Local Experts Discuss Global Politics at Cumming Library

Professors from the University of North Georgia (UNG) will lead a series of eight discussions on complex global issues at the Cumming Library. The series is part of Great Decisions 2018, a national program presented by the Foreign Policy Association to help local communities better understand global politics, government, and foreign issues that affect the United States.

Each session will be held on Wednesday evenings, January 31 – March 28 (no meeting March 14) at 7:00 p.m. at the Cumming Library, 585 Dahlonega Street. Admission is free, but advance registration is requested at www.forsythpl.org, or by calling 770-781-9840.

Dr. Christopher Jespersen, Dean of UNG’s College of Arts & Letters, will present the first two discussions in the series, The Waning of Pax Americana? on January 31 and China and America: The New Geopolitical Equation on February 7.

Pax Americana, the liberal international order that was established in the wake of World War II, has promised peaceful international relations and an open economy, buttressed by U.S. military power since 1945. The current administration is shifting away from Pax Americana in favor of “America First” isolationism. Geopolitical allies and challengers alike are paying close attention.

Dr. Jespersen’s February 7 discussion will address the policies the U.S. might adopt to address the expansion of Chinese economic outreach, as well as military and diplomatic capacities, over the last 15 years.

Dr. Martin Blackwell, a history professor specializing in Russia and eastern Europe, will lead the February 14 discussion on Russia’s Foreign Policy.

Under President Vladimir Putin, Russia is projecting an autocratic model of governance abroad and working to undermine the influence of liberal democracies, namely along Russia’s historical borderlands. But Putin’s foreign policy toolkit includes other instruments, from alliances with autocrats to proxy wars with the U.S. in Georgia, Ukraine and Syria.

Dr. Blackwell will explore the reasons Russian citizens support Putin, as well as ways the U.S. could respond to his geopolitical ambitions.

Other topics to be covered later in the Great Decisions series include Media and Foreign Policy, Turkey: A Partner in Crisis, U.S. Global Engagement and the Military, South Africa’s Fragile Democracy, and Global Health: Progress and Challenges.

While advance knowledge of these topics is not required to participate in the Great Decisions series, the Foreign Policy Association published a Great Decisions 2018 Briefing Book that can be purchased online or borrowed from the Forsyth County Public Library’s collection.

A Great Decisions 2018 DVD is also available online and at the library and includes documentaries on the discussion topics.

For more information, or to register to attend a Great Decisions discussion, please visit www.forsythpl.org.