News from

International Relations

Reset All Filters
256 Results
  • Arts, Humanities, & Social Sciences

    • Understanding the imperialism of today

    In the latest episode of Penn Today’s ‘Understand This ...’ podcast series, assistant professor of political science Dorothy Kronick and assistant professor of history Alex Chase-Levinson discuss the past and present of imperialism.
    U.S. map and chess piece

    Welcome to the sixth episode of the “Understand This ...” series, a Penn Today podcast. This podcast series is designed as a journey to understand how to solve problems of the day—and of our time—by uniting minds from different disciplines. This episode explores the legacy of imperialism and the more elusive forms it can take in a modern context. 

    Joining for the conversation is Dorothy Kronick, assistant professor of political science in the School of Arts & Sciences, and Alex Chase-Levinson, assistant professor of history in the School of Arts & Sciences. Kronick has an expertise in Latin American politics, and Chase-Levinson focuses his research on modern Britain and Europe. Together, they tease out ways to interpret imperialism today, the legacy of imperial influence, and what new frontiers might be on the horizon. 

    5:20: Kronick discusses imperialism in Latin America and begins to define the term. 

    6:40: Chase-Levinson describes how the concept of a “nation state” has organized the world.

    10:12: Kronick on “economic imperialism” in Latin America. 

    12:30: A conversation about the U.S. policy of regime change in Venezuela and its influence on exports and access to financial markets. “I think people might call that ‘imperial’ in that broader definition of exerting undue influence in some way,” says Kronick.

    15:40: Comparing the UK and U.S. as global superpowers. 

    20:00: Discussion about how “implicated citizens” are simply by being part of an empire.

    25:25: A look at the role of imperial powers to help address problems they may have created.

    27:00: An examination of the lingering effects of colonial imperialism. “All of this is part of the long-term knock-on effect of empires, and you can’t separate anything that's going on now in parts of the former imperial world from develops that the British are, at least in large part, responsible for ... and that’s true of the Americans as well in a whole lot of ways,” says Chase-Levinson.

    27:16: “Quote Break”

    33:56: Kronick and Chase-Levinson speculate what modern “new frontiers” could loom on the horizon.

    36:00: Levinson and Kronick talk about the “precarious stature of democracy” in the world today. 

    View Transcript

    Follow the “Understand This ...” podcast on Apple Music.

    Credits

  • Writers

    Brandon K. Baker

    • More from

  • Political Science
  • History
  • International Relations
  • Understand This...
    • Moldova wants to be more European and less corrupt. Parliament isn’t helping

    Moldova wants to be more European and less corrupt. Parliament isn’t helping

    Ecaterina Locoman of the School of Arts & Sciences and Wharton School wrote about corruption in Moldova. “It remains unclear,” she said, if support from the U.S. and E.U. will be enough to help the new Moldovan president “democratize state institutions, reform Moldova’s justice system, and cement the country’s pro-E.U. orientation.”

    Locked down: Global mobility and COVID-19
    illegal immigration displaced persons camp concept of little boy in black and orange clothes holding fence with barbed wire in desert on state border

    The pandemic has led to extreme limits on human movement,  turning borders into barriers for refugees and asylum seekers. The topic was the theme of Perry World House’s 2021 Global Shifts Colloquium.

    Locked down: Global mobility and COVID-19

    At Perry World House’s 2021 Global Shifts Colloquium, Filippo Grandi, the United Nations high commissioner for refugees, addressed how limits on human movement during the pandemic have affected refugees and asylum seekers.

    Kristen de Groot

    Afghanistan 20 years on

    Afghanistan 20 years on

    Albert Hunt of the Annenberg School for Communication wrote an op-ed about the U.S. presence in Afghanistan, which has persisted since 2001. “On May 1, 2022, we’ll hear the same arguments: just a little more time,” he wrote. “Shades of Vietnam.”

    Increasing access to life-saving, unused medicines in India
    medication lines in india People wait in line at the pharmacy purchase point, at which medicines can be purchased by anyone.

    Increasing access to life-saving, unused medicines in India

    Aarogya, a social-enterprise organization, is led by three President’s Engagement Prize winners. Since receiving the award, they’ve started delivering otherwise-unused medicines that save lives and money.
    Global women’s rights 
    Five people sit together in a meeting; sign behind them reads "UN Women"

    UN Women Executive Director and Under Secretary General  Phumzile Mlambo Ngcuka meets with the chairperson of CEDAW, taken on March 11, 2014. (Image: UN Women/Ryan Brown)

    Global women’s rights 

    Rangita de Silva de Alwis makes the case for ratification of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women by the United States.

    Kristina García

    Now 60 years old, the Peace Corps can be more than a Cold War artifact

    Now 60 years old, the Peace Corps can be more than a Cold War artifact

    Lacy Feigh, a Ph.D. candidate in the School of Arts & Sciences, wrote an op-ed calling for a renewed commitment to the Peace Corps as the pandemic comes to a close. “It is the unbridled idealism and hope embedded in the goals of the Peace Corps—to promote better understanding on the part of Americans and people across the world—that are urgently needed today,” she wrote.

    Myanmar coup, explained
    Members of Myanmar police stand by a cordoned off blockade area on the street.

    A police cordon in Myanmar on Feb. 1, 2021. (Image: OneNews)

  • Q&A

    • Myanmar coup, explained

    Laura Edwards, an LL.M. candidate at the University of Pennsylvania Carey School of Law and Myanmar expert, shares her take on the crisis.

    Kristen de Groot

    Joe Biden is already facing an ally problem

    Joe Biden is already facing an ally problem

    Dorothy Kronick of the School of Arts & Sciences spoke about a recent statement from the EU that the bloc no longer views opposition leader Juan Guaidó as Venezuela’s rightful president, which Kronick believes will give the Biden administration more space to support other democratic groups working to depose Nicolás Maduro. “This statement from the EU is in no way backtracking from the commitment to restore democracy to Venezuela,” she said. “This is about looking for the most successful and effective strategy.”

    Iranian show irks Iraqi Kurds, portraying them as weak against IS terror

    Iranian show irks Iraqi Kurds, portraying them as weak against IS terror

    Mohammed A. Salih, a doctoral candidate in the Annenberg School for Communication, spoke about an Iranian propaganda film that aims to portray Kurdish leadership as weak and to commemorate Qassem Soleimani, who was killed in a U.S. drone strike a year ago. The film “promotes the Islamic Republic of Iran as the savior of the entire region, through Soleimani’s superhero-like character, from the Islamic State and Sunni jihadi takfiris in general,” said Salih.