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**Please note that the views expressed by our guest lecturers do not necessarily reflect the views of The Institute of World Politics.**
About the Lecture: Technologist Eric Fulton will discuss “How Nation States Attack High Value Assets,” with an emphasis on Chinese action. He will draw from his extensive experience in technology, hacking, and internet related issues, including his work in China. About the Speaker: Mr. Eric Fulton is a business owner and technologist. His first job was hacking international corporations, helping them identify and secure their information systems. During that time, Eric presented independent research at universities, the prestigious Black Hat Conference, and the world’s largest hacker conference, DEFCON. Eric went on to start a local Internet Service Provider in Montana with the goal of helping solve the problem of rural broadband. Taking the skills, he learned in Montana, Eric then built a successful global banking network with a strong presence in Asia. With over 10 years of experience advocating for privacy and Internet freedom, Eric continues his mission of contributing to a secure, free, open Internet, working as the Identity Evangelist for Keybase, a company dedicated to solving identity and encrypted communication.
About the Lecture: In current political conversations and reporting, the word “ideology” seems to have a plethora of meanings, often not clearly related to one another and sometimes clearly inconsistent with each other. The word is commonly used to mean a kind of voting behavior (an “ideological vote” versus a “party vote”), a kind of political thought characterized by a call to revolutionary action, or a political (or non-political) “belief system” held by a group of people or perhaps by just one individual. And this shortlist does not include its common usage as a synonym for “philosophy,” “theory,” “doctrine,” “policy,” and other forms of thought. Several of these usages of the word “ideology” are so well established that they can no longer be criticized as mistaken; but using the term in light of this jumble of definitions leads to misunderstanding and confusion. This lecture attempts to pick apart the threads in this tangle and to identify the main strands of meaning that the term has acquired in its relatively short history. Two main lines of contemporary meaning stand out: ideology as a type of social consciousness, a notion particularly favored by Western Marxists and Marxist-influenced theorists, and ideology as a form of radical political doctrine often characterized as apocalyptic, millenarian, and nihilistic. We will briefly trace the former tradition from its French Enlightenment roots to its contemporary political usage and then will outline some of the conceptual approaches to radical ideology that exemplify the latter tradition. About the Speaker: Bill Miller is a Professor of Politics at Marymount University in Arlington, Virginia. He received his J.D. and Ph.D. from the University of Notre Dame. As an attorney, he has been in private practice in Pennsylvania, has taught law at Widener University’s School of Law, served on the legal staff of the Judiciary Committee of the United States Senate, and most recently has worked on litigation teams at several Washington, D.C. law firms. He is the author of A Primer on American Courts. Since 1986, Professor Miller has been on the faculty of Marymount University after teaching political theory and other politics courses at several colleges and universities. Though teaching a wide variety of politics and law-related courses at Marymount, his primary focus has been on political theory and political ideology, which he approaches from a classical perspective influenced by Gerhart Niemeyer, Eric Voegelin, and Leo Strauss.
About the Book: Generally, there are two major approaches in research on Katyn: the perspective of the victims and, to a somewhat lesser extent, the perpetrators‘ perspective. In his Encounter with Katyn Wolsza has touched upon another dimension of this atrocity, which has not been addressed in the work done so far. He describes the stories of over 60 representatives of various social groups who visited the Katyn site in 1943. The postwar Communist regime in Poland consistently plugged the Katyn Lie and conducted a campaign of repression and reprisals against witnesses of the Soviet crime. They were accused of collaboration with the Germans, forced to cancel testimonies about the real perpetrators, put under surveillance, and imprisoned. Some of them had to leave the country. Wolsza’s book portrays the Katyn Massacre not only as the extermination of Polish elites by a totalitarian regime, but also as a symbol of the struggle for universal values such as memory, truth, and justice. This corresponds to the wider perspective of the struggle of an enslaved society fighting for its freedom and independence. About the Speaker: Dr. Marek Jan Chodakiewicz holds The Kosciuszko Chair in Polish Studies at The Institute of World Politics, where he also serves as a Professor of History and teaches courses on Geography and Strategy, Contemporary Politics and Diplomacy, Russian Politics and Foreign Policy, and Mass Murder Prevention in Failed and Failing States. He is the author of Intermarium: The Land Between the Black and Baltic Seas and numerous other books and articles. Professor Chodakiewicz is the head of the Center for Intermarium Studies at The Institute of World Politics. He holds a Ph.D. from Columbia University and has previously taught at the University of Virginia and Loyola Marymount University.
About the Book: Generally, there are two major approaches in research on Katyn: the perspective of the victims and, to a somewhat lesser extent, the perpetrators‘ perspective. In his Encounter with Katyn Wolsza has touched upon another dimension of this atrocity, which has not been addressed in the work done so far. He describes the stories of over 60 representatives of various social groups who visited the Katyn site in 1943. The postwar Communist regime in Poland consistently plugged the Katyn Lie and conducted a campaign of repression and reprisals against witnesses of the Soviet crime. They were accused of collaboration with the Germans, forced to cancel testimonies about the real perpetrators, put under surveillance, and imprisoned. Some of them had to leave the country. Wolsza’s book portrays the Katyn Massacre not only as the extermination of Polish elites by a totalitarian regime, but also as a symbol of the struggle for universal values such as memory, truth, and justice. This corresponds to the wider perspective of the struggle of an enslaved society fighting for its freedom and independence. About the Author: Professor Tadeusz Wolsza is a recognized Polish historian and political scientist (academic affiliations: Institute of History at the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw, the Casimir the Great University at Bydgoszcz, Institute of National Remembrance). He was born in 1956 in Poland. He specializes in the contemporary history of Poland, especially in the wartime and postwar Polish political émigré community, the Katyn Massacre, the anti-Communist resistance movement in Poland, and Stalinist crimes in postwar Poland. Professor Wolsza has published over 280 academic papers and books, and some of them have been translated into Russian, German, English, Italian, Serbian, and Slovak.
About the Lecture: In 2017, Graham Allison, founding dean of the Harvard Kennedy School and former assistant secretary of defense, published “Destined For War: Can America and China Escape Thucydides’s Trap?” Allison’s Thucydides’s Trap rapidly became an influential statement on the challenge that a rising China poses to the international order created and lead by the United States. To help understand the dangers that China’s rapid economic, technological, and military growth poses to both countries, Allison draws on the classic statement on great power war — Thucydides’ History of the Peloponnesian War — to argue that the “structural stress caused when a rising power threatens to upend a ruling one” makes even “ordinary flashpoints” likely to trigger large-scale conflict.” Allison is certainly right about the growth of China. And he is right to look to Thucydides for help. But Allison reduces Thucydides’ magisterial work to an instrument of realpolitik. Using Thucydides’ account of the siege of Plataea as a guide to China’s contemporary treatment of Hong Kong, we can see another, deeper and richer, lesson in Thucydides’ History, one that must not be forgotten by those who wish, in the face of Chinese authoritarianism, to preserve the fragile but precious gift of freedom at the heart of Western civilization. About the Speaker: Bernard J. Dobski is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Assumption College and is currently a Visiting Scholar for 2019-2020 at the Heritage Foundation. He is the co-editor of two volumes on Shakespeare’s political thought. His articles and essays on the political wisdom of Thucydides, Xenophon, Shakespeare, and Mark Twain appear in the Review of Politics, Interpretation, Society, and Philosophy & Literature. He has also published on foreign policy, military strategy, sovereignty, and nationalism.
About the Book: Historically, operations and studies regarding maritime security focus on individual threats (e.g., piracy, terrorism, narcotics, etc.) and individual measures to target them (e.g., counter-piracy, counter-terrorism, counter-narcotics). This book explores, for the first time, an overall strategy for maritime security, integrating these issues into a single framework. Tallis argues that as maritime security threats rise in sophistication, it will be increasingly appealing to apply military resources to counter them. Military tactics, however, may not be the ideal mechanisms for addressing challenges that are often closer to crime than they are to war. Leveraging the sea services’ capabilities, without overly militarizing maritime security, is a complicated problem set that requires a more strategic and partner-oriented approach to the challenge. At stake, in Tallis’ estimation, is the war for tomorrow’s most important communities, their human security, and the muddy waters on which they and the global system rely. About the Author: Dr. Tallis is a research scientist at the Center for Naval Analyses, a Federally Funded Research and Development Center where he specializes in maritime security, naval strategy, and foreign policy. His project management experience includes directing cross-disciplinary teams building novel research designs to address unstructured strategic and operational questions. He has also conducted independent field research, including embarking USS Harry S. Truman during the U.S. Navy’s first Arctic carrier deployment in nearly 30 years as civilian analyst and adviser to the strike group commander. Tallis holds a Ph.D. in international relations from the University of St Andrews, where he researched theories of littoral security that resulted in the book, The War for Muddy Waters: Pirates, Terrorists, Traffickers, and Maritime Insecurity (Naval Institute Press, 2019).
About the book: In the halcyon days of the Reagan administration, a young artist was brought in to give the president’s closest friend piano lessons with White House clearance as a political appointee. What the young pianist saw is what few Americans knew. In this true but little known story, John Robilette has changed the names in a novelized account of being the only Reagan appointee that was fired and rehired before creating a public diplomacy program that helped to win the Cold War. And not with the firing of a gun, but with classical music in 63 countries around the world. This sad, comical and explosive story of an innocent in the vortex of power is a must for Americans who are interested in their government, humor, and the arts. “John Robilette is a brilliant pianist and famous international performer — but, as he shows in this fascinating little book, he was keeping his eyes wide open in that world he so crowned. ‘Federal Pianist,’ based on his own rich experience with the arts in the federal government is alternatively engrossing, sad, and comical. Bravely, he opens a heretofore closed door into the little-known world of arts and foreign policy; you’d be wise to walk right in.” ~Georgie Anne Geyer, Syndicated Columnist, and Foreign Correspondent. About the author: John Robilette is an international concert pianist who has performed in 26 countries around the world including some of its major classical music venues. He has also recorded commercial CDs’ of solo pieces as well as piano concerti with leading orchestras in Europe. Also now a SAG actor, he has had the lead or supporting roles in nine independent films, many of which were officially selected in film festivals around the United States and in Tokyo, Japan. He further wrote, directed, and produced a 30-minute short comedy film entitled, “My Piano Lesson.” This year he has been named to the 26th Annual SAG awards nominating committee to determine the best male and female actors in drama and comedy for television. He holds a Master of Fine Arts degree from UCLA, a Doctor of Musical Arts from the Catholic University of America with earlier studies at the École Normale de Musique in Paris, France. Dr. Robilette has further served on the piano faculties of two universities and given master classes around the world. As a young man in 1981, he was asked to play a recital at the inauguration of President Ronald Reagan. Subsequently, he was brought into the administration as a political appointee where he created and directed the Artistic Ambassador Program for the United States Information Agency from 1983-1989. This was an intercultural exchange program revolving around classical music which became popular in 63 countries around the world and was honored at the White House.
About the Lecture: The Maduro regime in Venezuela is sustained through a multi-dimensional, multi-faceted, sophisticated matrix of foreign and domestic actors that includes armed groups in Venezuela and transnational criminal and foreign terrorist organizations. While most attention is paid to Cuba, China, and Russia’s role in Venezuela, the regime has increasingly relied on an array of Middle Eastern actors, namely Hezbollah and Iran, to project their revolutionary goals regionwide. Joseph Humire, a former Marine and Iraq war veteran, will present the findings of more than three years of ongoing research that includes many trips to South America to collect firsthand information from those with intimate knowledge of the threat. He has repeatedly briefed these findings on the historic and immigration ties between Venezuela and the Middle East to the Defense Ministries of Brazil, Colombia, as well as various entities within the US Department of Defense, namely Special Operations Command. About the Speaker: Joseph M. Humire is a global security expert, specializing in trans-regional threats in the Western Hemisphere. Mr. Humire provides regular briefings and lectures on international terrorism, transnational organized crime, Islamism and Iran and Hezbollah’s influence in the Americas to various entities within the U.S. national security community, as well as prominent think tanks and universities worldwide. He has testified numerous times before the U.S. Congress as well as the European and Canadian Parliament. Mr. Humire has also served as an expert witness to several important terrorism trials in South America, including an ongoing trial of an accused Hezbollah operative in Peru. Mr. Humire is a regular national security commentator for a variety of major English and Spanish language media, including Univision, Telemundo, CNN en Español, and NTN24 regional news network, as well as Fox News and CNN International. He has published in both languages for various newspapers and academic journals across the Americas and released his first book in 2014 titled Iran’s Strategic Penetration of Latin America, published by Lexington Books. More recently, he wrote the foreword for a new book by Dr. Max G. Manwaring, titled Confronting the Evolving Global Security Landscape published by Praeger Security International. Mr. Humire currently serves as the executive director of the next generation, national security think tank—Center for a Secure Free Society (SFS)—based in Washington D.C. and is a distinguished senior fellow at the Gatestone Institute and the Middle East Forum. Prior to SFS, he served in the U.S. Marine Corps with a combat tour in Iraq and a multinational training exercise UNITAS in Latin America and the Caribbean. After leaving the military, he graduated from George Mason University with a degree in Economics and Global Affairs. Mr. Humire began building SFS’s global network of more than 100 security scholars in almost 30 countries worldwide as the Director of Institute Relations at the Atlas Economic Research Foundation. Mr. Humire’s unique blend of military experience, economics education, and expertise in asymmetric warfare, offers a new perspective to U.S. foreign policy and national security.
About the Lecture: The Trump Administration’s national defense strategy contains the following judgment: “The central challenge to U.S. prosperity and security is the reemergence of long-term, strategic competition by…revisionist powers.” Why has “great-power competition” become a—if not the—dominant construct guiding the U.S. foreign policy establishment’s understanding of contemporary geopolitics? What are its analytical underpinnings and prescriptive implications? About the Speaker: Ali Wyne is a Washington, DC-based policy analyst in the RAND Corporation’s Defense and Political Sciences Department. He serves as a nonresident senior fellow with the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security and a nonresident fellow with the Modern War Institute. Since January 2015 he has been the rapporteur for a U.S. National Intelligence Council working group that convenes government officials and international relations scholars to analyze trends in the world order. Ali served as a junior fellow in the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace’s China Program from 2008 to 2009 and as a research assistant to Graham Allison at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs from 2009 to 2012. He has also conducted research for Robert Blackwill, Derek Chollet, Henry Kissinger, Wendy Sherman, and Richard Stengel. From January to July 2013 he worked on a team that prepared Samantha Power for her confirmation hearing to be ambassador to the United Nations. From 2014 to 2015 he was a member of the RAND Corporation’s adjunct staff, working for the late Richard Solomon on its “Strategic Rethink” series. Ali graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with dual degrees in Management Science and Political Science (2008) and received his Master in Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School (2017), where he was a course assistant to Joseph Nye. While at the Kennedy School, he served on a Hillary for America working group on U.S. policy towards Asia. Ali is a coauthor of Lee Kuan Yew: The Grand Master’s Insights on China, the United States, and the World (2013) and a contributing author to Our American Story: The Search for a Shared National Narrative (2019), Power Relations in the Twenty-First Century: Mapping a Multipolar World? (2017), and the Routledge Handbook of Public Diplomacy (2008). He has published extensively in outlets including the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, the Boston Globe, and the Christian Science Monitor. Ali delivered the welcome address at the 2011 St. Gallen Symposium, participated in the 2015 Manfred Wörner Seminar, was selected to attend the 2016 Young Strategists Forum and the 2018 Brussels Forum Young Professionals Summit, and participated in the 2018 China-U.S. Young Scholars Dialogue, the 2019 Taiwan-U.S. Policy Program, and the 2019 Atlantik-Brücke Young Leaders Program. In 2012, Young Professionals in Foreign Policy and the Diplomatic Courier selected him as one of the 99 most influential professionals in foreign policy under 33. Ali is a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a David Rockefeller fellow with the Trilateral Commission, and a security fellow with the Truman National Security Project.
About the Lecture: What sorts of people rise to leadership in the Chinese Communist Party? How do they get to the top? What qualities define them? How should we deal with them? A retired American diplomat speaks from his experience in China. About the Speaker: William McCahill joined NBR as a Senior Resident Fellow in July 2016. His work focuses on Chinese politics and policy. Before joining NBR, Mr. McCahill had worked in Hong Kong and China as the Senior Advisor for China at Mirabaud & Cie., a Swiss private bank headquartered in Geneva, and earlier in a similar capacity for Religare Capital Markets. He had previously co-founded and managed a China-focused equities and macro research firm, opened the Beijing office of a major American law firm, and operated a business consultancy in China. A 25-year Foreign Service career preceded McCahill’s business activities. He began his diplomatic service in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Beijing; subsequently held senior posts at US missions in Western Europe, Scandinavia, and Canada; and in 2000 retired from his last posting as Chargé d’affaires at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing. His academic background includes degrees from Boston College and Harvard University in Theology, English, the History of Religion, and Sanskrit & Indian Studies.
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