Mershon Center for International Security Studies Annual Report 2002-2003
Loading...
Date
2003
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
The Ohio State University
Abstract
With the United States engaged in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan and
Americans aware that violence may strike the homeland, national security
remains at the top of the Mershon Center’s agenda. The war on
terrorism has both increased the salience of national security and expanded
the understanding of what is involved in defending the country.
The military is asked to fight wars as well as engage in peacekeeping,
policing and even nation-building. The importance of intelligence
and the need to coordinate the activities of multiple agencies both at
home and with allies abroad is clear. So is the need to understand the
motive forces and calculations that drive violent conflict and the methods
for defusing and defeating them.
The national security agenda is broad and the Mershon Center can make a distinctive impact by focusing
on topics that the faculty expertise at Ohio State is especially well equipped to address. In light
of changes in the world and at strengths identified in selective investment decisions at the University,
a new five-year plan for the Center was approved by the Provost this year. It charts a course for the
Center that emphasizes four substantive foci. The first of these is the use of force and diplomacy in
world affairs, using the study of military and diplomatic history to draw lessons for the contemporary
scene. The second is the decision processes involved in making defense and foreign policies,
with an effort to discover ways to improve these. Third, is the role culture plays in diplomacy and
conflict as it shapes national, religious and ethnic identities. The fourth foci is the role law and institutions
play in managing disputes that can lead to armed conflict.
The substantive questions the Mershon Center focuses on are not dealt adequately from any single
disciplinary perspective. The Center serves as a catalyst for interdisciplinary cooperation relying
heavily on faculty members from multiple departments in the Colleges of the Humanities, the Social
and Behavioral Sciences and Law. The Center also serves as a bridge between the academy and the
policy making world. The Center does this primarily by emphasizing the scholarly study of central
historical and causal claims that serve as assumptions underpinning national security strategies and
policies. This annual report highlights the recent publications resulting from this work, introduces
some of the people that have played key roles in producing this scholarship and gives a flavor of the
content and variety of the seminars and lectures the Mershon Center has sponsored over the past
year.
Richard K. Herrmann
Director, Mershon Center
Professor of Political Science
Description
The University Archives has determined that this item is of continuing value to OSU's history.
Keywords
Mershon Center Annual Report 2002-2003, national security, security studies, use of force, violent conflict