Countering violent extremism remains a critical security challenge confronting Western democratic societies. Policy makers face difficult questions about how to prevent their citizens from engaging in terrorism, what to do with citizens that seek to travel abroad to fight in “jihad,” and how to minimize the potential for violent attacks when fighters return to their countries of origin. Local communities also have an important role to play in countering violent extremism.

Cuba has been reforming, or been at the brink of a reform period, perhaps since the Revolution. With an aging leadership and now decades-long economic struggles, the pace of change, however, has finally accelerated. Today, Cubans can open small businesses, travel abroad, access the Internet, and purchase cell phones, microwaves, and (very expensive) new cars.

Cuba has been reforming, or been at the brink of a reform period, perhaps since the Revolution. With an aging leadership and now decades-long economic struggles, the pace of change, however, has finally accelerated. Today, Cubans can open small businesses, travel abroad, access the Internet, and purchase cell phones, microwaves, and (very expensive) new cars.

Cuba has been reforming, or been at the brink of a reform period, perhaps since the Revolution. With an aging leadership and now decades-long economic struggles, the pace of change, however, has finally accelerated. Today, Cubans can open small businesses, travel abroad, access the Internet, and purchase cell phones, microwaves, and (very expensive) new cars.

(University Club; in Spanish with translation)

Lenier González Mederos (editor: Cuba Posible): "Sociedad civil en Cuba: apuntes para el presente".
Roberto Veiga González (editor: Cuba Posible): "La Constitución de nuestra República ante una sociedad que renueva sus imaginarios socio-políticos".

Dr. French will discuss the relationship between China and Africa in a way that will help us understand the encounter between these two parts of the world. Having worked as an international diplomat and travelled extensively in Africa and China, he will tap into his wealth of experience as he shares the conversations Africans are having about China’s role in their communities and also the conversations the Chinese are having about their involvement in Africa. The question in many people’s minds is “Are the Chinese helping to bring about development that will change lives in Africa?”

Immediately following the upsurge in anti-immigrant hate and violence in Moscow’s Biryulevo Zapadnoe district in October 2013, the federal government of the Russian Federation enacted a new ethnic relations law, the first of its kind in over half a century. Xenophobia is commonly defined as the intense or irrational dislike or fear of strangers or foreigners or of that which is strange or foreign. Naturally, the conception of what constitutes “strange” or “foreign” is subject to the individual or group which fears another.

Conventional wisdom holds that leadership transitions are periods of heightened uncertainty as foreign actors seek to probe the resolve of new and untested leaders. However, a careful examination of leadership transitions in the Asia-Pacific reveals a striking pattern of stability. What explains the absence of diplomatic and military conflict following the election or installation of new leaders? We argue that campaign rhetoric, whether hawkish or dovish, is a more credible signal of policy in the aftermath of leadership turnover than typically acknowledged.

Pitt students and faculty are invited to join a group of key staff members from the Political, Economic, Defense, and Public Affairs divisions of the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv for an “off-the-record” question and answer session about the ongoing crisis in Ukraine:

- Press Attaché - Embassy uses of social media tools and the role of social media throughout Ukraine’s political crisis
- Economic Officer – Economic overview
- Politico-Military Affairs Officer – Political overview
- Energy Attaché – Energy issues effecting Ukrainian sovereignty

This event is part of the research theme Gender and the Global sponsored by the University of Pittsburgh Women's Studies Program.