Event Archives

The Department of Political Science Presents The 2012 Barry Farrell SpeakershipRoland ParisUniversity of Ottawa What can we do? Libya, Syria, and the Responsibility to Protect Wednesday, April 18, 5-7 p.m.Scott 201, The Ripton Room Roland Paris is University Research Chair in International Security and Governance at the University of Ottawa, founding Director of the Centre for International Policy Studies, and Associate Professor in the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs. Before joining the University of Ottawa in 2006, he was Director of Research at the Conference Board of Canada, the country's largest think tank; foreign policy advisor in the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Privy Council Office of the Canadian government; Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Colorado-Boulder; and Visiting Researcher at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, D.C. He has won two awards for public service and four awards for teaching. Paris' writings have appeared in leading academic journals including International Security and International Studies Quarterly. His book At War's End: Building Peace After Civil Conflict (Cambridge University Press 2004) won the Grawemeyer Award for Ideas Improving Global Order and the International Studies Association's prize for best book on multilateralism. He has also co-edited two other volumes on peace-building, and is co-editor of the Security & Governance book series at Routledge.  

Didier Ottaviani from the École Normale Supérieure de Lyon will give a talk for the Political Theory Colloquium titled "Montaigne: Method and Interpreptation."

Wednesday, November 30th, 12pm, lunch served PAS Affiliates Lecture/ Series on Political Change Negotiating the State: The Use of Formal and Informal Institutions in Contemporary State-Building Khairunnisa Mohamedali, PhD Candidate, Political Science, Northwestern University PAS Conference Room, 620 Library Place Abstract: My project investigates the interactions between business groups and state elites in contemporary post-colonial states. This project stems from the simple observation that the majority of the world’s states do not have the strong, formalized bureaucracies that scholars and international development practitioners alike deem necessary for effective and efficient states. However, many of these states still do perform state functions quite well when assessed in terms of effective control over populations, including the capacity to collect tax revenues, the ability to promote internationally competitive levels of economic growth, and skill in conducting stable relations with other states. Based on this observation, I ask: what factors lead to the development of states that do not conform to the dominant criteria, and what accounts for their relative effectiveness as states?   Following six months of fieldwork in Uganda and Kenya—two typical instances of such states—I have determined that the primary determinant of institutional outcomes is the relationship between state elites and wealthy, business-minded ethnic or religious groups. State elites aim to extract the wealth contained in these groups, while the business groups strive to increase the profitability and efficiency of their businesses. In short: when both groups need the other to achieve their objectives, they engage with each other to negotiate the form of the institutions that will regulate their interactions. The result, in cases like Uganda, is strengthened informal institutions, while in Kenya it is strengthened formal institutions. My dissertation explores this relationship in detail using a combination of interviews with members of the business networks, secondary sources and archival research.   Bio: Khairunnisa Mohamedali received her HBA in International Relations from the University of Toronto, and her MA in International Policy from Carleton University's Norman Patterson School of International Affairs. Her Master's thesis was on the effects of state institutions on ethnicity and conflict in Uganda, from the colonial through to the post-colonial period.

Leonard Wantchekon from Princeton University's Department of Politics will present his paper The Institutional Legacy ofAfrican Independence Movements, a joint work with Omar Garcia-Ponce. Part of the Quantitative and Formal International Relations Seminar series

The German Ideology Never Took Place! Terrell Carver Professor of Political Theory School of Sociology, Politics, and International Relations University of Bristol. Thursday, October 13 12-2 p.m. Scott Hall, Ripton Room (201)

The Department of Political Science presents Barry Farrell speaker Professor Lea Brilmayer (Howard Holtzmann Professor of International Law, Yale Law School). "Twenty years have passed since the end of theCold War, twenty years of unchallenged United Statessupremacy. Important domestic constituencies now takeAmerican hegemony for granted, assuming that otherstates will automatically follow where their countryleads. At the same time, conventional international lawis still loyal to the fundamental principle of the legalequality of sovereign states. Americans’ assumptionsthat their country is now the “super sovereign” are on acollision course with international law’s continuingcommitment to formal equality. Super sovereignty is more than disproportionatemilitary or economic power; it involves embedding theUnited States’ dominance in international law andinternational legal institutions. What the United Statesis seeking is for its superior status to be recognized –legitimated – by international law. Are other countriesobliged to go along, or should the world resist thisAmerican power"

John Dryzek, Australian National University

Environmental Social Sciences Search candidate Arun Agrawal will be giving a scientific presentation on Monday, March 7. Agrawal received his Ph.D. from Duke University. He is currently an Associate Dean for Research at the School of Natural Resources and Environment at the University of Michigan.

After the End: Psychoanalysis in the Ashes of History Cathy Caruth, Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Comparative Literature and English Interim Chair at Emory University. Response by Samuel Weber, Avalon Foundation Professor of Humanities at Northwestern and Director of the Paris Program (in Critical Theory). Professor Caruth will lecture on the erasure of history (its complete erasure) and how the discourses of philosophy, psychoanalysis and literature try to imagine something, a language or a thought, after their own ends. Professor Weber will respond. Reception to follow. Please join us for a lecture and response from two of the world's foremost authorities on comparative literary theory and psychoanalytic theory. Professor Caruth is renown for her path-breaking work on trauma studies, including Unclaimed Experience: Trauma, Narrative and History (1996) and Trauma: Explorations in Memory (1995, 1996), an edited collection. Professor Weber is the translator and author of numerous important works, including Benjamin's Abilities, a 2009 Choice selection for "Outstanding Academic Titles." Co-sponsored by the Department of Political Science, Department of Philosophy, Department of Comparative Literary Studies, Rhetoric and Public Culture, Program in Critical Theory, Department of History, and the Alice Kaplan Institute for the Humanities. .

The Department of Political Science and American Politics Workshop presents John Aldrich, Pzifer-Pratt Univeristy Professor, Duke University. How We Got to November 2:  "Why Parties?" 15 Years Later. John Aldrich specializes in American politics and behavior, formal theory, and methodology. He is author or co-author of Why Parties, Before the Convention, Linear Probability, Logit and Probit Models, and Change and Continuity in the 2004 and 2006 Elections. His articles have appeared in the American Political Science Review, American Journal of Political Science, Journal of Politics, Public Choice, and other outlets.  

The Department of Political Science and American Politics workshop presents Christopher Mann, Assistant Professor at the University of Miami.  When Will Election Day Be Extinct in Illinois (and the US)? The Power of Convenience in Voter Preference for Voting By Mail and Early Voting. Christopher Mann specializes in U.S. Elections, Political Behavior, Political Communication, and American political institutions. His research has appeared in Political Behavior, Public Opinion Quarterly, and Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, among other outlets.

Speech and the Sacred: Is Religious Injury a Problem for Secular Political Theory? with Andrew March, Yale University, October 11, 12-1:45, Scott Hall 201

*Interested in immersing yourself in a foreign language this summer? *Have an idea for an independent research project? *Curious about work in a policy think tank, embassy, or NGO? *Considering a career in international relations or public policy? All Political Science majors should come learn about external and NU-based funding for this summer and beyond. Christopher Hayden (Provost's Office) will discuss NU's Undergraduate Research Grants and Immersion Language Grants. Brad Zakarin (Office of Fellowships) will cover a range of external awards that will interest Political Science majors. Pizza will be served. This event is funded by the Barry Farrell Fund

Presented by Patchen Markell, Associate Professor, Political Science, University of Chicago. Co-sponsored by Political Theory: An International Journal of Political Philosophy

Second Nature Graduate Student Conference Sponsored by the Graduate School February 9-10, 2007 Harris 108 with Keynote Speakers Jane Bennett (Johns Hopkins University) and Michael Warner (Rutgers University)

The Second Nature Event Series presents Professor Peter Euben Duke University Wednesday, November 15, 2006 4pm, Ripton Room, Scott Hall "Utopia, Tragedy and the Boundaries of Politics"

The Second Nature Event Series presents Professor Bruno Latour Sciences-Po “Who is a Naturalist? Philippe Descola’s Par-delà nature et culture” Friday, October 20th, 2006 5pm, Hardin Hall