Month: April 2018

ECU is again hosting the Foreign Policy Association’s Great Decisions program. The program consists of a series of eight lectures by academic and professional experts on topics of global significance.

The topic for the April 24th session is “Russia’s Foreign Policy,” with Rick Ericson, Professor, ECU Department of Economics

The Great Decisions Program is the oldest and largest grassroots world affairs educational program of its kind in the country. Established in 1954, it is the flagship program of the Foreign Policy Association, a non-partisan, non-governmental organization. The goal of the Great Decisions program is to discuss, debate, and learn about international affairs, national security and U.S. foreign policy.

PLACE: Rivers West Building, Auditorium 105

TIME: 6:00 – 7:30 P.M.

COST: $10.00, but Students, Faculty & Staff Attend for Free!

April 12-14, 2018 in Charlotte. The students represented the countries of Nigeria and Iraq on the GA Plenary, Economic and Social Council, International Renewable Energy Agency, and the African Development Bank committees. The students performed very well earning some of the highest position paper grades to date. Margaret Matthews, Ray Parker, Andrew McLeer, Kaitlyn Rose, Sorrell Saunders, and Diquan Covington, Aji Njie, and Mariama Abubakri represented Nigeria, and Dustin Younts, Dylan Fulp, Zach Hollopeter, Raequan Purvis, Haley Creef (club President), andSadie Crockett represented Iraq.

Jody Baumgartner & Jonathan Morris recently published an article in the Journal of Political Marketing titled  “Did the “Road to the White House Run Through” Letterman?.”

The article presents the results of an experiment designed to disentangle the effects late-night talk show viewership have on presidential candidate evaluations. Respondents in one condition viewed a short video clip of David Letterman humorously disparaging New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, thought by many at the time to be considering a run for the presidency in 2016. Those in a second condition saw a short clip of Christie engaging in self-deprecating humor while appearing as a guest on Letterman’s program. Compared with respondents in a control condition, those in the other-disparaging humor condition had lower evaluations of Christie and reported a lower likelihood of voting for him in 2016, while those in the self-deprecating humor condition had higher evaluations of him and expressed a greater likelihood of voting for him. 

The article can be seen here: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15377857.2015.1074137

Dr. Alethia Cook presented her research, “Applying a Layered Defense Paradigm to Counter-Radicalization,” at the Midwest Political Science Association’s Annual Convention in Chicago on April 6. The paper examined U.S. Federal Government engagement in activities that are part of counter-radicalization, including countering violent extremism (CVE), counterterrorism, and disengagement/deradicalization, to determine if application of a layered defense paradigm would be beneficial. The paper concluded that while layered defense may be helpful for examining CVE and counterterrorism, the lack of a Federal strategy or policy for disengagement/deradicalization hinders application of the paradigm in that area and overall.

Dr. Marie Olsen Lounsberry will be presenting a paper at the International Studies Association Annual Meeting in San Francisco this week, April 4-7, entitled “Civil War Resolution Sequences: Failure and Success in the Aceh Peace Process” with Karl DeRouen, Jr. (The University of Alabama). Lounsberry, together with DeRouen, organized conference’s panel on Civil War Peace Processes.