Sié Chéou-Kang Center for International Security & Diplomacy

To our Sié Center Community: we simply can’t believe it, but we’ve wrapped another incredible, inspring, and busy (!) year at Korbel. We are so grateful to everyone who contributed their time, energy, resources, and space to make this year a success, particularly because we know (and love) that the Sié Center at its core is a community of people. We encourage you to check out our full End-of-Year Report on our website—you can click on the link in our bio to take you directly to the report, too. You’ll find the full Message from the Director in the report, but you can find some key highlights in this post. We’ll also be posting some highlights from the year in the coming weeks, so stay tuned! Thank you all so much, from the entire Sié Team!



 
“Dear Sié Center Community,
 
I hope that each of you has successfully wrapped up your school year and that you are now looking forward to summer. I’m delighted to share with you our annual report, which highlights the accomplishments of our community over this past terrific year.  
 
We were lucky to add new faculty, postdocs, visiting scholars, and Sié Fellows to our community. We hosted or co-hosted more than 30 community events, including the Feminist Peace Summit, which brought more than 200 people to Denver from around the world. Our faculty produced cutting edge research, won major grants and awards, and excelled in the classroom.

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We are so proud of our faculty--a major congratulations to our director Dr. Marie Berry!

Happy Tuesday, Sié Center community! 🌏

We’re back with another on May 17th for current graduate students, facilitated by Professors Debak Das and Hilary Matfess. In this immersive crisis simulation, participants will represent different international stakeholders in the Indo-Pacific region. Using detailed briefings on military and diplomatic tools at their disposal, participants will respond to changing levels of escalation, developing critical thinking and strategic analysis skills that are essential for policy makers and practitioners.

Students, sign up at the link in our bio—this event is capped at 40. Snacks and a meal will be provided!



-Pacific

CORRECTION: tomorrow’s Feminist Peace Summit breakout session will take place from 11:00am-12:30pm. We’ll have groups discussing and collaborating on the following topics:

• Funding Feminist Peace Work
• Diaspora Organizing
• Nuclear Abolition: Black Leadership and Women’s Leadership
• Organizing Against the Rise of the Global Right
• Bridging Movements to Policy
• Creative Pathways Towards Peace
• Climate and Militarism

We can’t believe we’re starting to wrap up our Thursday programming—we are in awe of all of our speakers and participants this week. Thank you to all co-organizers!

Throughout the Feminist Peace Summit, we will be hosting several breakout sessions, each of which is meant to allow participants to deepen their knowledge and networks around particular themes of the Summit. Each group will be facilitated and participatory, and we invite you to join any that are of interest to you!

Swipe to see all of the breakout session titles for each of the three sessions.

TOMORROW, our Feminist Peace Summit begins! 🌎

We have a phenomenal group of speakers who will be joining us here in Denver to lead discussions on the following organizing topics:

1. Why This Moment Calls for Feminist Peace (May 1, 5:30-7pm MST)

2. What Would Be Different If We Had a Feminist Foreign Policy? Diasporic Wisdom on Ongoing Conflicts (May 2, 9-10:30am MST)

3. Anti-militarist Grassroots Organizing by Communities of Color: A Feminist Response to Entanglements of Militarism (May 2, 3:30-5pm MST)

4. Feminist Strategies to Confront Authoritarianism (May 3, 9-10:30am MST)

Stay tuned as we share about breakout groups, evening programming, and more! We are so grateful to all organizers and participants for making this Summit possible:

Last night, our community gathered in Maglione Hall with Dr. Debak Das, Dr. Matthew Fuhrmann, and Dr. Scott Sagan for a discussion about the current status of global nuclear security and proliferation. The discussion topics ranged from current conflicts such as the war in Ukraine, growing proliferation and arms races in the Indo-Pacific, rogue states, and the roles of human actors in an ever-increasing machines/drones and AI race.

We are so grateful to the expert speakers, Dr. Marie Berry for moderating, Dr. Rachel Epstein for her opening remarks, and for co-sponsoring and making this event possible!

Meet the panelists for our Feminist Peace Summit’s opening plenary, “Why This Moment Calls for Feminist Peace”. 🌎
 
On Wednesday, May 1st (5:30 MST), Sié Center and IGLI Director Marie Berry will be joined by Cynthia Enloe, Toni Haastrup, and Margo Okazawa-Rey. These leading scholar-activists will set the tone for the 2.5-day summit, discussing how and why our current world needs feminist peace. Swipe to read their full bios, and join us virtually by registering at the link in the bio!

This panel will be one of five throughout the Summit—visit our website feministpeacesummit.org to see our full schedule and list of incredible speakers. Only 8 days until we convene in Denver!

Sié Center Faculty Publication Alert: the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists just published “How India’s restructured rocket force makes conflict with China more likely” by Dr. Debak Das!

This article leaves us with a few key takeaways:

1. The main concern for Sino-Indian relations after the MIRV test and the purported solidifying of strategic stability is the space that this will open for conventional crisis escalation, and
2. Strategic stability at the nuclear level will likely create space for India to use its Integrated Rocket Force at the conventional level.

Additionally, a fun historical fact: Oppenheimer wrote for the same publication! You can read the full article at the link in our bio.

Now, if you’d like to know more about Professor Das’s research or nuclear security at large, join us this Thursday evening from 5:30-7pm for “Nuclear Threats & the Future of Arms Control” with co-panelists Dr. Matthew Fuhrmann and Dr. Scott Sagan. We’ll see you there!

-IndianRelations

As we near the beginning of the Feminist Peace Summit, you may be wondering: what are its goals?
 
Activists, academics, policymakers, philanthropists, practitioners, and other key community allies from around the world will be convening for several days of plenaries, breakout workshops, training sessions, and art-based political education. The Summit is based on the following 3 Orienting Commitments:

1. Advancing a Feminist Peace Agenda in U.S. foreign policy and the anti-war movement.

2. Building power and recognition for the role of diasporic communities in breaking down the binary between domestic and foreign policy.

3. Ending the war and militarization at home and challenging the militarism on display during the 2024 election cycle.

Interested in joining us? Register for virtual attendance at the link in the Sié Center bio, or visit www.feministpeacesummit.org




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Can you believe it? We're exactly TWO WEEKS away from our Feminist Peace Summit, taking place here at the Josef Korbel School of International Studies, University of Denver from May 1st-3rd!

There is limited in-person registration left, and it will close when full. If you cannot join us in Denver, all of the panels will be live-streamed--you can find our virtual registration here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc1z8y0mFZUy2mmgnx4aO8m3-eapsLtb4YHRKeVR1tqEjZb5A/viewform

We are so ecstatic to be co-organizing this Summit with the Feminist Peace Initiative, MADRE, Grassroots Global Justice Alliance, and Women Cross DMZ.

Stay tuned for more updates about our plenary speakers, Summit programming, and more!

The Sié Center is back with another event! Join us on Thursday, April 25th for “Nuclear Threats & the Future of Arms Control.” Nuclear threats by Russia during the war in Ukraine, along with expanding nuclear arsenals across the world – especially in China and the Indo-Pacific – have brought nuclear weapons back to the forefront of international security. How has the nuclear landscape changed in the last few years and what should we expect going forward? Is there a future for arms control? Is the non-proliferation order safe and stable? Have new technologies exacerbated or ameliorated the threat we face from nuclear weapons today? Join experts Dr. Scott Sagan (Stanford), Dr. Matthew Fuhrmann (Texas A & M), and Dr. Debak Das (Korbel, ) for a wide-ranging discussion on nuclear politics and the future of arms control, moderated by Sié Center director Marie Berry .
 
Doors open at 5:00pm for guests to access hors d’oeuvres and find their seats; programming begins at 5:30.
 
A limited number of free parking passes will be available to registered attendees on a first-come, first-serve basis. More details to come during the week prior to the event!
 
Hosted by the Sié Center in partnership with World Denver. We are grateful for their support!

Sié Center Community Spotlight: Join affiliated faculty member Dr. Rebecca Galemba and her INTS 4632 Qualitative Research Methods students—many of whom are Sié Fellows and Sié Research Assistants—as they present their qualitative research tomorrow, Wednesday 13th! Students’ research includes topics such as local and international immigration, advocacy strategies for recent arrivals, immigration court, community among migrant workers, and more. Mayra Juarez-Denis, Executive Director of Centro do los Trabajadores Colorado, will also be joining as keynote speaker. RSVP at the link in our bio!

On this International Women’s Day, we are thrilled to invite you to our upcoming Feminist Peace Summit! A coalition of feminist and demilitarization scholars, activists, and movement leaders are organizing the Summit here in Denver at Korbel from May 1-3, 2024. The Summit is open to all who want to join a creative, participatory 2.5 day effort to transform U.S. foreign policies away from war and militarism by advancing feminist and internationalist values.

The Feminist Peace Summit is organized by theFeminist Peace Initiative, a collaboration between Grassroots Global Justice Alliance, MADRE, and Women Cross DMZ, in partnership with The Inclusive Global Leadership Initiative at the Sié Center at the Josef Korbel School at the University of Denver.

The Summit will bring together activists, academics, policymakers, philanthropists, and other key allies for several days of plenaries, breakout workshops, training sessions, and art-based political education. We are excited to welcome leading scholars and activists such as Margo Okazawa-Rey, Cynthia Enloe, Toni Haastrup, Sara Haghdoosti, Linda Burnham, Kavita Ramdas, Diana Lopez, Yanar Mohammed, Janene Yazzie, Lara Kiswani, Nana Gyamfi, and more as some of our plenary speakers.

We are convening this Summit in the face of intensifying militarization and climate devastation at home and abroad, and believe it is ever more urgent to gather our social movements to call for genuine human security grounded in peace, justice, and ecological sustainability.

Visit the FPS website at the link in our bio for more information, FAQs, and registration. We can’t wait to see you at this dynamic event!

In honor of International Women’s Day, join us this Friday, March 8th, from 12-1pm MST (via Zoom) for an important discussion with Professor Marie Berry about the status of women’s rights, activism, and ways that we as individuals can get involved (both locally and on the international scale)! Professor Berry will be joined by Dean Fritz Mayer to spotlight her research, particularly about gender and women’s rights in regions impacted by war and armed conflict. You can register (for free!) at the link in our bio. We hope to see you there!

What is cultural diplomacy? How can the arts be used as an effective tool by nations, communities, and individuals to advance positive social impact worldwide? Join us on April 13th and 14th for an intensive, two-day course taught by Senior Advisory and Envoy for Cultural Exchange, opera singer, educator, and advocate Carla Dirlikov Canales. In this course, offered both for graduate-level credit (2 hours) and available for auditing by community members, students will be able to:
 
• Engage with they key issues in cultural diplomacy past and present
• Analyze the policies, institutions, achievements and limits of cultural diplomacy
• Design a real world cultural exchange event

Students, you can now register for this course through MyDU by searching for INTS 4711; community members and/or those who would like to audit this course, register through the link in our bio! For any questions, you can email us at [email protected].

We are honored to have Carla join us for this unique course and grateful to the Bonfils Stanton Foundation for their generous support. We’ll see you all in April!

Mark your calendars: our next event, “Russia’s War on Ukraine Two Years Since the Full-Scale Invasion” will take place on Wednesday, February 28th, from 12-1:30pm in Maglione Hall (Korbel 5025).

In partnership with the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences, this interdisciplinary panel will include faculty experts from across campus to speak on various aspects of the war in Ukraine. Topics will include the actions of the EU and NATO, implications for global nuclear security, China’s position on the conflict, Ukraine’s efforts to shape global public opinion, and the ways Ukrainians experience the war. Join us for discussion and a light lunch—register now at the link in our bio or email [email protected]. We’ll see you there!

Continuing with our is a research spotlight on Professor Debak Das. In his study of nuclear proliferation, Professor Das explores the history of nuclear technological development in Southern Asia, tracing the increase of nuclear warheads and fissile material production back to May of 1998 when both India and Pakistan tested nuclear weapons and formed a trilateral nuclear rivalry in the region. As both the India-China rivalry and China-United States competition grow, new dimensions and complexities are being added to the long-standing risks for nuclear escalation.

Professor Das concludes from his research that “the United States needs to deemphasize the nuclear dimension of the competition in the Indo-Pacific and avoid entangling South Asia in a four-way nuclear competition between the United States, China, India, and Pakistan.”

He’s one of our many faculty who research and teach about global security. Visit the link in our bio to read his full Lawfare Institute article and to read more about all of the research happening at the Sié Center!

Mark your calendars! On Thursday, February 15th, the Sié Center is proud to be hosting musical collective Small Island Big Song in partnership with the Newman Center for the Performing Arts as part of our Cultural Diplomacy Series.

“Climate Crisis: Our Response as Art Activists” will bring together members of Small Island Big Song (Airileke Ingram, Aremistic, and Tim Cole), Korbel Professor Tamra Pearson D’Estrée (director of the Global Environmental Sustainability program), and Newman Center Executive Director Aisha Ahmad-Post to discuss the role of cultural diplomacy in the face of global climate change.

Register now through the link in our bio!

Happy Monday, Sié Center Community! 🌞

Without further ado, we’d like to *officially* introduce our newest cohort of incredible Sié Fellows. The Sié Fellowship is a two-year, full-tuition scholarship, awarded each year to outstanding master’s degree-seeking students from the U.S. and abroad. The fellowship is highly selective and is granted to applicants that have superior academic credentials and future leadership potential. This year, we’ve welcomed Dipasa Bista, Alejandro Chavez, Faizaa Fariya Hridi (who goes by Hridi), and Carly Paul. Visit our updated Sié Fellows webpage for their full (phenomenal) bios, and stay tuned for their upcoming spotlight posts!

Congratulations are in order for the Korbel School's George DeMartino! Professor DeMartino has been named as the 2023 recipient of the Thomas F. Divine Award by the Association for Social Economics, the most important award they offer! In January, he will be presented this honor at the ASE's annual meetings. We are proud to have Professor DeMartino as a dedicated member of the Korbel School team and wish to congratulate him for this incredible accomplishment!

Hey, Sié Fellow alums! YOU'RE INVITED: next Thursday, December 7th, we're restarting our Sié Fellow Alumni Dinner at the Hive Hotel in Washington D.C. We hope you'll join us from 6-9pm to catch up, re-connect, and strengthen our community. Director Marie Berry and previous directors Debbi Avant and Cullen Hendrix will be in attendance and are so looking forward to catching up with each of you! RSVP for yourself and a +1 by emailing [email protected] to confirm your spot.


Didn't get our initial email invite? Our contact info for you might be outdated! Even if you can't attend, please send us your updated contact information so that you hear about all of our upcoming news and events. We are so grateful to each and every one of our fellows, past and present, and we want to stay connected!

You can now listen to the full first season of the new podcast, What the World Will Become, hosted by Sié Center Director Marie Berry!

What the World Will Become is a podcast about the humans who dedicate their lives to building a more free and just world. Over the course of this first season, you’ll hear from women-identified and gender non-conforming activists from around the world who are carving out spaces for creative resistance and new possibilities in the context of profound difficulty.

The title of this podcast is inspired by abolitionist scholar Ruth Wilson Gilmore, who reminded us that, “What the world will become already exists in fragments and pieces, experiments and possibilities.”

Follow along to learn from those engaged in these ‘experiments and possibilities,’ whose work offers us a blueprint for how we might build a world that is free from violence.

Learn more and listen to all of the episodes here: https://www.theinclusivegloballeadershipinitiative.org/wwwb