About

Director’s Welcome

The Center for International Affairs and World Cultures (CIAWC) was relaunched in 2023 as a new home for research and timely discussion on major world events.  Our signature global crisis speakers series spotlights a range of perspectives about today’s most pressing global challenges, such as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the future of AI and governance, international cooperation in outer space, the war in Israel and Gaza, the geopolitics of China, and many more.  Underlying all of the center’s activities is the question of how international cooperation, empathy, and diplomacy can help tackle major world challenges.  To investigate this, our invited speakers and affiliated scholars provide context and expertise, stemming from history, culture, identity, and policy.  CIAWC is poised to be a leading venue for the discussion and investigation of global security issues, policy solutions, and timely analysis.  Building on strengths in interdisciplinarity, regional expertise, and networks beyond the university, we aim to be a resource for the Northeastern community and beyond.

In October 2024, the Center launched its flagship program entitled, “Transnational Political Networks & The Future of Global Order.”  Transnational political networks – groups of individuals who transcend national boundaries – are major forces shaping global order, even despite great power competition.  They have championed groundbreaking ideas for international cooperation across a wide range of issue areas, such as climate change, nuclear weapons, outer space, and artificial intelligence.  Under Professor Mai’a Cross’s leadership, the Center for International Affairs and World Cultures aims to break new ground in the investigation of transnational political networks through its focus on the types of networks that matter and how they gain influence.  At both the societal and elite levels, certain networks have social power, derived from the legitimacy of their ideas, which are often ultrasocial in nature (i.e. inclusive, empathic, and aimed at the common good), global, and transformational.

Support for this project is provided by a grant from Carnegie Corporation of New York.  Carnegie Corporation of New York is a philanthropic foundation created by Andrew Carnegie in 1911 to do “real and permanent good in this world.”