Through the John Kennard Eddy Memorial Lecture on World Politics Fund, the Department of Politics and Government and the International Studies Program have been privileged to bring to campus world class speakers for the past 25+ years. We appreciate this very generous gift of John and late Ellen Eddy to generations of Ohio Wesleyan students, faculty and staff in Jeff's memory.
Below is a list of the prominent speakers brought to OWU through this lecture series.
2024-2025
Marc Lynch
Professor of Political Science at George Washington University & Visiting Scholar at The OSU's Mershon Center
Gaza and America's Role in the Middle East
View recording of lecture
2023-24
Ryan Hass
Brookings Institution
Are the U.S. and China Destined for Conflict?
View recording of lecture
2022-23
Yoshiko Herrera
Professor of Political Science at Wisconsin Madison University
Russia's War Against Ukraine
2021-22
Navin A. Bapat
Dowd Professor in Political Science & the Chair of the Curriculum of Peace, War, and Defense at UNC-Chapel Hill
Afghanistan and the End of the War on Terror
2020-21
Joshua R. Rovner
Managing Editor of H-Diplo's International Security Studies Forum
Democracy in the Shadow of Foreign Meddling
2018-19
John Overpeck
Dean of the School of Environment and Sustainability, University of Michigan
Global Climate Change, Water Security and Ecosystem Disruption: Higher Scientific Coincidence Than You Might Think
2017-18
Julianne Smith
George Marshall Fund, former National Security Adviser to Vice-President Joe Biden
Defining Moment of Déjà Vu? The Future of the Transatlantic Relationship
2016-17
Beth Simmons
Andrea Mitchell University Professor in Law and Political Science, University of Pennsylvania
The Future of Human Rights
2015-16
Sumit Ganguly
Professor of Political Science, Indiana University; Rabindranath Tagor Chair, Indian Cultures & Civilizations; Director, Center on American and Global Security
The Significance of South Asia for World Politics
2014-15
Mark R. Beissinger
Professor of Politics, Princeton, and Director, Princeton Institute for International & Regional Studies
Ukraine, Russia and the End of the Post-Cold War Political Order
2013-14
Douglas Brinkley
Professor of History at Rice University, bestselling author, and presidential historian for CBS News
Vietnam, Walter Cronkite and Today's Foreign Policy Lessons
2012-13
John Ikenberry
Professor, Politics and International Affairs, Princeton University
The Rise of China and U.S. Policy in East Asia
2011-12
Robin Wright
Award Winning Journalist and Author
Rock the Casbah: Rage and Rebellion Across the Islamic World
2010-11
Bruce J. Dickson
Professor of Political Science and International Affairs, The Elliott School of International, Affairs, The George Washington University
Updating the China Model: New Goals for a New Decade
2009-10
Andrei Codrescu
MacCurdy Distinguished Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Louisiana State University
What is an Immigrant, What Makes an American?
2008-09
Joseph S. Nye, Jr.
Former Dean of the Kennedy School, Distinguished Service Professor at Harvard University, Sultan of Oman Professor of International Relations
The Powers to Lead
2007-08
Strobe Talbott
President, Brookings InstitutionWhy the World is Watching Ohio: American Politics in the Age of Globalization
2006-07
Jeffrey D. Sachs
Director of Earth Institute at Columbia University, Quetelet Professor of Sustainable Development; Professor of Health Policy and Management, and Special Advisor to UN Sec.-General Kofi Annan
The End of Poverty
2005-06
Jessica Stern
Lecturer in Public Policy, Faculty Affiliate at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard
Terror in the Name of God: Why Religious Militants Kill
2004-2005
General Anthony Zinni
Former 4-Star Commander of CENTCOM; Special envoy of President Bush to the Middle East Peace Process
American Grand Strategy and the Future of the Middle East
2003-2004
John J. Mearsheimer
Professor of Political Science; Co-Director, Program on International Security Policy, University of Chicago
The Flawed Logic of Bush Administration Foreign Policy
2002-2003
Robert O. Keohane
James B. Duke Professor of Political Science, Duke University
September 11th and Its Impact on International Relations
2001-2002
Robert Gilpin
Eisenhower Professor of Politics and International Affairs Emeritus, Woodrow Wilson School Princeton University
Politics, Economics and Security in a Global Age
2000-2001
General Wesley Clark
Former Supreme Allied Commander, Europe/NATO
U.S. National Security in a New Era
1999-2000
Susan Eisenhower
Distinguished Visiting Fellow, The Nixon Center; Chair, Center for Political and Strategic Studies, Washington, D.C.
US-Russian Relations After Clinton and Yeltsin
1998-1999
Richard N. Haass
Director of Foreign Policy Studies at the Brookings Institute; Author and former Special Assistant to President George Bush
The Reluctant Sheriff: The United States After the Cold War
1997-1998
Anthony Lake
Professor at the School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University; National Security Advisor, 1993-1996
Reflections on American Foreign Policy
1996-1997
Michael Mandelbaum
Christian A. Herter Professor of American Foreign Policy at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies; Director, Project on East-west Relations at the Council on Foreign Relations
New American Foreign Policy Strategy
1995-1996
Alan Geyer
Professor of Political Ethics and Ecumenics, Wesley Theological Seminary; Resident Ethicist, Washington National Cathedral Senior Scholar, Churches' Center for Theology and Public Policy
Mamoun Fandy
Research Professor of Arab Studies, Center for Contemporary Arab Studies, Georgetown University
Christianity and Islam: Approaches to International Politics
1994-1995
Deborah Brautigam
School of International Service at The American University
Raymond F. Hopkins
Professor of Political Science at Swarthmore College
Democratization and Development in Africa
1993-1994
Georgiy I. Mirsky
Professor at the Institute of World Economy and International Relations and at the Institute of International Relations of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Moscow
On the Ruins of an Empire
1992-1993
Robert W. Tucker
Professor Emeritus of American Diplomacy, The School of Advanced International Studies, The Johns Hopkins University
Intervention in the Post-Cold War World
1991-1992
Terry L. Deibel
Professor of National Strategy, the National War College
Internal Affairs and International Relations in the Post-Cold War World
1990-1991
John Lewis Gaddis
Distinguished Professor of History; Director of the Contemporary History Institute at Ohio University
After the Cold War: What Next?
1989-1990
Robert Legvold
Director, W. Averell Harriman Institute for Advanced Study of the Soviet Union
Does Gorbachev Have a Chance?