This conference is part of a series of national events examining the all-volunteer force and democracy in America. In April 2016, the Center for the Study of the U.S. Military at the University of Kansas in collaboration with the AVF Forum hosted the first symposium on the AVF. Military experts, scholars and former defense department personnel debated and discussed the key questions associated with the AVF. A second forum was held at the College of William and Mary in April 2017.

This conference is part of a series of national events examining the all-volunteer force and democracy in America. In April 2016, the Center for the Study of the U.S. Military at the University of Kansas in collaboration with the AVF Forum hosted the first symposium on the AVF. Military experts, scholars and former defense department personnel debated and discussed the key questions associated with the AVF. A second forum was held at the College of William and Mary in April 2017.

What are the conditions under which public supports military intervention abroad? The research on use of force abroad has extensively focused on public opinion formation in United States. The underlying assumption was that in democratic regimes, leaders care about public opinion when making foreign policy decisions. This body of research explored factors such as public perception of foreign policy objectives or context of the use of force, individual predispositions with respect to isolationism vs. internationalism, threat and power perception, and the utility of use of force.

While the modern literature on environmental security dates back to the late 1980s, the study of climate change and security began in the mid 2000s. After nearly fifteen years of study, what do we know about the links between climate change and security? Answering this question requires a conceptual understanding of what we mean by security, dis-aggregating the many processes affected by climate change, and the causal pathways between climate and security outcomes.

Max Boot is a historian, best-selling author, and foreign-policy analyst who has been called one of the “world’s leading authorities on armed conflict” by the International Institute for Strategic Studies. He is the Jeane J. Kirkpatrick senior fellow in national security studies at the Council on Foreign Relations and a national-security columnist for the Washington Post.

From 1979 to 1989, Soviets occupied Afghanistan to prevent its client state form collapsing. Currently Russia is treating Syria as a client state in some similar ways. Afghanistan remains a struggling democracy, often falling into "failed state" category since that time. The Syrian state-perhaps even worse-is currently almost nonexistent in terms of functional centralized institutions.

Considering the importance of East Asia and the seriousness of the emerging challenges in the area, it is imperative that scholars evaluate the administration’s initial steps and make recommendations for the future. Accordingly, this workshop will offer a one-year retrospective on US-East Asian relations, with presentations by a number of scholars who focus on the region and a subsequent question and answer session.

Sean Kay will present his new book which uses interviews with more than 60 American and international rock and roll performers, songwriters, producers, managers, and non-profit activists to show how rock and roll has been a platform of power advancing progress.

The Mershon Center invites you to a lecture and discussion in honor of John Carlarne, his contributions to both the study and practice of peace making, and his contributions to the Peace Studies program at the Mershon Center and in central Ohio.

Election observers are an important component of transatlantic democracy promotion efforts. Prior research has sought to understand the rise of election observers and their consequences for outcomes such as fraud, protest, and violence.