Sié Research Seminar Series

The Research Seminar Series is a forum for discussion among Korbel PhD students, faculty and researchers on works-in-progress, with the aim of enhancing discussion of research at the Korbel School and establishing an ongoing exchange between members of the Korbel community and innovative researchers from other institutions. Seminars will be held each month during the 2012-2013 academic year. 

Upcoming Presentations in the Sié Research Seminar Series

Lindsay Heger, "Negotiating with Rebel Governments: The Effect of Service Provision on Conflict Negotiations"
January 28, 2013 at 12:00pm
Sié 150, Korbel School of International Studies

Lynn Holland, "The Politics of Deportation" 
February 25, 2013 at 12:00pm
Sié 150, Korbel School of International Studies

Séverine Autesserre
April 26, 2013 at 12:00pm
Sié 150, Korbel School of International Studies

Past Seminar Presentations 

Community Counts: The Social Reintegration of Ex-combatants in Colombia

September 10, 2012 at 12:00pm
Sié 150, Korbel School of International Studies
Click to view research paper

Oliver Kaplan, Visiting Lecturer at the Josef Korbel School, will present in the first installment of the Sié Center's monthly Research Seminar Series. His research, conducted with with Enzo Nussio, analyzes the determinants of the social reintegration of ex-combatants from armed conflicts. Social and political participation is seen as a critical factor for preventing civil war recurrence. Participation can help ex-combatants feel socially fulfilled and acceptance by their communities can reduce their needs to maintain social connections to their former armed group networks and bosses. Kaplan and Nussio hypothesize that the strength of community organization and social relations among residents are associated with increased participation of ex-combatants in their communities. They test various individual, community and environmental factors using data from a survey of randomly sampled ex-combatants from Colombia, a survey of ordinary civilians, and observational datasets. The results suggest which ex-combatants are most likely to socially reintegrate and where. The results also provide insight on how ex-combatants' levels of participation compare with that of ordinary civilians. Kaplan and Nussio also examine how the social participation of ex-combatants and related social reintegration programs in Colombia may contribute to meeting broader definitions of successful reintegration.

The Bureaucratic Politics of Outsourcing Security: The Privatization of Diplomatic Protection in the US and the UK

October 22, 2012 at 12:00pm
Sié 150, Korbel School of International Studies
Click to view research paper

Eugenio Cusumano, Fulbright-Schuman Scholar at the Korbel School of International Studies, will present in the second installment of the Sié Research Seminar Series. His research focuses on the global private military and security industry. In his paper, co-authored with Christopher Kinsey, he argues that states’ increasing resort to private military and security companies (PMSCs) does not merely distort the balance of power between different branches of government, strengthening the executive vis-à-vis the legislative. It also redistributes authority and resources within the executive branch, changing the relationship between civilian foreign policy bureaucracies and military organizations. Although the use of PMSCs provides foreign policy bureaucracies with new avenues to pursue their parochial interests, a scholarly analysis of the bureaucratic politics of outsourcing is still missing. His paper probes the hypothesis that the outsourcing of diplomatic security in the US and the UK has been affected by bureaucratic competition and inter-agency rivalries, responding to foreign policy bureaucracies and development agencies’ attempt to maximize their institutional autonomy vis-à-vis military organizations.