Northern Michigan University's Department of Political Science and Public Administration is sponsoring a "Great Decisions Global Discussions" lecture series with the World Affairs Council of Western Michigan. The weekly series addressing critical foreign policy issues runs each Monday Jan. 29-March 26, with the exception of spring break.

Lectures will be streamed online and viewed from noon to 1:40 p.m. in room 111-C of NMU's Edgar L. Harden Learning Resources Center. They are open to the public free of charge. The presenters and their topics are as follows:

Jan. 29: “Manipulating the Media: Are Dictators Getting Smarter?,”  William Dobson, senior supervising editor, international desk at NPR   

Feb. 5: “China in the World: The Conundrums of a Socialist Market Economy,” Badrinath Rao, associate professor of sociology and Asian studies at Kettering University   

Feb. 12: “Trouble Brewing: Can the U.S. and Turkey Cooperate?,” Sinan Ciddi, executive director of the Institute of Turkish Studies at Georgetown University   

Feb. 19: “Are We Getting the Right Bang for our Bucks?: The U.S. Defense Budget,” Stephanie Young, defense budget expert, RAND Corporation   

Feb. 26: “Is American Global Leadership Waning?,” Amitav Acharya, UNESCO chair in Transnational Challenges and Governance and distinguished professor of international relations at the School of International Service, American University   

March 5: Spring break 

March 12: “Putin, Russia and the New Cold War?,”  Susan B. Glasser, chief international affairs columnist, POLITICO, and co-author of Kremlin Rising: Vladimir Putin and the End of Revolution  

March 19: “South Africa at a Crossroads: Implications for U.S.-South Africa Relations,” Desirée Cormier, senior director, Africa Practice at Albright Stonebridge Group (ASG)  

March 26: “Global Health: Equity, Ethics and Eradication,” Ambassador Mary Ann Peters (retired), CEO of the Carter Center in Atlanta 

For more information, call 227-2019.