I.R. Book Talk: Sports in International Politics, by Timothy Sisk

Sports in International Politics: Between Power and Peacebuilding, Timothy Sisk 

Timothy D. Sisk is Professor of International and Comparative Politics at the Josef Korbel School of Global and Public Affairs, University of Denver. His research, teaching and policy-oriented work focuses on armed conflict and political violence together with understanding and evaluation of processes of conflict prevention, management, and peacebuilding in fragile and post-war contexts. He teaches graduate and undergraduate courses on comparative politics, politics of deeply divided societies, elections and conflict dynamics, and sport and international politics.

Sisk has conducted extensive research on the role of international and regional organizations, particularly the United Nations, in peace operations, peacemaking, and peacebuilding. Prior to joining the University of Denver in 1998, Prof. Sisk was a Program Officer and Research Scholar in the Grant Program of the United States Institute of Peace in Washington D.C. He holds a doctoral degree in political science from The George Washington University and an MA in international journalism and BA in international studies and German from Baylor University.

Moderated by IR Faculty Director Professor Stephen Stedman 

Professor Stephen Stedman is a Senior Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI) and the Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law (CDDRL); director of the Fisher Family Honors Program in Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law; an affiliated faculty member at the Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC); and professor of political science (by courtesy).

In 2011-12, Professor Stedman served as the Director for the Global Commission on Elections, Democracy, and Security, a body of eminent persons tasked with developing recommendations on promoting and protecting the integrity of elections and international electoral assistance. The Commission is a joint project of the Kofi Annan Foundation and International IDEA, an intergovernmental organization that works on international democracy and electoral assistance.

In 2005, he served as Assistant Secretary-General and Special Advisor to the Secretary- General of the United Nations, with responsibility for working with governments to adopt the Panel’s recommendations for strengthening collective security and for implementing changes within the United Nations Secretariat, including the creation of a Peacebuilding Support Office, a Counter Terrorism Task Force, and a Policy Committee to act as a cabinet to the Secretary-General.

In 2003-04 Professor Stedman was Research Director of the United Nations High-level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change and was a principal drafter of the Panel’s report, A More Secure World: Our Shared Responsibility.