News and Events

Upcoming Events

  • Volunteer Empire: Participatory Propaganda in Putin’s Russia

    How has geography become the central infrastructure of political authority in Putin’s Russia? Dr. Sofia Gavrilova (Fung Global Fellow, Princeton and Senior Researcher at the Leibniz Institute for Regional Geography), argues that that propaganda in Russia operates less through persuasion than through participation — by enrolling ordinary people in the everyday work of imperial reproduction. At the heart of the project is the concept of the “Volunteer Empire”: an empire reproduced through organized presence, care, and curated experience.

    Robert A. Jones '59 Conference Room

  • RGS Info Sessions logo

    Rohatyn Global Scholars Info Session

    Are you interested in learning more about the Rohatyn Global Scholars Program? Join us for one of our Information Sessions to find out more. 

    Choose one of the following Info Sessions:
         Wednesday, September 16th from 4:00 pm - 4:45 pm (snacks provided)
         Tuesday, September 22nd from 12:30 pm -  1:15 pm (with pizza)
         Tuesday, September 22nd from 4:00 pm - 4:45 pm (snacks provided)

    Robert A. Jones '59 Conference Room

    Closed to the Public

  • RGS Info Sessions logo

    Rohatyn Global Scholars Information Session

    Are you interested in learning more about the Rohatyn Global Scholars Program? Join us for one of our Information Sessions to find out more. 

    Choose one of the following Info Sessions:
         Wednesday, September 16th from 4:00 pm - 4:45 pm (snacks provided)
         Tuesday, September 22nd from 12:30 pm -  1:15 pm (with pizza)
         Tuesday, September 22nd from 4:00 pm - 4:45 pm (snacks provided)

    Robert A. Jones '59 Conference Room

    Closed to the Public

  • Soaring with the Kuaka: Migrations of Knowledge and Future Making from Aotearoa to Addison County

    This public event will welcome a delegation of Maori and Pasifika colleagues visiting Middlebury College from Aotearoa/New Zealand. Panel members will discuss the role of purakau (storytelling), waiata (song), and whakatauki (proverbs) in Indigenous Maori and Polynesian practices of wellbeing and planetary stewardship. Through the teachings of the kuaka, a shorebird known for its remarkable migration from Aotearoa to North America, this event invites attendees to explore the idea that journeys are collective and community futures can soar in spaces of mutual learning, responsibility, and relationship.

    Dana Auditorium (Sunderland Language Center)

    Open to the Public

  • Weekly Politics Luncheon

    Students, staff, alumni and the public are invited to attend this weekly nonpartisan discussion of recent political events, hosted by Professor Matthew Dickinson. Held almost every Tuesday 12:30-1:30 pm EST. in person and by zoom. Check the calendar for dates. No expertise assumed. All viewpoints welcome. To register for the zoom sessions, please contact Prof. Dickinson at his email: dickinso@middlebury.edu

    Robert A. Jones '59 Conference Room

    Open to the Public

  • IGS Majors Reception

    The IGS program welcomes majors, prospective majors, and faculty to celebrate the beginning of the academic year. The reception is also meant as a way for students returning from abroad to reconnect with friends and professors.

    Robert A. Jones '59 Conference Room

  • International Politics & Economics Majors Reception

    The IP&E program welcomes majors, prospective majors and faculty to celebrate the beginning of the academic year. The reception is also meant as a way for students returning from abroad to reconnect with friends and professors.

    Chateau Grand Salon

  • Weekly Politics Luncheon

    Students, staff, alumni and the public are invited to attend this weekly nonpartisan discussion of recent political events, hosted by Professor Matthew Dickinson. Held almost every Tuesday 12:30-1:30 pm EST. in person and by zoom. Check the calendar for dates. No expertise assumed. All viewpoints welcome. To register for the zoom sessions, please contact Prof. Dickinson at his email: dickinso@middlebury.edu

    Robert A. Jones '59 Conference Room

    Open to the Public

  • Alternative Cultures: Visions of Futurity in Rural Asturias

    Once best known for its cows and coal mines, the Spanish region of Asturias has become a cultural capital in recent years. Rural pueblos are at the epicenter of this renaissance, challenging urban-centric ideas of cultural production. Musicians, writers, and other artists look to the region’s agrarian and industrial past to imagine new futures. They incorporate folklore and ways of knowing inspired by older generations, constructing alternative notions of rurality grounded in queerness, inclusivity, and sustainability.

    Robert A. Jones '59 Conference Room

    Open to the Public

  • Boats on the South China Sea

    China's Grey Zone Tactics around Taiwan and in the South China Sea

    China’s Grey Zone Tactics around Taiwan and in the South China Sea
    China increasingly uses “grey zone” tactics - less than war but more than peace - to pressure  Taiwan and countries in the South China Sea. M. Taylor Fravel, Middlebury grad and Director of the Security Studies Program at MIT will discuss the evolution of these tactics, where they might lead, and how they can be countered.

    Robert A. Jones '59 Conference Room

    Open to the Public

News and Accomplishments

Professor Christopher McGrory Klyza published Building the Green State: The States, the Federal Government, and Intercurrence, 1800-2000 with MIT Press.

Assistant Professor Caileigh Glenn and Jon Pevehouse have published “International Dimensions of Democratization” in World Politics.

Assistant Professor Margaret Hanson and Gaukhar Baltabayeva have published “Exit as voice, for the economically mobile: Explaining first‑wave Russian migration to Central Asia & the Caucasus” in the Journal of Ethnic & Migration Studies.

Assistant Professor Margaret Hanson and colleagues won the Heinz I. Eulau Award for “Under the Veil of Democracy: What Do People Mean When They Say They Support Democracy,” published in Perspectives on Politics.

Visiting Assistant Professor Daniel Fram published “A Critique of Martha Nussbaum’s Cosmopolitanism and Patriotism” in American Political Thought: A Journal of Ideas, Institutions, and Culture.

Associate Professor Gary Winslett has published “Digital Trade in Services: Globalization’s Exciting New Frontier” in the edited volume Defending Globalization: Facts and Myths About The Global Economy and Its Fundamental Humanity.

Associate Professor Ajay Verghese published “The Qualitative Metamorphosis” in Comparative Politics.

Associate Professor Ajay Verghese has won a three-year Fulbright Flex Grant to support his research in India.

Associate Professor Sebnem Gumuscu and Ilkim Buke Okyar published “Teaching Israel-Palestine Across the Atlantic: Addressing Affective Polarization and Dehumanization through Dialogic Education” in PS: Politics and Society.

Associate Professor Sebnem Gumuscu and Aylin Aydin-Cakir published “Constitution-making in polarized transitions: The role of civil society in the establishment of independent judiciary” in International Journal of Constitutional Law.

Associate Professor Sebnem Gumuscu has published “How to Fight Turkey’s Authoritarian Turn” in the Journal of Democracy.

Associate Professor Sebnem Gumuscu and colleagues have published “Competitive yet unfair: 2023 elections and authoritarian resilience in Turkey”  in South European Society and Politics.

Professor Kemi Fuentes-George has published “‘Music Gonna Teach’: Decolonizing IR Through a Musical Exploration of Knowledge” in the Review of International Studies.

Professor Kemi Fuentes-George and colleagues Guntram Herb and Sujata Moorti have published the Middlebury Atlas of Globalization: A Concise, Visual Guide to Our Globalized World.

Professor Kemi Fuentes-George has received a five-year NSF/UVM Study of Online Corpora, Knowledge, and Stories (SOCKS) Grant.

Professor Jessica Teets, T Hildebrandt, R. Hasmath, JYJ Hsu, and CL Hsu published “What Makes a ‘Bad Citizen’? Understanding Non-Participation in Philanthropic and Voluntaristic Activities in China” in Journal of Asian Public Policy.

Professor Jessica Teets has been awarded the Guang Biao Distinguished Chair Professor, Zhejiang University, a position she will hold for three years.

Professor Jessica Teets and her colleague Xiang Gao have published “China ushers in a new era governance framework” in East Asia Forum Quarterly.

Professor Jessica Teets and colleagues have published “The Civic Participation in China Survey: Key Trends in Philanthropic and Voluntary Activities” in the Journal of Contemporary East Asia Studies.

Professor Jessica Teets and colleagues have published the dataset “Civic Participation in China Surveys – 3 waves of surveys from China available with questions focused on volunteering, donating, and perspectives on citizenship.”

Professor Sarah Stroup published “Global development in crisis: responding to America’s retreat” in the Finnish Institute of International Affairs (FIIA) Briefing Paper.

Professor Sarah Stroup published “Information bubbles and US foreign policy: the illusion of public support” in FIIA Comment. 

Professor Sarah Stroup has published “Humanitarian Organizations” in the Handbook on Humanitarianism and Inequality.

Professor Sarah Stroup has been named Visiting Senior Research Fellow at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs during her leave year, and has support from the Marion and Jasper Whiting Foundation and the Jeffrey R. Cason Memorial Field Work Fund.

Charles A. Dana Professor Erik Bleich and colleague A. Maurits van der Veen have published “The Advantages of Lexicon-based Sentiment Analysis in an Age of Machine Learning” in PLOS ONE.

Charles A. Dana Professor Erik Bleich, Husam AlZubaidy, Andrey Cao, Abigail Chang, Nikki Sadat, Abby Ward, and A. Maurits van der Veen published “The Politics of Language: Politicized Semantic Change, Pejoration, and the Case of ‘Woke’’ in Political Studies.

Charles A. Dana Professor Erik Bleich, Gyula Zsombok, and A. Maurits van der Veen published “Social Proximity, Discursive Opportunity Structures, and the Diffusion of the Culture Wars: The Case of ‘Woke’ in France” in International Journal of Comparative Sociology.

Charles A. Dana Professor Erik Bleich and colleague A. Maurits van der Veen have been awarded the International Studies Association International Communications Section Best Book Award for Covering Muslims: American Newspapers in Comparative Perspective.

Nicole Amerio Patterson, Academic Coordinator

Munroe 306

(802) 443-5764

npatters@middlebury.edu

Erik Bleich, Charles A. Dana Professor of Political Science and Department Chair

Munroe Hall 301

(802) 443-3254

ebleich@middlebury.edu

By appointment