Much scholarly and public attention is paid these days to nonconventional security challenges like civil conflicts, terrorism, and human security more broadly. Our cluster aims to revive the academic study of traditional interstate security studies at Harvard. This, however, is not a return to ‘old’ security studies nor a reproduction of policy-focused security studies. We are interested in employing new theories and methodologies that are relevant to understanding understudied features in traditional interstate security. Our focus is on three novel research lines:

1....

Since 2018, the Weatherhead Research Cluster on Regions in a Multipolar World has been focused on building intellectual bridges between the study of transnational regions, the evolution of the world system, and shared dilemmas of governance.

Recent decades have been characterized by the global proliferation of region building. Regions, while not the sole drivers of world affairs, are increasingly fundamental to its functioning—from trade to conflict management to cultural exchange. 

Through events,...

In the fall of 2018, the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs launched the Research Cluster on Religion in Public Life in Africa and the African Diaspora to explore the way religion has taken a central place in Africa and African diaspora affairs as well as the Global South. 

Social, economic, and political discourses are increasingly shaped by religious sensibilities and religious activities. This poses a major challenge to African nations in their commitment to creating secular states and in the constantly shifting and contested boundary between the secular and...

[  Weatherhead Research Cluster on Challenges to Democracy Website  ]

The Weatherhead Research Cluster on Challenges to Democracy focuses on the different and similar threats to democracy faced by nations around the world. Our aim is to foster conversation between scholars of developing and established democracies, including America, Europe, Latin America, Asia, and Africa. Formerly known as the Weatherhead Research Cluster on Global...