The Arnold A. Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies presents:
The 15th Annual Kenneth N. Waltz Lecture in International Relations: “Listening to Thucydides: Contingency, Chance, and Catastrophe in Contemporary World Politics” with Jonathan Kirshner.
With Jonathan Kirshner, Professor of Political Science and International Studies, Boston College
Hosted by V. Page Fortna, Director, Arnold A. Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies; Harold Brown Professor of US Foreign and Security Policy, Department of Political Science, Columbia University
Moderated by Jack Snyder, Robert and Renée Belfer Professor of International Relations, Columbia University
Event Description: Thucydides' brilliant, sprawling, epic history of the Peloponnesian War is too often reduced to simple slogans or snippets of dialogue. Revisiting his magisterial opus reveals rich and timeless wisdom that offers keen insights into the most pressing problems of contemporary world politics.
Speaker Bio: Jonathan Kirshner is Professor of Political Science and International Studies at Boston College, and the Stephen and Barbara Friedman Professor of International Political Economy Emeritus at Cornell University. He is the author, most recently, of An Unwritten Future: Realism and Uncertainty in World Politics, and co-editor (with Peter Katzenstein) of Downfall of the American Order? Kirshner served as director of Cornell University’s Reppy Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies from 2007 to 2015, and previously chaired the Economics and National Security Program at the Olin Institute of Strategic Studies at Harvard. His research and teaching interests focus on international relations, political economy (especially macroeconomics and money), and film studies. His numerous books include American Power after the Financial Crisis, as well as Hollywood’s Last Golden Age: Politics, Society and the Seventies Film in America, and Appeasing Bankers: Financial Caution on the Road to War, which won the best book award from the International Security Studies Section of the International Studies Association. From Cornell University, Kirshner is a recipient of the Provost's Award for Distinguished Scholarship, and the Stephen and Margery Russell Distinguished Teaching Award.
