May 2017. Athens, Greece The Hollings Center supported a meeting of experts on Eastern Mediterranean[1] security, organized in Athens by the Center for International and European Studies at Kadir Has University, in May 2017. Participants included academics, researchers, and professionals of non-governmental organizations from Turkey, Greece, Cyprus, Jordan, Lebanon, and Israel. The discussions in this […]

On November 16, 2016, the Hollings Center for International Dialogue held a panel entitled, “The Middle East Water-Energy-Food Nexus.” The Middle East is faced with a set of complex interrelated problems related to the water, energy, and food sectors. Understanding the dynamics and linkages between these three sectors is needed to understand potential opportunities, trade-offs, […]

Noah Coburn discusses the key takeaways from research conducted through a Hollings Center small grant on the U.S. Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) program, which provides visas for Afghans that worked as translators with the U.S. military or on U.S-funded projects and now find themselves in danger.

September 2016. Noah Coburn and Timor Sharan As the United States has drawn down the number of troops stationed in Afghanistan and the amount of internationally funded programs has similarly decreased, Afghans who worked as interpreters for the military or other U.S. government projects have been left in grave danger, as they and their families […]

June 3, 2016 As Syrian refugees resettle throughout the US, Canada, Europe, and the Middle East, they often struggle to preserve the intangible cultural heritage that ties them to their identities. Yearning for a taste of home, the Syrian diaspora accesses this heritage through reestablishing culinary traditions and recreating the tastes of home in kitchens […]

The Hollings Center and PONARS Eurasia organized a panel on February 5, 2016 entitled Making Sense of Russia’s Syria Intervention. The panel brought together local experts and speakers from Turkey, the US, Russia, and Armenia to discuss why Russia intervened in Syria, what it expects from this action, and what the implications are for its […]

Noah Coburn, political anthropologist at Bennington College, presented his current ethnographic research on Nepalese contractor employees to members of the YPIR network. Coburn has been interviewing people from Nepal, Georgia and Turkey, who have worked for contractors in Afghanistan during or after the war. He shared with YPIR members the socioeconomic profiles of his interviewees, […]

Members of the Young Professionals in International Relations (YPIR) network gathered for an open forum at the end of the year to share their perspectives of the important international relations events of 2015. Participants included university professors and researchers, NGO members, academic journal editors, and diplomats. The main topics of the evening were the climate […]

The deliberate targeting of cultural heritage in times of war and conflict is damaging on many levels: it robs countries of their past and impoverishes our shared heritage. What actions can be taken to mitigate the destruction? On October 15, 2015, the Hollings Center hosted a panel discussion entitled, “Preserving Cultural Heritage in Conflict” to […]

On September 29, the Hollings Center organized a policy round table at the College of International Security Affairs of the National Defense University. It featured policy practitioners, academics, and government representatives. Speakers included Sumona Guha from the Office of the Secretary of State of the U.S. Department of State; George Gavrilis, a Visiting Research Scholar, […]