17³Ô¹Ï

Skip to main content

The Young Initiative invites foreign policy experts and guest speakers to campus to engage in discussions on international relations and the global political economy with students and faculty.

Annually: United Nations Week

With the William and Elizabeth Kahane United Nations Program, the Young Initiative supports the annual United Nations Week at 17³Ô¹Ï, each spring. We are passionate in maintaining students involvement and engagement in sustainable development. Our students choose topics that link Global Political Economy, Social Justice, and Sustainable Development.

One Day Conference - Data and the Feminist City Conference - September 30, 2025

The Young Initiative will host invited representatives from city governments from around the world for a one-day conference on the Oxy campus. Attendants will share experiences and best practices on reporting mechanisms to gather data, identify gaps in data collection, and help develop strategies for data-driven, actionable solutions.

Ongoing Young Speakers Events

Young Initiative speakers give students and faculty an opportunity to expand their understanding of global issues. The Young Initiative sponsors several speakers each academic year highlighting particular aspects of global affairs and the global political economy.  The Young Speakers program is devoted to highlighting the work and success of eminent international affairs experts and Oxy alumni in public service and academia.

Shalmali Guttal
Globalisation and the Rise of Populist Authoritarianism in Asia

Shalmali Guttal is the Executive Director of Focus on the Global South, an activist think tank in Asia providing analysis and building alternatives for just social, economic and political change.

More
Mary Thompson-Jones
The State of U.S. Diplomacy

Mary Thompson-Jones is the Chair of Women in National Security and Diplomacy at the U.S. Naval War College.

More
Diane Amann
Diane Amann: Trump and Human Rights

Diane Amann, chair of the Emily and Ernest Woodruff Chair in International Law at the University of Georgia School of Law, visited 17³Ô¹Ï to deliver a lecture at the McKinnon Center for Global Affairs on January 31, 2018. Amann discussed Trump and the United States’ relationship with human rights and how the importance of human rights has changed at home and abroad.

More
Mayor Garcetti announces partnership with 17³Ô¹Ï to advance sustainable development goals

Partnership will help City collect data and track progress on broad range of economic, environmental, and other targets adopted by United Nations members.

More
Mayor Garcetti announces partnership with 17³Ô¹Ï to advance sustainable development goals

Partnership will help City collect data and track progress on broad range of economic, environmental, and other targets adopted by United Nations members.

More
Wallander
Trump and Russia

Celeste Wallander is the President and CEO of the non-profit U.S.-Russia Foundation.

More
Paul Divakar: Can the SDGs fight against caste discrimination?

Paul Divakar, General Secretary of the National Campaign for Dalit Human Rights (NCDHR) and a transnational voice for peoples affected by Discrimination based on Work or Descent (DWD) spoke about the struggles faced by these communities and the growing power of international groups that link these communities outside their countries. 

More
David Goldblatt on the Changing Nature of Global Sports
David Goldblatt is one of the leading experts on sports and soccer and has written numerous books including the ball is round a global history of soccer.  He spoke at Oxy about the crisis facing sports right now.  Despite sports enjoying a historical high point in terms of popularity it also faces a growing number of scandals and crises.
More
Glen Fukushima: Trump and Japan
Glen Fukushima returned to his native California and visited 17³Ô¹Ï to deliver a lecture at the McKinnon Center for Global Affairs on October 24, 2017. Mr. Fukushima discussed the United States’ past relations with Japan under the Obama administration as well as the current relations with Japan under the Trump administration. 
More
Glen Fukushima: Trump and Japan
Glen Fukushima returned to his native California and visited 17³Ô¹Ï to deliver a lecture at the McKinnon Center for Global Affairs on October 24, 2017. Mr. Fukushima discussed the United States’ past relations with Japan under the Obama administration as well as the current relations with Japan under the Trump administration. 
More
Contact the John Parke Young Initiative on the Global Political Economy
Johnson Hall

The McKinnon Center for Global Affairs