Giorgia Meloni is Italy’s first female prime minister and its furthest-right political leader since the fall of Italian Fascism. She is also a widely-noted enthusiast of JRR Tolkien’s fantasy epic, The Lord of the Rings, even going so far as to cosplay as a hobbit during her youth. This talk explores the complicated relationship between […]
About the speaker: Jonas Oehman is one of the founders of the Lithuanian non-profit Blue/Yellow. The organization has since 2014 provided non-lethal aid to the Armed Forces of Ukraine for almost 90 million USD. Jonas will talk about the war in Ukraine, the support provided by non-state actors to Ukrainian defenses, and his perception of […]
Since at least the 1980s, intellectual historians and political theorists have recognized seventeenth-century Britain as the site of an “adversary revolution” in political thinking that had momentous consequences for the shaping of modern political thought. The quintessential expression of this revolution, understood as a rejection of consensual politics, was the endorsement of majoritarian decision-making. And […]
Come learn about the EU's environmental law and policy frameworks. Our speaker is a graduate student in Forest and Nature Conservation & Sustainable Development Diplomacy at Wageningen University & Research in the Netherlands.
The dramatic “Fall of Rome” narrative remains the most appealing story about the end Western Roman Empire, even though scholars have often insisted that it oversimplifies the events of the fifth century, as well as its consequences in the sixth and seventh centuries. The complexity of scholarly accounts leaves the ordinary observer bewildered and eager […]
The Caspian Sea, the world’s largest inland lake, was an important point for commercial and strategic reasons. Much of the historiography on the Caspian locates the emergence of this region as a site of competitive tension in the eighteenth century. But a map of the Caspian brought back to Europe by the Dutchman Nicolaas Witsen […]
The United States, China and Russia (at least until recently) stand out as contemporary superpowers able to support allies across the globe. What do each of these countries offer would-be client states and groups in the Middle East, and how do their approaches differ? Can Gulf Arab monarchies and states such as Iran, Israel, Egypt […]
An individual’s affiliation to a politically constituted community is decisive for their opportunities in life and often vital to their survival. This talk will argue that the primary signifier of political affiliation in 20th century Europe is “citizenship.” The importance attached to citizenship is what distinguishes the 20th century significantly from previous historical periods and […]
Join French philosopher and humanitarian Bernard-Henri Lévy for a conversation to explore his insights on global conflicts and democracy, moderated by Pomona professors Mietek Boduszynski and Oona Eistenstadt. Lunch will be provided. Participants can enter a raffle to win a signed copy of Bernard-Henri Lévy's latest book. RSVP HERE
Do right-wing populists simply constitute a protest vote in the name of those who feel disenfranchised or are they a political force that radically challenges (liberal) democracy? From a comparative transatlantic perspective, this presentation will critically examine the rise of populism, the forces driving its success, and the implications for democratic rule. One key focus […]
Join Kyle Liston, Special Assistant in the Office of the Under Secretary for Political Affairs, to discuss his career path and his Foreign Service experience in Morocco, Tunisia, Libya, and Iraq. As a Political Officer, Kyle specialized in migration issues, the electoral process, the constitution, and civil society. Before joining the State Department in 2013, […]
PAULINA KAPUSCINSKA, Consul General of the Republic of Poland in Los Angeles, will discuss the priorities of the Polish Presidency of the EU Council including border security, combatting disinformation, free market, energy, food security, and public health. RSVP HERE
Global diplomacy has faced a combustible mix of unique challenges in recent years that have tested its agility and effectiveness, and those challenges are unlikely to disappear anytime soon. Diplomacy is the world’s best hope, but it has yet to be widely accepted as a real profession. No country has nearly enough professional diplomats, and […]
Europe has awoken to a stark new geopolitical reality. The post-Cold War era of European integration, transatlantic cooperation, and benign globalization is gone. For over three years Russia has waged a brutal war against an EU aspirant country, committing heinous war crimes and crimes against humanity. China lurks in the shadows while it props up […]
The European Union was born out of a crisis. After WWII, six countries agreed to pull together coal and steel procurement to make war between them "not merely unthinkable, but materially impossible". 70 years later, the European Union pulled together procurement of vaccines to address the pandemic, and introduced the digital Covid certificate that revolutionised […]
Since late 2024, Georgia has experienced significant social and political unrest, marked by persistent street protests. For over four months, Georgians have been taking to the streets daily demanding snap elections. The protests erupted following the ruling Georgian Dream party's announcement to suspend European Union accession talks until 2028, a move that contradicted public aspirations […]
An important question facing European countries and the European Union is whether valuing democracy adds any insight, beyond basic human values such as benevolence and universalism, in accounting for variations in critical measures of wellbeing and thriving. Round 10 of the European Social Survey (ESS10) occurred in 2020-2022, during the tumultuous times of the Covid […]
Dr. Matteo Leta is a scholar of Renaissance Italy at Warwick University where he is working on movements of Roma people across Europe during the Renaissance. Dr. Leta holds a PhD from the Sorbonne University, co-supervised by the University of Calabria, with a thesis on magic and alchemy in Renaissance literature. He was a postdoctoral […]
This work-in-progress presentation explores the ways that two popular early modern genres – accounts of travel to distant places, and the more systematic description of discrete regions, which were often called “topographies” – were intertwined in conception, content, and production. Taking as case studies the descriptions of America published from 1590 by the De Bry […]
Movie screening and discussion with Tim Jenison and Farley Ziegler: Tim Jenison, a Texas based inventor, attempts to solve one of the greatest mysteries in all art: How did 17th century Dutch Master Johannes Vermeer manage to paint so photo-realistically 150 years before the invention of photography? Spanning eight years, Jenison's research project takes him […]
