of domestic spying.

Please Register Here!

The Keck Center and Open Academy present a discussion and dinner on the events taking place in Gaza. Professors Gelvin, Bou Nassif, and Appel will lead the discussion and provide insights on Israel’s response to the October 7th Hamas attacks and the role the U.S. is playing in the conflict.

Please apply to participate in the event using the QR code in the picture!

Discussion Series on the Israel-Palestine Conflict
Please join the Keck Center for the third installment in our discussion series on the Israel-Palestine conflict.

Sarah Sanbar ‘17 is a researcher at Human Rights Watch, in the Middle East and North Africa division, investigating human rights abuses in Iraq. Since October 7, she has been supporting the research of the Human Rights Watch Israel/Palestine team. She previously worked for the ICRC in the Protection of the Civilian Population unit, focusing on conflict and climate change, open-source investigations, and war crime prevention. Prior to joining ICRC, she worked as a Protection Specialist with the Danish Refugee Council and with Nonviolent Peaceforce in Iraq, where she focused on IDP protection and post-ISIS reconciliation. She has additional experience working with displaced populations in Jordan, Greece, and Palestine. Sarah holds a MA from King’s College London, a MA from SciencesPo Paris, and a BA from Claremont McKenna College.

Please Register Here!

Threats and Promises Across the Nuclear Age: A Lecture in Memoriam of Professor Ed Haley
This lecture is in honor of Professor P. Edward (“Ed”) Haley (1939-2023) who passed away on June 30, 2023. Haley was the W. M. Keck Foundation Professor of International Strategic Studies. He arrived at CMC in 1968, served many years as chair of the IR program and in 1984 became the inaugural director of the Keck Center for International and Strategic Studies. From 2008-2014 he served as the director of the Center for Human Rights Leadership (now the Mgrublian Center for Human Rights). A highly esteemed expert in U.S. foreign policy, U.S. policy in the Middle East, U.S.-European relations, and nuclear safety and arms control, Ed will be missed by generations of CMC faculty, staff, and students.

When leaders make nuclear threats, what are the implications for conflict and war? Why has Vladimir Putin issued nuclear threats in the context of the Russian war in Ukraine, and are those threats credible? In this talk, Lisa Koch will use past examples of threats and promises across the nuclear age as a foundation for thinking about how to interpret nuclear threats, and leaders’ responses to those threats.

Please Register Here!

Discussion Series on the Israel-Palestine Conflict
Please join the Keck Center for the second installment in our discussion series on the Israel-Palestine conflict. CMC professor Hicham Bou Nassif will be joining on Zoom from Lebanon.

Hicham Bou Nassif is the Weinberg Associate Professor of International Relations and the Middle East and George R. Roberts Fellow at Claremont McKenna College. Professor Bou Nassif’s research interests span: Authoritarianism and Democratization; Civil-Military Relations; Coups and Coup-Proofing; Security Sector Reform; Terrorism, Civil Wars and Ethnic Conflicts. Professor Bou Nassif’s research focuses on democracy and authoritarianism in the Middle East with an emphasis on military politics. He has been researching the role armed forces play in upholding autocracy or facilitating transitions to democracy since 2011. Professor Bou Nassif holds a PhD in Political Science from Indiana University (2014), and a Doctorate in International Law from Universite du Saint Esprit - Lebanon (2006).

Is Autocracy Contagious?
Anna Grzymala-Busse is the Michelle and Kevin Douglas Professor of International Studies in the Department of Political Science at Stanford University, Senior Fellow and Director of the Europe Center at the Freeman Spogli Institute at Stanford. Professor Grzymala-Busse previously served as the director of the Weiser Center for Emerging Democracies and the Weiser Center for Europe and Eurasia at the University of Michigan. She received her PhD from Harvard University, her MPhil from Cambridge University, and her AB from Princeton University. She is a recipient of the Carnegie and Guggenheim Fellowships, and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Her research currently focuses, among other things, on state development and transformations in Europe, patterns of democratic backsliding in post-communist Europe, corruption and its historical roots and contemporary prevalence. She is the author of four books: Redeeming the Communist Past: The Regeneration of Communist Successor Parties; Rebuilding Leviathan: Party Competition and State Development in Post-Communist Europe; Nations Under God: How Churches Use Moral Authority to Influence Politics and Sacred Foundations: the Religious and Medieval Roots of the European State.

In her talk, Professor Grzymala-Busse explores the connections between the world’s autocrats, and political actors in eroding democracies, suggesting that democracy is contagious. Putin’s support for the far-right in Europe and the links between Hungary's Fidesz and other political parties point to an "illiberal international" is at work, including in the United States. Professor Grzymala-Busse examines where such autocratic diffusion exists, how it might undermine democracy, and what limits it faces. Co-sponsored with the Salvatori Center for the Study of Individual Freedom in the Modern World.

Location: CMC Athenaeum

Book Discussion with Anna Grzymala-Busse
The Keck and Salvatori centers invite you to a lunch discussion with Professor Grzymala-Busse on her recent book Sacred Foundations: The Religious and Medievial Roots of the European State.

Sacred Foundations argues that the medieval church was a fundamental force in European state formation. Existing accounts focus on early modern warfare or contracts between the rulers and the ruled. In contrast, this major study shows that the Catholic Church both competed with medieval monarchs and provided critical templates for governing institutions, the rule of law, and parliaments.

Please join the Keck Center for a celebration of the Dia de Muertos and community building. In this day we remember our loved ones who are no longer with us and those who have been lost to conflicts around the world. As Thomas Campbell once said “ To live in the hearts of loved ones is not to die”

Today, Tomorrow and a Forgotten Story of Sudan
Gwi -Yeop Son is the Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia at the United Nations Development Coordination Office. Ms. Son has 26 years of diverse international development experience, during which she has remained focused on those left furthest behind and has continuously leveraged humanitarian-peace-development nexus practice, organizational and technological innovation and strategic partnerships. Most recently, Ms. Son completed a two-year assignment as the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator and Designated Official in July 2020 in Sudan.

In her talk, Ms. Son will discuss how today’s polarized geopolitical landscape requires the youth to be the torchbearer for shaping the future we want. She will examine this through the lens of Sudan, studying how the people’s revolution with the youth at the center toppled the 30-year Bashir dictatorship in 2019; explore the root causes of today’s catastrophic crisis; and discuss Sudan’s future and what can be done. How does the interconnectedness of the world mean that what happens in Sudan (and other countries around the world) is in fact our collective affair? Ultimately, it is up to the youth and to all the generations to bring about peace, justice, equality and solidarity. Co-sponsored with the Mgrublian Center for Human Rights and the Athenaeum.

Please Register Here!

A discussion on the Nagorno Karabakh conflict and the humanitarian crisis evolving in the region with Ms. Son, the regional director for Europe and Central Asia UN Development Coordination Office.

Ukraine, Russia, China, the World
Stephen Kotkin is the Kleinheinz Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution and a senior fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, both at Stanford University. He is also the Birkelund Professor of History and International Affairs Emeritus at Princeton University, where he taught for 33 years. At Stanford he directs the Hoover History Lab, which uses the past for the analysis of contemporary policy issues. He is at work on his final installment in the Stalin trilogy, this one titled Totalitarian Superpower. Professor Kotkin will deliver the Keck Center for International and Strategic Studies' 2023-24 Adams Family Distinguished Lecture on International Affairs.

In his talk, Professor Kotkin explores several important questions in contemporary international relations. How can we understand what is happening in Ukraine? What might (or might not) happen next? How does the war fit in the long sweep of history? What are possible futures for Russia? Is China a beneficiary or loser from the war? Does American policy make sense? What are the consequences, if any, for world order?

Please Register Here!

A Discussion on Recent Developments in the Israel-Palestine Conflict
Hicham Bou Nassif is the Weinberg Associate Professor of International Relations and the Middle East and George R. Roberts Fellow, at Claremont McKenna College. Professor Bou Nassif is trained in comparative politics and specializes in Middle East politics. His research interests span: authoritarianism and democratization; civil-military relations; coups and coup-proofing; security sector reform; terrorism, civil wars and ethnic conflicts; international relations. Professor Bou Nassif is currently finalizing the manuscript of his first book.

Professor Bou Nassif will join on Zoom from Lebanon to share his expertise and provide valuable insights on the current developments in the Israel-Palestine conflict. As our CMC expert on Middle East Politics, Prof. Bou Nassif is well positioned to shed light on the evolving situation, offering a nuanced perspective that fosters a deeper understanding of the ongoing developments.

The Lessons of Military History for Today: From Ukraine to Taiwan
Michael E. O’Hanlon is a senior fellow and director of research in Foreign Policy at the Brookings Institution, where he specializes in U.S. defense strategy, the use of military force, and American national security policy. He directs the Strobe Talbott Center on Security, Strategy and Technology, as well as the Defense Industrial Base working group, and is the inaugural holder of the Philip H. Knight Chair in Defense and Strategy. He co-directs the Africa Security Initiative as well. He is an adjunct professor at Columbia, Georgetown, and George Washington universities, and a member of the International Institute for Strategic Studies. He also serves as a member of the Defense Policy Board at the U.S. Department of Defense. O’Hanlon was a member of the external advisory board at the Central Intelligence Agency from 2011-12. O’Hanlon’s latest book, “Military History for the Modern Strategist: America’s Major Wars Since 1861” (Brookings and Rowman & Littlefield, 2023) was published in January 2023.

In his talk, Dr. O’Hanlon addresses the role of military history in preventing and ending conflict. Military history offers innumerable lessons for today. It can inspire, with tales of human heroism. It can teach tactical lessons about battle. Military history can also stitch those tactical ideas from individual battles together into narratives about broader campaigns and about strategy. Finally, military history can offer lessons as to the mistakes humans, and leaders in particular, seem most prone to make when undertaking military operations—most of all, the cardinal sin of overconfidence. Can leaders today reflect enough on these lessons to find a way to end the war in Ukraine and prevent one against China over Taiwan?

Please Register Here!

The Keck Center celebrates Professor Lisa Koch’s publication of her book “Nuclear Decisions: Changing the Course of Nuclear Weapons Programs”.

Professor Koch’s book offers a novel theory of nuclear decision-making that identifies two mechanisms that shape leaders' understandings of the costs and benefits of their nuclear pursuits. The internal mechanism is the intervention of domestic experts in key scientific and military organizations. If the conditions are right, those experts may be able to influence a leader's nuclear decision-making. The external mechanism emerges from the structure and politics of the international system. Nuclear Decisions: Changing the Course of Nuclear Weapons Programs identifies three different proliferation eras, in which changes to international political and structural conditions have constrained or freed states pursuing nuclear weapons development. This book pushes back against the conventional wisdom that determined states pursue a straight path to the bomb. Instead, nuclear decisions define a state's nuclear pursuits

Learn more about opportunities and how to get involved with the Keck Center, Mgrublian Center, and Salvatori Center. Walk through the centers and chat with students, faculty, and staff, while indulging in delicious treats from popular local eateries/bakeries.

Visit the Keck Center table at the Campus fair to learn more about opportunities and experiences related to international relations. Whether you are passionate about global politics, travel, or research, this fair is the perfect platform to kickstart your journey. We look forward to seeing you there!