Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium, 7 p.m.

This event is in-person only. It will not be livestreamed or recorded.

Breaking Issue

A World Transformed? Foreign Policy in the Current Moment

Dickinson Faculty Participants

Russell Bova, Professor of Political Science and International Studies
Magda Siekert, Senior Lecturer in Middle East Studies
Fatou Thioune, Assistant Professor of International Studies
Andrew T. Wolff, Associate Professor of Political Science and International Studies

The current administration’s approach to world politics appears to represent a radical departure from eighty years of US foreign policy consensus on a range of issues. In just two months, crucial US relationships to the outside world, including to Russia, NATO, the Middle East, Greenland, Canada, and many more, has been transformed dramatically. This panel will attempt to help us understand the causes, consequences, and durability of these dizzying changes in the US global role.

This program is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues.

Biographies (provided by the participants)

Russ Bova is professor of political science and the J. William Stuart & Helen Stuart Chair in International Studies. Professor Bova is the editor of Russia and Western Civilization: Cultural and Historical Encounters and the author of the international relations textbook How the World Works. He is also the author of numerous articles and book chapters on Russian politics and comparative democratization. He teaches courses in comparative politics and international relations, including The Ukraine War and International Relations, which will be offered in Fall 2025.

Magda Siekert is a senior lecturer in Middle East studies, came to Dickinson in 2009 from the Department of State where she served for 22 years as a foreign service officer with postings at US embassies in the Middle East, Africa, Europe, and Latin America and specializing in U.S. public diplomacy. She earned a master’s, and completed all the coursework and comprehensive exams for a Ph.D. in Arabic studies at Georgetown University in Washington, DC. She also holds a master’s in Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) from the American University in Cairo, Egypt. She taught at Georgetown University, the Johns Hopkins School for Advanced International Studies, and at the American University in Cairo. Her research interests include US public diplomacy, Arabic language pedagogy, literature, cinema, culture and language across the curriculum, and Arabic for specific purposes.

Fatou Kiné Thioune is an assistant professor of international studies. Her research is focused on economic growth and development in Africa. She has studied topics such as structural transformation, misallocation, trade, and COVID-19 and gender inequality in various African countries. She has worked with the World Bank, the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, the International Monetary Fund, and the Urban Institute. She is dedicated to using her expertise to tackle critical economic challenges and contribute to evidence-based policymaking, particularly in Africa.

Dr. Andrew T. Wolff is an associate professor of political science and international studies at Dickinson College. He holds a bachelor’s degree in politics and European history from Washington and Lee University (1995), a master’s degree in European studies from Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies (2003), and a doctorate in international relations from Johns Hopkins University’s SAIS (2010).

Dr. Wolff has been a Fulbright NATO Security Studies scholar hosted by the College of Europe in Bruges, Belgium (Fall 2021) and an associate fellow at Johns Hopkins University SAIS – Europe in Bologna, Italy (2020-2021). Dr. Wolff’s primary research interests are NATO enlargement, European security issues, transatlantic relations, geopolitics, and American foreign policy. He has published articles in International Affairs, Contemporary Security Policy, Journal of Contemporary European Studies, and Journal of Transatlantic Studies.

Video of the Presentation