"Taking the System Crisis Seriously" at the Next System Teach-In
Presented by Dr. Yasemin Ipek (Global, GMU), Dr. Ben Manski (Sociology, GMU), Dr. Nara Roberta Silva (Brooklyn Institute for Social Research), Dr. Richard Rubenstein (Carter School, GMU)
Thursday, November 13, 2025 12:00 PM to 1:15 PM EST
Merten Hall, 1201
As the world collapses around us: Can we build the next system?
If we take our social, political, economic, and ecological crises seriously enough, can we build a world that is democratic, sustainable, and just? Maybe we can, if we ask: How well do we understand the crises of our time? What do we need to know about alternative designs to our current system? What can we learn from movements for system change?
Featuring Dr. Yasemin Ipek (Global, GMU), Dr. Ben Manski (Sociology, GMU), Dr. Nara Roberta Silva (Brooklyn Institute for Social Research), Dr. Richard Rubenstein (Carter School, GMU)
Click here to register!
This talk is part of the 2025 Next System Teach-In at GMU. For the full program of events, see https://nextsystem.gmu.edu/articles/22762
Dr. Yasemin Ipek is a tenure-track Assistant Professor in the Global Affairs Program. Her research is situated at the intersection of the anthropology of politics, activism, and inequality; critical studies of humanitarianism and refugees; decoloniality studies; and studies of Islam, sectarianism, and nationalism in the modern Middle East. As a political anthropologist interested in emergent political formations against globally and locally hegemonic forms of power, her interdisciplinary research trajectory draws upon ethnography, political theory, sociology, and critical area studies.
Dr. Ben Manski is a tenure-track Assistant Professor of Sociology and Director of Next System Studies at GMU He studies the participation of ordinary people in the deliberate constitution of their societies. His work takes in social movements, law, politics, climate and ecology, technology, and the corporation, focusing on democracy, constitutionalism, and system change, and he has published widely on these themes. In the past, Manski practiced public interest law for eight years and managed national non-profit organizations, direct action campaigns, and political campaigns and parties for twenty five years.
Dr. Nara Roberta Silva is Core Faculty and Praxis Program Head at the Brooklyn Institute for Social Research. She holds a Ph.D. in Sociology from the State University of Campinas (Unicamp), Brazil, where she also earned her B.A. and M.A. Her research and teaching center on the intersections of social and political theory, racial capitalism, social movements, political economy, and participatory democracy, with a sustained commitment to public scholarship and social justice.
Dr. Richard Rubenstein was educated at Harvard College, Oxford University (Rhodes Scholar) and Harvard Law School. Before coming to teach at George Mason University in 1987, he was a practicing lawyer in Washington DC, a political science professor at Roosevelt University in Chicago, and a law professor at Antioch School of Law in Washington DC. At George Mason he joined the faculty of the Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution and served as its director from 1988-1991. He retired from full-time teaching in 2023 and is now University Professor Emeritus at the Institute's successor, the Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution.
