Four new faculty books from the 91探花 cover topics ranging from inequality鈥檚 effects on health to fad diets to former German chancellor Angela Merkel鈥檚 legacy on gender equality. 91探花News talked with the authors to learn more about their recent publications.

Kima Cargill鈥檚 鈥楢nxious Eaters鈥� analyzes the appeal of fad diets

Most everyone has heard of fad diets: the kind that promise results with an ostensibly simple solution, whether a daily pill or a long-term meal plan.

Not to mention the 鈥渓ifestyle鈥� approaches to eating that aren鈥檛 just about weight loss: Think paleo, keto, all-organic, no-sugar, low-carb. Whatever the formula, diets tend to promote a slimmer, healthier, happier life.

But what they鈥檙e really doing, argues , professor of psychology at 91探花 Tacoma, is tapping into people鈥檚 larger worries about and desires for identity, status and transformation.

In their new book, 鈥�,鈥� Cargill and co-author Janet Chrzan dive into the types of diets, what they promise and what they yield, with some surprising finds. The early patriotic messages about weight loss, for example, or the politics around some fad diets today.

Published in 2022 by Columbia University Press, 鈥淎nxious Eaters鈥� was the product of a long collaboration with Chrzan, an adjunct assistant professor of nutritional anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania. Cargill focuses on the psychological and sociocultural issues around overeating, and teaches a class at 91探花Tacoma called 鈥�.鈥�

鈥淲hen we first started writing the book, we knew we wanted to write about specific named diets, like paleo or 鈥榗lean eating,鈥� because that鈥檚 how people think about them. Yet as we wrote, we found ourselves often repeating our ideas chapter after chapter, which reinforced one of our strongest observations,鈥� Cargill said. 鈥淭hat same set of fears, beliefs and fantasies drive nearly all fad diets,鈥痚ven when the diets appear radically different.鈥疶hey are a lot like get-rich-quick schemes: There are always certain things about them that remain true.鈥�

Cargill and Chrzan see common themes that drive interest in fad diets: the typically American beliefs in individualism and willpower; the desire for self-transformation; and the role of consumerism. Ads, testimonials, before-and-after photos 鈥� all the stuff of fad diets.

鈥淲e believe we can transform ourselves, that if I just sign up for this thing and pay a lot of money, I鈥檒l be transformed,鈥� Cargill said. 鈥淎t its core the book is quite philosophical, more about the wishes and fantasies we have, than about the diets themselves.鈥�

The authors aimed to give readers tools with which to analyze diets, not to cast judgment or recommend one diet over another.

Ultimately, losing weight 鈥� if that鈥檚 the goal 鈥� is about changing habits and behaviors. 鈥淔or most people, the only diet that really works is eating a little less than you do now, in perpetuity. Just eat a little less food, every day, forever,鈥� Cargill said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 deceptively simple, but it takes a long time.鈥�

For more information, contact Cargill at kcargill@uw.edu.

How inequality in US leads to poor health

The United States spends more on health care than any other country, but a United Nations Human Development Report released in September revealed that the U.S. ranks 44^th in life expectancy among U.N. countries. That number drops even lower when non-U.N. countries are included.

Dr. , associate teaching professor emeritus of health systems and population health at the 91探花, examines this contradiction in his new book, 鈥�.鈥� Published by Rutledge in November, the book examines why the U.S. performs so poorly in health measures.

The answer isn鈥檛 lack of health care, as the U.S. spends as much on health care as the rest of the world combined. And Bezruchka said studies show that personal choices, such as smoking and diet, don鈥檛 make a significant impact on a country鈥檚 average life expectancy.

鈥淚 learned that social factors and political factors really matter more than medical care and personal behaviors,鈥� Bezruchka said. 鈥淎 few things just hit me in the face. Namely, the longest-lived country is Japan, and they have two, three times as many men smoking there as we do.鈥�

The greatest risk factor, Bezruchka argues, is inequality.

鈥淚nequality is bad for you,鈥� Bezruchka said. 鈥淎s a matter of fact, it kills you. It kills us all. We have a lot of rich people in this country, and they鈥檙e healthier than poor people. That鈥檚 always the case. Is there any way to escape inequality? Living in the United States, the answer is no.鈥�

Studies show that roughly half a person鈥檚 health as an adult is programmed in the first 1,000 days after conception, Bezruchka said. Healthier countries offer benefits that impact early life, such as parental leave. The U.S. and Papua New Guinea are the only U.N. countries that don鈥檛 require paid time off for new parents.

Other policies that help eliminate inequality include a fair taxation system, monthly child support payments, universal health care and guaranteed income. The U.S. focuses more on late-life programs, such as Social Security.

鈥淚n the United States, we have 70, 80 million people who either have no health care insurance or are vastly underinsured,鈥� said Bezruchka, who spent more than 10 years in Nepal working in health programs. 鈥淭he leading cause of bankruptcy in this country is inability to pay health care costs.鈥�

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has further exposed these issues. Studies have shown that more economic inequality leads to higher overall death rates from COVID, Bezruchka said, and the U.S. has highest number of recorded COVID deaths in the world.

Social determinants of health include racism, poverty, pollution, education, income and wealth. These factors stem from political context and governance, Bezruchka said. They are also among the leading causes of stress.

鈥淚 call stress the 21^st-century tobacco,鈥� Bezruchka said. 鈥淭he U.S. offers individual solutions for stress and powerlessness. We get people to blame themselves for poor health instead of blaming the system. The book tries to make people recognize the system.鈥�

For more information, contact Bezruchka at sabez@uw.edu.

Angela Merkel 鈥榣ed from behind鈥� on gender equality

Even after 16 years as the chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel鈥檚 legacy on gender equality in politics remains a mystery. To help rectify that, eight social scientists, feminists and gender scholars came together to write 鈥�.鈥�

, professor of international and European studies at the 91探花Jackson School of International Studies, initiated, co-edited and co-wrote a chapter for this project. It was written and edited with collaborators meeting on Zoom from countries around the world in an intense, two-year process.

Published by Routledge in December, the book investigates how Merkel, during her four governing periods, impacted gender equality policy in Germany and across Europe. Being the leader of a conservative party and a trained physicist from the former German Democratic Republic, or Communist East Germany, she initially did not see herself as a Western-style feminist.

鈥淥ne of the puzzles about Merkel’s legacy is that a lot of change happened in terms of German gender policy despite her being a conservative woman from a Christian conservative party, and despite her coming into office with really not a feminist agenda at all,鈥� Lang said. 鈥淪o how did she manage to get her own party on track for the policy changes that we saw in those 16 years?鈥�

One of the authors鈥� central findings, which led to the book鈥檚 title, is that Merkel often didn鈥檛 lead overtly in gender politics. Instead, she reacted to pressure from her social democratic coalition partners and from the level of the European Union in Brussels. She also allowed public opinion to inform her policy choice, such as in the passing of the German Marriage Equality Act.

Lang and her chapter co-author, Petra Ahrens from Tampere University in Finland, studied how the voluntary quota policies of the Christian Democratic Union evolved under Merkel鈥檚 reign from mere afterthoughts to a central demand of their women鈥檚 association.

鈥淎 fair number of German parties have quotas with which they promote women to higher positions on electoral lists or in party office 鈥� but the conservatives historically did not have a fixed quota,鈥� Lang said. 鈥淣ow, at the end of Merkel’s reign, they are starting to employ a gender quota and that was of interest to us. How did she get the party to see that there was no other choice but to take regulatory mechanisms into account?鈥�

The answer, the authors argue, is through 鈥渓eading from behind.鈥� While Merkel remained non-committal, she allowed space for others to push for tougher gender quotas.

鈥淪he showcased impressive advances in gender policies, but she facilitated more than that she led,鈥� Lang said. 鈥淭hat is why we need to see this legacy as mixed.鈥�

For more information, contact Lang at salang@uw.edu.

Faculty at the UW’s and will explore these issues in a series of public lectures and discussions through spring quarter.

The series “” will be moderated by , professor and director of the Jackson School.

The lectures will be held Tuesdays from 4:30 to 6 p.m. in Room 220 of Kane Hall, starting March 27, and all are open to the public. For students, the series is a 2-credit lecture class.

The lectures are as follows:

March 27: Japan, with .
April 3: Two Koreas, with .
April 10: Indo-Pacific strategy challenges, with .
April 17: Migration, with .
April 24: Global energy challenges, with .
May 1: Online disinformation, with .
May 8: Israel/Palestine, with .
May 15: The European Union, with .
May 22: Putin and Russia, with .
May 29: The Kurds, and a general discussion with Kasaba.

All the speakers are faculty members in the Jackson School except Starbird, who is a professor of human centered design and engineering.

###

For more information about the series, call 206-543-6001 or write to jsisadv@uw.edu.

Faculty with the 91探花 will explore the impact of the 2016 election on their respective areas of expertise in a weekly lecture class for students titled “Trump in the World: International Implications of the Trump Presidency.”

Each week, faculty members will explore perspectives from Europe, Asia, Mexico and Russia as well as questions of human rights, international cooperation and migration.

“Two months in, it is clear that Trump administration represents a radical departure in how the United States approaches foreign policy. Given the size and the power of the U.S., these changes are having significant effects in the lives of the people all around the world,” said Jackson School Director , whose May 10 lecture will be on Turkey and the Middle East, and who will conclude the series with a final discussion on May 31.

“In this lecture series the Jackson School faculty will provide a historical context to the rise of 聽Trump and discuss聽how the Trump administration is altering 聽global priorities and affecting different parts of the world. ”

The lectures will be held from 4:30 to 6 p.m. Wednesdays in Room 110 of Kane Hall.

The schedule is as follows:

March 29: The Global Context, with , professor of international studies.

April 5: Authoritarian Trends from the Past to the Present, with , associate professor of international studies and history.

April 12: Asia, with , professor of international studies.

April 19: Mexico, with , assistant professor of international studies.

April 26: Europe, with visiting EU Fellow and , associate professor of international studies.

May 3: Russia, with , associate professor of international studies.

May 10: Human Rights in Latin America, with , professor of international studies.

May 17: Turkey and the Middle East, with Re艧at Kasaba, professor and Jackson School director.

May 24: Migration, with , associate professor of international studies.

May 31: Final discussion, with Kasaba.

Two credits are available for students who register and attend regularly.

###

For more information or to arrange interviews, contact Monique Thormann, Jackson School director of communications, at 206-685-0578 or thormm@uw.edu.

Several faculty members in the 91探花 reviewed their areas of expertise 鈥� China, Russia, Europe, the Middle East and immigration 鈥� in light of this new geopolitical reality. Their comments are below.

These faculty members also will participate in a public panel discussion, “Trump and the World” at 7 p.m. Monday, Nov. 28, in Room 210 of Kane Hall. You can learn more .

U.S.-China relations uncertain; promised tariffs could spark trade war

By , Henry M. Jackson Professor of International Studies

Donald Trump’s election creates great uncertainty in U.S.-China relations.聽 If he follows through on campaign statements, and imposes 45 percent tariffs on Chinese imports to the U.S., it will be met with Chinese retaliation and a trade war.聽This will affect Boeing, Costco and the ports of Seattle and Tacoma from a local perspective.

Trump also promises a military buildup and expanded defense spending, but no clear strategy has been provided.聽People said to be his Asia/China advisers are taking a very harsh line toward China, yet Trump and China’s President Xi Jinping seem to have had a cordial phone conversation.聽The likely result of all this is pressure and confrontation on trade and cyber issues and splits between incoming administration officials about China policy.聽Human rights will not figure prominently in Trump’s administration.

Syrian catastrophe breeds nationalism, danger of “major clashes”

By , Jackson School director, Stanley D. Golub Chair of International Studies

A聽liberal, democratic and internationalist order was built in the west in the aftermath of the Second World War under the leadership of the United States. The fall of the Berlin Wall and the emergence of the European Union as a united economic and political unit appeared to be major accomplishments of the rise of such an order.聽It seems, however, that this order failed to protect those who did not have the skills or the resources to benefit from it.

It became increasingly clear also that the U.S. and the EU were powerless in the face of the humanitarian catastrophe in Syria. The instinct to insulate the west from the effects of such conflicts and the anger of those who were marginalized are combining to create a powerful wave of extreme nationalism and xenophobia in country after country. Trump’s victory is the latest example of this trend.

Effective and inclusive policies will have to be put in place to protect, retrain and integrate those who are cast aside by globalization. Only with such policies can liberal internationalism regain its upper hand.

Otherwise, liberalism will find itself pushed further away from power for a very long time. In its place a world consisting of mutually antagonistic and competitive states will arise. 聽Such a scenario will eventually lead to major clashes that will聽be catastrophic for humanity.

Deportations could extract tragic cost

By , associate professor

If president-elect Donald Trump imprisons or deports up to 3 million undocumented immigrants, as he has pledged to do upon taking office, he will be busting up hardworking, taxpaying families.

If he kills DACA (Deferred Action to Childhood Arrivals), an executive action that provides temporary work permits and relief from deportation to about 800,000 young adults who were brought to the U.S. as children and who grew up American, he will be shattering the futures of our students.

Instead, the majority of Americans want to see the government provide a path to legalization, and are pledging to protect and provide sanctuary for our neighbors and friends.

Clean foreign policy slate, but U.S., Russia may yet clash

By , associate professor, director of

Trump is as close to a clean slate on foreign policy as one can imagine a new U.S. president could be. Perhaps the area on which Trump shed the most light in his thinking is Russia. Trump and Putin were unusually complimentary of one another during the election, and we can presume Trump will seek some kind of accommodation with Russia on issues like Ukraine and sanctions.

However, the Kremlin should be careful what it wishes for.聽Trump will find it hard to radically reorient U.S. foreign policy and sever聽longstanding commitments to American allies. At some point, U.S. and Russian interests may openly diverge, and Putin and Trump could engage in a clash of Alpha males for dominance in the relationship. Needless聽to say, this could lead to disaster for both countries.

Europeans worry over NATO defense, unraveling of relations with west

By , associate professor, director of the

November 9 holds special meaning for Europeans, and Germans in particular. On November 9, 1938, Nazi gangs started a coordinated wave of deadly anti-Jewish attacks across Germany and Austria. On November 9, 1989, the Wall fell in Berlin and ushered in the end of the Cold War.

Now, after November 9, 2016, Europeans worry that they witness the unraveling of transatlantic relations and “the end of the West,” as a large tabloid put it. They hear President-elect Trump question the NATO defense shield over Europe. They see U.S. commitment to the Paris climate agreement vanish. And democratic parties fear that “Trumpism” will bolster rightwing populist sentiments across Europe.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel employed memorable language on November 9, 2016: “Germany and America are bound by common values 鈥� democracy, freedom, as well as respect for the rule of law and the dignity of each and every person, regardless of their origin, skin color, creed, gender, sexual orientation, or political views. It is based on these values that I wish to offer close cooperation, both with me personally and between our countries’ governments.”

###

For more information, contact Monique Thormann, Jackson School director of communications, at 206-685-0578 or thormann@uw.edu.