Escalation Trap and Violent Populism 

A talk and discussion with Professor Robert Pape, Univeristy of Chicago

Sunday, Oct. 11th at 7pm EST on Zoom

Tickets are FREE, but you must register below to receive the Zoom link!

Date:               October 11 2026

Time:              7 to 8:15pm
Place:              Zoom - Register Below

Robert Pape is Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago and founding director of the Chicago Project on Security and Threats (CPOST). He is the author of Dying to Win: The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism, Bombing to Win: Air Power and Coercion in War, and Cutting the Fuse: The Explosion of Global Suicide Terrorism and How to Stop It, and a frequent commentator in the New York Times, the Washington Post, CNN, and NPR. 

Professor Pape joins us to discuss two forces reshaping American security, one abroad and one at home. 

He will first lay out what he calls the escalation trap: how each round of military action in the Middle East creates the conditions for the next, drawing the United States into open-ended conflict rather than resolution. He will explain how to recognize the pattern as it unfolds and what it would take to break out of it. 

He then turns to the rise of violent populism in the United States, drawing on CPOST's national survey research on support for political violence: how that support has become normalized, who holds it, and what it signals for the elections ahead. 

A moderated question-and-answer session with the audience will follow. 

Please contact the event organizer Gautam Gurijala at (203) 444-4644 if you have any questions.

Organizer:       Harvard Club of New Jersey

Cost:                 There is no charge for this event.  

Registration:     Register Here for the Zoom Link!