The Young Initiative invites foreign policy experts and guest speakers to campus to engage in discussions on international relations and the global political economy with students and faculty.
Past Young Initiative Speaker Events
Young Initiative speakers give students and faculty an opportunity to expand their understanding of global issues. The Young Initiative sponsors several speakers each academic year highlighting particular aspects of global affairs and the global political economy. The Young Speakers program is devoted to highlighting the work and success of eminent international affairs experts and Â鶹ÊÓƵ alumni in public service and academia.
Ambassador Burns began by providing context and stating that today is not the most dangerous time, but that "we" sit in the most complex political environment since Franklin D. Roosevelt’s presidency (1933-1945). For the future administration the three most-prominent issues are (1) "Putin & Europe," (2) the "burning Middle East," and (3) "China and Asia."
Dr Wiseman’s lecture in Johnson Hall’s Atrium began by explaining that short of war, governments have two behavioral choices with adversarial states, to either isolate or engage. Generally, in the United States this partisan decision is divided among conservatives who favor isolation and liberals who prefer to engage.
Disclaimer: This lecture is "not for attribution." No direct quotes have been used.
On Tuesday March 15th, Philipp Schonrock, founder of Centro de Pensamiento Estrategico (CEPEI) shared his perspectives on achieving the sustainable development goals (SDGs) by galvanizing civil society. CEPEI, an organization Schonrock founded when he was just 23 years old, coordinates various civil society groups in Colombia so they can contribute towards the global agenda.
Every two days, we create enough data to equal the total amount created prior to 2003, according to Professor Sanjeev Khagram, who spoke Tuesday night in a talk titled "Harnessing the Data Revolution to Achieve the Global Sustainable Development Goals." As part of the Sustainable Development Speaker Series, Professor Khagram explained his research and role in creatin
The McKinnon Center for Global Affairs and Occidental’s History department welcomed two prominent China thinkers to the college on Thursday, February 25, 2016. Professor Gordon H. Chang (Stanford, History) lectured in Choi Auditorium delivering, "Entwined Destinies: America and China and the History of the Present." Just before, Ambassador Jeffrey Bader spoke about post-Obama U.S.
Michelle Jurkovich’s talk "Not all rights have Norms: Blame Diffusion in International Anti-Hunger Advocacy at the U.N. and Elsewhere" began in an unconventional way. Rather than speaking on the topic before ceding to questions, Jurkovich began by confronting the audience with deceptively simple questions. What are the causes of chronic hunger? Who is to blame?
With his encyclopedic knowledge of the United Nations, Stephen Schlesinger was an informative speaker whose talk, "The UN and the US after Obama," concluded United Nations Week by reflecting back on the history of the UN and predicted its future trajectory.
United Nations Week has served as a focal point for bringing together speakers, presentations and visual media to summarize and analyze issues surrounding international governance.
Former U.S. Ambassador Jeffrey Davidow visited Â鶹ÊÓƵ early in the spring semester, kicking off the 2016 Young Future of Diplomacy Series, coordinated by Â鶹ÊÓƵ’s Director of Global Affairs Ambassador Derek Shearer.