Skip to main content
Intellect

Somalia subject of David M. Kennedy Center lecture Oct. 4

Robert G. Patman, professor of international relations at the University of Otago in New Zealand, will be speaking Monday, Oct. 4, at 3 p.m. in 238 Herald R. Clark Building at Brigham Young University.

Patman will lecture about “Strategic Shortfall: The Somalia Syndrome and the March to 9/11,” a presentation hosted by the David M. Kennedy Center for International Studies.

He has authored or edited seven scholarly books, written numerous book chapters, contributed regularly to academic journals and appeared often in the media in New Zealand and elsewhere as a commentator on international issues. He appears regularly on TVNZ Breakfast News, National Radio and Newstalk ZB radio. Before entering academia, he sold property for a large British company.

After receiving an undergraduate degree in politics and international relations from the University of Lancaster, Patman earned a master’s degree from the University of Warwick and a doctorate in Russian foreign policy, which involved learning the Russian language at the University of Southampton. His particular area of interest is Russian policy in the Horn of Africa, which includes Ethiopia and Somalia.

The lecture will be archived at kennedy.byu.edu/archive.  For more information, contact Lee Simons at (801) 422-2652 or lee_simons@byu.edu. For more information about Robert G. Patman, visit www.robertpatman.co.nz.

Writer: Philip Volmar

patmanr.jpg
Photo by Mark A. Philbrick/BYU Photo

Related Articles

data-content-type="article"

Wildfires in residential areas are on the rise; why hydrants and the water system behind them were never meant to stop those fires

July 01, 2025
BYU professor Rob Sowby teaches and studies environmental engineering, urban water infrastructure and sustainability. He has particular expertise in the planning, design, construction and operation of public water systems. That expertise has been increasingly important (and regularly sought out) in the wake of apocalyptic wildfires that have taxed those public water systems.
overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= promoTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection=false overrideCardHideByline=false overrideCardHideDescription=false overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText= promoTextAlignment=
data-content-type="article"

Meet the BYU math student helping make wildfire predictions faster and smarter

June 25, 2025
Using machine learning and math, a BYU student improved a key tool firefighters rely on during wildfire season
overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= promoTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection=false overrideCardHideByline=false overrideCardHideDescription=false overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText= promoTextAlignment=
data-content-type="article"

Geology meets history: BYU professor studies WWII shrapnel on Normandy beaches

June 05, 2025
Eighty years after D-Day, BYU geologists uncover lingering WWII shrapnel on Normandy beaches to study how history still shapes the coastline today.
overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= promoTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection=false overrideCardHideByline=false overrideCardHideDescription=false overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText= promoTextAlignment=
overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= promoTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection=false overrideCardHideByline=false overrideCardHideDescription=false overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText=