Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has resulted in an unprecedented alignment of international actors supporting accountability processes. And the atrocities committed in Ukraine have been extensively documented. But achieving accountability through international mechanisms like the International Criminal Court is more challenging than it seems. Drawing on his recent experience as a policy advisor in the Pentagon, […]

Boccaccio's character Madonna Filippa brilliantly defends herself in court against an adultery charge—and dodges a cruel capital punishment. Readers have long assumed that since medieval Italian women had no place in court, Filippa's story must be an ironic parody. This presentation inserts Boccaccio's heroine into her historical context of medieval northern Italy, where several women […]

Dr. Tom Smith is Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) in German at the University of St Andrews in Scotland. His research focused on queer approaches to contemporary Germany. He was selected as an AHRC/BBC New Generation Thinker in 2019 and regularly presents his work on BBC Radio. Event will include refreshments, book raffle, music and dancing.

As the United States cobbles together a coalition to undo Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait, six US officers are trapped in Iraq with intelligence that could ruin Operation Desert Storm if it is obtained by the brutal Iraqi dictator. Desperate, the CIA asks Poland, a longtime Cold War foe famed for its excellent spies, for […]

We know a lot about Angela Merkel as a leader in international politics; we know much less about how the first woman chancellor saw herself and acted as a woman leader. This talk, based on a volume co-edited by Prof. Lang with Prof. Petra Ahrens (Tampere University, Finland) and Prof. Phillip Ayoub (University College London) […]

We typically assume that the international system is made up of states, which we say function as black boxes in pursuit of their physical security and power. In this model, foreign policy does not change, even when domestic politics and priorities evolve. Why then has the transatlantic relationship run hot and cold over the past […]

Traditional models of the welfare state are bounded by place or nationality: social protection is conceived as something that we are eligible for based on where we live and what passport we may carry. This talk, based on a co-authored book by Prof. Dobbs with Prof. Peggy Levitt (Wellesley), Ken Sun (Villanova) and Ruxandra Paul […]

For the first time in nearly two centuries, one ethnic group now constitutes an absolute majority of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s population: the Bosniaks. It is an unlikely development given that, scarcely thirty years ago, they were targeted for extermination and expulsion by Serbia’s Slobodan Milošević. Even as the Bosniak community fought to survive these atrocities, […]