LEXINGTON, Va., March 7, 2017 – A political science professor specializing in national security will speak at VMI Wednesday, March 8, at 7:45 p.m. in the auditorium of Nichols Engineering Building. 

Dr. Christopher J. Fettweis, who is associate professor in the Department of Political Science at Tulane University, has titled his remarks “Unipolarity, Hegemony and the New Peace.

In his talk, Fettweis will discuss the relative peace of the post-Cold War era, and the possible causes for that peace. As a possible explanation, he will explore the pacifying effects of U.S. hegemony. Fettweis will argue that this “hegemonic stability” explanation for the decline of armed conflict rests on very thin foundations. The “new peace” can probably continue without U.S. dominance, Fettweis believes, and should persist long after unipolarity comes to an end. 

Prior to joining Tulane’s faculty, Fettweis served on the faculty of the U.S. Naval War College.  His primary research interests include U.S. national security and grand strategy, presidential decision-making, and psychology and international security.  He is author of four books, including The Pathologies of Power: Fear, Honor, Glory, and Hubris in U.S. Foreign Policy (Cambridge University Press), and of 15 articles published in Comparative Strategy, Political Science Quarterly, Orbis, Security Studies and others. Fettweis is president of the board of the World Affairs Council of New Orleans and has appeared on such programs as NPR’s On Point, To the Point, and Weekend Edition.

Fettweis’s appearance at VMI is sponsored by the Dean’s Speaker Series Program and the Department of International Studies and Political Science. This event is free and open to the public.

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