Seminar series An Unwritten Future: Realism and Uncertainty in World Politics Joint Swiss Chair - Departmental Seminar series Add to calendar 2025-05-22 16:00 2025-05-22 18:00 Europe/Rome An Unwritten Future: Realism and Uncertainty in World Politics Refectory, Badia Fiesolana Via dei Roccettini, 9 YYYY-MM-DD Print Share: Share on Facebook Share on BlueSky Share on X Share on LinkedIn Send by email Scheduled dates May 22 2025 16:00 - 18:00 CEST Refectory, Badia Fiesolana, Via dei Roccettini, 9 Organised by Department of Political and Social Sciences In the framework of the Swiss Chair Seminar Series, this event features a presentation by Jonathan Kirshner (Boston College). An Unwritten Future offers a fresh reassessment of classical realism, an enduring approach to understanding crucial events in the international political arena. In this talk, Jonathan Kirshner identifies the fundamental flaws of classical realism’s would-be successors, and shows how this older, more nuanced and sophisticated method for studying world politics better explains the formative events of the past. Classical Realism, crucially, is also ideally equipped to comprehend the vital questions of the present—such as the implications of China’s rise, and the influence of social forces and economic change on the nature of international conflict. Drawing on his recent Foreign Affairs essay, Kirshner also explains why President Trump’s 'America First' foreign policy is inconsistent with realism—and why that matters. Related events