Dr. Henry P. (Phil) Williams III has joined The Institute of World Politics faculty as an adjunct professor. Dr. Williams will be teaching a course in the fall titled “The Turks, the MENA, In History and Today.”
The first session of the course will focus on the history of the Turkish people, and students will learn about the Ottoman Empire, the height of Turkish power in modern history. This session will focus on geography, perspective, religion, the Caliphate, enemies, trade, law, sovereignty, nationalism, and key events and actors.
During the second session of the course, students will study the situation of Turkey in the post-World War I situation when the Ottoman Empire was dismantled. The session will focus on the timeline from the rise of Ataturk and the founding of the Turkish state, to the Truman Doctrine when the United States supported the Turkish government during the Cold War, to the rise of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the modern day and the implications on Western alliances with Turkey.
Dr. Henry P. (Phil) Williams III is originally from Michigan. He received degrees and diplomas from Culver Military Academy, the University of Virginia, the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, the University of Florence, Italy, and two Masters and a Doctorate in International Law and Diplomacy from the Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy, a joint Tufts and Harvard Program.
He has lived in four foreign countries and has studied and worked professionally in four foreign languages: French, Greek, Italian and Turkish. He has recently spent two semesters (2016-17) in Istanbul teaching a course at Koç University titled “Turkey and America, East and West – Where the Twain Meet.” Dr. Williams has also served on the board of the American Friends of Turkey for over twenty-three years.
Dr. Williams has previously spoken at IWP on The Eastern Question and The Role of Piracy in Shaping the Constitution and the Early American Republic.
IWP looks forward to welcoming Dr. Williams in the fall of 2018.