April 3: Minnesota State Mankato's Kessel Lecture to Examine Germany, Japan's Responses to International Political Challenges

Thursday, April 3, 2025
7:00 PM - 9:00 PM
Ostrander Auditorium

Mankato, Minn. – Thomas Berger, a professor of international relations at the Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, will discuss how U.S. allies Germany and Japan are responding to international political challenges in Minnesota State University, Mankato’s annual Kessel Memorial Lecture on Thursday, April 3 at 7 p.m. in Ostrander Auditorium, located in the University’s Centennial Student Union.

The lecture, titled “Embattled Allies: Germany, Japan and the International Order in the Age of Trump,” is free and open to the public. A light reception will follow the presentation. Free parking will be available in University Lot 4 (pay lot; located outside Centennial Student Union).

In his presentation, Berger will address the following questions: “Will Germany and Japan increase their contributions to their alliances with the United States? Will they seek to build new partnerships? Or might they be tempted towards more independent stances?”

According to his Boston University profile, Berger is the author of “War, Guilt and World Politics After World War II” and “Cultures of Antimilitarism: National Security in Germany and Japan.”

For more information, please contact Angie Navejas, office manager, Department of Economics, Ethnic Studies and Government, by phone at 507-389-2077 or by email at angie.navejas@mnsu.edu.

Event sponsors include the following departments and endowment programs from Minnesota State Mankato: Kessel Memorial Lecture Series Endowment; Economics, Ethnic Studies and Government; Sociology and Leadership Studies; Philosophy, Languages and Cultures; Anthropology and Geography; Communications and Media; History and Gender Studies; and the Dale K. and Marion Gillette Carrison Family Memorial Library Endowment.

Minnesota State Mankato, a comprehensive university with 15,251 students, is part of the Minnesota State system, which includes 26 colleges and seven universities.