Security Dilemma

U.S. foreign economic assistance may seem like it'd be great for everyone in countries that receive it - and certainly less likely to be involved in repression than military aid. The evidence points a different direction. We heard from Virginia Commonwealth University professor Jessica Trisko Darden about the research behind her book Aiding and Abetting: U.S. Foreign Assistance and State Violence in a live event cohosted with our Johns Hopkins University chapter.  To learn more about the Society and participate in opportunities like this, check out our website: http://jqas.org/

How can the JQA Society change your life and accelerate your career? How can you take your leadership skills to the next level? Several current and former chapter leaders talk about the impact their involvement with the John Quincy Adams Society has had for them. You'll hear from Julia and Ryan, two JQA alumni who now work in foreign policy in Washington, and from Samantha and Alyssa, who lead an established chapter and one that's brand new. Learn how it's done and what it can do for you. This is a session from our 2021 summer conference, which was held digitally due to covid.

The War in Afghanistan has come to an end. But what about the legal framework that made it (and the Global War on Terror) happen? Hear from a policy advocate working to lobby Congress for a more peaceful foreign policy. Julia Gledhill, a former JQA Society campus leader, now works at the Friends Committee for National Legislation, where she covers issues like war powers, defense spending, and human rights.   In this conversation, we talk about the ongoing 2022 National Defense Authorization Act process, the drone war, Guantanamo Bay, and proposals to authorize the president to go to war with China over Taiwan. We also hear about what the life of a policy advocate looks like day to day and how the John Quincy Adams Society helped her achieve her professional goals.

Thucydides famously argued that the rise of Athens, and the fear this provoked in Sparta, made the Peloponnesian War inevitable. Some have taken this to be a general principle: rising powers and the relatively declining states they advance upon are doomed to confrontation, crisis, and war. Will this be the case with the United States and China? In this digital event with the John Quincy Adams Society, Joshua Shifrinson of Boston University argues that we shouldn't be as worried as some would have us be. Shifrinson conducted a deep examination of rising states and the choices they make in dealing with declining states and argues that rising states usually don't choose to prey upon their rival. Only in particular circumstances is predation an attractive choice.  The book from which this conversation derives is Rising Titans, Falling Giants.

To sign up for the Society's digital events, go to JQAS.org.