Text: Maija Harkonen Photographs: Bill Wood U.S.-Russian Relations: Recalibrating Expectations “One of the great achievements of Soviet-American relations of the 20th century was that we finished the Cold War without a big conflict,” said Professor Tatiana Shakleina from Moscow State Institute of International Relations, Russia, during her visit to St Mary’s College of Maryland (SMCM). Find out more »
Past Events from 2003 – Present
Download the PDF of past events
Justice & Inequality Roundtable
Text: Maija Harkonen with Kevin Kelley and Cecile Walton Research: Yonah Zeitz Photos: Bill Wood Issues of Criminal Justice: Race- or Poverty-based? “We cannot survive without sound law enforcement. At the same time, we need law enforcement that is appropriately respectful of individual rights and liberties and is applied in a nondiscriminatory manner,” stated the Find out more »
VOTE! Elections and Social Media
Text: Linden Goff, Madeline Roth, Cecile Walton Pictures: Sandra L. Robbins Social Media and Elections Since the presidential election of 2008, known as “the Facebook election” due to the Obama campaign’s mastery of the platform, social media’s prevalence as a political tool has only increased in frequency and importance. This new and dynamic dimension to Find out more »
The City of Baltimore in Focus
The Baltimore forum organized by the Center for the Study of Democracy, United Not Divided: Economic Inequality and the Opportunity Gap, dedicated the second day of the two-day event for exploring the challenges that the City of Baltimore faces. At the forum, politicians, educators, civic leaders, students, social service professionals and community members discussed misguided Find out more »
Baltimore Forum Tackles Problems of Inequality
Is the American Dream really slipping away from Americans of modest and less than modest means? The fear that many in the country will no longer be able to get ahead by striving and hard work alone found solid support from a group of academics, elected officials, and policy foundations at a two-day conference in Find out more »
High Price of Inequality
“Inequity deprives us all and prevents us from reaping the benefits of our differences,” President Tuajuanda Jordan remarked in her welcoming address at the Inequality Workshop, held on Friday, February 26, on the SMCM campus. The event was organized by Student Ambassadors who volunteer at the Center for the Study of Democracy, organizing civic events Find out more »
The Center in Moscow: Problems of Global Governance
Executive Director of the Center, Dr. Maija Harkonen, was invited to give a presentation Governing the Use of Outer Space: Debris Management at the 10th Anniversary International Conference: “Problems of Global Governance: Economy, Politics, Security” at Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO) on November 25-26, 2016. Professor Tatiana Shakeleina, Head of the Department of Find out more »
Dr. Angela Davis – The Voice of the Oppressed
“There are 2.5 million people behind bars in the United States, Dr. Angela Davis started her public lecture at St Mary’s College of Maryland on October 29, 2015. “Most are poor and people of color. Since 2010, the female jail population has been the fastest growing correctional population.” Dr. Davis, a legendary counterculture activist and Find out more »
What’s Next Mr. Putin?
“Russia is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma”, said Winston Churchill, England’s Prime Minister in the early 1940s and 1950s. In recent years, Western analysts see Russia’s foreign policy full of riddles: some mystifying, others misleading and all serving to undermine a modicum of predictability that characterized the relations between Washington and Find out more »