The Global Security Initiative provides a space for the BU community to learn about and better understand our increasingly complex security landscape. Through events with internal and external speakers, this initiative aims to generate novel insights into a wide range of security topics, including the transformative impact of new technologies, the pressing issue of climate change, the complex dynamics of migration, and the far-reaching consequences of pandemics.
Contact Professor Sanne Verschuren or Professor Benjamin Goossen (gsipar@bu.edu) for more inquiries.
Faculty Affiliates
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Andrew J. Bacevich
Professor Emeritus of International Relations and History
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Masachs Boungou
Lecturer
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Alexander de la Paz
Assistant Professor of International Security
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Paul Ewenstein
Lecturer
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Vesko Garčević
Professor of the Practice of International Relations; Interim Director, Center for the Study of Europe
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Erik Goldstein
Professor Emeritus of International Relations and History
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Shamiran Mako
Assistant Professor of International Relations
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Andrei Mamolea
Assistant Professor of International Relations
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Tyler Parker
Lecturer
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Kaija Schilde
Associate Dean of Studies; Jean Monnet Chair in European Security and Defense; Associate Professor of International Relations
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Jessica Stern
Research Professor
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Sanne Verschuren
Assistant Professor of International Security
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Jack Weinstein
Professor of the Practice of International Security
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Joseph Wippl
Professor of the Practice of International Relations
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Frederick Woerner
Professor Emeritus of International Relations
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John D. Woodward, Jr.
Professor of the Practice of International Relations
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Benjamin Goossen
Assistant Professor of International History
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Brooke Durham
Assistant Professor of History
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Events
FALL 2025
RESEARCH ON TAP
Global Security Amid Increasing Tensions
From the wars in Ukraine and Middle East, to the potential implementation of emerging technologies like artificial intelligence in warfighting, and to the security implications of climate change, the international community finds itself at a turning point. Being able to grasp today’s security challenges requires us to think differently. On one hand, we need to reflect upon the global nature of contemporary security challenges—and their implications for communities around the world. The transnational nature of migration is a great example in this regard. On the other hand, we need to think across issue areas that are typically siloed in academic and policy debates. Militaries around the world, for instance, have contributed to the causes of climate change, as well as are deeply impacted by its consequences.
At Boston University, scholarship and teaching about global security is on the rise. This Research on Tap showcases research on a wide range of global security issues across disciplines, schools, and colleges to engage in an important and timely conversation, expand our knowledge, and plant seeds for deeper collaboration among the broader BU community. Register here.
When/Where: Tuesday, September 16, from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. at the Kilachand Center Colloquium Room, 610 Commonwealth Avenue.
Current presenters: Sanne Verschuren (host and speaker), Rosella Cappella (host), Muhammad Zaman (host), Kaija Schilde (speaker), Min Ye (speaker), Tim Longman (speaker), Patrick Keys (speaker), Ben Goossen (speaker), Joseph Harris (speaker), Apeksya Prasai (speaker), Brooke Durham (speaker)
GLOBAL SECURITY INITIATIVE FALL 2025 SEMINAR SERIES
An Infirm Ascendency? India’s National Security Challenges
Ashley Tellis, Tata Chair for Strategic Affairs, Senior Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Despite India’s success in accumulating power in recent decades, durable security has proved to be elusive. India faces significant challenges both within the country and along its diverse frontiers, leaving the question of how much influence it will exert in the international system still open. This lecture will explore the structural and transient factors in India’s security environment with an eye to understanding whether India can rise successfully. Register here.
When/Where: Monday, September 29th, from 1-2:30pm at 121 Bay State Rd
Putting the Iranian Nuclear Program in a Broader Context
Iran’s nuclear ambitions have been the focus of international diplomacy for several decades. Faced with accusations of nuclear weapons pursuits and subject to far-reaching sanctions, Iran concluded the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action in 2015 to restrict its nuclear pursuits. The United States’ decision to withdraw from the agreement in 2018 and subsequent allegations of Iranian violations of its international commitments cast doubt on the deal’s future. All this came to a head when Israel and the United States conducted extensive air attacks against Iran’s nuclear facilities and missile capabilities in June 2025. While the strikes significantly disrupted Iran’s nuclear program and its potential weaponization, it did not eliminate it. This panel will shed light on Iran’s past, present, and future nuclear ambitions, how Iran’s nuclear program is perceived within the region, what efforts have been taken and will likely be taken to curb Iran’s nuclear program, and how these actions have shaped the nuclear non-proliferation regime. Register here.
When/Where: Thursday, October 9th, from 3-4:30 pm at 121 Bay State Road
Sand, Snow, and Stardust: The Military Origins of What We Know About Extreme Environments Today
Gretchen Heefner, Northeastern University
Deserts, the Arctic, outer space—these extreme environments are often seen as inhospitable places at the edges of our maps. But from the 1940s through the 1960s, spurred by the diverse and unfamiliar regions the US military had navigated during World War II, the United States defense establishment took a keen interest in these places, dispatching troops to the Aleutian Islands, North Africa, the South Pacific, and beyond. To preserve the country’s status as a superpower after the war, to pave runways and build bridges, engineers had to understand and then conquer dunes, permafrost, and even the surface of the moon. Sand, Snow, and Stardust explores how the US military generated a new understanding of these environments and attempted to master them, intending to cement America’s planetary power. Operating in these regions depended as much on scientific and cultural knowledge as on military expertise and technology. From General George S. Patton learning the hard way that the desert is not always hot, to the challenges of constructing a scientific research base under the Arctic ice, to the sheer implausibility of modeling Martian environments on Earth, Gretchen Heefner takes us on a wry expedition into the extremes and introduces us to the people who have shaped our insight into these extraordinary environments. Even decades after the first manned space flight, plans for human space exploration and extraplanetary colonization are still based on what we know about stark habitats on Earth. An entertaining survey of the relationship between environmental history and military might, Sand, Snow, and Stardust also serves as a warning about the further transformation of the planet—whether through desertification, melting ice caps, or attempts to escape it entirely. Register here.
When/Where: Tuesday, October 21, from 12:30-2pm at 121 Bay State Road
The Allure of the Gas Stove: Gender and Energy Security in Socialist Czechoslovakia
Julia Mead, Harvard University
In the twentieth century, Czechoslovakia had one of the highest per capita coal production rates in the world. During the socialist period, this fossil bounty formed the base of the country’s economy, and coal fueled everything from motorcycles to steel mills. From the 1960s on, however, Czechoslovakia became increasingly entangled in the global petroleum trade, thanks to the construction of pipelines that delivered oil and gas from the Soviet Union. After the global energy crises of the 1970s, Czechoslovak planners tried to return to an energy independent, coal-only economy, but they found that their citizens’ consumer desires had become inextricably entwined with oil and gas. Zooming in to the level of the household reveals that these consumer desires had a distinct gendered dimension: many women favored gas stoves and heaters for their convenience, while their husbands, fathers, and brothers favored coal for the independence they felt it gave their family and their country. This talk uses conflicts over the gas stove (and water heater and furnace) to illuminate the affective, practical, and gendered elements of energy security. Register here.
When/Where: Wednesday, November 5, from 2:30-4pm at 121 Bay State Road
How to Achieve Arms Control When By All Accounts “Arms Control is Dead”
Mallory Stewart, Executive Vice President of The Council on Strategic Risks, former Assistant Secretary of State for Arms Control
This presentation will discuss how the U.S. government made – and still can make – progress on reducing the risks of misunderstanding, miscalculation, and unintentional escalation in a global political environment that no longer supports “arms control”. This includes creative thinking and ideas about how to continue reducing the risks of arms racing and escalation. Register here.
When/Where: Tuesday, November 18th, from 2-3:30pm at 121 Bay State Road
SPRING 2025
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- Book Workshop: Religion and War in the Middle East
Ron Hassner, Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of California Berkeley - Modernizing the Nuclear Triad: Securing Strategic Superiority in the 21st Century
Major General Stacy Jo Huser, Commander of the Air Force Global Strike Command - China’s Evolving Nuclear Policy: Motivations and Implications for U.S. Security?
Tong Zhao, Senior Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace - Geoeconomic Fragmentation and the World Economy
Shekhar Aiyar, Assistant Director, International Monetary Fund Research Department - Latin America and the Origins and Development of the Nuclear Order
J. Luis Rodriguez, Assistant Professor of International Security and Law, George Mason University
- Book Workshop: Religion and War in the Middle East
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FALL 2024
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- Cracking the Code: How Do We Fortify America’s Infrastructure in a Connected World?
Jeff Greene, Acting Executive Assistant Director for Cybersecurity for the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) - Integrated Deterrence: The Need for Combat-Ready Space Power
L.t. General David N. Miller, Commander of Space Operations Command - Elections in the U.S. and Europe: What Does This Mean for the Transatlantic Security Relationship?
Roundtable with Kaija Schilde (BU), Stacie Goddard (Wellesley), Lauren Sukin (MIT), and Polina Beliakova (MIT) - Contested Nuclear Taboo in the Third Nuclear Age
Michal Smetana, Professor at Charles University - How Sanctions Work: Iran and the Impact of Economic Warfare
Narges Bajoghli, Assistant Professor and Vali Nasr, Professor at the John Hopkins University
- Cracking the Code: How Do We Fortify America’s Infrastructure in a Connected World?
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SPRING 2024
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- Inheriting the Bomb: Ukraine’s Nuclear Disarmament and Why It Matters
Dr. Mariana Budjeryn, Senior Research Associate, Belfer Center at the Harvard Kennedy School - The Long 1948: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Humanity, and the ‘Pacification’ of Madagascar
Dr. Oumar Ba, Assistant Professor at the Cornell University
- Inheriting the Bomb: Ukraine’s Nuclear Disarmament and Why It Matters
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News
Videos
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- Latin America and the Origins and Development of the Nuclear Order
- Contested Nuclear Taboo in the Third Nuclear Age: A Lecture by Michal Smetana
- Elections in the U.S. and Europe: What Does This Mean for the Transatlantic Security Relationship?
- Integrated Deterrence: The Need for Combat-Ready Space Power
- Cracking the Code: How Do We Fortify America’s Infrastructure in a Connected World
- Inheriting the Bomb and Why it Matters