Political Science

Although most people are familiar with the global climate change regime, far fewer know about the other hundreds of environmental treaties and agreements covering things like plastic waste, coral reefs, plant genetic resources, persistent organic pollutants, and wetlands conservation. What are the international and global mechanisms of environmental governance? How do international and global targets get translated into on-the-ground policy? And what gaps in governance still exist?

Critical chokepoints in global supply chains – such as Black Sea ports and the Strait of Hormuz – concentrate economic power and generate opportunities for state coercion. In this year’s International Politics and Economics Symposium, experts in energy politics and economic statecraft will examine how states use these chokepoints for leverage, how government and private actors respond, and how the Russian war in Ukraine demonstrates these dynamics.

Join us for a super fun Midterm Election Watch Party! Open to all!

The Rohatyn Center for Global Affairs program on Security and Global Affairs presents “A World Without Secrets: International Politics in an Era of Eroding Secracy” with Erik Lin-Greenberg.

Corene Kendrick, Deputy Director of the ACLU’s National Prison Project, and James Duff Lyall (Midd ’02), Executive Director of the ACLU of Vermont, will discuss their work using litigation, political and legislative advocacy, community organizing, public education and strategic communications to fight for the human rights of people caged in prisons, jails, juvenile detention, and immigration detention across the country and in Vermont.  

Co-sponsored by the Privilege and Poverty Program 

The Rohatyn Center for Global Affairs program on Global Economics, Development and Political Economy presents “A Chinese Education: Teaching and Learning from Two Generations of Students in China” with Peter Hessler.

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.

“Thinking locally while acting globally: community forest conservation in Mexico’s Yucatán”

Book Launch for Christopher Klyza’s “Building the American Green State: The States, the Federal Government, and Intercurrence, 1800-2000” (2026, MIT Press).

This book traces the development of environmental agencies at the U.S. state and federal level and explores how these aspects of the green state frequently clash with one another, leading to significant policy challenges.

Screening of the new Rolling Stone Films documentary with the protagonist and film team. Q&A session to follow.