Call for 2024 Policy Outreach Awards

BTG is now accepting applications from early-career scholars for our Policy Outreach Award. This award, generously supported by the Raymond Frankel Foundation, supports focused outreach to members of the policy community by outstanding early-career scholars on issues related to international security, politics, and foreign policy. The award will support outreach efforts that convey policy implications of the scholar’s research to policy practitioners, with the purpose of informing policy making or practice. 

 

The award will fund travel to Washington, DC and three nights of accommodation in DC. Each award recipient will also be assigned a mentor who is a senior member of the Bridging the Gap network and will provide the recipient with focused guidance and advice on their policy outreach. To be eligible, scholars must have completed their PhD in international relations, international studies, political science, history, or public policy within the past five years. The opportunity is open to scholars based in the U.S. regardless of citizenship.

More information and the application form can be found here.

Application Deadline December 9.

 

New Voices “Deterring Hostage Taking and Wrongful Detention.”

On September 20, 2024, Bridging the Gap and the Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS) brought together an invited group of scholars and practitioners to the New Voices in National Security workshop, “Deterring Hostage Taking and Wrongful Detention.” Scholars Dan Altman, Dani Gilbert, Reid Pauly, Susan Allen, Peter Dyrud, and Beatrice Lau spoke about coercion theory and how policymakers might apply its lessons to deterring hostage taking and wrongful detention. The event featured a dinner keynote conversation with Joshua Geltzer, Deputy Assistant to the President, Deputy White House Counsel, and Legal Advisor to the National Security Council. Roger D. Carstens, the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs at the US Department of State, gave remarks at the workshop lunch, as well.

 

The event was convened by BTG Director Dani Gilbert and Senior Vice President and Director of the Middle East Program at CSIS, Jon Alterman with support from rapporteur Leah Hickert.

Bridging the Gap Is Turning 20!

We can't believe Bridging the Gap launched its first program almost 20 years ago! To thank our network and celebrate its combined accomplishments, BTG is hosting a 20th birthday party in Washington, DC during our 2025 International Policy Summer Institute (IPSI) next June.  Keep an eye out for more information. We can't wait to celebrate with you!

 

Bridging The Gap Welcomes Our Newest Team Members!

Rachel Hawley is BTG's Program Assistant, supporting BTG program planning and communications. She completed her bachelor's degree in International Studies and Spanish at the University of Idaho. During her undergraduate studies, she became passionate about international human rights and environmental change, a fascination that brought her to the University of Denver. Here, she is pursuing a master's degree in International Human Rights and a certificate in Environmental Change & Adaptation, with the goal of specializing in the intersection of human rights and climate-related issues in the Arctic region.

Isaiah Davis is our new Program Specialist working on New Voices in National Security Workshops. He is a current graduate student studying United States National Security and Foreign Affairs at American University. He received his undergraduate degree from Virginia Tech studying National Security and Foreign Policy. A fun fact about Isaiah is that he has visited more than half of the states in the US.

Recent BTG Publications

We are thrilled to share that the Washington Quarterly recently published an article by Anjali Dayal titled "Preventing Mass Atrocities with a Divided UN Security Council" based on her presented remarks from the New Voices in National Security workshop "Atrocity Prevention: Tools and Strategies." The workshop took place in September 2023 in collaboration with the Simon-Skjodt Center for the Prevention of Genocide at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum. Find the article here!

Updates from Our Network

Northwestern University Department of Political Science Tenure-Track Positions

Northwestern is currently searching for two tenure-track assistant professors, one in International Relations and one in Environmental Politics.  Both positions are described here, along with full information about both searches. 

 

Georgia Institute of Technology Tenure-Track Position

The Sam Nunn School of International Affairs (www.inta.gatech.edu) at the Georgia Institute of Technology invites applications for a tenure-track assistant professor position in International Affairs and Data Science to begin Fall 2025. To ensure consideration, applications must be received by October 15, 2024, but the search will continue until the position is filled. Inquiries may be directed to Search Committee Chair Lawrence Rubin lawrence.rubin@inta.gatech.edu. Apply here and read a full description.

SCHOLARLY PUBLICATIONS

Christian Bueger and Timothy Edmunds

Understanding Maritime Security Oxford University Press

 

Debak Das

Standard Operating Barriers in International Studies International Studies Review

 

Heidi Hardt and Jackie Burns

NATO wants to be a leader on climate security. Here are the next steps to get there Atlantic Council

 

Heidi Hardt and Stéfanie von Hlatky

Local engagement and U.S. military attitudes toward gender integration: Evidence from Afghanistan Contemporary Security Policy

 

Danielle Lupton

Threat Construction and Coercive Credibility Security Studies

I’m from the Government, and I’m Here to Help: Public Perceptions of Coercive State Power  American Political Science Review (with Jessica Blankshain and Lindsay Cohn)

 

Reid Pauly

Damned If They Do, Damned If They Don't: The Assurance Dilemma in International Coercion International Security

 

Geoffrey Swenson

Promoting Law Beyond the State International Studies Quarterly

 

Kai M. Thaler

From snapshots to panoramas: navigating power, space, and time in the study of armed groups, Conflict, Security, & Development (with Antonia H. Juelich and Sean Paul Ashley)

BTG IN THE MEDIA

Christian Bueger

Coordinating and Deconflicting Naval Operations in the Western Indian Ocean RUSI

Anti-piracy lessons from the Seychelles War on the Rocks (with Ryan Adeline and Brendon J. Cannon)

EU's Red Sea mission comes at a price — Somali pirates are back EU Observer

NATO's contribution to critical maritime infrastructure protection The MOC

 

Vanessa Newby

It would be a mistake for Israel to invade Lebanon – here’s why The Conversation (with Chiara Ruffa)

 

Matthew Winters

Branding Foreign Aid: Soft Power and Popular Attitudes in International Development People Power Politics Podcast

Would you like your work to be included in an upcoming BTG newsletter?

Send it to us at BridgingTheGap@du.edu (include "Newsletter Update" in the subject).

 

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