Upcoming Program: Ronald Deibert

Professor of Political Science and Director of the Canada Centre for Global Security Studies and the Citizen Lab at the Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto

A Perfect Storm in Cyberspace

Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Stern Center, Great Room, 7:00 p.m.

What was once a domain characterized by openness and the free exchange of ideas, cyberspace is being re-shaped by technological changes, a growing underworld of cyber crime, a burgeoning cyber security industrial complex that feeds a cyber arms race, and an increasingly intense geopolitical contest over the domain itself.

Together, these driving forces are creating a kind of “perfect storm” in cyberspace that threats to subvert it entirely either through over-reaction, the imposition of heavy-handed controls and through partition or cantoning.

To restore cyberspace as an open global commons will require a multi-layered strategy, from the local to the global.

Drawing from the research and other activities of the Citizen Lab at the Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto — including the OpenNet Initiative and the Information Warfare Monitor — Ron Deibert discusses the “Coming Perfect Storm in Cyberspace” and what is to be done to prepare for it.

The event is Read more

The Clarke Forum’s Annual Theme

Each year The Clarke Forum devotes a major portion of its resources to activities organized around an annual theme. All members of the Dickinson community, including students, are invited to propose topics for annual themes. Annual themes have included: Democratization, Race & Ethnicity, Environmental Sustainabililty, Citizenship, Corporations & Globalization, War, Crossing Borders, Religion and Political Power, Energy, A Gendered World and Human Rights, Popular Culture and Thought for Food. The theme for 2011-12 is Security Challenges of the 21st Century. The theme for fall 2012 semester will be Sexuality and Societies.  If you are interested in proposing a Clarke Forum theme, please visit Proposing a Clarke Forum Theme.

The Clarke Forum’s Leadership Theme

LEADERSHIP IN AN AGE OF UNCERTAINTY

The Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues is establishing a series of programmatic events dedicated to the theme of leadership in an age of uncertainty. This new initiative is grounded on the reality that today’s generation of Dickinson students confronts a large number of intractable political, economic, and social problems: terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, environmental pollution, global warming, a sustainable energy policy, the ongoing financial crisis, the federal deficit, the amount of public and private debt, the health care crisis, along with issues regarding race, ethnicity, gender, and sexual orientation, as well as technology and privacy. These issues and problems directly or indirectly pose challenges to the College and the local community that may in time require fundamental changes in institutions, values, and practices across the public, private, and non-profit sectors of American society. How Dickinsonians respond to these challenges presents us with an opportunity for reflection on the meaning of leadership in the contemporary world.