New Wave Realism Conference

Through the Mershon Center for International Security Studies, I attended a conference focused around New Wave Realism. Building off of the Cold War, realism is a view of international politics that stresses its competitive and conflictual side, an ideology contrasting to liberalism and idealism. Specifically, this conference aimed to cultivate a new wave of realist thinkers in light of the increasing geopolitical conflicts arising with China, Russia, the U.S, and many other geopolitical entities. This event relates to current international affairs because it informed me about prevailing scholars and their research regarding realism, which has helped me to understand how the international atmosphere has developed to the point we see in the present. After listening to two researchers, as well as the following constructive criticism given by Mershon Center staff, I was still a bit confused as to the central focus of realism. In the future, I’d love to attend another event that goes even further into the meaning of realism in political discourse today, hopefully answering my underlying confusion regarding the tenants of the modern ideology.

The content of the presentations didn’t intersect with my academic goals, but the aspect of conducting research at the collegiate level is one aspect of the conference in which I want to implement into my career in the near future. From the few presentations I watched, I picked up a better idea of the level of complexity and clarity that is reached at the collegiate level of research. Going forward it, the event has encouraged my previous belief in research and I hope to find a way in which to contribute to a conference similar to this one soon!