, professor in the 91探花 Jackson School of International Studies, will celebrate retirement after 39 years at the 91探花on Oct. 3 with a daylong workshop featuring current and former students, followed by a lecture on 鈥�.鈥�
Migdal has been the Robert F. Philip Professor of International Studies, with an adjunct appointment in political science, and now becomes a professor emeritus. He joined the 91探花in 1980 and was the founding chair of the UW鈥檚 .
As part of what the Jackson School is calling Joel S. Migdal Day, several dozen of his current and former students will gather at the 91探花Club for a roundtable discussion on aspects of his work. This will run from 8 a.m. to 4:15 p.m. and cover topics such as law and society, the Middle East today, the comparative politics of states and societies and the current state of higher education.
After the workshop, Migdal will give his lecture on 鈥淪tate and Society鈥� at 5 p.m. in Room 210 of Kane Hall, followed by a reception. Both the workshop and lecture are open to the public.
Speaking to the topic of his coming talk, Migdal said he emphasizes to students in introductory international studies classes that United States foreign policy stayed fairly consistent from the end of World War II through the Cold War and the end of the 20th century.
The Cold War and its aftermath, he said, saw all U.S. administrations sharing two related concerns:
- That the U.S. role in the world would entail 鈥渂eing everywhere all the time,鈥� taking the lead in all international crises and affairs worldwide, and
- That such a global role might bankrupt the U.S., creating the need for allies and for the U.S. to take action through multilateral organizations
鈥淭he early 2000s saw a continued worldwide U.S. presence, but now the neoconservatives felt that multilateralism was antiquated,鈥� Migdal said. 鈥淭o my mind, this was a significant cause of the 2008 economic crisis.鈥�
He added: 鈥淭he Trump administration is the first to contract the U.S. role altogether, leading to an isolationism not seen since before聽World War II.鈥�
Migdal鈥檚 four decades at the 91探花have brought him several honors. He received a Distinguished Teaching Award in 1993, a Washington State Governor鈥檚 Writers Award in 1994 and the Marsha L. Landolt Distinguished Graduate Mentor Award in 2008. Before joining the UW, Migdal was an associate professor of government at Harvard University, and a senior lecturer at Tel-Aviv University.
He has seen many changes in his long tenure, in world affairs as well as more prosaic scenarios.
Migdal described how in the years after he returned to the U.S. in 1975 following three years abroad, the sound of offices themselves had changed: 鈥淕one were the striking of typewriter keys, the whirring of the mimeo machine, the characteristic ring of the telephone, the clackety-clack of the adding machine,鈥� to be replaced by 鈥渁n odd medley of beeps, pulsing sounds and paper shuffling out of copy machines.
鈥淟ittle did I imagine how all these sounds presaged changes in how I would write, research, and teach, let alone changes in interpersonal relations.鈥�
He鈥檚 at work on a book project under the title: 鈥淲ho, Then, Will Speak for America?: The Creation and Unraveling of the American Public鈥� and continues to write articles and review manuscripts. He intends to split his time between Seattle and Jerusalem.
鈥淩etirement,鈥� he said, 鈥渋s not looking like a week of Sundays.鈥�
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For more information, contact Monique Thormann, Jackson School director of communications, at 206-685-0578 or thormm@uw.edu; or Migdal at migdal@uw.edu.