Posted on Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Dr. Michael Aleprete, Westminster College assistant professor of political science, presented a paper at the seventh annual convention of the Central and Eastern European International Studies Association (CEEISA) Sept. 2-4 at St. Petersburg State University in Russia.
The "Borders of the Mind, Borders on Our Mind" conference was held at the university's Faculty of International Relations and brought together more than 150 scholars from 42 countries.
Aleprete's paper, "Anticipating Conflict and Integration, the Strategic Development of Border Areas: Explaining Variation in Interaction Opportunity across Land Borders," was co-authored with a colleague from Purdue University.
This was Aleprete's second presentation at a CEEISA convention. His first was at the 2003 inaugural conference in Budapest, Hungary.
In a related presentation, Aleprete will speak on "Shaping the Border in Anticipation of Conflict or Cooperation with One's Neighbors" at Faires Faculty Forum Wednesday, Sept. 23, at 11:40 a.m. in the Sebastian Mueller Theater in the McKelvey Campus Center.
Studies of international conflict have long incorporated measures of geographic proximity into predictive models of war and militarized disputes. This project explores the implications of introducing more nuanced measures of proximity that account for the presence of man-made structures such as roads and railroads into studies of conflict processes, according to Aleprete.
Aleprete, who joined the Westminster faculty in 2007, earned an undergraduate degree from Duquesne University and master's and Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh.
Contact Aleprete at (724) 946-7254 or e-mail alepreme@westminster.edu for additional information.
