In 2024, over 70 countries held elections, with more than half of the world's population participating. This panel will explore global election results from a comparative perspective and reflect on what they reveal about the state of democracy. Featuring expert insights on key regions, Victoria Hui (Asia), Scott Mainwaring (Latin America), Dianne Pinderhughes (USA), Marc Jacob (Europe), and Bernard Forjwuor (Africa), the discussion will cover elections in nations like India, South Africa, Poland, France, the UK, Venezuela, and the U.S. Moderated by Dean Mary Gallagher of the Keough School of Global Affairs, the event will draw broad themes and collective takeaways about the health of global democracy in 2024. Dave Campbell, Director of the Notre Dame Democracy Initiative, will offer introductory remarks. A welcome reception with light refreshments will begin at 5:30 pm, and the panel will begin at 6:00 pm. The event is free and open to the public. This event is sponsored by the Notre Dame Democracy Initiative, and co-sponsored by the Kellogg Institute for International Studies and the Rooney Center for the Study of American Democracy. Originally published at rooneycenter.nd.edu.

This event brings together a diverse array of Notre Dame voices with personal and professional relationships to the current conflict. From their distinct vantage points as scholars, practitioners, and individuals with deep ties to the region, panelists will describe their experiences, how they are processing what is happening, and what they hope and expect for the future. The evening fireside chat intends to create a safe space for the Notre Dame community to engage in this challenging, but necessary, conversation. Featuring:Daniel Bannoura, Palestinian Theologian; Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Theology Ramzi Bualuan, Teaching Professor and Director of Undergraduate Studies, Department of Computer Science and Engineering Gabriel Mitchell, Director of Undergraduate Studies, Notre Dame Jerusalem Ray Offenheiser, Senior Advisor to the Dean, Keough School of Global Affairs; Director, McKenna Center for Human Development and Global Business Atalia Omer, Professor of Religion, Conflict, and Peacebuilding, Keough School of Global AffairsModerator:  Michael Desch, Packey J. Dee Professor of International Relations and Brian and Jeannelle Brady Family Director of the Notre Dame International Security CenterA reception will follow the panel discussion. Originally published at forum2024.nd.edu.

The Kroc Institute proudly hosts a new series focused on intersectionality and justice as a beneficial framework and methodology paired with peace studies. Led by Ashley Bohrer, assistant professor of gender and peace studies, and featuring a variety of guest presenters, the series will address the potential of intersectional analysis for peace studies scholars, with an ability to transform timely global conversations and issues. The series will also illustrate how peacebuilding in its many forms contributes to the strength and value of intersectionality and justice as an analytical tool and concept. Marsha Henry, the Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton Chair in Women, Peace, Security and Justice at Queen’s University, Belfast, will discuss her new book, The End of Peacekeeping: Gender, Race, and the Martial Politics of Intervention. Drawing on critical concepts from Black feminist thought and postcolonial and critical race theories, Henry provides an intersectional analysis of peacekeeping from more than 15 years of ethnographic fieldwork around the world—including interviews with UN peacekeepers, humanitarian aid personnel, and local populations. Revealing that peacekeeping is not the benign, apolitical project it is often purported to be, Henry’s book encourages readers to imagine and enact alternative futures to peacekeeping. Originally published at kroc.nd.edu.

Kellogg Work-in-Progress seminars are designed to generate in-depth discussion of new scholarly work. For the pre-circulated paper and to attend, register here. Juan Andrés MoraesKellogg Visiting FellowProfessor of Political Science, Universidad de la República, Uruguay Affective polarization is a set of hostile attitudes towards opposing collective identities, which requires vibrant political parties. But what happens when partisan institutions are weak? In Latin America, for example, scholars have extensively documented that parties and party systems tend to have lower levels of institutionalization, brand dilution, and are often used by ambitious politicians as mere electoral vehicles. This research explores the role of personalism as a cause of affective polarization in Latin America, offering an account of such behavior in a context of electoral instability which is a key element of party competition in the region.  For more information, click here.

Families welcome, child friendly! Enjoy crafts, snacks, and entertainment — performance and live music begins at 6 p.m.Help the Robinson Center be a force for good in South Bend this year!The Robinson Community Learning Center Silent Auction ends at midnight, Monday, December 9 (extended to include college football playoff tickets). Check out the many exciting auction items, support the RCLC and place your bids here.    

The Center for Italian Studies is pleased to host a lecture by Professor Eva Del Soldato (University of Pennsylvania) titled: A Reckless and Scandalous Doctrine: Matthias Ferchius, a Franciscan in the Index  This paper delves into the intriguing journey of a forgotten booklet by the Franciscan Matthias Ferchius (1583-1669), drawing from recently unearthed material. It uncovers a fascinating blend of Biblical exegesis, poison expertise, medical reasoning, and rhetorical balancing acts, all in an audacious attempt by Ferchius to present no less than a revisionist account of the death of Jesus Christ. The paper will engage in the dialectic between Ferchius and the Holy Office censors, shedding light on the aspects of Ferchius’s text that raised particular concerns. It will also demonstrate how the pursuit of “new” outlooks in philosophy and theology always necessitated a firm reliance on tradition, a fact exemplified by other episodes of Ferchius’ intellectual career. Lastly, it will bring to the fore the paradoxical outcomes of this form of “conspiracy” philology.  Eva Del Soldato is associate professor of Italian Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, where she directs the FIGS Graduate Program and serves as interim director of the Center for Italian Studies. She was trained in philosophy and intellectual history at the Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa. Her research is primarily devoted to Renaissance thought and culture, particularly the Aristotelian and Platonic traditions. Her current project is focused on lovesickness treatises in the Counterreformation period. She is the author of the monographs Simone Porzio (2010) and Early Modern Aristotle. On the Making and Unmaking of Authority (2020). She has also published several articles and editions, including the Italian translation of Bessarion's In calumniatorem Platonis. She has co-edited several volumes (the most recent is Plato in the Italian Universities, 2024). She received— among others — fellowships from the Scuola Normale Superiore, Villa I Tatti, the Herzog August Bibliothek in Wolfenbuettel, the Huntington Library in Pasadena, and she has been a Marie Curie Fellow at the University of Warwick, UK. She has been a visiting professor at the University of Milan, the University of Bergamo, and the 2022/2023 Charles Speroni Chair at UCLA. She has been the interim director (2019/2020) of the Global Medieval Studies Program at Penn, and she is currently the executive secretary of the American Association for Italian Studies (AAIS).   The lecture is co-sponsored by the Medieval Institute.The Italian Research Seminar, a core event of the Center for Italian Studies, aims to provide a regular forum for faculty, postdoctoral scholars, graduate students, and colleagues from other universities to present and discuss their current research. The Seminar is vigorously interdisciplinary, and embraces all areas of Italian literature, language, and culture, as well as perceptions of Italy, its achievements and its peoples in other national and international cultures. The Seminar constitutes an important element in the effort by Notre Dame's Center for Italian Studies to promote the study of Italy and to serve as a strategic point of contact for scholarly exchange.Originally published at italianstudies.nd.edu.