The Great Decisions 2019 lecture series will kick off Thursday February 7 at Isothermal Community College’s Polk Center in Columbus.  Offered nationwide, the series is dedicated to promoting better understanding of crucial world issues that affect the foreign policy of the United States. Topics for the series are selected by the non-partisan nonprofit Foreign Policy Association of America, and are intended to provide a local forum for discussion on current political and economic issues of the day. 

The lecture series will meet each Thursday from 2 – 4 p.m. through March 14 at ICC’s Polk Center with each weekly topic being addressed by a different distinguished speaker.  On Thursday February 7 Mark Gibney, professor of political Science at UNCA, will speak on Refugees and Global Migration.    

 

Some of the questions that will be addressed are:  Who determines whether someone is a refugee or a migrant? How have different countries, including the United States, reacted to migration? How effective are the international laws, policies and organizations that have evolved to assist and protect refugees and migrants? 

Subsequent topics include: Cyber Conflict and Geopolitics, The Rise of Populism in Europe, The Middle East: Regional Disorder, Nuclear Negotiations: Back to the Future and Decoding U.S.-China Trade.   

 

Great Decisions 2019 is sponsored by Isothermal Community College in cooperation with the World Affairs Council of Western North Carolina.  

 

For more information or to register, call the Polk Center of Isothermal Community College at 828-894-3092. 

 

Submitted by Kate Barkschat