Obama Right to Engage Congress on Syria, Ohio Wesleyan Professor Says
Sean Kay
DELAWARE, Ohio – Ohio Wesleyan University professor and global security expert Sean Kay, Ph.D., says President Barack Obama is right to seek congressional authority to launch a military attack against Syria.
“Critics will say this signals weakness, that America doesn’t have resolve,” Kay told Bloomberg News. “It’s a pretty important thing for the U.S. to demonstrate to the region respect for democratic procedures.”
Kay, director of Ohio Wesleyan’s Arneson Institute for Practical Politics and Public Affairs, also told reporters there are other benefits in seeking authorization to respond to Syria’s reported use of chemical weapons against its citizens.
“A pause gives some time to reflect,” said Kay, author of “Global Security in the 21st Century: The Quest for Power and the Search for Peace” (2nd edition). “At minimum, there’s time to prepare.”
Read the full Bloomberg article, “Obama’s Decision Stirs Doubts about America’s Resolve.”
Hear Kay discuss Syria on the Sept. 4 edition of “All Sides with Ann Fisher” on WOSU-FM 89.7 and read additional comments in Carnegie Europe’s online article, “Why Bomb Syria?“, and in The Washington Post article, “Obama Hunts for Support at G-20 as Congress Debates Syria.”
At Ohio Wesleyan, Kay also serves as director of international studies and a professor of politics and government. He also is a Mershon Associate at the Mershon Center for International Security Studies at The Ohio State University and a fellow in foreign policy and national security at the Eisenhower Institute in Washington, D.C. He is quoted frequently on international issues in outlets including The New York Times, Bloomberg News, CNN Fortune, The Atlantic, and RTE.
Founded in 1842, Ohio Wesleyan University is one of the nation’s premier small, private universities. Ohio Wesleyan offers more than 90 undergraduate majors, sequences, and courses of study, and 23 NCAA Division III varsity sports. OWU combines an internationally focused curriculum with off-campus learning and leadership opportunities that connect classroom theory with real-world practice. Located in Delaware, Ohio, OWU’s 1,850 students represent 41 states and 45 countries. The university is featured in the book “Colleges That Change Lives,” listed on the 2013 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll with Distinction, and included on the “best colleges” lists of U.S. News & World Report and The Princeton Review. Learn more at www.owu.edu.