FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 25, 2002

MEDIA CONTACT: Eric Solomon
(202) 994-3087 

solomone@gwu.edu

 

THOMAS HOMER-DIXON WARNS OF MULTIPLE STRESSES ON GLOBAL SYSTEMS

 

Leading Canadian Political Scientist and Author to Discuss Transnational Issues at GW Elliott School Lecture December 4

EVENT:

“Synchronous Failure: The Real Danger of the 21st Century,” presented by leading Canadian political scientist and author Thomas Homer-Dixon, as part of The George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs Robert J. Pelosky, Jr. Distinguished Speaker Series.

 

Homer- Dixon will discuss the monumental challenges to our institutions and governments and how these threats combined with the interconnectedness of societies and the capacity of some groups to destroy, could wreak havoc on global systems.

WHEN:

Wednesday, December 4, 2002

6:00 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.

WHERE:

The George Washington University

Marvin Center Grand Ballroom, 3rd Floor

800 21st Street, NW

Washington, D.C.

 

COST: The lecture is free and open to the public. 

 

Background: 

 

Thomas Homer-Dixon’s research has focused on the threats to global security and how societies adapt to complex economic, ecological and technological change.  His highly interdisciplinary work draws on political science, economics, environmental studies, geography, cognitive science, social psychology and complex systems theory.

 

In his latest book, The Ingenuity Gap, Homer-Dixon explored the critical gap between our need for practical and innovative ideas to solve our complex problems and our actual supply of those ideas.  His lecture will address his latest work on the theory of  “synchronous failure,” or the simultaneous breakdown of social systems on a global scale.  He says we tend to “silo” our challenges or problems – from climate change to international economic instability to terrorism – in isolation and not see the links among them. He will identify and discuss what he perceives as the “tectonic stresses,” which include population growth, dislocation and financial instability.  Combined with what he terms the “two multipliers,” the interconnectedness of societies and the capacity of groups to destroy these potential stresses could wreak havoc on global systems.

 

Homer-Dixon is the director of the Center for the Study of Peace and Conflict and associate professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Toronto.  His website is www.homerdixon.com/.

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