Grawemeyer celebration to feature conversation on “Why Civil Resistance Works”
As part of the 30th Anniversary Celebration of the Grawemeyer Awards, the University of Louisville is offering a conversation on “Why Civil Resistance Works” with two previous award recipients, Erica Chenoweth and Maria Stephan. The program, which is free and open to the public, will take place on Thursday, Oct. 29, 2015 from 10 a.m. – noon at the school’s Chao Auditorium in the Ekstrom Library. Detailed information is available here.
The speakers’ research found that non-violent campaigns designed to affect change were much more successful than violent campaigns. They received the 2013 Grawemeyer Award for Ideas Improving World Order.
Erica Chenoweth is a professor and associate dean for research at the University of Denver’s Josef Korbel School of International Studies and an associate senior researcher at the Peace Research Institute of Oslo (PRIO). Previously, she was an assistant professor at Wesleyan University in Connecticut, where she received the Carol A. Baker Memorial Prize recognizing excellence in junior faculty teaching and research. She received the International Studies Association’s 2014 Karl Deutsch Award, which is given to scholars under age 40 who have made significant contributions to the study of international relations and peace research.
Maria J. Stephan is a senior policy fellow at the United States Institute of Peace and a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, where she focuses on the dynamics of civil resistance and its relevance to violent conflict prevention and democratic development. Previously, Stephan was lead foreign affairs officer for the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations and also worked for the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict, first directing educational initiatives and later policy and research. She was an adjunct professor at Georgetown and American universities and spent two years as a fellow at the Kennedy School of Government’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs.
The public is invited to take part in all of the Grawemeyer Awards 30th Anniversary Celebration events, which continue into mid-November and include conversations with, and presentations by, former Grawemeyer Award winners in education, religion, psychology, music and political science. The events address diverse topics, including “Mysteries of Human Memory” and “Insights into Corruption.”