Exploring Indicators of Cooperation Across Regions: Signals of Positive Peace in the Middle East and East Asia
When
Where
Middle Eastern and North African Colloquium Series
Thomas Volgy is a Professor of Political Science, with a PhD from the University of Minnesota. His academic work includes several books and over 70 articles in across political science, international relations, and interdisciplinary journals. His most recent research programs are focused on 1) comparative regional analysis of conflict and cooperation processes; 2) refining measures of power and strength between states; and 3) analyses of rising regional and major powers.
While International Relations scholars have been overwhelming preoccupied with analyzing conflicts between states and within regions, two elements have been missing in their analyses. First, there has been little systematic analysis of how regions may move from conflict and negative peace towards more positive peace. Second, they have failed to systematically develop explanations of conflict and peace processes through an explicit comparison of different regions in international politics. In this talk I offer a theoretical framework for doing so, and I discuss one indicator we are developing to measure more explicitly patterns of cooperation between states, both in the Middle East and in East Asia.