The Institute Of World Politics

This event occurred on May 15, 2017 at the Institute of World Politics. This event is part of a series on the Intermarium sponsored by the Kosciuszko Chair of Polish Studies. About the lecture: The port city of Mariupol has been a flash-point since the early days of the 2014 Ukrainian Crisis and promises to remain so because of its strategic, symbolic, and economic significance to both sides of the conflict. 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.

This lecture occurred at IWP on May 8th 2017. The contrast between the treatment meted out to Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama confirms that two set of rules prevail when it comes to scholarly assessments of American presidents. Democratic presidents are excused when it comes to assertive national security policies, while Republican presidents are deemed "lawless." Obama is the most recent beneficiary of this double standard that distorts scholarly assessments of the nation's chief executives. About the speaker: Stephen F. Knott is a Professor of National Security Affairs at the United States Naval War College. He served as co-chair of the University of Virginia's Presidential Oral History Program, directed the Ronald Reagan Oral History Project, and also served on the staff of the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library. Professor Knott received his PhD in Political Science from Boston College, and has taught at the United States Air Force Academy and the University of Virginia. He is the author o

About the lecture: While Andrew Jackson is often viewed as a citizen-soldier and a leader of volunteers, he actually held the regular army in high esteem and had little regard for the processes of civilian control over military institutions and operations, particularly operations aimed at national territorial expansion. Officers under his command quickly adopted his views on civil-military relations and expansion. Between 1815 and 1821, the U.S. Army officer corps was Jackson's sword, but after 1821, the army officer corps began to act as a force for restraint in American foreign relations. Dr. Watson will explain Jackson's usurpations of civilian authority as a general, the transformation of the officer corps' attitudes after 1821, and military subordination to civilian authority during Jackson's Presidency. About the speaker: Samuel Watson is professor of history at the United States Military Academy, where he teaches the full range of U.S. and military history. His research focuses on the U.S. Army betwee

About the lecture: Obscured by their political masters -- Franklin D Roosevelt and Winston Churchill -- as well as their better-known military subordinates, the organizers of the Anglo-American victory in World War II deserve better of history. About the speaker: Philip Terzian has been literary editor of The Weekly Standard since 2005, and is the author of Architects of Power: Roosevelt, Eisenhower, and the American Century. A native of the Washington, D.C. area, he has been a writer and editor at the New Republic, Reuters, the Providence Journal, and the Los Angeles Times, and was a foreign correspondent and syndicated columnist for the Scripps Howard News Service. He has been a contributor to Commentary, the Times Literary Supplement, the Wall Street Journal, the Spectator, the Daily Telegraph, and other publications, and was a Pulitzer finalist in commentary.

About the lecture: Brandon Weichert will discuss how sanctions against Russia have exacerbated the decline of the European Union and how it has hit places like Poland the hardest. He will review the unintended consequences of sanctions and whether or not sanctions were the best U.S. policy towards Russia after Ukraine in 2014. About the speaker: Brandon J. 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 (GDBM!). 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 W

ABOUT THE LECTURE: Amb. Alberto Piedra will give his thoughts on his personal relationship with Fidel Castro prior to and during the first three months of his revolutionary government (1959) as Director General of Exports and Imports at the Ministry of Commerce in Havana. ABOUT THIS SPEAKER Amb. Alberto Piedra is the Donald E. Bently Professor of Political Economy at The Institute of World Politics, where he teaches courses on political and economic freedom and on Western moral tradition. He formerly served as U.S. Ambassador to Guatemala, U.S. Representative to the Economic and Economic and Social Council of the Organization of American States, and Senior Advisor at the Bureau of Inter-American Affairs at the Department of State. He has also served at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations as the Senior Area Advisor for Latin America. His academic career has included posts as the Director for the Latin American Institute and as the Chairman of the Department of Economics and Buisness at at the Catholic

Nikolas Gvosdev is Professor of National Security Affairs, holding the Captain Jerome E. Levy Chair in Economic Geography and National Security at the U.S. Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island. He also serves as a Senior Fellow for the Foreign Policy Research Institute's Eurasia Program and Program on National Security. He was formerly the Editor of The National Interest magazine and a Senior Fellow at The Nixon Center in Washington, D.C. Gvosdev received his doctorate from St Antony's College, Oxford University, where he studied on a Rhodes Scholarship. A frequent commentator on Russian and Eurasian affairs, his work has appeared in such outlets as Foreign Affairs, The Financial Times, The Los Angeles Times, and Orbis, and he has appeared as a commentator on CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, National Public Radio, and BBC. He is the co-author of US Foreign Policy and Defense Strategy: The Rise of an Incidental Superpower, and the co-author of Russian Foreign Policy: Vectors, Sectors and Interests.

About the Lecture: The authority of the President in national security affairs is a long-contested issue. Join us for a discussion on the parallels of this debate between this and past eras. Mr. Thomas Wilson will provide a peek into the internal dynamics of the Iran-Contra investigation, which will include an examination of the political and legal issues involved, noting the constitutional issues raised and contested. Mr. Wilson's central role in a political and legal drama that lasted well into the 1990's makes him uniquely well placed to discuss the investigation. About the Speaker: Mr. Thomas Wilson has led a varied and high profile career. After graduating with a BA in history from Georgetown University, he went on to pursue a law degree from Georgetown Law School. Upon graduation, rather than going into legal practice, he decided to join the US Army, serving in the 6th Special Forces Group (Airborne), in the United States from 1967 to 1968, and in the 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne) in the Republ

April 6, 2017, marks the hundred year anniversary of the US declaration of war on Germany. Following more than two and a half years of neutrality, the United States mobilized for war on a scale the nation had never before seen. More than two million Americans were to serve in the US armed forces during World War I. Once American combat power arrived in Europe, it tipped the military balance against Germany, frustrating Germany’s Spring Offensive of 1918 and resulting ultimately in the German surrender of November of that year. In commemoration of the centennial of America’s entry into World War I, the Institute of World Politics and the Center for Military and Diplomatic History are hosting three of the world’s leading historians of the war: Michael S. Neiberg, Edward Lengel, and John H. Maurer. MICHAEL S. NEIBERG is the inaugural Chair of War Studies in the Department of National Security and Strategy at the United States Army War College. His published work specializes on the First and Second World Wars,

Dr. Marek Jan Chodakiewicz will discuss the recent protests against President Alexander Lukashenko in Belarus. Marek Chodakiewicz is a Professor of History at The Institute of World Politics and the holder of the Kosciuszko Chair in Polish Studies. Dr. Chodakiewicz writes weekly columns for popular Polish press and contributes to the SELOUS Foundation internet hub. He has also published on foreign policy in various venues, including The Journal of World Affairs, American Spectator, and National Review Online. In addition to numerous popular and scholarly articles, Dr. Chodakiewicz authored, co-authored, edited, and co-edited over fifteen scholarly monographs and documentary collections. His latest include Intermarium: The Land Between the Black and Baltic Seas (2012), which is a depiction of the Eastern Borderlands of the West on the rim of the former Soviet Union, and On the Right and Left (2013), which is a textbook of intellectual history of modern ideologies. His interests include the post-Soviet zone

About the lecture Retired senior CIA Scientific Intelligence Officer Gene Poteat will discuss women in espionage, with a focus on American women spies. About the speaker S. Eugene (Gene) Poteat is a retired senior CIA Scientific Intelligence Officer, and has served as President of the Association of Former Intelligence Officers (AFIO). He was educated as an electrical engineer and physicist. He holds a Masters in Statecraft and National Security Affairs from IWP. His career in intelligence included work with U-2 and SR-71 class of aircraft and various space and naval reconnaissance systems. He also managed the CIA's worldwide network of monitoring sites. He holds patents on covert communications techniques. His CIA assignments included the Directorate of Science and Technology, the National Reconnaissance Office, Technical Director of the Navy's Special Programs Office and Executive Director of the Intelligence Research and Development Council. He served abroad in London, Scandinavia, the Middle East and A

Are Poles free to disagree? Truth versus manipulation in the Polish media by The Institute of World Politics

A Bear in Sheep's Skin? by The Institute of World Politics

Conservatism or Right-Wing Populism? by The Institute of World Politics

Roman Dmowski at Versailles by The Institute of World Politics

EU's Democracy from Above. Europe: Emergence, Development, and a Political Construct by The Institute of World Politics

An Introduction and the Unveiling of the Center for Intermarium Studies by The Institute of World Politics

This talk occurred on March 27, 2017 at The Institute of World Politics. About the lecture: In December 2015, Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter declared the opening of all U.S. military combat jobs to women. The decision followed a long and controversial review of the implications of allowing women into combat units, during which the US Marine Corps and large numbers of military personnel objected to a change in policy. The inclusion of women in combat units is in the early stages of implementation; whether the new administration will seek to revise or overturn the policy remains to be seen. Dr. Anna Simons, a veteran of the debate, will discuss the history of the issue of women in combat units. She will explain why that history is relevant to the current situation, and offer her views on the best way forward. About the speaker: Anna Simons is a Professor of Defense Analysis at the Naval Postgraduate School. Prior to teaching at NPS she was both an assistant and then an associate professor of anthropolo

Dr. Marcin Chmielowski is vice president of the Poland-based Freedom and Entrepreneurship Foundation (Fundacja Wolnosci i Przedsiebiorczosci). He holds a Ph.D. in political philosophy and an M.A. in political science, and he has a postgraduate diploma in central banking. He is the author of one book and many papers concentrated on the theory and practice of libertarianism. Experienced in managing third sector institutions, Dr. Chmielowski is a liberty-oriented columnist, commentator, and screenwriter.

Benjamin Fricke received his M.A. in Statecraft and International Affairs from The Institute of World Politics in 2013, and he was one of the first participants in IWP's Oxford study abroad program in 2012. Ben was awarded his B.A. in Political Science from Wittenberg University in Springfield, OH with two years of study at the University of Leipzig, Germany. He has done several high profile internships, such as at the U.S. Consulate General in Leipzig, Germany, the U.S. Senate, the Konrad-Adenauer Foundation in Washington, D.C., and the German diplomatic mission in New York. After graduation from IWP, Mr. Fricke returned to Europe in October 2013, where he spent a few months studying in France and started working for a private sector energy management and software company close to his hometown, Lutherstadt Wittenberg. Since 2016, Ben has been working for the German Konrad-Adenauer-Foundation, where he after training in Berlin now works as a Scientific Associate at Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung's regional program