Research Seminar Series

Foreign policy and the US presidential election: Why it matters

11 May 2012

Many pundits contend that with the economy such an important issue in the US presidential election, foreign policy does not matter. It actually does, politically as well as for the US role in the world. In this seminar, Bruce Jentleson, Professor of Public Policy and Political Science at Duke University, will examine the dynamics of the campaign thus far and the likely terms of foreign policy debate as we move towards election day.

Contesting “America”: Research presentations by the Postdoctoral Fellows of the US Studies Centre

3 May 2012 - 4 May 2012

The 2011-2012 cohort of postdoctoral fellows presented their research at this mini-conference run over two days.

Rethinking America’s Great War

18 April 2012

Douglas Craig is a Reader in History at the Australian National University. At this research seminar he spoke about "Rethinking America’s Great War".

It has long been a commonplace (more often repeated than explored) that the United States’ experience of the First World War was so different from the rest of the Western world’s that it established a twentieth century version of American exceptionalism that deeply affected not only Americans’ national self-image but also how outsiders saw the United States for the next century.

A Politician Thinking: The Creative Mind of James Madison

4 April 2012

James Madison is generally regarded as America’s leading constitutional theorist, with his famous essays in The Federalist representing the classic statements of his thought. In this talk, Stanford University Professor of History and American Studies, Jack Rakove, examined Madison from a related but distinct perspective, as a political actor thinking his way through a novel set of constitutional questions.

Luck, Leadership, and Legitimacy in transitions to democracy

13 March 2012

In this research seminar, Ian Shapiro discussed "Luck, Leadership, and Legitimacy in transitions to democracy: Lessons from South Africa and the Middle East." Ian Shapiro is Sterling Professor of Political Science at Yale University, where he also serves as Henry R. Luce Director of the MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies.

Same old story? Obama and the Arab Uprisings

9 March 2012

In this research seminar Dr Jeremy Pressman discussed America's approach to the Arab uprisings.

The United States has taken a cautious approach to the Arab uprisings. Most Obama administration decisions are what one would have expected given longstanding US tendencies regarding alliances and stability. In particular, the United States government has called for regime change and democratisation with adversaries (e.g. Libya, Syria) but been reticent to do so with allies (e.g. Bahrain, Egypt). Despite pressure from elements in the US Congress and punditry for more aggressive policies, Obama officials have neither pushed a broad freedom agenda nor endorsed US-led military intervention other than in Libya (at least thus far). The only exceptions are the tentative dealings with Islamists political actors. All these US decisions are taking place against a crucial reality that is often ignored: these uprisings are driven in the particular countries, not in Washington. The United States did not start the process and does not and cannot control it.

Roundtable discussion on Psychology and Behavioural Economics with Professor Daniel Kahneman

19 August 2011

Daniel Kahneman, Professor Emeritus of Psychology and Public Affairs at Princeton University; and the winner of the 2002 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences lead a roundtable discussion on Psychology and Behavioural Economics.

He discussed the psychology underpinning current applications of behavourial economics to financial behaviour, and described why normally rational, clear headed people with a wealth of information at their fingertips make questionable decisions based on gut instinct.

In search of the People formerly known as the Audience

18 August 2011

Professor Marty Kaplan spoke on the topic "In search of the People formerly known as the Audience".

Martin Kaplan is the Norman Lear Professor of Entertainment, Media and Society at the University of Southern California's Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism. His uncommonly broad career has also spanned government and politics, the entertainment industry and journalism.

Systems Biology for Algal Biomass, Biofuels and Bioproducts Seminar

18 May 2011

The US Studies Centre's Dow Sustainability Program hosted Dr José A. Olivares, Executive Director of the US Department of Energy National Alliance for Advanced Biofuels and Bioproducts (NAABB) and Biofuels Program Manager, Los Alamos National Laboratory. Dr Olivares outlined the extensive research and development program on algal biofuels being conducted by NAABB, a US$65 million public private partnership. For further information, please contact Dr Susan Pond, Dow Sustainability Program at us-studies@sydney.edu.au.

Little Caesar and the HUAC Mob: Edward G. Robinson, the Red Scare, and the Decline of Hollywood Liberalism

13 April 2011

Steven J Ross, Professor of History, University of Southern California presented on the topic "Little Caesar and the HUAC Mob: Edward G. Robinson, the Red Scare, and the Decline of Hollywood Liberalism"

Steven J. Ross is Professor of History at the University of Southern California. The first person in his family to go to college, he earned degrees from Columbia, Oxford, and Princeton. Ross is the author of Workers On the Edge: Work, Leisure, and Politics in Industrializing Cincinnati, 1788-1890(1985), Movies and American Society (2002) and Working-Class Hollywood: Silent Film and the Shaping of Class in America (1998)—which was named by the Los Angeles Times as one of the "Best Books of 1998."