In Memoriam: Hayward Alker

We deeply regret to inform SIR web visitors viewers of the passing of Hayward R. Alker, holder of the John A. McCone Chair in International Relations in USC College, on August 24, 2007.

In lieu of flowers, the Alker family prefers contributions to the Middle East Peace Education Program, American Friends Service Committee, Attn: Selma Plascencia, 634 S. Spring Street, 3rd Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90014. Please indicate on the memo line: Hayward Alker Memorial: LA Middle East Peace

Hayward Alker was honored posthumously at the 2008 meeting of the International Studies Association (of which he was a past president) with the Susan Strange Award. The Susan Strange Award was established in 1998 to recognize Susan Strange for her unique and extraordinary role within the International Studies Association and the worldwide community of scholars. This award recognizes a person whose singular intellect, assertiveness, and insight most challenge conventional wisdom and intellectual and organizational complacency in the international studies community.

Tributes to Hayward Alker:

International Political Sociology

Volume 2 Issue 1 Page 75-81, March 2008

Heikki Patomäki (2008) Learning from Alker: The Fifth Lesson
doi:10.1111/j.1749-5687.2007.00033.x

International Political Sociology

Volume 2 Issue 1 Page 82-84, March 2008

James Der Derian (2008) ‘‘The Alker Effect" doi:10.1111/j.1749-5687.2007.00034.x

International Relations

Professor Named Carnegie

Scholar By Wayne Lewis
April 2008

The Carnegie Corporation of New York announced April 4 that Laurie Brand, director and professor of the USC School of International Relations, has been named a 2008 Carnegie Scholar.

One of only 20 academics to receive the Carnegie award, Brand will use the prestigious two-year grant to pursue a research project about the relationship between post-colonial Middle Eastern states and Islam.

“We congratulate Laurie on this signal recognition, and we also congratulate the Carnegie Corporation on making a great choice,” said USC College Dean Howard Gillman. “Laurie is an incisive, insightful mind, and she’s producing top-notch scholarship that helps us better understand our rapidly changing world.”

SIR Faculty Publications

"The Diplomatic Corps as an Institution of International Society" edited by Paul Sharp and Geoffrey Wiseman has been published by Palgrave (ISBN#0-230-00165-3). The diplomatic corps is one of the most obvious manifestations of the international society of states.

Nevertheless, the body of diplomats which constitutes it in every capital city and home of international organizations has been almost completely neglected by contemporary international scholarship.

This volume challenges the conventional view that the diplomatic corps is a leftover from the ceremony and privilege of a bygone era of "old diplomacy." Its essays trace the historical development of the diplomatic corps. They demonstrate its importance in setting the terms on which everyday international life continues to be undertaken and the way the corps has adapted to a world in which states are
increasingly only one among many actors which require diplomatic representation.

Professor Apichai Shipper’s book manuscript, Foreigners and Democracy in Contemporary Japan, has been accepted for publication by Cornell University Press and the SSRC-Abe Fellowship Committee has just awarded him a grant for his second book project, Immigration Politics in Japan, the U.S., and Sweden.

Professor Gerardo Munck has two new major publications Regimes and Democracy in Latin America: Theories and Methods (Oxford University Press) is an edited volume that assesses the state of current knowledge on democracy in Latin America and identifies new research frontiers in the study of Latin American politics. [More...]

Passion, Craft, and Method in Comparative Politics (Johns Hopkins University Press) is a collaborate work with Richard Snyder that includes a set of interviews with the most prominent scholars in comparative politics since World War II. The book traces key developments in the field during the twentieth century and offers a wealth of insights into contemporary debates about the state of knowledge in comparative politics. [More...]

"Passion, Craft and Method in Comparative Politics" (Johns Hopkins U. Press) has just been named one of "the best 25 books of 2007" by the Spanish edition of "Foreign Policy" . You can find the reference at: http://www.fp-es.org/los-25-libros-de-fp-2007

"Lessons from the Bloc" by Robert D. English, Associate Professor of International Relations and the author of Russia and the Idea of the West: Gorbachev, Intellectuals, and the End of the Cold War (Columbia Univesrsity, 2000). [More...]

The University of Southern California has been honored with one of four inaugural Benjamin Franklin Awards for Public Diplomacy, a prestigious new honor bestowed by the U.S. Department of State.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice presented the award in a ceremony on April 8 in Washington, D.C.

"[The Benjamin Franklin Award] is the most prestigious honor that the Department of State can bestow on American citizens who are making outstanding contributions to public diplomacy, both at home and abroad, and it reflects my conviction that the solutions to the challenges of the 21st century will come from all sectors of American society working together," Rice said. "In the area of academic institutions, we recognize the University of Southern California Center on Public Diplomacy for having evolved into the world's premier research facility in this field."

Through a variety of programs and projects, USC is widely recognized for its pioneering leadership and contributions to academic scholarship and professional engagement in the field of public diplomacy. These include the USC Center on Public Diplomacy at the Annenberg School and the world's first master's degree program in public diplomacy.

The USC Center on Public Diplomacy was founded in 2003 as a partnership between the USC Annenberg School for Communication and the School of International Relations in the USC College of Letters, Arts and Sciences. It has since evolved into the world’s premier research center in public diplomacy, bringing together members of the diplomatic, academic, NGO and corporate communities.

"The USC Center on Public Diplomacy leads our research into the global exchange of ideas and diplomacy," said Adam Clayton Powell III, USC's vice provost for globalization and a Senior Fellow of the Center. "What is now clear is that diplomacy is not just for diplomats: it is for artists and writers, scientists and business executives, educators and students – indeed, for all of civil society."

In 2005, USC launched a graduate-level degree program in public diplomacy, preparing students from around the world for leadership roles in international public service, business and nongovernmental organizations. The first full class of the Master of Public Diplomacy program is scheduled to graduate this May.

USC is also the only institution in the world to offer an intensive two-week training program specifically for mid-career professionals, providing an immersive environment in which to engage colleagues from across the globe in new research and methods through the Summer Institute in Advanced Public Diplomacy.

"It's a tremendous honor for USC to be recognized as a galvanizing force in a field that has only begun to receive wider attention. A dedicated Center and master's program allows leading and emerging practitioners and scholars to advance an exciting new area of international relations," said Geoffrey Cowan, USC university professor, Annenberg School dean emeritus and founder of the USC Center on Public Diplomacy.

Howard Gillman, dean of the USC College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, said: “"We are delighted to be the first educational organization chosen for the Franklin Award by the Secretary of State. It speaks to the important role that universities play in generating new knowledge on important questions and training the next generation of leaders."

The State Department and USC have partnered on numerous public diplomacy-related projects. The State Department’s Public Diplomat in Residence program has been based at the USC Center on Public Diplomacy since 2006. The Center has also provided the State Department with expertise about virtual worlds and the opportunities they provide for intercultural dialogue and public diplomacy.

"As new technologies make information accessible to more people, our nation needs to have a deeper understanding of the contribution that public diplomacy and soft power can make to advance America's interests around the world," said Ernest J. Wilson III, dean of the USC Annenberg School for Communication. "We are honored that USC's leadership in this area is being recognized with the inaugural Benjamin Franklin Award.”

According to the State Department, the Benjamin Franklin Award is given for a person or organization’s concrete impact on public diplomacy-related efforts, service to the larger community, development of best practices for adoption by other organizations and long-term engagement with participants and issues.

Graduate Student Publications

As this year's contributing editor from USC, Yesim Ince is pleased to announce that Jason Enia's article "Peace in its Wake? The 2004 Tsunami and Internal Conflict in Indonesia and Sri Lanka" was selected for publication in this year's Princeton Journal of Public and International Affairs. There was a competitive field of entrants, and Jason's paper earned the highest score in the peer evaluation process among 38 papers, of which only nine were selected to be published in this year's journal.

Graduate Student success in Turin:

At the Sixth Annual Pan-European Conference on International Relations in September in Turin, Italy, SIR doctoral candidate Christopher Griffin’s paper on "France, the United Kingdom, and EU Capacities for Military Action in Africa" was chosen one of the top 5 best student papers. . The paper is a comparative strategic analysis, which evaluates French, British, and EU military planning and defense policies, military operations in Africa, and capacities for power projection outside of Europe.

SIR Bannerman Fellow Ronald Osborn's paper "Noam Chomsky and the Realist Tradition" has been accepted for publication by the Review of International Studies

POIR Doctoral Candidate Yitan Li's paper: "Pretty Prudent" or Rhetorically Responsive? The American Public's Support for Military Action (with Cooper Drury, Marvin Overby and Adrian Ang) has been accepted for publication in the Political Research Quarterly.