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Meanwhile, Michael Desch, a professor of International Relations at the University of Notre Dame and the director of the Notre Dame International Security Center, opined that the bill will likely intensify the hostilities in Ukraine as well as hinder a diplomatic solution to the conflict. He also expressed concerns that widespread provision of small arms in Ukraine could benefit the country's criminals and extremists.

In the final NDISC Seminar Series event for the 2021-22 school year, the Notre Dame International Security Center welcomed Boston University political science professor and department chair Dr. Neta Crawford to campus.

For almost seventy-five years now, the National Security Act of 1947 has significantly impacted how Presidents develop and implement foreign policy, transforming not only America but the global community as well.

In April 2022, NDISC welcomed Penn State Associate Political Science Professor Roseanne McManus to discuss he research in Madman Theory. Dr. McManus' research focuses on the effect madness (or perceived madness) has on international relationships.

When a new Federal law creates or restructures government agencies, it’s not uncommon for the law to create a new role within that agency. Such was the case upon the passing of the National Security Act of 1947. The law, signed by President Truman in the wake of World War II and the beginning of the Cold War, restructured the US military and intelligence agencies.

Los Alamos National Labs and Sandia National Laboratories were the centerpieces of The Notre Dame International Security Center’s (NDISC) Spring Break 2022 learning experience.  

In the final NDISC Seminar Series for the month of March 2022, we were excited to welcome Congressional Staffer Matt Duss, who has also served as the president of the Foundation for Middle East Peace, and a national security and international policy analyst at the Center for American Progress.

The Notre Dame International Security Center (NDISC) is proud to organize and host a variety of important and informative conversations featuring leading thinkers in their respective fields in our Seminar Series.

In a world at war, and with wars rarely being a real solution, the nuclear arms stalemate has been a realistic compromise between Catholicism’s pacificism and its just war theory.

Deference to senior command is a hard-wired tradition in elite military organizations, and nowhere is that tradition more honored than in the U.S. Marine Corps. But what happens if a policy coming from the top of the chain of command is insufficiently tested or intrinsically flawed? Where is it written that a subordinate or former commander can set aside deference and demand a second look?

Intelligence analysts are one of the most coveted international security jobs, playing a key role in national security and international relations. They compile data and information from multiple sources to assess threats and prevent attacks from external and internal enemies. Their number one priority is to ensure the safety of their country.  

Ian Johnson, assistant professor of military history at the University of Notre Dame, Indiana, believes that "the possibility of a coup is a faint one, but not impossible."  "Putin has surrounded himself with individuals he believes are incapable of succeeding him, but should the war go poorly over an extended period of time, Putin may face the prospect of removal," he told Newsweek.

Major Grunert is an officer in the Judge Advocate General’s (JAG) Corps. He has served as a military prosecutor and legal advisor on four continents. In his capacity as an Assistant Professor in the Air Force Academy’s Department of Law, Major Grunert teaches a course in his particular specialty: Space Law.

There are multiple factors and institutions that help shape the foreign policy of the United States and that the Senate Foreign Relations Committee is one of them.

Eugene Gholz, a Notre Dame political science professor who previously advised the Pentagon, said national security concerns over energy have been exaggerated before, like with oil. He believes that's happening again. Gholz thinks the national security risk of electric vehicle adoption are small, and less than the oil supply chain. "F-35s won't fall out of the sky because we don't have access to cobalt imports," Gholz told CNN Business. "It's not like you need to constantly deliver diesel to the forward operating base. Once the base has a battery, it's got a battery for years."

With a political science degree, there is a wide range of career paths possible including international security jobs. Here is a look at just a few of the many positions international security scholars can pursue:

Since signing the Charter of the United Nations in 1945, the only violation of Article 2, Paragraph 4 of the charter, which declares that no state can use military force to conquer another state’s territory, was in 1990 when Iraq invaded Kuwait. Russia had about 130,000 troops stationed at the Ukrainian border, as of Feb. 4. If Russia invades Ukraine...

As an NDISC fellow, Emma Morrison '19, earned her degree in Political Science. Emma's held both intern and full-time positions at the House Committee on Armed Services and is now the Associate Director of Research and Analysis at the Defense Panel of the Special Competitive Studies Project.

On January 18th as part of the NDISC Seminar Series, Professor Šumit Ganguly presented “The Global Significance of the Sino-Indian Rivalry” at Jenkins-Nanovic Hall.

“Big-power politics is back in a big way. It’s not a reality President Biden can wish away or ignore,” says Michael Desch, a professor of international relations at the University of Notre Dame and founding director of the university’s International Security Center. “But a year into his presidency and as he confronts these two very difficult and fraught situations, I see both ways in which his administration is acknowledging this big-power world they’ve entered – and ways they still have not.”...