TRAVERSE CITY — The International Affairs Forum at Northwestern Michigan College and the Central Michigan University Hart-Milliken Speaker Series will host a discussion Feb. 19 focused on democracy, the civil-military relationship and executive power.
According to an NMC news release, the event will begin at 7 p.m. Eastern at the Dennos Museum Center Milliken Auditorium, 1701 E. Front St., with a welcome reception at 6 p.m., and will be offered in a hybrid format with an online livestream option.
“This partnership builds upon a strong relationship between NMC & CMU,” Alexander Tank, director of the International Affairs Forum at Northwestern Michigan College, said. “We share a commitment to open dialogue based on rigorous research, practice, and expertise. We will engage in an important civic exercise with this discussion, a continuing investment in public discourse on the difficult issues we face as Americans and global citizens.”
The program is titled “Long Arm or Strong Arm: Executive Power in Foreign Policy & At Home” and will feature Kori Schake, senior fellow and director of foreign and defense policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute.
Schake is the author of “The State and the Soldier: A History of Civil-Military Relations in the United States,” published by Polity Press in 2025. She has also written “Safe Passage: The Transition from British to American Hegemony” and is a contributing writer at the Atlantic, War on the Rocks and Bloomberg.
Before joining the American Enterprise Institute, Schake was deputy director-general of the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London. Her government experience includes roles at the U.S. State Department, the U.S. Department of Defense and the National Security Council at the White House, and she served as a senior policy adviser on the 2008 McCain campaign.
She has taught at Stanford, West Point, Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies and the University of Maryland. She is currently the Henry A. Kissinger Chair in Foreign Policy and International Relations at the Library of Congress.
Tickets are required for International Affairs Forum events. Advance in-person tickets cost $15 per person, tickets are $20 at the door and online livestream access costs $10. Current students, educators and active-duty military members receive free admission with required check-in.
Bay Books will provide book sales at the event. Tickets and additional details are available at TCIAF.com, and information on membership, event sponsorship and other support opportunities is available at tciaf.com/support.