What: Geopolitical analyst and author Robert D. Kaplan, chosen as one of the "Top 100 Global Thinkers" by Foreign Policy magazine, will present the final lecture of the University of North Texas Kuehne Speaker Series on National Security for 2013-14
When: Noon May 6 (Tuesday)
Where: Gold Room on the second floor of The Fairmont Dallas hotel, 1717 North Akard St.
Cost: $45 for UNT alumni and members of either the World Affairs Council of Dallas/Fort Worth or the Dallas Regional Chamber; $60 for the general public. A limited number of tables are also available.
Reservations for a table of eight are $500 for UNT alumni and members of its collaborating organizations or $650 for the general public.
Contact: Purchase tickets at the Kuehne Speaker Series online.
DENTON (UNT), Texas -- As the center of world power has been quietly shifting from Europe to Asia, conflict has been brewing among the nations surrounding the South China Sea, with implications for global peace and stability. The region's unique geography has led to the growth of the nation's naval powers, but has also impeded aggression, according to geopolitical analyst Robert D. Kaplan in his new book, Asia's Cauldron: The South China Sea and the End of a Stable Pacific.
On May 6 (Tuesday), Kaplan will be the final speaker for this year's University of North Texas Kuehne Speaker Series on National Security. His lecture begins at noon in the Gold Room on the second floor of The Fairmont Dallas hotel, 1717 North Akard St.
The Kuehne Speaker Series was created last fall with support from UNT alumnus Ernie W. Kuehne, a 1966 graduate who is the president and board chairman of Kuehne Oil Co., and a 2014 UNT Distinguished Alumnus. The Kuehne Speaker Series showcases unique and recognized faculty members and programs at the university that address national and human security issues.
Tickets for Kaplan's lecture are $45 for UNT alumni and members of either the World Affairs Council of Dallas/Fort Worth or the Dallas Regional Chamber, and $60 for others. Reservations for a table of eight are $500 for UNT alumni and members of the speaker series' collaborating organizations and $650 for others. Tickets may be purchased at the Kuehne Speaker Series online.
Named one of the "Top 100 Global Thinkers" by Foreign Policy magazine in 2011 and 2012, Kaplan is currently the chief geopolitical analyst for Strategic Forecasting, Inc., or Stratfor, a global intelligence firm in Austin. He is also a correspondent for The Atlantic magazine. His February 1994 article in The Atlantic, "The Coming Anarchy," which described how population increase, urbanization and depletion of resources are undermining fragile governments across the developing world, was widely debated and translated.
More recently, Kaplan wrote the cover story for the March 31, 2014, issue of Time magazine, about geopolitics leading to conflict between Russia and Crimea and in other parts of the world.
Kaplan's 15 books include Arabists: The Romance of an American Elite; The Ends of the Earth: From Togo to Turkmenistan, from Iran to Cambodia--A Journey to the Frontiers of Anarchy; An Empire Wilderness: Travels into America's Future; Eastward to Tartary: Travels in the Balkans, the Middle East, and the Caucasus and Warrior Politics: Why Leadership Demands a Pagan Ethos. All were selected as notable books of the year by The New York Times.
Asia's Cauldron was reviewed earlier this year by retired Admiral James Stavridis, who was the first lecturer for the Kuehne Speaker Series. Stavridis wrote that Kaplan thoughtfully pulls apart "the complex tangle of argument and accusation among the nations of the region" and "helps provide a well-charted course for the United States in this most turbulent geopolitical zone of the 21st century."
Harold Tanner, UNT professor of Chinese history, said Kaplan's most recent work on tensions over the South China Sea "is a tour-de-force, building on the historical background of the region and addressing the claims, counterclaims, relations and possible strategies of the many nations involved in an area that, if not handled carefully, could become the epicenter of armed clashes that could involve both the U.S. and China."
In 2009, Kaplan was appointed by Secretary of Defense Robert Gates to the Pentagon's Defense Policy Board, which advises the secretary on key issues. Kaplan served on the board through 2011. From 2006 to 2008, he was the class of 1960 distinguished visiting professor in national security at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis. He was also a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security in Washington from 2008 to 2012.