Of late, West Africa has been unsettled as regional governments face internal disputes and conflicts, particularly the situation in the Sahel, which inhibit security and development.

Authors and scholars Alexander Cooley and Alexander Kupatadze discuss their research into the interplay of geopolitics and local networks across Central Asia. Cooley explores the dynamics of the new competition between Russia, China and the United States over the region since 9/11, as well as how small states’ interaction with great powers advances our understanding of how world politics actually works in the contemporary era of diminishing Western influence and rising new regional powers. Author Alexander Kupatadze will discuss the diverging trajectories of organized crime in post-Soviet Eurasia focusing on professional criminals (so-called vory-v-zakone) in Georgia and drug smuggling groups in Kyrgyzstan.

Vladimir Sergevnin, Assistant Professor, School of Law Enforcement and Justice Administration and Director, Center for Applied Criminal Justice, Western Illinois University; and Editor, Law Enforcement Executive Forum, will address one of the critical issues of modern law enforcement segment of the Russian state: does police reform produce a new paradigm in controlling misconduct and corruption? What are some of the first results in reforming Russian police towards more accountability and professionalism?

Turkish foreign policy is coming under increasing scrutiny since the election of the ruling Justice and Development Party in 2002. Critiques state that Turkish foreign policy is becoming 'neo-Ottoman' or 'Islamist', arguing that Turkey is moving closer to the Middle East than Europe. The underlying hypothesis of Hamid Akin Unver's lecture however, argues that Turkey's foreign policy is not becoming more Islamist; it is becoming more British, following a pattern of external affairs in which identity is becoming increasingly more pronounced. By focusing on three case studies: Turkey’s self-appointed role as an energy hub between Europe and Russia, its role in NATO and its recent installation of the missile defense shield, and finally, its changing stance against Iran and Syria following the Arab Spring, the lecture will discuss how identity (as it relates to the narratives of history and culture) shape Turkey’s foreign policy understanding and patterns of cooperation and conflict.