Monica Duffy Toft is Academic Dean and Professor of International Politics and Director of the Center for Strategic Studies at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. Before joining Fletcher, she taught at Oxford University’s Blavatnik School of Government and Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. While at Harvard, she directed the Initiative on Religion in International Affairs and was the assistant director of the John M. Olin Institute for Strategic Studies. Professor Toft attended University of Chicago (MA and Ph.D. in political science) and University of California, Santa Barbara (BA.) Prior to this, she spent four years in the United States Army as a Russian linguist. Monica’s areas of research include international security, ethnic and religious violence, civil wars and demography. In addition she has published numerous books, scholarly articles and editorials on civil wars, territory and nationalism, demography, and religion in global politics. On this trip, she will discuss the nature of war and political violence in the 21st Century.