Institute for Advanced Study Announces Launch of World Disorder Lecture Series

Jonathan Haslam, George F. Kennan Professor in the School of Historical Studies at the Institute for Advanced Study, has announced the launch of the World Disorder Lecture Series.

“The World Disorder Lecture Series aims to explore the international relations challenges and dilemmas policy makers continue to face since the ending of the Cold War,” stated Haslam, organizer of the series and leading scholar on the history of thought in international relations and the Soviet Union. “The speakers for this series have been chosen not only for their deep knowledge of the current global environment, but also for their unconventional approaches to the subject.”

The lecture series will open on Tuesday, January 26, with “And Now for the Hard Part: China’s Economic Adjustment after Three Miracle Decades” by Michael Pettis, Professor at Peking University. “The tumbling of China’s stock market has sent shivers down the spine of global finance,” noted Haslam. “Of all people, Michael Pettis is the best qualified to comment.” A Wall Street veteran of Bear Stearns and Credit Suisse First Boston and a Professor at Peking University Guanghua School of Management, Pettis has the unique distinction of having been right ahead of time in predicting the Chinese economic crisis. His most recent books include Restructuring the Chinese Economy: Economic Distortions and the Next Decade of Chinese Growth (Carnegie Endowment, 2013) and The Great Rebalancing: Trade, Conflict, and the Perilous Road Ahead for the World Economy (Princeton University Press, 2013).

Emmanuel Todd, Professor at the Institut National d’Etudes Démographiques, will discuss “The Coming Crisis between Germany and the United States: The Cultural Divergence of Advanced Nations” on Tuesday, February 9. The series will conclude on Friday, April 29, with “Talking with Terrorists,” a lecture from Jonathan Powell, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Inter Mediate, a registered charity for negotiation and mediation.

The World Disorder Lecture Series is free and open to the public. All lectures will begin at 5:30 p.m. in Wolfensohn Hall on the Institute campus. For more information about these and other events at the Institute, visit http://www.ias.edu/news/public-events.