Join us for a conversation with Kenneth Roth, the former executive director of Human Rights Watch who will discuss his book Righting Wrongs with Ieva Jusionyte.

Audience Q & A will follow the talk.

Lunch provided.

Presenting the fourth William R. Rhodes ’57 Ethics of Capitalism annual lecture:

How did business ethics come to be understood as something different from plain-old ethics? This lecture locates that departure in the middle decades of the nineteenth-century United States, specifically to the frictions that emerged from inter-regional commerce between Northern manufacturers and Southern slaveholders. The politics of slavery and abolition functioned in surprising ways to construct the business sector as a space where different rules applied. The outcome was a new notion of the market as a space functioning most efficiently when pesky concerns of morality did not intrude.

Q & A to follow moderated by Mark Blyth, Director of the Rhodes Center for International Economics & Finance.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Seth Rockman is a historian of the United States focusing on the period between the American Revolution and the Civil War. His research unfolds at the intersection of slavery studies, labor history, material culture studies, and the history of capitalism. Rockman’s latest book, Plantation Goods: A Material History of American Slavery (2024), is an eye-opening rethinking of nineteenth-century American history that reveals the interdependence of the Northern industrial economy and Southern slave labor.

The Missing Link in Spurring Climate Action? A Spotlight on National Climate Institutions

How do countries organize themselves internally to address climate change? To what extent can internal governance arrangements help create a more favorable national politics for climate action? While a lot of thinking has gone into mechanisms for global collaboration on climate change, national climate governance has received far less attention. Drawing on national case studies, I argue that seemingly prosaic national and sub-national climate governance arrangements are an important, and understudied, link in accelerating transitions to low-carbon, climate resilient futures.

MES seniors Jad Hamze, Baylie A. Hartford, Anais S. Leichtling,
Mica Maltzman, Bianca Rosen and Ian Stettner will present their capstone research projects.

Welcome by Elias Muhanna, Director, Center for Middle East Studies

Introductions by Alex Winder, Associate Director, Center for
Middle East Studies

Prophecies that the dollar will lose its status as the world’s dominant currency have echoed for decades—and are increasing in volume. Cryptocurrency enthusiasts claim that Bitcoin or other blockchain-based monetary units will replace the dollar. Foreign policy hawks warn that China’s renminbi poses a lethal threat to the greenback. And sound money zealots predict that mounting US debt and inflation will surely erode the dollar’s value to the point of irrelevancy.

Contra the doomsayers, Paul Blustein shows that the dollar’s standing atop the world’s currency pyramid is impregnable, barring catastrophic policy missteps by the US government. Recounting how the United States has wielded the dollar to impose devastating sanctions against adversaries, Blustein explains that although targets such as Russia have found ways to limit the damage, Washington’s financial weaponry will retain potency long into the future. His message, however, is that America must not be complacent about the dollar; the great power that its supremacy confers comes with commensurate responsibility.

Audience Q & A to follow.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Paul Blustein has written about economic issues for more than 40 years, first as a reporter at leading news organizations and later as the author of several critically acclaimed books. A graduate of the University of Wisconsin and Oxford University, where he was a Rhodes Scholar, Paul spent much of his career reporting for The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal. He lives in Kamakura, Japan.

This half-day workshop will consist of two panels that will bring together experts from academia, medicine, law, and journalism to discuss critical issues in reproductive justice. 

12:00 - 12:30 | Welcome and Introductions

12:30 - 2:30 PM | On the Ground: The Practice of Medicine, Law, Journalism

• Emma Roth, Senior Staff Attorney, Pregnancy Justice
• Ayiti Majaraj-Best, Medical Director, Planned Parenthood of Southern New England
• Stephania Taladrid, Contributing Writer and Pulitzer Prize Finalist, The New Yorker
• Astrid Ackerman, Staff Attorney, Center for Reproductive Justice
• Liz Tobin-Tyler, Associate Professor of Health Services, and Benjamin Brown, Assistant Professor of Obstetrics & Gynecology, Brown University 

2:30 - 3:00 PM | Break 

Join us for a short coffee/tea break in between panels. 

3:00 - 5:00 PM | Theorizing the Present: Sociological and Legal Perspectives

• Zakiya Luna, Associate Professor of Sociology, Washington University
• Jocelyn Viterna, Professor of Sociology, Harvard University
• Siri Suh, Associate Professor of Sociology, Brandeis University 
• Mary Ziegler, Professor of Law, University of California Davis

Yogendra Yadav is an Indian activist and political thinker known for his unwavering commitment to democracy, social justice, and constitutional values. Starting his career as a teacher of Political Science at Panjab University, Chandigarh and then as a Professorial Fellow at Delhi based Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS), he was among the founders of Lokniti at CSDS, instrumental in the revival of National Election Studies in India, among the initiators of State of Democracy in South Asia reports and involved in rewriting of school textbooks of Political Science for the NCERT. His books include Making Sense of Indian Democracy (Permanent Black, 2020) and Crafting State-Nations (with Alfred Stepan and Juan Linz, John Hopkins University Press, 2011). He was involved in the making of education policy and was a member of the University Grants Commission.


Since 1995 he was associated with Samajwadi Janparishad, an experiment in alternative politics, that drew inspiration from the Gandhian socialist tradition. In 2012 he was among the founders of Aam Aadmi Party and went on to establish Swaraj India. He was involved in the movement against the Citizenship Amendment Act, was in the apex committee that guided the historic Farmers protest in 2020-21 and walked from Kanyakumari to Kashmir with the Bharat Jodo Yatra. He is the National Convenor of Bharat Jodo Abhiyaan, a civil society initiative to protect and promote constitutional values and democratic institutions. His journey blends intellectual depth with grassroots activism, making him a prominent voice in India’s democratic and social movements.

About the Event

The Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies welcomes faculty, students, and staff for a community celebration and our final Cafecito con CLACS of the semester. Enjoy music outside on the Starr Plaza. Coffee and pastries will be served by Café Modesto. All are welcome.

Rain location: Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies: 59 Charlesfield, 2nd floor

About the book:

How the U.S. policy of competition with China is detrimental to democracy, peace, and prosperity—and how a saner approach is possible

For close to a decade, the U.S. government has been preoccupied with the threat of China, fearing that the country will “eat our lunch,” in the words of Joe Biden. The United States has crafted its foreign and domestic policy to help constrain China’s military power and economic growth. Van Jackson and Michael Brenes argue that great-power competition with China is misguided and vastly underestimates the costs and risks that geopolitical rivalry poses to economic prosperity, the quality of democracy, and, ultimately, global stability.

This in-depth assessment of the trade-offs and pitfalls of protracted competition with China reveals how such a policy exacerbates inequality, leads to xenophobia, and increases the likelihood of violence around the world. In addition, it distracts from the priority of addressing such issues as climate change while at the same time undercutting democratic pluralism and sacrificing liberty in the name of prevailing against an enemy “other.” Jackson and Brenes provide an informed and urgent critique of current U.S. foreign policy and a road map toward a saner, more democratically accountable strategy of easing tension and achieving effective diplomacy.

The China Initiative at the Watson Institute hosts a two-day conference on Defusing Militarized Rivalry Between the U.S. and China, May 8-9.

Register here to attend.

See the full program here.

Statement of Purpose: During the last decade, U.S.-China relations have lurched dangerously into intensive militarized rivalry. This rivalry has the gravest possible implications for world peace, since the threat of war now looms over disputes in the South China Sea and also the ever-volatile Taiwan issue. As in the last Cold War, there is additionally the possibility that geopolitical rivalry will intensify disputes from Eastern Europe to the Arctic to the Middle East to Africa and throughout the Asia-Pacific. Moreover, this rivalry is already diverting resources and attention from other key issues, including global health and development, economic cooperation, and the climate crisis. This conference is intended as the first in a series and has five major goals: 1) to build a community of scholars dedicated to defusing U.S.-China rivalry; 2) to debate and refine arguments that favor mitigating geopolitical tensions between the superpowers; 3) to publish and disseminate the highest quality scholarship assessing the process of growing US-China militarized rivalry; 4) to develop concrete policy recommendations for curtailing military tensions among the two Asia-Pacific powers; and 5) to cultivate a new generation of experts that are capable of guiding US-China relations onto a more peaceful and collaborative path.

The China Initiative at the Watson Institute hosts a two-day conference on Defusing Militarized Rivalry Between the U.S. and China, May 8-9.

Register here to attend.

See the full program here.

Statement of Purpose: During the last decade, U.S.-China relations have lurched dangerously into intensive militarized rivalry. This rivalry has the gravest possible implications for world peace, since the threat of war now looms over disputes in the South China Sea and also the ever-volatile Taiwan issue. As in the last Cold War, there is additionally the possibility that geopolitical rivalry will intensify disputes from Eastern Europe to the Arctic to the Middle East to Africa and throughout the Asia-Pacific. Moreover, this rivalry is already diverting resources and attention from other key issues, including global health and development, economic cooperation, and the climate crisis. This conference is intended as the first in a series and has five major goals: 1) to build a community of scholars dedicated to defusing U.S.-China rivalry; 2) to debate and refine arguments that favor mitigating geopolitical tensions between the superpowers; 3) to publish and disseminate the highest quality scholarship assessing the process of growing US-China militarized rivalry; 4) to develop concrete policy recommendations for curtailing military tensions among the two Asia-Pacific powers; and 5) to cultivate a new generation of experts that are capable of guiding US-China relations onto a more peaceful and collaborative path.

Join the Watson Institute for a conversation that examines the vital role of the rule of law in sustaining American democracy. Wendy J. Schiller, Interim Director of the Watson Institute, will moderate a discussion with Corey Brettschneider, Professor of Political Science, and Michael Vorenberg, Associate Professor of History.

Forum: 12:30–1:30pm at 85 Waterman St, Room 130 & Livestream (link coming soon)

Reception: 1:30–2:30pm at 85 Waterman St Room 101/102

The federal landscape of climate law and policy is shifting rapidly. How are experts in public interest law, academia and government navigating these changes, and what legal and policy actions are emerging in response? Hear from a panel of leading voices in climate law and policy for an insightful discussion on the current outlook and evolving strategies. Engage with the panel, ask your questions, and continue the conversation at a post-forum reception hosted by the Institute at Brown for Environment & Society. Forum co-sponsored by the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs.

Featured speakers:

• Michael Burger ’96, Executive Director, Sabin Center for Climate Change Law, Columbia University Law School
• Peter Neronha P’19, P’22, Rhode Island Attorney General
• Wendy Schiller, Howard R. Swearer Interim Director, Thomas J. Watson, Jr. Institute for International and Public Affairs & Alison S. Ressler Professor of Political Science
• Moderated by Carrie Nordlund ’05 PhD, Lecturer in International and Public Affairs & Assistant Dean, Division of Pre-College and Undergraduate Programs