Rebecca Cruise

Contributor and Guest Host, World Views

A regular panelist on World Views and the primary substitute host, Rebecca Cruise specializes in security studies and comparative politics focusing on issues of security community development, international organizations, post-conflict resolution, political participation and gender. Though taking an international perspective in much of her work, her regional focus tends toward Southeastern and Central Europe.

She has published a number of articles, including pieces in International Politics, Journal of Homeland Security and Emergency Management and the Croatian International Relations Review. Dr. Cruise also co-wrote a book exploring international maritime security policy. Currently, she is working on the manuscript for her forthcoming book entitled, Eastern Efficacy: Female Political Participation in Post-Communist Europe. Beyond her research interests, Dr. Cruise has developed and taught a number of courses for the University of Oklahoma including Global Security, Comparative National Security, Women in International Security and International Activism.

After receiving a BA from the University of Portland, Dr. Cruise earned her Ph.D. from the OU Department of Political Science in 2011.

Ways To Connect

Guest host Rebecca Cruise is joined by University of Oklahoma professor and European Union expert Mitchell Smith about how Greece got to its current economic crisis, and why its citizens are still on a "quest for hope."

Then Suzette Grillot talks with geographer Kathleen O’Reilly about the gender and social issues of sanitation projects in India.

In light of this week’s nuclear agreement with Iran, Asia-Pacific trade talks and renewed diplomatic relations with Cuba, Rebecca Cruise and Suzette Grillot talk about why 2015 has been arguably President Obama’s most successful year in foreign policy.

Then I’ll talk with Nigerian filmmaker Kenneth Gyang about bringing attention to issues facing his country through narrative storytelling.

Saturday marks 20 years since Serbian forces systematically killed 8,000 Bosnian Muslims in the town of Srebrenica. Suzette Grillot and Rebecca Cruise discuss what has (and hasn't) changed about how the international community responds to genocide in the two decades since the atrocity.

Then Suzette speaks with author and journalist Stephen Kinzer about how easing hostility between the U.S. and Iran might be the best way to advance the interests of the United States in the Middle East.

Rebecca and Suzette Grillot talk about protests in Hong Kong on the anniversary of the handover back to China, and remember Nicholas Winton, a British humanitarian who rescued more than 600 children during the Holocaust. He died Wednesday at the age of 106.

Rebecca Cruise talks with journalist and activist Rebecca MacKinnon about information freedom in the digital age. The Internet allows people to organize politically and instantly share information across the globe. But an open web isn’t always guaranteed.

When President Obama signed the USA Freedom Act last month, he said the measure would “strengthen civil liberty safeguards” in government surveillance programs. The Freedom Act includes reformed provisions from the PATRIOT Act and was meant reign in government surveillance activities.

Guest host Brian Hardzinski talks with regular contributor Rebecca Cruise about apartheid-era South Africa and the former country of Rhodesia, and why many white supremacist groups embrace the African country that no longer exists.

Then Cruise talks with ESPN founder Bill Rasmussen about establishing the first 24-hour sports broadcasting network and how it became the self-proclaimed worldwide leader in sports.

At 7 p.m. on September 7, 1979, ESPN hit the airwaves with the first episode of its flagship program, SportsCenter. Although ESPN has become a staple of international sport and television, cofounder Bill Rasmussen says that when he first pitched the idea of a 24-hour sports network, reactions were mostly negative.

“I had people off the street say [a 24-hour sports network is] never going to work. I had business people say it’s never going to work,” Rasmussen said.