The program overview is available here : Program

The Return of Geopolitics Conference

SUNDAY, April 3, 2016

6 p.m. OPENING RECEPTION, Ventana Room, Marriott Hotel University Park, Tucson

MONDAY, April 4, 2016 - Environment and Natural Resources 2 Building, Room S-107, UA campus

8:00 – 8:25 a.m. BREAKFAST

8:25 – 8:35 a.m. WELCOME

• J.P. Jones, Dean, College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, UA
• Christian Suter, President, World Society Foundation, University of Neuchâtel, Switzerland

8:35 – 8:50 a.m. OPENING REMARKS

• Albert J. Bergesen, Professor, School of Sociology, UA

8:50 – 9:20 a.m. PLENARY ADDRESS: FORTRESS-RUSSIA: GEOPOLITICAL DESTINY, UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES, OR POLICY DECISIONS?

• Andrei Melville, Professor and Dean, Faculty of Social Sciences, National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russia.

9:20 – 9:35 a.m. Q&A

9:35 – 10:05 a.m. MODERATED PANEL: RUSSIAN GEOPOLITICS

• Andrei P. Tsygankov, Professor at the Departments of Political Science and International Relations, San Francisco State University
• Peter Turchin, Professor, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Connecticut
• Andrei Melville, National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow

10:05 – 10:20 a.m. Q&A

10:20 – 10:35 a.m. COFFEE BREAK

10:35 – 11:05 a.m. PLENARY ADDRESS: MIDDLE EASTERN GEOPOLITICS

• Nizar Messari, Professor and Dean, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Al Akhawayn University, Ifrane, Morocco

11:05 – 11:20 a.m. Q&A

11:20 a.m. — 11:50 a.m. MODERATED PANEL: THE GEOPOLITICS OF THE MIDDLE EAST

• Faten Goshn, Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Arizona
• Mansoor Moaddel, Professor of Sociology, University of Maryland
• Nizar Messari, Al Akhawayn University, Ifrane

12:15 – 12:30 p.m. Q&A

11:50 a.m. – 12:50 p.m. LUNCH

12:50 – 1:20 p.m. PLENARY ADDRESS: CHINESE GEOPOLITICS TODAY

• Toshi Yoshihara, John A. van Beuren Chair of Asia-Pacific Studies, U.S. Naval War College

01:20 – 01:35 p.m. Q&A

01:35 - 02:05 p.m. MODERATED PANEL: THE GEOPOLITICS OF EAST ASIA

• T.V. Paul, James McGill Professor of International Relations, McGill University; President, International Studies Association (ISA)
• Chris Demchak, RADM Grace M. Hopper Chair of Cybersecurity, U.S. Naval War College
• Toshi Yoshihara, U.S. Naval War College

02:05 – 02:20 p.m. Q&A

02:20 – 02:35 p.m. COFFEE BREAK

02:35 – 03:05 p.m. PLENARY ADDRESS: ON WAR

• Ian Morris, Jean and Rebecca Willard Professor of Classics and Professor of History, Stanford University

03:05 – 03:20 p.m. Q&A

03:20 – 03:50 p.m. MODERATED PANEL: CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES OF WAR

• William R. Thompson, Distinguished Professor and Donald A. Rogers Professor of Political Science, Indiana University
• Peter Turchin, Professor, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Connecticut
• Ian Morris, Stanford University

03:50 – 04:05 p.m. Q&A

04:05 – 04:35 p.m. PLENARY ADDRESS: GEOPOLITICS IN THE ANTHROPOCENE

• Simon Dalby, CIGI chair in the political economy of climate change at the Balsillie School of International Affairs (BSIA), Wilfrid Laurier University

04:35– 04:50 p.m. Q&A

04:50 – 05:20 p.m. MODERATED PANEL: GEOPOLITICS AND THE ENVIRONMENT

• Diana Liverman, Co-director, Institute of the Environment and Regents Professor, School of Geography and Development, University of Arizona
• Franck Poupeau, Co-Director of the UMI iGLOBES CNRS/UA, and Senior Researcher, National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), Paris, France
• Simon Dalby, Wilfrid Laurier University

05:20 – 05:35 p.m. Q&A

05:35 p.m. CLOSING REMARKS

• Albert J. Bergesen

06:30 p.m. DINNER, meet in the lobby of the Marriot Hotel

TUESDAY, April 5, 2016 - Environment and Natural Resources 2 Building, Room S-107, UA campus

08:15 – 08:50 a.m. BREAKFAST

08:50 – 09:00 a.m. OPENING REMARKS

• Albert J. Bergesen, Professor, School of Sociology, UA

09:00 – 10:15 a.m. SESSION 1: GLOBAL GEOPLOLITICAL DYNAMICS

• Salvatore Babones, “Sovereignty in the Millennial World-System,“ University of Sydney
• William R. Thompson, “Getting International Structure 'Right': Geopolitics, Political Economy, and Instability – The Unipolarity Myth and Associated Misperceptions,” Indiana University
• Şahan Savaş Karatasli, “Contentious Conjunctures and Global Waves of Secessionism,” Princeton University
• Thomas Ehrlich Reifer, “Lawyers, Guns & Money: Wall Street, Geopolitics, & the American Century,” University of San Diego
• Timothy P. Moran, “The United Nations and Global Governance in the 21st Century: The Nation State, National Borders, and the Future of Geopolitics,” Department of Sociology, Stony Brook University

10:15 – 10:30 a.m. Q&A

10:30 – 10:45 a.m. COFFEE BREAK

10:45 – 11:45 a.m. SESSION 2: RUSSIA AND EUROPE

• Tomasz Stępniewski, “The Eastern Partnership Held Hostage in a Geopolitical Game between the EU and Russia,” Institute of Political Science and International Affairs, Catholic University of Lublin, Poland
• Marta Zorko, “The Return of Geopolitics in Europe: Divisions, Wired Fences and Myths of Unity,” University of Zagreb, Croatia
• Sophia Skupien, “Building a New World Order? Comparing Russian and Chinese Aims for the BRICS,” Georgetown University

11:45 – 12:00 a.m. Q&A

12:00 – 01:00 p.m. LUNCH

01:00 — 02:00 p.m. SESSION 3: CHINA AND THE ASIA PACIFIC

• Rongxing Guo, “China’s New Silk-Road Initiative and the South China Sea Disputes: Toward a New Mutual Deterrence Equilibrium,” Regional Science Association, Peking University, 101402, Beijing, China
• Elizabeth F. Larus, “Alliances and US Sea Power in the Asia-Pacific,” University of Mary Washington
• Manochehr Dorraj, “The Return of the Middle East to its Asian Home: Expanding Middle East/ Asia Nexus and their Ramifications,” Texas Christian University
• Robert A. Denemark, “Pre-emptive Decline: The Weakening of Great Powers and Geopolitical Volatility,” University of Delaware

02:00 – 02:15 p.m. Q&A

02:15 – 03:15 p.m. SESSION 4: VIOLENCE, TERRORISM, RELIGION

• Skander Ben Mami, “The Advent of Saharan Geopolitics,” Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) at the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE)
• Maria Syed, “Crystal Ball Gazing: Alarming Trends and a Collision Course between Iran and Saudi Arabia,” Australian National University
• Deepika Saraswat, “Revolutionary Shi’ism and Conservative Wahhabism: The Sectarian Axis of Geopolitical Rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Iran,” Jawaharlal Nehru University, India
• Sefika Kumral, “Geopolitics of Anti-Kurdish Violence in Turkey: From Riots to Ethnic Cleansing?,” Johns Hopkins University
• William F.S. Miles, “African Islamist Terrorism and the Fracturing of Postcolonial Borders,” Northeastern University

03:15 – 03:30 p.m. Q&A

3:30 p.m. CLOSING REMARKS

• Albert J. Bergesen