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Take in a timely documentary on a high-stakes political simulation, then join a conversation with experts on extremism, crisis response, and national security.
War Game follows a bipartisan group of real-life US defense, intelligence, and elected policymakers with combined experience in five presidential administrations as they participate in an unscripted role-play exercise. Portraying a fictional US president and his advisors, they confront a nationwide insurrection backed by rogue members of the US military after a contested 2024 presidential election. (94 mins., DCP) Following the screening, join Ohio State professors Laura Dugan and Dakota Rudesill for a conversation highlighting the risks, realities, and facts pertinent to our current state of political and cultural affairs. The conversation is moderated by Aaron Yarmel, associate director of Ohio State’s Center for Ethics and Human Values.
IMAGE CAPTIONWar Game (still). Photo: Thorsten Thielow.
Dakota Rudesill’s review of War Game on Just Security
War Game film website
Laura Dugan. Courtesy of the speaker.
Dakota Rudesill. Courtesy of the speaker.
Ralph D. Mershon Professor of Human Security and Professor of Sociology Laura Dugan teaches at Ohio State. Her research has been motivated by the broader question of how leaders, policies, and practice affect the risk of violence and other types of insecurities due to extremist ideologies and hateful intent. Dr. Dugan is one of the founding principal investigators of the Global Terrorism Database (GTD), Government Actions in Terrorist Environments (GATE), and datasets of posts by state and federal politicians on X (formerly Twitter) and Truth Social. She has published widely across disciplinary journals.
Ohio State Associate Professor of Law Dakota Rudesill is a scholar, teacher, and practitioner of national security law and policy, focusing on the military, militias, secrecy, use of force, and nuclear weapons. He has advised senior leaders in all three branches of the federal government, including on a presidential transition team, a presidential task force, in the US Intelligence Community (IC), and a US Senate committee professional staff.
Cosponsored by Ohio State’s Mershon Center for International Security Studies, Moritz College of Law, Center for Ethics and Human Values, and Department of Sociology.
FILM/VIDEO PROGRAMS MADE POSSIBLE BYNational Endowment for the Arts Ohio Humanities ADDITIONAL SUPPORT PROVIDED BY Rohauer Collection Foundation
LEARNING & PUBLIC PRACTICE PROGRAMS MADE POSSIBLE BYAmerican Electric Power FoundationCoverMyMedsHuntingtonMartha Holden Jennings Foundation
ADDITIONAL SUPPORT PROVIDED BY Ingram-White Castle FoundationOhio Arts Council The Ohio State University Office of Outreach & EngagementMilton and Sally Avery Arts Foundation
SUPPORT FOR LEARNING & PUBLIC PRACTICE RESIDENCIES PROVIDED BYMike and Paige Crane
WEXNER CENTER PROGRAMS MADE POSSIBLE BYGreater Columbus Arts Council The Wexner Family Institute of Museum and Library Services Mellon Foundation Every Page Foundation Ohio Arts Council, with support from the National Endowment for the Arts CampusParc Nationwide Foundation Lois S. and H. Roy Chope Fund of The Columbus FoundationOhio State’s Global Arts + Humanities Discovery Theme The Columbus Foundation Axium Packaging
ADDITIONAL SUPPORT PROVIDED BY Ohio State Energy Partners Ohio History Fund/Ohio History Connection David Crane and Elizabeth DangMelissa Gilliam and William Grobman Rebecca Perry Damsen and Ben Towle
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War Game
