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February 6, 2018 Mershon Events In This Issue Mershon Events Wednesday, February 7, 2018

Mershon News Amr al-Azm, Alam Payind, Richard Herrmann Other Events "Symposium on and Afghanistan: Part II" 6 p.m., 120 Mershon Center, 1501 Neil Ave. Other News Co-sponsored by Middle East Studies Cent er

Soviets occupied Afghanistan from 1979 to 1989 to Congratulations prevent the country from collapsing. Currently Russia is treating Syria as a client state in similar Dorothy Noyes ways. Afghanistan remains a struggling democracy, Professor of English and often falling into "failed state" category. The Syrian Comparative Studies state is almost nonexistent in terms of functional central institutions. This symposium will dig deeper

into the two countries' situations, answering such In December 2017 Noyes questions as: What are the similarities and visited the Institute of differences with regard to the relationship with Chinese Intangible Cultural Russia? What role do regional rivalries ( and Heritage at Sun Yat-sen Saudi Arabia) or intervention (Turkey) play? The University, Guangzhou, as panel features Amr al-Azm (left), associate part of a delegation from professor of Middle East history and anthropology at Shawnee State the American Folklore University; Alam Payind, director of the Middle East Studies Center at Ohio Society, which is State University; and Richard Herrmann, professor and chair, Department celebrating the 10th year of of Political Science. Read more and register its collaboration with the Folklore Society of China. She presented a paper, Monday, February 12, 2018 "The Ethics of Tradition: Responsibility and Possibility," at the Lori Fisler Damrosch International Seminar on "War, Constitutionalism, and International Law: A (Selective) Ethics and Intangible Comparative Study" Cultural Heritage. 3:30 p.m., 250 Hall, Moritz College of Law, 55 W. 12th Ave.

Lori Fisler Damrosch is Hamilton Fish Professor In the Media of International Law and Diplomacy at Columbia Law School. Her principal areas of interest are Paul Beck public international law and the U.S. law of foreign Distinguished Professor relations. Prior to joining the Law School, Emeritus of Social and Damrosch served in the Office of the Legal Adviser Behavioral Sciences of the Department of State with responsibilities Randy Schweller including European and Canadian affairs, Professor of Politic al international antitrust, aviation, and trade. In this Science event, Damrosch will present her research at the intersection of the international law and

"President Trump's State of comparative constitutional law governing use of the Union" military force. Taking the multinational coalition against Daesh (the self- All Sides with Ann Fisher proclaimed Islamic State in and Syria) as an illustration, she will discuss January 31, 2018 the national constitutional processes by which democratic states decide to participate in international military operations. Read more and register Janet Box- Thursday, February 22, 2018 Steffensmeier Vernal Riffe Pro fessor of Maurizio Albahari Political Science "Rethreading the Mediterranean: Disquieting Art and Migrant Democracy " "A few counties are 3:30 p.m., 120 Mershon Center, 1501 Neil Ave. responsible for the vast majority of executions. This Maurizio Albahari is associate professor of explains why." anthropology and in the Keough School of Global Washington Post Affairs and University of Notre Dame. He is a February 1, 2018 social-cultural anthropologist who explores the

tension between human existence and structures of power. Albahari has published extensively on the Thomas Wood humanitarian, socio-cultural, legal, and geopolitical Assistant Professor of components of the ongoing refugee "crisis," as well Political Science as on forms of civic engagement and migrant integration. His current research traces "Maybe the science and participatory citizenship and trans-Mediterranean psychology of "post-truth" mobilization in the everyday life of maritime can't explain this moment at spaces, as well as of changing cities in Italy and in all" the region. Albahari is the author of Crimes of Peace: Mediterranean Nieman Lab Migrations at the World's Deadliest Border (University of Pennsylvania January 11, 2018 Press, 2015). Read more and register

About Mershon Memo Mershon Research

Mershon Memo is a weekly Mershon Center offers grants, scholarships e-mail newsletter distributed by the Mershon Center for International Security Each year, the Mershon Center for International Security Studies holds a Studies, part of the College competition for Ohio State faculty and students to apply for research grants of Arts and Sciences at The and scholarship funds. Ohio State University. Research Grants

Stay Connected Applications for Faculty Research and Seed Grants and Graduate Student Research Grants must be for projects related to the study of national security in a global context. We are also interested in projects that emphasize the role of peace-building and development; strengthen the global gateways in China, India and Brazil; relate to campus area studies centers and institutes; or address the university's Discovery Themes of health and wellness, energy and the environment, and food production and security.

In recent years the center has funded several dozen faculty and graduate student research Reed Kurtz (Political projects with grants for travel, seminars, Science) used his conferences, interviews, experiments, surveys, library costs, and more. To learn Mershon research more about the types of projects funded, grant to attend the please see faculty project summaries on the COP 23 climate Mershon Center website under Research and conference in Bonn, graduate project summaries in past Annual Reports. , and interview key figures Study Abroad in the UN

The Mershon Center has also established Framework International Security Scholarships for Convention on Undergraduate Theses and Study Abroad to Climate Change. support undergraduates whose professional career plans lie in the field of international security and who would benefit doing research for an undergraduate thesis or studying in a foreign country. Applications will be evaluated by an interdisciplinary review committee that will make recommendations to the director of the Mershon Center. Scholarship amounts typically range from $2,000 to $3,000.

How to Apply

Application forms and instructions for all Mershon Center grants and scholarships can be found in the Grants section of the Mershon Center website. The deadline for all applications is 5 p.m. on Wednesday, February 28, 2018. Read more and see examples

Other Events

Valentine Moghadam "Is the Future of Revolution Feminist?" 3 p.m., 165 Thompson Library, 1858 Ne il Ave Mall Sponsored by Center for Historical Research

Valentine Moghadam is professor of sociology and international affairs and director of the Middle East Studies Program at Northeastern University. Born in Tehran, she is a former section chief at UNESCO and the author Modernizing Women: Gender and Social Change in the Middle East (1993, 2003, 2013), Globalizing Women: Transnational Feminist Networks (2005, winner of the American Political Science Association's Victoria Schuck Award), and other path-breaking works on women and revolution in the Middle East.

Friday, February 9, 2018

Michael E. Mann "A Return to the Madhouse: Climate Change Denial in the Age of Trump" 3:30 p.m., 0180 Hagerty Hall, 1775 College Road Sponsored by Department of Geography

Michael E. Mann is Distinguished Professor of Atmospheric Science and director of the Earth System Science Center at Penn State University. He was a lead author on the Observed Climate Variability and Change chapter of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Third Scientific Assessment Report in 2001 and organizing committee chair for the National Academy of Sciences Frontiers of Science in 2003. He contributed, with other IPCC authors, to the award of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. Mann has received a number of honors and awards not only for conducting science but also communicating effectively to public audiences about the reality and implications of Earth's currently warming situation. Mann is author of three books including Dire Predictions: Understanding Climate Change, The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars: Dispatches from the Front Lines, and most recently, The Madhouse Effect with editorial cartoonist Tom Toles. Read more

Thursday, February 15, 2018

Lawrence Wilkerson "National Security in the Age of Trump" 7 p.m., James A. Griffin Student Center, 1216 Sunbury Road Sponsored by Ohio Dominican University

Lawrence Wilkerson is currently Distinguished Visiting Professor of Government and Public Policy at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Va. He has served in numerous roles, including as chief of staff to Colin Powell at the U.S. Department of State and associate director and member of that department's Policy Planning staff under Ambassador Richard Haass. Wilkerson served 31 years in the U.S. Army as both enlisted man and officer. His final assignments were as special assistant to then-Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff General Colin Powell from 1989 to 1993, and as deputy director and director of the U.S. Marine Corps War College from 1993 to 1997. Wilkerson is a world-class national security expert known for rigorous, non-partisan analysis and clear expression of his views. Read more and register

Other News

Apply now for Bringing Research to Policy Workshop

Are you interested in injecting your academic expertise more effectively into public policy debate, but unsure how? Join the Ohio Central Chapter of Scholars Strategy Network on Friday February 16, 2018, from noon-3 p.m. for the Bringing Research to Policy Workshop. This workshop seeks to engage a wide variety of scholarly disciplines at Ohio State University, and will feature external relations experts and faculty who are currently engaged in policy work.

Since the workshop will have space for only 30 participants, applicants will be notified by February 7 if they have secured a spot. Workshop activities will take place in room 110A in Frank W. Hale Jr., Black Cultural Center at 154 W. 12th Ave.

Apply here for the SSN Bringing Research to Policy Workshop on Friday February 16, 2018, from noon-3 p.m.

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