The Institute of World Politics

The Future of Statecraft by The Institute of World Politics

About the speaker:

Andrew Harris is an active duty US Army Military Intelligence Officer, serving as an Executive Officer for the Intelligence and Security Command Headquarters, and an Alumnus of the Institute of World Politics, a graduate school in Washington, DC. His previous assignments include two deployments to Afghanistan as an Infantry Platoon Leader and an Assistant Brigade Intelligence Officer, and service as the Battalion Intelligence Officer for the 1st Battalion, 509th Parachute Infantry Regiment.

Eurasian Geopolitical Power and Its Threat to the U.S. by The Institute of World Politics

About the book:

Bruce Hoffman's Inside Terrorism has remained the seminal work for understanding the historical evolution of terrorism and the terrorist mind-set. In this revised third edition of his classic text, Hoffman analyzes the latest developments in global terrorism, offering insight into new adversaries, motivations, strategies, and tactics. He focuses on the rise of ISIS and the resilience of al-Qaeda; terrorist exploitation of the Internet and embrace of social media; radicalization of foreign fighters; and potential future trends, including the repercussions of a post-caliphate ISIS. Hoffman examines the demographics of contemporary terrorist leaders and recruits; the continued use of suicide bombers; and the likelihood of a chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear terrorist strike. He also considers the resurgence of violent antigovernment militants, including white supremacists and opponents of abortion. He argues that the war on terrorism did not end with Osama bin Laden's death and that ongoing instability and strife in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, and Yemen, among other places, will both sustain terrorist movements and have broad implications for domestic and international security around the globe.

About the author:

Bruce Hoffman is a professor in Georgetown University’s Walsh School of Foreign Service and the director of the Center for Security Studies and the Security Studies Program. He is also a senior fellow at the U.S. Military Academy’s Combating Terrorism Center and a visiting professor of terrorism studies at St. Andrews University. Hoffman is the editor of the Columbia University Press series Columbia Studies in Terrorism and Irregular Warfare, coeditor of The Evolution of the Global Terrorist Threat: From 9/11 to Osama bin Laden’s Death(Columbia, 2014), and author of Anonymous Soldiers: The Struggle for Israel, 1917–1947 (2015).

Marek Jan Chodakiewicz, Ph.D., the Head of the Kościuszko Chair of Polish Studies at The Institute of World Politics

Russia's road to dictatorship and terror under Yeltsin and Putin and how it led to Russia's interference in U.S. internal affairs. The author will also discuss the significance of this interference and how the U.S. should react.

Mr. David Satter is affiliated with the Hudson Institute and the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). He has written four books about Russia and the Soviet Union, including The Less You Know, the Better You Sleep: Russia's Road to Terror and Dictatorship, which was released in September in paperback.

Mass migrations, which began in the Polish lands already in 1944, lasted until the end of the 50s. Their effect was the displacement of a dozen or so millions of people into unfamiliar, alien lands. The lecture will show the diary of migrants of those times from the corpus of over one thousand works, digitized and subjected to qualitative analysis.

Professor Jakub Isanski is a sociologist working at the Faculty of Social Sciences at one of the biggest Polish universities: the University of Adam Mickiewicz in Poznan. He specializes in issues related to migrations and its social consequences. Among his published papers are the results of field research on contemporary Polish migration.

In many respects, The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth resembled the United States of America, albeit in the pre-modern era. The aim of this lecture is to present the similarities between the two political entities, pointing to analogies between the two systems of government and the thoughts and attitudes that spawned them.

Mrs. Maria Juczewska is an Associate Director of the Kościuszko Chair of Polish Studies at The Institute of World Politics. She is a communication specialist with international experience. Her main research interests are topics related to Central and Eastern European affairs with focus on propaganda and disinformation. She also writes journalistic reports for American NGOs’ portals.

About the Lecture: Patriarch Kirill of the Russian Orthodox Church has been an outspoken critic of the Ukrainian government and the Maidan movement. The organization and culture of Orthodox Christianity is often enigmatic for Westerners, so the significance of these comments is lost. What role, if any, does religion play in the ongoing crisis in Donbas?

About the Speaker: Geoffrey Seroka is a graduate student at The Institute of World Politics, studying International Affairs. He obtained his Bachelor of Arts in Government from Patrick Henry College in 2015.

About the Lecture:

The Islamic Republic of Iran wants nuclear weapons to solidify its growing regional hegemony in the Middle East. Such an event will destabilize the already precarious regional order. The Trump Administration is committed to preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear arms at all costs--even potentially risking war with the Islamic Republic. If conflict with Iran were to erupt, Iran's long-time strategic partner, the Russian Federation, would disproportionately benefit.

About the Speaker:

Brandon Weichert is a former Congressional staffer and the founder of The Weichert Report. His book on national security space policy will be released shortly. Brandon holds a B.A. in Political Science from DePaul University and is an Associate Member of New College at Oxford University. Recently, Brandon obtained his M.A. in Statecraft and National Security Affairs with a Specialization in Defense Policy from the Institute of World Politics in Washington, D.C.

On top of being a contributor to the conservative publication, American Greatness, Brandon does speaking engagements, presents papers, and conducts media interviews. He has been featured on BBC World News World Update with Dan Damon, he has been interviewed by The Christian Science Monitor, he has appeared on The Dino Report with Dino Costa, and he has been featured on the Seth & Chris Show offering his expertise as a national security and foreign policy specialist.