Faculty in the news

Dr. Han Park, Professor of International Affairs and director of UGA's Center for the Study of Global Issues, writes in an op-ed in the AJC on how North Korea’s leaders “are fully expecting to be attacked and invaded by America and its allies” to eliminate the Kim Jong-il regime, just as America removed the Taliban in Afghanistan and Saddam Hussein in Iraq. Dr. Park also is quoted in stories in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and the Orange County (CA) Register.
http://www.ajc.com/monday/content/epaper/editions/monday/opinion_44dc288c517271eb0046.html
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/279331_korea29.html


Adjunct assistant professor Anupam Srivastava of UGA’s Center for International Trade and Security comments in today’s Malaysia Sun on Pakistan’s new nuclear weapons capabilities. “It completely changes India’s military planning because having plutonium gives Pakistan the option of deploying from land, sea or air,” he says.
http://story.malaysiasun.com/p.x/ct/9/cid/b8de8e630faf3631/id/6d2d2dce3b5d8744

Two IA Majors chosen as Undergraduate Fellows with the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies

UGA students chosen as Undergraduate Fellows with the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies
Writer: Wendy Jones, 706/542-6927, wfjones@uga.edu
Contact: Joy Holloway, 706/542-7849, joyh@uga.edu
Jul 7, 2006, 08:33

Athens, Ga. – Two University of Georgia students, Patrick Bentley and Clare Hatfield, have been accepted as 2006-2007 Undergraduate Fellows with the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies. They will participate in an undergraduate fellowship program that teaches students about terrorist threats directed at America and allied democracies around the world.

As FDD Fellows, Bentley and Hatfield will travel to Tel Aviv in July for an intensive academic program offering opportunities to hear from diplomats, politicians and military officials from Israel, India, Jordan, Turkey and the United States. They will focus on issues relating to the terrorist threats to democracies around the world, as well as study the varied methods democracies are employing to fight the war on terrorism. In addition to the trip to Israel, Bentley and Hatfield will travel to Washington D.C in January to learn more about America’s leadership role in the war on terrorism.

For the duration of the program, the Fellows will serve as anti-terrorism/pro-democracy activists on their respective campuses. To that end, every Fellow will conduct a 9/11 memorial event in addition to other events to help educate the citizenry about the threat of terrorism.

“The program gives its participants unbelievable access to various high-level intelligence and government officials from around the world and in particular the Middle East,” said Steve Shellman, assistant professor of international affairs and director of the Summer Workshop on Teaching about Terrorism which is also supported by FDD. “The University of Georgia should be proud to have its amazing students affiliated with such an esteemed program focused on global security and the fight against global terrorism.”

Hatfield and Bentley are currently pursuing degrees in international affairs in UGA’s School of Public and International Affairs. After graduation, both students plan on attending law school.

"I am honored to participate in this fellowship with such an illustrious group of students,” Bentley said. “I look forward to learning more about terrorism and America's leading role in the war against it. We have much to learn before we can combat this phenomenon properly.”

FDD is a non-profit, non-partisan think tank based in Washington D.C. that seeks to educate Americans about the terrorist threat to democracies worldwide. For more information on FDD, visit www.defenddemocracy.org.

May midpoint withdrawal deadline

The midpoint withdrawal deadline for May term is tomorrow, May 25. Withdrawals after that date will receive a WF for the course.

Commencement Reception

From Paul Welch in the SPIA Undergraduate Office:

Dean Lauth and the Faculty and Staff of the School of Public and International Affairs invite all Candidates for Graduation who will be participating in Commencement ceremonies this Saturday to the SPIA Commencement Reception.

The reception will be in the Candler Hall lobby immediately following Commencement. We look forward to seeing you one more time this Saturday for refreshments, conversations and congratulations all around.

End of the semester

We've reached the end of yet another semester here at UGA. Good luck to everyone with their final exams, and best wishes to all who will be graduating this semester.

Two quick items of note. First, if you find any discrepancies between the printed summer and fall schedules on the INTL website and in OASIS, OASIS is likely correct. Due to a software glitch we temporarily cannot upload changes to the departmental site. We hope to have that fixed soon.

Also, this friendly and helpful note from the UGA Police Department:

*The University of Georgia*
/Police Department/
SPECIAL RELEASE

May 1, 2006

Contact: Jimmy Williamson or Lisa Boone 706/542-5813

Recently the University of Georgia community has experienced a number of burglaries and thefts from offices on the UGA campus. The University of Georgia Police Department is asking for the help of the University community in stopping these incidents and apprehending the responsible person or persons. Remember that it takes everyone’s involvement and assistance to prevent thefts!

In some cases, persons in the area of a burglary or theft have seen people in the area that seemed suspicious. We would like to remind everyone to please call the UGA Police Department at 706-542-2200 if they see anyone on campus that seems suspicious. This includes, but is certainly not limited to, people you do not recognize who are seen in areas that do not normally get foot traffic, people attempting to enter areas without proper authorization, people attempting to enter areas by “piggybacking” off of authorized entries where keycards or keys are needed to enter, and people attempting to open doors or other entry ways with objects, or who seem to be having trouble entering an area with a keycard or key.

Please also remember that you should not prop open doors, hold doors open for unauthorized entry, or allow persons to “piggyback” off your entry into an area with a key or keycard. This is true at all times, but especially during the hours the University is closed.

If you see anyone who is having difficulty or seems suspicious, please call the University Police at 706-542-2200. Our officers are trained and will be able to assist the person. If we find that a person needs access to an area, we will be able to put them in contact with personnel who can assist them.

You may also contact the University Police Administration during normal business hours at 706-542-5813 if you have any questions or wish any further information about preventing crime on the UGA campus. We thank you in advance for your assistance with this important task!

Course evaluations

Course evaluation packets were distributed to our faculty and instructors yesterday, and some have already begun distributing them to their classes. These things are pretty straight forward and easy to complete, but there are just a couple of things to remember. First, only the front of the form has to be completed in pencil; ink is too reflective for the machine that processes the forms. We try to provide enough of the golf pencils for those who may need one, but sometimes our supply runs short as we offer more classes as time goes on. So if you find yourself having to share a pencil, you can complete the front in pencil but you can write any comments you'd like on the back in ballpoint pen.

As for the comments, the department staff retype them verbatim into MS Word. Faculty members will see your comments as a typed Word document, not your hand-written eval form, to ensure anonymity.

Finally, for those who are double-majors, please pick the one you most closely identify with and use that to answer the first question, "What is your major?" The machine that processes the forms will reject your eval form is you fill in multiple responses for that question.

Many thanks!

Charter Lecture, April 17

April 11, 2006

To: SPIA Students, Faculty, and Staff

From: Hal Rainey, Department of Public Administration and Policy

Re: Charter Lecturer Taylor Branch

Please let me encourage all SPIA students, faculty, and staff to attend the Charter Lecture on Monday, April 17, 2006 at 3:30 p.m. in the Chapel. Taylor Branch will deliver the lecture, which should be of interest to all of us. He won the Pulitzer Prize as well as other major awards for his book, Parting the Waters, the first of a trilogy of books about the civil rights movement and Martin Luther King. Branch has a Masters Degree from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton. He has been active in electoral politics in the past and has strong interests in political science, public affairs, and public service. His lecture will be about "Democracy in Crisis: Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Future." He will discuss the application of themes from the civil rights movement, such as nonviolence, to contemporary and future issues in democratic governance and international relations.

Branch recently published the third book of his trilogy, At Canaan's Edge. All major newspapers and magazines in the U.S. have carried laudatory reviews of the book, and he has appeared on numerous talk shows to discuss it.

After the lecture, there will be a reception and book signing at the Russell Library. There were many requests for his involvement while he is on campus, so there are not as many opportunities to get him together with SPIA people as we would have liked. Taylor is friendly and enjoys talking to students, staff members, and faculty members, so this is an opportunity to meet and hear from an interesting and very significant author.

GLOBIS Friday Forum, April 7

Please join us at GLOBIS for another Friday Forum this Friday, 7 April, from 2:00 to 3:00pm when Dr. Doug Stinnett will present his research entitled, "Accounting for the Depth of Cooperation: The Design of Regional Trade Agreements." A brief abstract follows:

This paper aims to increase our understanding of international cooperation by examining the depth of economic cooperation in regional trade agreements.

The notion that the extent of international cooperation can be either "deep" or "shallow" is recognized, either implicitly or explicitly, in a wide range of international relations scholarship. Despite widespread theoretical recognition, very little research is explicitly focused on explaining this fundamental aspect of international cooperation. In particular, there have been very few studies that account for the depth of cooperation with a systematic empirical analysis. Most empirical studies do not measure it in an appropriate manner, instead treating cooperation as a dichotomous outcome or by measuring depth indirectly. This means that our empirical analyses of cooperation are not directly testing our theories of cooperation. I address this oversight with an empirical analysis of the depth of cooperation in a single issue area: regional trade agreements. Drawing on several existing areas of research, I present a series of hypotheses regarding the depth of
cooperation in regional trade agreements. In particular, I concentrate on the political, economic, and demographic determinants of the demand for regional economic integration. I test these hypotheses using a new data set that directly measures the depth of proposed trade integration in sample of regional trade agreements formed between 1958 and 2002. The findings of this analysis have implications for our understanding of the effects that democratic government, military alliances, regional leadership, and interstate bargaining have on economic cooperation.

In addition, if anyone is interested in presenting a seminar paper, thesis, prospectus, or dissertation to an interested and informed audience in preparation for academic conferences, please contact Regan Damron at the email address or phone number listed below.

GLOBIS is located in historic Franklin House on the corner of Thomas St. and Broad St. at the Northern edge of campus. Please email redamron@uga.edu or call 542-6633 for directions.

Regards,
Regan Damron
Research Associate
Center for the Study of Global Issues (GLOBIS)
School of Public & International Affairs
The University of Georgia

Just a reminder

Daylight Savings Time begins this Sunday, April 2. Be sure to set your clocks ahead one hour this coming weekend. Because nothing's worse than getting up for an 8 or 9 o'clock class only to discover you're an hour late.

"Last Best Chance," a film on nuclear terrorism

Film Screening and Q & A with General Eugene Habiger

Come join General Eugene Habiger for a screening of the personally sobering and universally stirring movie "Last Best Chance," a film produced by the Nuclear Threat Initiative to increase awareness of the global threats of nuclear terrorism. The 45-minute screening will be followed by a Q & A session with Gen. Habiger, who serves as a Distinguished Fellow at the Center for International Trade and Security, a former head of the U.S. Strategic Command (directing all U.S. Navy and Air Force strategic nuclear weapons), and a current member of the Nuclear Threat Initiative Board of Directors.

Thursday, March 30th, SLC room 171, 7:00 - 9:00 P.M.

Sponsored by the Center for International Trade and Security and Roosevelt @ UGA. Questions? Contact DanWeitz@UGA.edu

GLOBIS Friday Forum, March 31

Please join us at GLOBIS for another Friday Forum Friday, March 31, from 2:00 to 3:30pm when Dr. Shawn Treier will present his research entitled, "Democracy as a Latent Variable." A brief abstract follows:

Measurement is critical to the social scientific enterprise. Many key concepts in social-scientific theories are not observed directly, and researchers rely on assumptions (tacitly or explicitly, via formal measurement models) to operationalize these concepts in empirical work. In this paper we apply formal, statistical measurement models to the Polity indicators of democracy and autocracy, used widely in studies of international relations. In so doing, we make explicit the hitherto implicit assumptions underlying scales built using the Polity indicators. We discuss two models: one in which democracy is operationalized as a latent continuous variable, and another in which democracy is operationalized as a latent class. Our modeling approaches allow us to assess the "noise" (measurement error) in the resulting measure of democracy. We show that this measurement error is considerable, and has substantive consequences when using a measure of democracy as an independent variable in cross-national statistical analysis. Our analysis suggests that skepticism as to the precision of the Polity democracy scale is well-founded, and that many researchers have been overly sanguine about the properties of the Polity democracy scale in applied statistical work.

In addition, if anyone is interested in presenting a seminar paper, thesis, prospectus, or dissertation to an interested and informed audience in preparation for academic conferences, please contact Regan Damron at the email address or phone number listed below.

GLOBIS is located in historic Franklin House on the corner of Thomas St. and Broad St. at the Northern edge of campus. Please email redamron@uga.edu or call 542-6633 for directions.

Regards,

Regan Damron
Research Associate
Center for the Study of Global Issues (GLOBIS)
School of Public & International Affairs
The University of Georgia

GLOBIS Friday Forum, March 10

Please join us at GLOBIS for another Friday Forum this Friday, 10 March, from 2:00 to 3:00pm when Dr. Stephen Shellman will present his research entitled, "AIDS and Violent Conflict: The Indirect Effects of Disease on National Security." He has co-authored this piece with Dr. Susan Peterson, Professor of Government at the College of William and Mary. A brief abstract follows:

The popular press, policy officials, and academic publications increasingly warn of the negative effects on national security of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) and the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) that causes it. Despite these increasingly vocal pleas, however, the idea that HIV/AIDS erodes national security is not conventional wisdom within the international relations discipline. In this paper, we empirically test the link between HIV/AIDS and two aspects of national security, the severity of human rights abuses and civil conflict. Specifically, we examine the direct and indirect effects of adult HIV infection rates in 1999 and 2001 across 112 countries on the likelihood and intensity of state-imposed human rights violations and civil conflict. We find that as HIV/AIDS prevalence rates increase, so too does the severity of human rights abuses and civil conflict. HIV/AIDS has no direct impact on such abuses and civil conflict, however. Rather, it influences national security indirectly through its impact on the social, political, and economic institutions of the state.

In addition, if anyone is interested in presenting a seminar paper, thesis, prospectus, or dissertation to an interested and informed audience in preparation for academic conferences, please contact Regan Damron at the email address or phone number listed below.

GLOBIS is located in historic Franklin House on the corner of Thomas St. and Broad St. at the Northern edge of campus. Please email redamron@uga.edu or call 542-6633 for directions.

Regards,

Regan Damron
Research Associate
Center for the Study of Global Issues (GLOBIS)
School of Public & International Affairs
The University of Georgia

UGA Forum on Intelligence Oversight, March 8

Intelligence oversight to be focus of UGA forum on March 8

Athens, Ga. – The University of Georgia’s Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies, in association with The Policy Forum of the UGA School of Public and International Affairs, will present “Oversight or Overlook? Intelligence in the Modern World” on Wednesday, March 8 at 3 p.m. in the UGA Chapel. A reception will follow in Demosthenian Hall.


Questions making headlines in today’s news will be at the center of the forum. These questions include: Is secrecy the enemy of democracy? Are there circumstances when the Central Intelligence Agency or president should have the authority to bypass legal procedures such as wiretapping citizens without a warrant? Other critical issues surrounding the structure of an intelligence system and questions of its supervision will also be discussed.

The forum will feature a professor of political science at Villanova University, David M. Barrett, and a panel of UGA intelligence experts moderated by Loch Johnson, a UGA public and international affairs professor who was special assistant to the chairman of the 1975 committee that exposed governmental abuses of domestic spying. Panelists are Powell Moore (ABJ), senior congressional and presidential aide and Donald Rumsfeld’s first assistant secretary of defense for legislative affairs (2001-04), and Michael Speckhard, the university’s CIA scholar-in-residence.

“It is David Barrett’s research at the Russell Library that sparked interest in having a campus forum for discussing the timely subject of modern intelligence gathering and oversight,” said Sheryl B. Vogt, director of the Russell Library. “Most of us could easily believe the CIA has little oversight, but during the early years, Congress certainly appeared aggressive in monitoring the agency. Considering today’s events in light of that historical context will no doubt engage our panel and audience in a lively conversation.”

Barrett used collections in the Russell Library to research two of his previous books, Lyndon B. Johnson’s Vietnam Papers and Uncertain Warriors: Lyndon Johnson and His Vietnam Advisers. His most recent book, The CIA and Congress: The Untold Story from Truman to Kennedy, provides a provocative account of relations between American spymasters and Capitol Hill.

In addition to his congressional service, Loch Johnson is the author of three books on the activities of the U.S. intelligence agencies. Most recently, he was a co-author of Who’s Watching the Spies?: Establishing Intelligence Service Accountability, which examines the intelligence systems of nine diverse countries, including the U.S., Norway and South Korea, and presents the strengths and weaknesses of each.

“I believe, and the evidence shows that, given recent experiences with terrorism, clearly even the most democratic societies have a legitimate need for secrecy,” Johnson said. “The secrecy has often been abused, however, and strong oversight systems are necessary to protect individual liberties. We certainly saw that in this country in 1975 and the lessons of that era about the importance of checks and balance in the secret world of intelligence should not be forgotten.”

A native Georgian, Powell Moore began his Washington career in 1966 on the staff of Sen. Richard B. Russell. He subsequently served in the administrations of Presidents Nixon, Ford and Reagan. Prior to serving the current Bush administration in the Department of Defense, Moore was chief of staff to U. S. Sen. Fred Thompson of Tennessee. In 2005, he joined McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP's Washington, DC office in the firm's national government affairs practice as managing director of federal government relations.

Michael Speckhard is the CIA’s officer-in-residence at the University of Georgia, teaching courses on national security-related topics. He has been with the CIA 15 years, providing analysis on a wide variety of issues, such as Caspian energy, Islamic extremism and democratic revolutions. Prior to his CIA life, Speckhard served nine years in the U.S. Army, serving tours abroad in Asia and Europe as a Chinese-Mandarin and Russian linguist.

The Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies serves as a center for research and study of the modern American political system with particular emphasis on the role of Georgia and that of the U. S. Congress. The Russell Library seeks to document fully the dynamic relationship of politics, policy and culture—where public interest intersects with the three branches of government at the local, state, regional, national and international levels—through the papers, archival records and material culture of individuals and organizations. The Russell Library is also dedicated to developing and presenting public programming and educational materials that facilitate and encourage research, raise public awareness of the Library and its collections and services, and provide learning opportunities for the communities it serves.

The Policy Forum is the School of Public and International Affairs’ central arena for political debate and discussion, and for lectures on public affairs. To encourage broad participation in the forum, SPIA will invite distinguished scholars; heads of state; leaders in business, labor, politics, and the media; key federal, state and local government officials; community organizers; and faculty, staff and student leaders. In addition to individual lectures, the Policy Forum will sponsor panel discussions, television and radio programs, and documentary films related to public issues.

Parmentier Lecture, March 9

Open Lecture:

Transatlantic Relations:
Time to Think Big and Bold

Thursday, March 9th
The Chapel at 3:30

Visiting dignitary, Guillaume Parmentier, will be presenting a lecture entitled “Transatlantic Relations: Time to Think Big and Bold.” Mr. Parmentier is the Director of the French Center on the United States at the renowned French Institute of Internationale Relations in Paris.

This lecture will address the tensions that arose between the United States and its traditional European allies, particularly France, after the 2003 confrontations over Iraq. Although their fundamental institutional structures remain very similar, political ideologies may be diverging between the US and Europe. At a time when diverse states and non-state actors are growing in power and influence, the relationship between Europe and America is at a critical juncture. Mr. Parmentier will discuss the consequences of US unilateralism on these important transatlantic relations. In order to best confront the emerging challenges to their international influence, the US and Europe must find fresh ways to reinforce their shared values. Parmentier will explore some bold initiatives he feels could rebuild transatlantic ties and foster greater cooperation between these historical allies.

Sponsored by the School for Public and International Affairs, the College of Arts and Sciences, the Honors Program, the Office of International Affairs/Education, the Center for International Trade and Security and the Department of International Affairs.

Holmes/Hunter Lecture

From one of the many listservs on campus:

SUBJECT: 2006 Holmes/Hunter Lecture

I am pleased to share with you that the 21st annual Holmes/Hunter Lecture will be delivered Tuesday, March 7, by University of Georgia alumna and acclaimed television news journalist Mrs. Deborah Roberts. This year's Holmes/Hunter Lecture begins at 2:00 p.m. in the Chapel. You and others in your area are cordially invited and encouraged to hear this distinguished speaker, proudly is one of our own. The event is free and open to the public. Please encourage colleagues, students and friends to attend.

Deborah Roberts joined the ABC newsmagazine 20/20 in June 1995. Since then she has served as a substitute anchor on World News Weekend and Good Morning America. Prior to joining ABCNEWS, Roberts was a correspondent for NBC News' Dateline NBC from the program's inception, and also served as a substitute anchor on the network news. In addition to her role at ABCNEWS, Roberts hosts a live daily news program called Lifetime Live; on Lifetime Television.

Her journalism career began in 1982 at WTVM-TV in Columbus, Ga., and she subsequently worked at the Atlanta and Miami bureaus of NBC News. She has also worked at WBIR-TV in Knoxville, Tenn., where she was highly regarded for her coverage of the state legislature. She later became the bureau chief of WFTV-TV, the ABC affiliate in Orlando, Fla. Her network career began with NBC News in 1990 as a general assignment reporter and from there she assumed her role with Dateline. Roberts earned her undergraduate degree from the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Georgia in 1982. In 1992 she received UGA's Distinguished Alumnus Award, presented annually to recent graduates who have excelled rapidly in their professions. She also earned a Sports Emmy nomination for her coverage of the 1992 Olympics; was cited as top local female anchor by the Orlando Sentinel; and was recently awarded the Clarion Award for her investigative story on the Amish.

The Holmes/Hunter Lecture was established in 1985 to honor Ms. Charlayne Hunter-Gault and the late Dr. Hamilton Holmes, who in 1961 were the first African Americans to enroll at The University of Georgia. The annual lecture focuses on race relations, black history or aspects of higher education with implications for race relations.

GLOBIS Friday Forum, March 3

Please join us at GLOBIS for another Friday forum this Friday, 3 March, from 3:00 to 4:30 p.m. when Dr. Maurits van der Veen will present his research entitled, "Framing the Purpose of European Integration." A brief abstract follows:

One of the most enduring questions in European integration concerns differences in attitudes among member states regarding new initiatives such as enlargement or "deepening" integration. Attempts to explain these differences by pointing to different economic interests fall short, as does the argument that those who have been members longest are the most supportive of further integration. I argue that different attitudes are explained by differing perceptions of the nature of interdependence within Europe. An examination of the debates regarding membership in six small Northern European countries illustrates the nature of these perceptions and demonstrates their importance for membership choices as well as subsequent decisions.

In addition, if anyone is interested in presenting a seminar paper, thesis, prospectus, or disseration to an interested and informed audience in preparation for academic conferences or job talks, please contact Regan Damron at the email address or phone number listed below.

GLOBIS is located in the historic Franklin House on the corner of Thomas St. and Broad St. at the northern edge of campus. Please email redamron@uga.edu or call 542-6633 for directions.

Midpoint Withdrawal Deadline

While the midpoint for Spring semester 2006 is March 2, the Midpoint Withdrawal Deadline is Tuesday, March 7. Students withdrawing from a course after that date will receive a WF for the class.

Welcome!

Welcome to the blog for the Department of International Affairs at the University of Georgia. We hope to use this service as a means to get news and information out to students and other interested parties faster than constantly updating the department's web site.