CISTP Lunch & Lecture with Dr. Brenda Shaffer (Professor, School of Political Science University of Haifa) speaking on "Energy as a Tool of Foreign Policy".

Lunch is free. Reservation required by Tuesday, February 2, at 5 PM.

Her recent book, "Energy Politics," will be available for purchase and signing.

Dr. Brenda Shaffer is a faculty member in the School of Political Science at the University of Haifa. She served in 2008-09 as the President of the Foreign Policy Section of the American Political Science Association (APSA). She has been a visiting professor at the Azerbaijan Diplomatic Academy. Dr. Shaffer previously served as the Research Director of the Caspian Studies Program at Harvard University. Her research focuses on the Caucasus, Central Asia, the link between culture and foreign policy, and energy and politics. Dr. Shaffer takes a special interest in Caspian energy issues, ethnic politics in Iran, and the Nagorno-Karabagh conflict.

Her most recent publication is the book Energy Politics (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2009). Dr. Shaffer is also the author of Borders and Brethren: Iran and the Challenge of Azerbaijani Identity (MIT Press, 2002). Brenda is the editor of the book The Limits of Culture: Islam and Foreign Policy (MIT Press, 2006). Among her recent articles is "The Geopolitics of the Caucasus" (Brown Journal of World Affairs, May 2009). She serves as a lecturer and consultant on the Caspian region to a number of public organizations, governments and regional security organizations, including NATO.