U.S. foreign policies are changing dramatically, with profound implications for peace and security throughout the world. The administration of Donald J. Trump has broken with many decades of precedent by expressing sharp criticism of NATO and historical allies, while expressing admiration for historic adversaries such as Russia. U.S. support for Ukraine’s defense against Russia’s invasion has wavered, with Trump even suggesting that Ukraine rather than Russia is to blame for the conflict. U.S. humanitarian aid to many of the world’s most needy people has ended or been sharply reduced. Changes in migration policy are also placing many groups at heightened risk of political violence. The administration has bombed Iran’s nuclear facilities, acting in violation of international law and suggesting a preference for military action over diplomacy. And changes in trade policy, particularly with China, have the potential to reshape military capabilities and alliances around the world.

These changes raise several questions. Is the re-arming of Europe a necessary bulwark against an expansionist Russia, or a new arms race that encourages nuclear proliferation and increases the risk of war? Will the cancellation of humanitarian aid encourage other nations to increase their capacity, or simply leave the world’s most vulnerable people without hope? What other nations might step in to fill the vacuum left by the loss of such aid, and will these nations be more or less exploitative than the United States? How will changing U.S. policies affect regional security alliances, for example between Russia and China? This panel will provide perspectives on how recent changes to foreign policy are likely to affect issues of peace and security in several regions around the world.

Panelists

Jok Madut Jok, Professor of Anthropology, Syracuse University

Jok’s areas of specialization include security, governance, democracy and development in South Sudan and Sudan. He has also written extensively about gender, sexuality and reproductive health, humanitarian aid, ethnography of political violence, gender-based violence, and war and slavery and the politics of identity in South Sudan and Sudan. He is the author of Breaking Sudan: The Search for Peace (Oneworld Publications, 2017), Sudan: Race, Religion and Violence (One World Publication, 2007), War and Slavery in Sudan (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2001), and Militarization, Gender and Reproductive Health in South Sudan (Edwin Mellen Press, 1998). He also co-edited The Sudan Handbook (with J. Willis, J. Ryle and S. Baldo, James Currey, 2011). Before joining Maxwell he was visiting professor of anthropology at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of Linacre College. He also served in the government of South Sudan as undersecretary in the Ministry of Culture and Heritage, 2010-13. He is the founding director of the Sudd Institute, a public policy research center.

Kaija E. Schilde, Associate Professor of International Studies, Pardee School of Global Studies, Boston University

Professor Schilde’s research focuses on the political economy of security, with a particular emphasis on defense industry politics and the political development of the European Union. In July 2021 she was named Acting Director of BU’s Center for the Study of Europe and in January 2022 she received the Jean Monnet Chair in European Security and Defense. Her book, The Political Economy of European Security (Cambridge University Press, 2017) investigates the state-society relations between the EU and interest groups, with a particular focus on security and defense institutions, industries, and markets. Her research interests span multiple dimensions of the historical institutionalism of security organizations, including the causes and consequences of military spending; the relationship between spending, innovation, and capabilities; defense reform and force transformation; the politics of defense protectionism; and the international diffusion of internal and border security practices.

Zheng Wang, Professor at the School of Diplomacy and International Relations, Seton Hall University

Professor Wang’s research interests lie in three closely connected areas: (1) identity-based conflicts, nationalism, and the politics of historical memory; (2) peace and conflict management in East Asia, with a special focus on China’s rise and its impact on regional peace and security; (3) foreign-domestic linkages in Chinese politics and foreign relations. He is the author of Never Forget National Humiliation: Historical Memory in Chinese Politics and Foreign Relations (Columbia University Press, 2012), which received the International Studies Association’s Yale H. Ferguson Award in 2013. He is also author of Memory Politics, Identity and Conflict: Historical Memory as a Variable (Palgrave Macmillan, 2018) and editor of COVID-19 and U.S.-China Relations (Palgrave Macmillan, 2024). He is currently under contract with the Oxford University Press to write a book about the rise of nationalism and populism and the crises in the US-China relations. He is Director of the Center for Peace and Conflict Studies (CPCS) at Seton Hall University.

Diego Chaves-González, Senior Manager for Latin America and Caribbean Initiative, Migration Policy Institute

Chaves-González’s research focuses on forced displacement, legal pathways, integration, migration and development, and regional cooperation in migration management. He previously worked for the World Bank and the United Nations. While at the World Bank, he helped expand the scope of the Global Concessional Financing Facility (GCFF). He also co-authored the 2019, 2020, and 2021 GCFF annual reports, and helped coordinate the Secretary of the Multilateral Development Bank platform. While working for the United Nations, Mr. Chaves-González initiated a platform in Colombia to coordinate the work of UN agencies, NGOs, and their partners in response to migrant and refugee situations. He also helped develop a strategy to involve victims of conflict and internally displaced persons in the peace deal negotiations that ended Colombia’s civil war. Chaves-González also played an essential role as a presidential advisor in the registration and regularization of 500,000 migrants in Colombia and helped provide advice on how to structure similar initiatives in Costa Rica, Ecuador, and Peru. Since the start of the Venezuelan crisis, he has assisted Latin American governments in developing policies to integrate arriving migrants and refugees into receiving communities, accommodating both newcomer and local needs.

Host

Reppy Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies, part of the Einaudi Center for International Studies

Please RSVP for the panel on Eventbrite.

Undergraduate Global Scholars are student leaders in the campus community. This competitive fellowship program is open to students from all colleges and majors with a passion for big global questions and speaking across differences. The Global Scholars program provides a toolkit of resources for weighing challenging questions and builds your practical skills in public debates. For the 2025-26 school year, scholars will bring their skills as writers, scholars, activists and artists, poets, hands-on practitioners, and more to study and promote the impacts of international aid. By the end of the program, you'll be an active global citizen and champion for social impact.

Applications are due Sunday, September 14.

Can’t attend? Contact programs@einaudi.cornell.edu.

***

The Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies hosts info sessions for graduate and for undergraduate students to learn more about funding opportunities, international travel, research, and internships. View the full calendar of fall semester sessions.

Please join the Cornell University Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies and the South Asia Center at Syracuse University for the 2025 International Studies Summer Institute (ISSI)! ISSI is a professional development workshop for practicing and pre-service K-12 educators. This year we will explore the theme of global media literacy.

Participants will engage in sessions that explore both the challenges that new media technologies and practice have enabled globally, as well as how to assist students in the US to understand and analyze information from around the world. Scholars from Cornell University and Syracuse University will share their research and expertise from across different regions of the world, including Africa, East Asia, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, South Asia, and Southeast Asia. Sessions will include a workshop that will introduce K -12 educators to the key principles and practices related to media literacy education from a global perspective, connecting it to questions of power structures, global flows of media, and democratic practices. Another session will focus on the role of artificial intelligence and cultural bias in social media content moderation in international contexts. This year’s ISSI will also feature presentations by staff from the Johnson Museum of Art and the Cornell University Library, sharing resources for teachers.

Speakers include:

Wunpini Mohammed, Assistant Professor of Comunication, Cornell Univesity

Srivi Ramasubramanian, Newhouse Professor and Endowed Chair, Newhouse School of Public Communications, Syracuse University

Hannah Toombs, Engaged Learning Librarian and Librarian for Latin American & Caribbean Studies, Olin Library, Cornell University

Farhana Shahid, PhD Candidate, Information Science, Cornell University

Carol Hockett, Hintsa Family Manager of School and Family Programs, & Krystyna Piccorossi, Post-Baccalaureate Fellow in Pre-K–12 Museum Education, Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University

Brian Sengdala, PhD Candidate, Performing & Media Arts, Cornell University

EXTENDED deadline: 20

ISSI program schedule:

Morning

8:30 - Check-in & breakfast

9:00 - Welcome: Dr. Ellen Lust, Einaudi Center Director

9:15 - Hannah Toombs, PhD, Engaged Learning & LACS Librarian, Cornell University

10:00 - Dr. Srivi Ramasubramanian, Newhouse School, Syracuse University

11:00 - Breakout sessions with Code^Shift team

11:40 - Report out with Dr. Srivi Ramasubramanian

Afternoon

12:10 - Lunch offered to all participants

1:15 - Carol Hockett & Krystyna Piccorossi, Johnson Museum, Cornell University

2:00 - Dr. Wunpini Mohammed, Dept of Communication, Cornell University

3:05 - Farhana Shahid, PhD Cand, Information Science, Cornell University

3:50 - Brian Sengdala, PhD Cand, PMA, Cornell University

4:30 - Closing: Sarah Pattison, PhD, Einaudi’s Assoc Director of Academic Programs

(photo credit: Adam Cohn)