Lecture

Beginning in the early 1960s, the Soviet Union opened its doors to Third World students to study in its universities. The Soviets even established a special university for foreign exchange students, the People’s Friendship University. Tens of thousands came over the next two decades, an ample portion of which were from Africa. What was the experience of African students, many from newly decolonized states with middle class and elite backgrounds, in the Second World? How did Soviet people regard them?

Disability activism developed in the second half of the twentieth century in a world divided by the Cold War. While the history of how Western activists learned to speak in the language of civil rights is well documented and publicly celebrated, the legacies of activists from the socialist countries have been largely erased after the collapse of the communist governments in 1989-1991.

This presentation will explore the structure of decision-making on national security issues as established in the National Security Act of 1947 and as practiced today. While established by law, the US National Security Council is designed to advise the president; most decisions are ultimately up to him.

KEYNOTE ADDRESS
20th Czech and Slovak Studies Workshop
March 18-21, 2021

TRANSATLANTIC COOPERATION IN PANDEMIC TIMES
9:00 am (EDT) | 1:00 pm (GMT) | 2:00 pm (CET)

REGISTER: https://pitt.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJMkdu2hpj4uGdG3ZbUonmX4tSawD61rDL...

SPEAKER:
Pavol Demeš, Senior Fellow, The German Marshall Fund of the United States

Studying water infrastructure is an excellent entry point to examine the nexus between the utilization of natural resources and technologies on the one hand, and of politics and everyday life on the other. The talk will first address important findings of a study on irrigation systems and cotton cultivation in Central Asia. Here, the Russian colonizers of the nineteenth century implemented ideas of modernity and transformation that lived on in the Soviet context.

After a botched attempt to poison Alexei Navalny in August 2020, the Kremlin has decided to sentence him to over two years in prison upon the oppositionist’s return to Russia in January. Navalny responded with a bombshell video about the corruption around “Putin’s Palace.” Unsanctioned, mass protests filled the two capitals and tens of provincial cities resulted. The protesters were met with mass, indiscriminate arrests, and police violence. The political ante in this back-and-forth has certainly risen but to what end?

The talk will present an American foreign policy model--capitalist liberal exceptionalism--that accounts for the US behaviors around the world. Most importantly, the model integrates multiple factors, including the international system and domestic politics, into the analysis, delivering a concise interpretation of US foreign policy over time since the foundation of the nation.

Keynote Lecture for the GOSECA 18th Annual Conference by Dr. Joshua Tucker (Professor of Politics, New York University).
REGISTER HERE: https://pitt.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJUtc-yrpjwpG9yMujkrMrfQSnHY8O8tBjii

REGISTER HERE: https://pitt.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_sxGBigIMRTKyLy6-gJLmQg

REGISTER HERE: https://pitt.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_mC41a81tQVONz4oWoRt2Ig