Political Science

Professor Scott Wolford, Asso. Professor of Political Science, University of Texas, will describe his research on leadership transitions and the prospects for interstate war in the context of the incoming American administration. What should we expect from foreign leaders when the leadership of any nation changes? How will they react to the new leadership in the United States? Dr. Wolford will offer insights into the international challenges facing the new administration

Health care spending is a key focus for U.S. policy makers as high and increasing health costs can impede access to care and impose undue financial burdens on patients. One potential solution is to lower health care prices, which are typically higher in the U.S. than in other countries and are highly variable both within and across areas. Revealing prices paid through price transparency initiatives, particularly in combination with insurance designs that expose consumers to higher costs, has been promoted as a way to lower prices.

Political Science majors considering a senior thesis should attend this meeting. We will detail the thesis writing process, requirements and timeline and answer any questions students may have

Lecture “Normalizing US-Cuban Relations: The Obama Legacy” by Peter Kornbluh, Senior Analyst at the National Security Archives. Kornbluh currently directs the Archive’s Cuba and Chile Documentation Projects, and formerly was co-director of the Iran-contra documentation project and director of the Archive’s project on U.S. policy toward Nicaragua. From 1990-1999, he taught at Columbia University. He has authored numerous articles and four books, including his latest —”Back Channel to Cuba: The Hidden History of Negotiations between Washington and Havana” (UNC Press, 2014).

This will be a general information session covering all opportunities available to students at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey. Maren Gauldin, assistant director of global recruiting at MIIS, and Orion Lewis, professor of political science, will provide audiovisual presentation and engage students in an open ended discussion of Monterey programs and how they fits with their undergraduate education. Light refreshments provided.

Wilfred M. McClay, Blankenship Chair in the History of Liberty, University of Oklahoma - Professor McClay is a prize-winning scholar of American intellectual and cultural history. He served for eleven years on the National Council on the Humanities and is a Senior Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. A prolific essayist, he is author of Why Place Matters: Geography, Identity, and Civic Life in Modern America; and The Masterless: Self and Society in Modern America.

Lecture by Professor Joshua Rubongoya, Roanoke College, “The Politics of Homophobia in Africa: Lessons from Uganda”

Lecture by Ambassador Richard LeBaron, Atlantic Council. Ambassador LeBaron is a career diplomat with over thirty years experience abroad and in Washington. His most recent overseas posting was as deputy chief of mission at the US embassy in London from August 2007 to August 2010. Ambassador LeBaron served as ahargé d’affaires in London from February to August 2009. Previous to his assignment to London, Ambassador LeBaron served as the US ambassador to Kuwait (2004 to 2007).

Is Civility Dead? Many Americans believe the 2016 presidential election has been unusually vicious. But concerns about civility are hardly limited to political campaigns or to the current day. Given the long history of rudeness in the United States, is civility even possible? And even if it’s possible, is civility desirable? Why not just celebrate free speech and tell people they need to develop a thicker skin? Join us for a discussion of how and why we should all get along. Keith J. Bybee the Paul E. and the Hon. Joanne F.

“Ill fares the land, to hastening ills a prey, Where wealth accumulates, and men decay” —Oliver Goldsmith, “The Deserted Village” (1770) Inequality is on the rise in the contemporary global economy, both within prosperous economies and between developed and developing countries. Can democracy sustain itself while acquiescing in a growing gap between the world’s haves and have-nots? Does the American dream depend on a foundation of shared prosperity that is increasingly a historical artifact?