“Ukraine: The Anatomy of a Crisis,” with scholar of Russian studies Gordon Smith, will kick off the World Affairs Council’s fall lecture series, at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 2, at UNC Asheville’s Reuter Center.
Smith is the director of the Rule of Law Collaborative at the University of South Carolina, where he is also a distinguished emeritus professor of political science.
The fall lecture series of the WNC chapter of the World Affairs Council continues, bringing more expert speakers on topics of urgency in world affairs:
– “Ireland’s Political Future and the Strange Case of 2014’s Scottish Referendum,” with historian and diplomat Ed Brynn, a former staff member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and a specialist in Irish history. 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 7.
– “War Crime Trials,” with David Crane, former chief prosecutor for the Special Court of Sierra Leone and professor of practice at Syracuse University College of Law. Crane will address the place of war crime trials in international law, focusing on the trial of former Liberian President Charles Taylor, in which he was a lead attorney. 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 11.
– “Africa’s Role in Peace Operations,” with Dorina Bekoe, a former senior research associate at the Center for Conflict Analysis and Prevention in Washington, D.C. She will highlight some of the difficulties that plague these operations, and explore how the broader international community might improve their outcomes. 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 2.
The lectures are sponsored by the WNC chapter of the World Affairs Council, the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) at UNC Asheville, and the university’s Department of Political Science.
Admission to World Affairs Council presentations at UNC Asheville is $10 for the public; free to members of the World Affairs Council and UNC Asheville students. For more information, visit olliasheville.com/special-programs#world-affairs-council or call 828.251.6140.