May 3, 2006

Education is Key Strategy in Sean Kay's Book About Global Security

"Sean Kay has written a brilliant and sweeping strategic survey of today's world environment. It is a must-read for all of those who want to understand the security complexities and challenges we face and the policy implications this changing world presents." -Anthony C. Zinni, General USMC (retired)

Sean Kay's prompts were many, in the writing of his latest book, "Global Security in the 21^st Century: The Quest for Power and the Search for Peace," — for starters — his perceptions about the escalating importance of understanding world issues and the challenges of living in a globalized society.  Kay's reading audience is, of course, his many OWU students who desire to look outward and become engaged in world events taking shape each day. On a broader level, he is reaching out to the citizens of that world, who want to be better informed of important global issues affecting us all, and to those who are interested in the dynamics of modern international security, which reflect that global reality.

Kay, associate professor of politics and government and head of OWU's International Studies Program, devoted about two years to researching and writing material for his new book, which was published in March. But he has spent an entire lifetime — from his childhood days growing up in San Francisco, and Chagrin Falls, ("polar opposites that helped me think hard about balancing my perspectives," he says) to later post-college years, as his professional career unfolded — as a self-proclaimed "student of international security."    

"We tend to think of security in very narrow forms," says Kay. But the bigger picture,  in a changing world of vastly-improved and sophisticated communications technology, trade challenges, terrorist attacks, and environmental, health and energy disasters, portrays how even local and regional events have a global impact. (The tsunami disaster and possible spread of the avian influenza virus to humans offer food for thought in that regard.) 

"What we now have is the blending of old and new paradigm issues," says Kay. And these issues have world-wide effects on numerous fronts.  

"The United Nations projects that by the year 2015, a significant number of our world's population will be living in areas in which  they can't drink the water, which has major implications for disease and the movement of those populations." The security of those lives, and the lives of millions of children around the world who die each year of diseases and malnutrition challenge us, says Kay, to think more carefully about our priorities.

"The point is, there are challenges for us to think about at every level," he says, citing a few major "flash points" for people to consider in various parts of the world including the Middle-East, Asia, and Eurasia. 

"New threats [to security] are derived from world trade and technology as well as asymmetrical threats such as terrorism," says Kay, pointing to the all-too-frequent stories of ethnic cleansings and car bombings that seriously threaten human security. But, as he believes, for every problem there is a solution if people can come together, offer perspectives about security — both military and civilian — and decide how to go about laying out markers for progress.

"Since 9/11, we have put measures into place," says Kay. But the fact that it took a horrific act of terrorism to spur that mentality is somewhat ironic, he believes. What perhaps is the central conclusion of Kay's new book, and an ever-present reminder in his work with students and colleagues, is that education is the key strategic commodity that drives the policy-making within countries.

"It's the one thing in which we can invest, and helps with the knowledge base needed to drive those policies, prioritize our needs and draw us together to solve problems," he says.  

An integrated response is needed, says Kay, focusing on the public's engagement and willingness to meet, break down the walls, and think across the traditional stovepipes about issues and solutions.

"My ultimate hope is that people will be able to generate ideas that will make the world a better place," he says, adding that members of this new generation hopefully will be adaptive, flexible, and able to work across disciplines and cultures.

"As a teacher at OWU, I welcome the student from India or Pakistan who has views about testing nuclear warheads in those countries," says Kay. "I try to listen and help students to refine good arguments and thoughts based on substance."

Receiving his Ph.D. from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and his Master's degree from the University of Brussels in Belgium, Kay started his college career at Kent State.

"Having had that early experience, I believe that any student coming out of a college such as Ohio Wesleyan has a better starting game than mine. I had to work extra hard to be get to where I am now." That Kay chose to come to Ohio Wesleyan seven years ago is not surprising, given a family tie of which he is quite proud. His grandmother, once an accomplished musician and folk singer, the late Anne Grimes, graduated from OWU in 1933. Besides that college connection, she also passed on to Kay a love of music. He is an accomplished guitarist, singer, songwriter, and performer.

"To be an effective interpreter of music, you must be flexible, improvisational, and innovative," he says. "The ability to work well in class involves those skills. It'a all about effective communication." More than that, Kay and his family are proud members of the OWU/Delaware community. He and his daughters can often be sighted at home and often at away games, cheering on the Bishop basketball players.

For Kay, the opportunity to teach on a college campus and complement that with his own professional research and writing is a harmonious blend.

"You learn more about what you are interested in by interacting with students," he says.

"It's all about being part of a community."

Professor Kay holds the Libuse L. Reed Endowed Professorship, is a Mershon Associate at the Mershon Center for International Security Studies at Ohio State University, and is a non-resident Fellow at the Eisenhower Institute in Washington, D.C.

— Pam Besel