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September 10, 2021September 10, 2021

Contributed by Shirley Graham, Director of the Gender Equality Initiative in International Affairs, Associate Professor of Practice in International Affairs

“It is time now for ideas about women’s inclusion as a ‘soft’ security matter to be relegated to last century and for gender equality to be taken seriously, not only for the sake of women and girls somewhere, but for the sake of peace and security everywhere.”

The year before 9/11, in October 2000, women’s rights activists were allowed into the chambers of the UN Security Council (UNSC) for the first time! There they highlighted the discriminatory gender norms that make women more vulnerable to certain forms of violence, such as conflict related sexual violence. They called on the UN and member states to put in place gender inclusive mechanisms, such as the participation of women in formal peace and security processes, peace talks, peacekeeping, and countering violent extremism. UNSCR 1325 (2000) was adopted and since then nine more resolutions which make up the Women, Peace & Security Agenda (WPS). And, while this was an important step forward, the implementation of the WPS Agenda and its impact on national and international security has not been realized. For example, not enough attention has been paid to how women are targeted and recruited by extremist groups. In 2017, the Global Extremism Monitor registered the numbers of women involved in suicide attacks increasing, with 181 women involved in 100 suicide attacks that year^[1]. Paternalistic attitudes towards women have been utilized to justify military action such as the invasion of Afghanistan. And yet, in the recent withdrawal of U.S. and NATO troops, we see once again that the security of women and girls’ is no longer a priority, as they await their fate under the control of the new Taliban government. The creation of the WPS Agenda has raised awareness of the need for the incorporation of gender analysis to enable holistic understandings of complex security environments. It has also driven new research and new movements for change such as the rise in feminist foreign policies adopted by countries such as Mexico and Canada. Yet, there is still too much talk and not enough action. We have ample evidence linking gender equality and women’s status with a country’s stability, prosperity and security.^[2] It is time now for ideas about women’s inclusion as a ‘soft’ security matter to be relegated to last century and for gender equality to be taken seriously, not only for the sake of women and girls somewhere, but for the sake of peace and security everywhere.

September 10, 2021

Contributed by Erwan Lagadec, Associate Research Professor of International Affairs

“The 9/11 Commission Report later estimated that the plot cost Al-Qaida no more than $500,000; while the cost of its impact, and of the U.S.’ response, is measured in trillions.”

A government-centric understanding of the response to 9/11 would surely focus on the most harrowing decision that the executive branch made that morning, when Vice-President Cheney ordered U.S. fighter pilots to shoot down hijacked airliners – which he understood were on their way to take out the White House or the Capitol. As best we can tell through the fog of war that characterized all events of that day, Cheney gave the order at 10:15am. By then, however, the attack had already been over for 12 minutes. The last hijacked plane, United 93, had in fact crashed near Shanksville, PA at 10:03am. The sole instance when the terrorists’ plans were defeated on 9/11 came about not because of any decision made by the White House or the FAA or NORAD; but because the plane’s passengers chose to confront what they now realized was a suicide mission. In other words, the “most powerful government in the world” arguably had no impact whatsoever on the unfolding of the attacks. The 9/11 Commission Report later estimated that the plot cost Al-Qaida no more than $500,000; while the cost of its impact, and of the U.S.’ response, is measured in trillions. These are the sort of shocking realizations that soon caused some analysts to speak of the “end of power”. At least, we have been witnessing the era-defining “flattening” and redistribution of power towards the grassroots; towards web-enabled, nebulous, shape-shifting, hypercomplex networks of unthinkably-empowered individuals, in an environment where most barriers to entry into strategic and high-political relevance have essentially been removed. In the mid-20th century, the Annals School revolutionized the field of History by arguing that socio-economic and cultural dynamics rooted in long-term evolutions were a more potent causal factor, hence a more useful field of inquiry than the usual lists of kings, battles, and treaties. Twenty years on from 9/11, those of us who teach in a field that – by the way – we still insist on calling inter-*national* relations, should pause and ponder: where is our own “Annals School”? Are we teaching governance – or are we teaching power?

September 9, 2021September 15, 2021

September 11: 20 Years later

9/11 20 years later. Twin towers in the NYC skyline

In commemoration of the twentieth anniversary of 9/11, an event which continues to impact us today, Elliott School faculty have contributed brief reflections on how that day shaped what we do in international affairs.

To the Elliott School Community:

Saturday, September 11 will mark twenty years since the terrorist attacks of 9/11. For me, the memory of that morning still remains vivid. I was working in New York City then, running late to catch the subway from my Brooklyn apartment to my job on the Upper East Side, and was buckling a shoe strap when I heard the news that a plane had hit the first tower. The events that followed, as has been well documented, ushered the United States into two decades of a national security focus on global terrorism, and our longest war, Afghanistan.

Two decades on, how has the world changed, and how has 9/11 affected different aspects of the study and practice of international affairs? We asked some of our faculty members whose work concerns questions of peace and security, geopolitics, Afghanistan and South Asia, and the Middle East to share their reflections on 9/11’s legacy in their worlds. Their observations are as diverse as the regions and fields of their expertise.

We hope this special edition of our Elliott 360 newsletter offers something for us all to think about as we head into this somber September 11.

Best regards,

Alyssa Ayres

Dean

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June 8, 2021June 8, 2021

In Memoriam: Robert W. Rycroft

On Sunday, May 2, 2021, Professor Emeritus Robert Rycroft, a long-term faculty member of the Institute for International Science and Technology Policy at the Elliott School of International Affairs, and core faculty of the homonym Masters program, passed away after a long-term illness. Colleagues of Dr. Rycroft share their memories below.

Nick Vonortas:

The long and the sort of it is that Bob Rycroft — a veteran of the Vietnam war who attended graduate school after his tour of duty in South-East Asia with the help of the GI Bill — was the person who called me up while I was serving my own tour in the Greek Navy back in late 1989 to announce the job opening at GW and to invite me to apply for it. He was the second regular faculty member — besides John Logsdon– of the Center for Science and Technology Policy (as it was called back then) that I found upon arrival, and I was the junior third: one full prof (John), one associate prof (Bob), and one assistant prof (Nick).

Although finicky at times, Bob had a great heart and, if you got on his good side, was particularly generous with his time and advice. When I asked what type of students attend GW he advised me to first visit the student and then the faculty parking lots. Yeap, it was crystal clear!!

He was our energy/environment specialist. He did not write a lot of articles, but those he did publish, were really good. The one that got the most attention was the book co-authored late in his career with his old Ph.D. supervisor Prof Don Kash, titled “The Complexity Challenge” (Jan 1999). I thought it was a great volume and was envious that I could not write that well. Then he told me that he could not write well either. Bob was characteristically unselfish and set us all at ease with our own shortcomings.

He was famous for sitting in his office talking to individual students for hours. He was also famous for entering the first meeting of our cornerstone course in the late 1990s during the first Internet boom and casually deflating students’ excitement by reminding them that the spiffy thing called the Internet runs on energy from dirty coal!

When I asked where he was from, he said he came north from a land where the rivers are shallow and wide. I thought I knew geography and was deeply embarrassed to ask which place that was. He must have guessed it and continued: Oklahoma.

Bob was also famous for his love of VW Beetles (VW bugs). He had a large picture of an old assembly line of the vehicles hung outside his office, and if you got into friendly discussion with him he might have told you that he was an aficionado. He had a very old one, black (model 1962) with original parts parked outside his door. The problem was that he was also driving that car to work, thus, occasionally missing class.

Bob and John Logsdon were faculty members of the Political Science Department. My arrival at the CSTP as a member of the Economics Department changed the recipe.

John Logsdon:

Nick Vonortas has captured Bob Rycroft very well. I do not have a whole lot to add. Bob came to GW in 1981 to join us as faculty members of the science and technology program. Over the following years, he was a dedicated teacher and a valued mentor to a number of students. He was a voracious reader of the academic and policy literature, and that was reflected in his teaching. His experience in Viet Nam colored his personality; he was rather skeptical of authority, a useful perspective for someone based a few blocks from the White House. Bob was a good colleague and helped make our program the training ground for several generations of public servants.

Henry Hertzfeld:

I came to CISTP in 1992 in the middle of my career with both prior government and consulting experience. Bob was, as Nick and John have described, a steady and knowledgeable source of help and technical expertise on science and technology policy. We all relied on his perspectives and found them invaluable. As a friend as well, we traded stories about many things, ranging from owning VW bugs (I once had one but never developed the love for it that he did), to dealing with the GW bureaucracy. And, having an office right next to his, I was both inspired and awed by the time and attention he gave to our students and their career interests. He genuinely cared for them and I would see so many of our students come back in later years for his advice and support.

Unfortunately, he developed dementia towards the end of his career at the CISTP. It was a problem for us all and we tried as much as we could to him through the early years of his illness so that he could continue to teach and advise students. He didn’t quit and kept doing what he could do well until it was no longer possible. God bless his heart.

April 23, 2021

In Memoriam: Dr. Vartan Gregorian

The Elliott School of International Affairs mourns the passing of Dr. Vartan Gregorian, President of the Carnegie Corporation of New York. Under Dr. Gregorian’s visionary approach, the Carnegie Corporation became a leader in advancing research on international peace and security across America’s academic institutions, including at GW and the Elliott School. Dr. Gregorian understood the vital importance of social science research and scholarship to strong, democratic societies and supported projects making scholarly work accessible to wider audiences.

His lifelong commitment to learning and discovery had a tremendous impact on higher education across the United States, and at the Elliott School. Under Dr. Gregorian’s leadership, the Carnegie Corporation supported some of the Elliott School’s most impactful programs, including the Project on Middle East Political Science (POMEPS), the Program on New Approaches to Research and Security in Eurasia (PONARS), Johnson’s Russia List, the Nuclear Security Working Group, and for research on US Strategic Nuclear Policy toward China.

Henry Hale, PONARS Co-Director and Professor of Political Science and International Affairs, shared “I was shocked and saddened to hear the news of Vartan Gregorian’s passing. Under his guidance, Carnegie Corporation has played an immense—and, indeed, irreplaceable—role in supporting scholarship in the cause of peace. This includes his emphasis on the central importance of US-Russian relations and on the need for investment in successive generations of specialists with strong grounding in policy-conscious academic research.”

Marc Lynch, POMEPS Director and Professor of Political Science and International Affairs, added, “The Project on Middle East Political Science, the academic society housed at the Elliott School which has supported the careers of so many junior scholars, would never have been conceived, much less flourished, without the support of Vartan Gregorian. His visionary leadership of the Carnegie Corporation will be sorely missed even as we try to honor his legacy.”

We are grateful for the life and incredible support of Vartan Gregorian, and we will continue to celebrate his legacy of peace, scholarship, and learning.

January 8, 2021

The Year in Review

Enjoy this video reviewing some highlights of the past year!

And from all of us here at the Elliott School of International Affairs, we wish everyone a happy, healthy 2021!

January 8, 2021January 8, 2021

A Message from the Dean

Dear Elliott School Community,

On behalf of the faculty and staff at the Elliott School, we join President LeBlanc in condemning the senseless acts of violence and chaos that we witnessed at the Capitol building on Wednesday, just a short distance from our campus.

President LeBlanc reminded us of our role as an institution of higher learning that debate and disagreement should result in civil discourse that leads to change, not to violence and insurrection. Elliott School students are some of the most civically engaged students with as strong a sense of social justice as I have ever met.

I echo President’s LeBlanc’s words that if you feel angry about the ongoing threats to our democratic institutions, channel your passion towards making a positive difference in the world. In the words of a fellow anthropologist, Margaret Mead, “never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”

Please choose to remain optimistic and focused on what you can do to effect the change in the world you wish to see.

My best wishes for a safe, healthy and happy New Year.

Sincerely,

Ilana Feldman,

Interim Dean, Elliott School of International Affairs

January 4, 2021January 4, 2021

In Memoriam: Dr. Jerrold M. Post

Jerrold M. Post, Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry, Political Psychology and International Affairs died on November 22, 2020 at the age of 86. The cause of death was Covid-19 following a recent decline in health.

Dr. Post devoted his entire career to the field of political psychology. He came to the George Washington University after a 21 year career with the Central Intelligence Agency where he founded and directed the Center for the Analysis of Personality and Political Behavior, an interdisciplinary behavioral science unit which provided assessments of foreign leadership and decision making for the President and other senior officials to prepare for Summit meetings and other high level negotiations and for use in crisis situations. He played the lead role in developing the “Camp David profiles” of Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat for President Jimmy Carter and initiated the U.S. government program in understanding the psychology of terrorism. In recognition of his leadership of the Center, Dr. Post was awarded the Intelligence Medal of Merit in 1979, and received the Studies in Intelligence Award in 1980. He received the Nevitt Sanford Award for Distinguished Professional Contributions to Political Psychology in 2002.

A founding member of the International Society of Political Psychology, Dr. Post was elected Vice-President in 1994, and served on the editorial board of Political Psychology since 1987.

The entire faculty and staff of the Elliott School expresses their condolences to the Post family in their loss and gratitude for Dr. Post’s long and dedicated service to furthering the work of the intelligence community and promoting a better understanding of how events unfold in the international arena.

Read more about Dr. Jerrold M. Post’s life and career in The Washington Post.

December 7, 2020

Inaugural Event of I/WE

“‘Gender issues are not always visible,’ said Anita Bhatia, Deputy Executive Director at UN Women, speaking at the inaugural event introducing International Women of Elliott (I/WE), a dynamic new leadership group. More than 115 enthusiastic members of the extended Elliott community gathered virtually to hear Ambassador Bhatia speak and to participate in a lively discussion, moderated by Elliott alumna Diana Henriques, a prize-winning journalist and author…”

Bachelor of Science Program Expands Student Opportunities

city scape with lights beaming from building to building

“Designed to prepare students to tackle a range of global challenges ranging from cybersecurity to space policy, the George Washington University Elliott School of International Affairs’ Bachelor of Science in International Affairs (BSIA) degree program allows students to integrate higher-level STEM credits into the study of their core international affairs curriculum…” Read the full article in GW Today