Professors Taw, Malekzadeh, Bou Nassif, and Appel will engage in a panel discussion and Q&A about the ongoing US War on Iran. Register here. Pizza and salad will be served at 11:35am, and the event will be located in Freeburg Forum (Kravis Lower Court 62). This event is jointly sponsored by CMC’s Open Academy.

Professor Stocker will speak at the Athenaeum on current political conditions and security realities in Lebanon today.

Professor Zarkin will offer her insights on the current relationship between Mexico and the United States under the Trump and Sheinbaum administrations and US foreign policy in other Latin American countries. Come to Freeburg Forum (KRV 62). Signup required to reserve lunch.

Join us for a career discussion with Stephanie Henning, Head of International Policy at Johnson and Johnson, who will share her professional journey and her insights about careers in business and law for IR and Gov majors. Come join us in KRV 321—Some Crust Treats provided!

Join us for a lunch talk with Ahmed Faouad Alkhatib as he shares a bold empathy-centered vision for the Israeli-Palestinian future, grounded in coexistence, realism and shared dignity. Please register for this talk here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeOpNZBYp1d8P18etSrN4DwmEMAnXbAB50CfVEQFMXM5gXuLw/viewform

Come to lunch at the Athenaeum and learn about Putin’s Endgame in Ukraine in Historical Perspective.

Are you interested in Sports and International Diplomacy? One day before the opening ceremony of the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy, David Goldblatt, Ph.D., will reflect on the multiple impacts of the Olympic Games and the World Cup, which will take place this summer in the U.S., Mexico and Canada. David Goldblatt is the author of several  books on the Olympic Games and international football/soccer, including the 2015 William Hill Sports Book of the Year, “The Game of Our Lives: The Making and Meaning of English Football.” Come join us in Kravis 102.

Come learn about Professor Pei’s book The Broken China Dream, which demystifies China’s great democratic leap backward under Xi Jinping, revealing why the country’s embrace of capitalism has given rise to hard authoritarianism, mass surveillance, and one-man rule instead of democracy as many in the West had hoped. Boba provided!

Is there a Legal Basis for the US Action in Venezuela? What does Maduro’s Capture Mean for Venezuela? What does this mean for US foreign policy in Latin America and Beyond? Come join the discussion with Professors Jean-Pierre Murray (CMC), Deborah Norden (Whittier), David Pion-Berlin (UC Riverside) and Hilary Appel (CMC) Sign up here: SaturdaySalonOnVenezuela

Dr. Herrera will examine the question of why Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale war in 2022. The answer does not seem to be related to many of the usual explanations that IR scholars privilege, like economic interests or threats to security. Instead, Russia’s imperial ambitions and sense of Russian national identity heavily shaped President Putin’s decision to launch the full-scale invasion. Dr. Herrera will shed light on these topics and provide a sense of how Russia’s invasion of Ukraine demonstrates the ways in which national identity and war intersect.

Location: Athenaeum

We look forward to hosting a salon discussion with current International Relations seniors and Professors Minxin Pei, Jennifer Taw, and Hilary Appel. The discussion will cover a range of topics, including current flashpoints in Sudan, Venezuela, and Taiwan. Registration required at this link (only current seniors are eligible to participate).

Location: Keck Center Library

Register here for a Hot Topic discussion of recent U.S. military activity and buildup in the Caribbean and the implications for U.S.-Venezuela relations. We will be joined by experts to analyze the ways in which U.S. intervention may impact Venezuela’s stability and political future.

Location: Kravis 102

General Brooks (ret.) will draw from his deep military experience and regional expertise to share his thoughts on America’s greatest security challenges in the Indo-Pacific Region and beyond. This Memorial Lecture honors the late General William Crouch ‘63, former Chair of the Keck Center Board of Governors. General Vincent Brooks, a now retired four-star general with extensive military experience in the Indo-Pacific and the Korean peninsula, believes that the quality of American foreign policy in the region depends greatly upon the quality of our understanding of the issues and history. He advocates for our assumptions being tested, for relationships being refreshed, and for perspectives being informed by the ways others see the region.

Location: Athenaeum

The Keck Center will host a hot topic discussion of recent, repeated violations of NATO airspace by Russia and their strategic implications for European Defense. Professors Hilary Appel (CMC), Mietek Boduszynski (Pomona), and Jennifer Taw (CMC) will be in discussion and will answer student questions. Boba from Sunright will be provided for those who register.

Location: Kravis 321

The Keck Center is co-sponsoring a Saturday Salon on China in Africa with the Open Academy, featuring CMC’s own Professors Minxin Pei and Peter Uvin. Professors Pei and Uvin will discuss the role of Chinese investment and involvement in Africa, along with its implications for the continent, Chinese power, and the Global Order. The salon will be followed by dinner with the opportunity to continue robust discussion.

Location: Kravis 321

Christian Oestlien, CMC ‘99 and Vice Chair of the Keck Center Board of Governors, will share insights about his successful trajectory from being an international relations and economics major at CMC to product management at YouTube. He is Vice President for Product Management, and has led teams across YouTube TV, Sports, Video Infrastructure, Privacy, and Identity. He previously worked at Google, Twitter, and Yahoo. This student Q&A will address how to conceptualize the changing nature of technology jobs, opportunities and challenges from AI, and the potential of a CMC education.

Location: Bauer Center North, Founders Room

The dispute between India and Pakistan over the state of Jammu and Kashmir has persisted since the emergence of the two countries in 1947 following the end of the British Indian Empire in 1947. The dispute has resulted in three wars (1947-48, 1965 and 1999) and multiple crises. Multiple attempts at conflict resolution at multilateral and bilateral levels have failed to end this protracted conflict. This lecture will trace the origins of the dispute, discuss the attempts at conflict resolution and suggest possible scenarios under which it could eventually come to a close.

Location: Athenaeum

Come to the Athenaeum to learn about the dramatic rise and gradual unraveling of Iran’s regional influence between 2005 and 2025. This talk will discuss how Iran leveraged regional instability to project power, only to face coordinated containment efforts by Israel and the U.S., and ultimately find itself in geopolitical retreat.

Location: Athenaeum

Come Join Us on the 4th Floor North of Kravis with your Graduation Guests!

Come join the Keck Center and the Claremont International Relations Society for State of Senior Thesis, the annual event where students present their international relations-related thesis research! Food will be provided!

Location: Gann Quadrangle, the lawn outside of the Kravis Center

Dr. Jeffrey Ding teaches in the Political Science Department at George Washington University. He was previously a fellow at the Center for International Security and Cooperation, part of Stanford’s Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence and has also conducted research at Georgetown’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology and Oxford’s Centre for the Governance of AI. Professor Ding received his Ph.D. from the University of Oxford, where he studied as a Rhodes Scholar. He is an expert on great power competition and cooperation in emerging technologies, the political economy of innovation, and China’s scientific and technological capabilities.

Location: The Athenaeum

Join us at the Keck Library for a small group discussion with Omar Dajani, who will be giving a talk at the Athenatuem that evening titled Palestine: What Now?

Omar Dajani is the Carol Olson Professor of International Law at the McGeorge School of Law, University of the Pacific, a former legal adviser to the PLO in peace talks with Israel, and the joint board co-chair of A Land for All, an Israeli-Palestinian peace organization. His scholarship, which explores how legal norms operate in the context of international conflict resolution processes and political transitions, focuses on Israel-Palestine. His current research focuses on what’s next for the states of the Middle East. He is exploring the status and protection of ethnic and religious minorities and considering the extent to which federalism and other forms of decentralization offer solutions to ethno-national conflicts in the region.

Memorial Lecture in Honor of the late General Crouch, former Chair of the Keck Center Board of Governors.

Admiral Harry Harris was the U.S. Ambassador to South Korea from 2018- 2021. Previously, he served 40 years in the U.S. Navy, retiring in June 2018. The first Japanese-American to hold a four-star rank in the Navy, he commanded the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, U.S. Pacific Fleet, U.S. Sixth Fleet, and Naval Striking and Support Forces NATO. A 1978 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, he holds master's degrees from Harvard's Kennedy School of Government and Georgetown's School of Foreign Service. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Council of American Ambassadors.

Location: The Athenaeum

Come hear from seniors about first- and second-year internship opportunities in the sphere of international relations and how to make the most of your summers! Boba will be provided.

Location: Keck Center Library (center of the 3rd floor of the Kravis Center)

As allegations of the weaponization of migration proliferate on both sides of the Atlantic, Professor Kelly M. Greenhill will explore a triad of intertwined and self-reinforcing challenges that inform, affect and complicate international migration management and border security: 1) the weaponization of migration for political, economic and/or military gain; 2) the politicization and exploitation of fears of migration for domestic political gain; and 3) the weaponization of the politicization of migration, in the form of foreign hostile influence operations that rely on the deployment of rumors, conspiracy theories, and other forms of what Greenhill calls "extra-factual information". Drawing upon evidence from recent and ongoing cases, Greenhill will also discuss how each of these three distinct phenomena can exacerbate the others, creating vicious feedback loops. leaving target states less secure and more vulnerable to future acts of migration predation and endangering the human rights of the true victims of migration weaponization, the displaced themselves.

Dr. Kelly Greenhill is a Professor of Political Science and International Relations at Tufts University (with a secondary appointment at the Tisch College for Civic Life) and a Visiting Professor and Resident Senior Fellow at MIT. She is a leading expert on mass migration and forced displacement, best known for her award-winning book Weapons of Mass Migration: Forced Displacement, Coercion, and Foreign Policy, which explores how states use forced migration as a tool of foreign policy. Her research has shaped academic and policy debates, with her work cited in U.S. Supreme Court cases, international policy briefs, and major media outlets like The New York Times and Foreign Affairs. In addition to her roles at Tufts University and MIT, she has advised organizations including the United Nations, NATO, and the World Bank, and continues to advance scholarship on the geopolitics of migration through projects like the Diplomacy of Forced Migration Dataset. 

Location: Athenaeum

Join the Keck Center for a talk on the war in Ukraine for the third anniversary of the full-scale invasion.

Location: Kravis Center 345

Sign up here!

The CMC alumni on this panel will discuss their experience in law school and their exploration of different law careers in the early years after getting their law degree.

Sign up here: https://forms.gle/Jaebmip4b7YbNjfz9

Andrew Miller, Senior Fellow at Center or American Progress and former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Israeli and Palestinian Affairs. A veteran diplomat and foreign policy official with more than a decade of experience, Miller was among the most senior officials focused full time on the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. He played a key role in discussions with U.S. partners about post-conflict governance, security, and reconstruction arrangements.

Location: Athenaeum POSTPONED to NOV 20!

Join professors Hicham Bou Nassif, Shervin Malekzadeh, and Yitzhak Brudny for a moderated discussion and dinner panel discussing Israel-Iran proxy wars in the Middle East.

Apply to join us at the event here.

Professors Koch, Pei, Appel, Taw and other international relations faculty will discuss the impact of the results of the 2024 United States presidential election on America’s place in the world.

Sign up here!

Location: Kravis 102