The Institute of World Politics

About the lecture: Ambassador Temuri Yakobashvili (former Ambassador of Georgia to the U.S.) will discuss the conditions that led to the conflict between Russia and Georgia. He will outline the steps needed to bring a lasting peace to the region and the role that the United States could play, notably in economic development. He will provide some insight from his experience as Ambassador of Georgia...

About the lecture: Speaking at IWP in April, Nikolas Gvosdev discussed the balance between Russia-engagers and Russia-skeptics in the Trump Administration. Over the summer, the balance of forces, along with the passage of major new sanctions against Russia by the Congress, has shifted strongly in favor of containment. Why has a candidate Trump who called for improved relations with Vladimir Putin'...

About the lecture: North Korea’s energy picture offers a striking contrast between abundant resources and chronic energy shortfalls that have created bottlenecks throughout the economy. These obstacles have even affected the all important military sector. Pyongyang has tried short term fixes to deal with energy related difficulties via its neighbors Russia and China but for the most part these eff...

About the book: This book examines historic examples of US public diplomacy in order to understand how past uses and techniques of foreign public engagement evolved into modern public diplomacy as a tool of American statecraft. The study explores six historic cases where the United States’ government or private American citizens actively engaged with foreign publics, starting with the American Rev...

About the book: MONIKA JABLONSKA’S WIND FROM HEAVEN. JOHN PAUL: The Poet Who Became Pope is the story of the future pope Karol Wojtyła as poet and playwright, as true servant of the Word — a student of Polish literature, dramatist, actor, professor, philosopher, and priest, whose religious conviction added a moral dimension to world politics and changed the course of history. Wind from Heaven offe...

About the lecture: This presentation will discuss current relations between the Russian Federation and Latin American and Caribbean states. Apart from addressing Moscow’s relations with “the usual suspects” (e.g. Cuba and Venezuela), we will also explore initiatives with other regional states at the diplomatic, defense and economic level. We will conclude by discussing whether the Russian governme...

About the lecture: The period of continental peace in Europe has been shattered. Whereas many assumed that war would never return to Europe after the Cold War, it would seem that conflict with Russia and Islamic extremism (as well as economic instability) now dominates the once-peaceful European continent. With America's commitment to NATO and the EU in question, this lecture will address the ques...

About the lecture: This lecture will elaborate the ways in which a constitution is not a mere set of rules-of-the-game but is rather the formulation of a “way of life,” and that requires stable aspects of character in the citizens that are the condition for the success of the constitution. About the speaker: William B. Allen, Emeritus Professor of Political Philosophy in the Department of Politica...

Energy Security: New Market Realities by The Institute of World Politics

About the lecture: This lecture will elaborate the ways in which a constitution is not a mere set of rules-of-the-game but is rather the formulation of a “way of life,” and that requires stable aspects of character in the citizens that are the condition for the success of the constitution. About the speaker: William B. Allen, Emeritus Professor of Political Philosophy in the Department of Politica...

About the lecture Social engineering (also called "Human Hacking") is an essential tool in every computer hacker's toolkit. Yet its origins extend long before the digital age. This talk explores the evolution of this concept from its origins in public policy to its current application to cybersecurity. Dr. Hatfield's research includes interviews with famous hackers and offers a framework within wh...

This lecture was presented on August 8, 2017 by Brandon Weichert at the Institute of World Politics. This event is sponsored by the Kosciuszko Chair of Polish Studies and the Center for Intermarium Studies. About the lecture Russian foreign policy objectives are poorly understood today. This is because most analysts look at Russia through Western eyes. But, Russia is not only Moscow. Russia is Sib...

This lecture was presented on August 3, 2017 by Rachel Baumant at the Institute of World Politics. About the lecture: World War II, or the "Great Patriotic War," had physically and psychologically devastating effects on Soviet society and thus remains vital to Russian national identity. However, the particular symbols and narratives used to teach the history of the war and commemorate the victory...

This lecture was presented on July 20, 2017 by Jack Thomas Tomarchio at the Institute of World Politics. About the lecture In the past year, the news media has been focused on the Russian hacking of the 2016 Presidential elections. A story that started with the hack of the Democratic National Committee in July 2016 has reached to the pinnacle of US power and politics. But what is the real story be...

This lecture was presented on July 17, 2017 by Erik Khzmalyan at the Institute of World Politics. This event is sponsored by the Kosciusko Chair of Polish Studies. About the lecture: Erik Khzmalyan will discuss Russia's interaction with Islam during the Tsarist and Soviet periods, Islam after communism, the radicalization of Muslim populations, and Russia's fear of pan-Islamic movements. About the...

This lecture was presented on July 13, 2017 by Angie Abide at the Institute of World Politics. ABOUT: Angie Abide will provide an overview of Nicaragua, giving a brief background of the country. She will then focus on the history of Nicaraguan-Soviet relations, including the political, economic and military support that the Soviet Union provided the Sandinista government in its rise to power. Fina...

This lecture was presented on July 10, 2017 by Thomas J. Wright at the Institute of World Politics. About the book: The two decades after the Cold War saw unprecedented cooperation between the major powers as the world converged on a model of liberal international order. Now, great power competition is back and the liberal order is in jeopardy. Russia and China are increasingly revisionist in thei...

This lecture was presented on June 22, 2017 by Brandon Weichert at the Institute of World Politics. Brandon J. Weichert is a former Congressional staffer and the founder of The Weichert Report. His book on national security space policy will be released shortly. Brandon holds a B.A. in Political Science from DePaul University and is an Associate Member of New College at Oxford University (GDBM!)....

This lecture was presented on June 23, 2017 by Peter J. Wallison at the Institute of World Politics. ABOUT THIS SPEAKER Peter J. Wallison holds the Arthur F. Burns Chair in Financial Policy Studies at the American Enterprise Institute and is co-director of AEI's program on Financial Policy Studies. Prior to joining AEI, he practiced banking, corporate and financial law at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher i...

This Lecture was presented on June 19, 2017 by Amb. Frank Lavin at the Institute of World Politics. This a discussion of World War II as seen through the story of a combat infantryman. Carl Lavin was a high school senior when Pearl Harbor was attacked. He enlisted at 18, a decision that would take him with the U.S. Army from training across the United States and Britain to combat with the 84th Inf...

This event took place on June 20, 2017. It was delivered by Erik Khzmalyan. About the lecture: Erik Khzmalyan will review the geographic boundaries of the Caucasus and countries located in the region and will identify the region's ethnicities and their cultural and linguistic differences. Specifically, he will focus on those ethnicities that are less well known. He will then discuss Russia's conqu...

This lecture occurred on June 15, 2017 at IWP and was presented by MAJ Brett Carey. ABOUT THE LECTURE: Seeking the truth on the Iraq WMD program. The US Army Technical Escort Unit’s Chemical-Biological Disablement Team 4 supported the investigation carried out by the Iraq Survey Group in the spring and summer of 2004. During the investigation, they responded to old-regime pre-Gulf War chemical mun...

This event occurred on June 16th, 2017 at IWP, and was presented by Dr. Charles Edel. About the book: "America goes not abroad, in search of monsters to destroy"-John Quincy Adams's famous words are often quoted to justify noninterference in other nations' affairs. Yet when he spoke them, Adams was not advocating neutrality or passivity but rather outlining a national policy that balanced democrat...

This event occurred at The Institute of World Politics on June 13th, presented by Rebeccah L. Heinrichs. Rebeccah Heinrichs is a Fellow at the Hudson Institute, where she provides research and commentary on a range of national security issues, and specializes in nuclear deterrence, missile defense, and counter-proliferation. Her work has appeared in major newspapers such as The Wall Street Journal...

This event took place on June 6 at The Institute of World Politics with Lauren Mitchell. Lauren Lee Mitchell is the Global Outreach Coordinator for Home School Legal Defense Association and the former Lead Legislative Assistant for HSLDA's Federal Relations team. She is the author of numerous articles and white papers on education issues, managed HSLDA's national anti-Common Core campaign, and is...