Jon DiCicco

Director, International Affairs M.A. program at Middle Tennessee State University

Greetings! I'm Jonathan M. DiCicco (Ph.D., Rutgers University, 2006), professor of Political Science and International Relations and Director of the Master of Arts in International Affairs program at Middle Tennessee State University. I am also a TransResearch Consortium Senior Fellow, and in 2022-2023 held a visiting professorship at Sapienza University of Rome.

Reach me on email: Jon.DiCicco [at] mtsu [dot] edu

The U.S., the International Criminal Court, and Russia's War in Ukraine: How Stuff Works

In June 2022 a reporter for HowStuffWorks invited my comments on the United States’ complex relationship with the International Criminal Court (ICC), as well as the ICC’s role in investigating the situation in Ukraine. If you’re interested in the subject, you can read the piece here. Better still, look up Dr. Kelebogile Zvobgo, who is also quoted in the piece; she is an assistant professor at William and Mary as well as founder and director of the International Justice Lab. Dr. Zvobgo’s work engages questions concerning human rights, transitional justice, and international law and courts; she takes a special interest in judicial and quasi-judicial bodies that address serious violations of human rights law and humanitarian law. Do yourself a favor and look up Dr. Franziska Boehme, too! Dr. Boehme researches the international human rights system, and she has just published a very promising book on state cooperation with the International Criminal Court based on fieldwork she conducted in The Hague, South Africa, and Kenya.

Here at MTSU, you can learn about the ICC from (among other dedicated Political Science & International Relations faculty) Dr. Andrei Korobkov, who teaches global governance and international law in our Master’s of International Affairs program. Dr. Korobkov is also affiliated with the Kennan Institute, a prestigious center for advanced research on Russia and Eurasia at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. Dr. Korobkov has offered extensive media commentary on Russia’s war in Ukraine; for an extended sample, check out this interview with Turkish media outlet TRT World.

And now for something completely different.

"Ginned Rummy" is a bit of free verse fashioned from former U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's own words, extracted from remarks in the public domain. Posted on the occasion of Rumsfeld’s death (30 June 2021). Created roughly 15 years ago; did not know at the time about Hart Seely’s book of Rumsfeld’s found poetry.

Did Trump manufacture a shock to US-Iran relations to jump-start negotiations? Insights from rivalry research

This post has been removed from my personal website because an edited, improved version has been published with Political Violence @ a Glance under the title, “Shock and Thaw? The Limited Prospects for US-Iran De-Escalation.” In the piece I use the scholarly literature on international rivalries as a lens. The lethal, targeted strike against Iranian general Qassem Soleimani is viewed as a possible shock to US-Iran relations that, in theory, could trigger deescalation of the rivalry. But the piece also explains, using additional insights from the literature, why this outcome is unlikely.

Related: Please see also my op-ed in The Tennessean, “Targeted killing of Iranian general Qassim Suleimani creates high risks for U.S.”

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