Reminiscent of an earlier era of political science, the wide-ranging work grapples with intellectual ideas that will have direct impact on the worlds of politics, policy, and government — such as the likely future of international order, with an emphasis on the competition between democracies and autocracies. Historically rich and sophisticated, its breadth spans international relations, political theory, and comparative politics.

“Political scientists have tended to analyze democratic longevity and crises in domestic terms,” said University of Louisville professor of political science and University Scholar Charles E. Ziegler, director of the Grawemeyer Award for Ideas Improving World Order. “They generally look at internal economic structure, income levels, and a society’s cultural traits. Owen’s exposition of the role of the international ecosystem marks a major contribution to our understanding of world order.”

The Grawemeyer Award for World Order has been given annually since 1988. Professor Owen appreciates the influence of a number of past Grawemeyer Award winners, particularly 1989 winner Robert Keohane, whose “After Hegemony: Cooperation and Discord in the World Political Economy” inspired Owen, then a Keohane advisee, to investigate the way international institutions work. In addition, 1992 winner Samuel Huntington, one of Owen’s graduate-school mentors, prompted Owen to attend to the waxing and waning global fortunes of democracy, as well as to international contagion.ĚýThe work of Margaret Keck and Kathryn Sikkink, winners in 2000 for “Activists beyond Borders,” showed Owen how transnational groups carry ideas and practices across national boundaries.

Owen will accept his award at a ceremony in Louisville on April 10.

About the Grawemeyer Awards

Each year the Grawemeyer Awards honor the power of creative ideas to improve our culture via music composition, education, religion, psychology, and world order. Business executive and family man H. Charles Grawemeyer established the awards in 1984 at the University of Louisville in collaboration with Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary. Academics and community members choose among nominees from around the world to ensure that each winning idea is relevant to society at large. The University of Louisville announces the winners in December and presents the awards at a ceremony the following April. Each award winner receives $100,000, which they may use, if they choose, to develop and accelerate the spread of their powerful ideas. Learn more at .

In her on-campus lecture April 11, Neta Crawford, winner of the 2024 , described how in 2018, she began searching for data on the carbon emissions produced by the U.S. military. When she found the data was not readily available, she began calculating it herself. She found that the U.S. military was responsible for 81 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions each year–more than the total emissions for many entire countries.

Following that work and a related scientific paper, Crawford contributed language to a requirement by Congress that the U.S. military report some segments of its emissions beginning in 2021. In 2022, her ,Ěý“The Pentagon, Climate Change and War: Charting the Rise and Fall of Military Emissions,” was published by MIT Press.

In her writings, Crawford traced how the United States and other military powers became dependent on large amounts of fossil fuel, from the quest for coal stations around the world in the 19^th Century to thousands of U.S. troops defending oil supplies in the Middle East today. She concluded that the legacy mentality requiring vast military presence and activity can and should change in order to reduce military emissions.

“I described how we got here, but the world doesn’t have to be that way. We could decrease the tens of thousands of forces in the Middle East, and then decrease their emissions which will help with climate change and potentially decrease tension.”

Citing reductions in U.S. oil imports from OPEC, Crawford said the need for the oil is lower, so military efforts to protect it also should be reduced.

“The U.S. is poised to defend oil that we cannot and should not burn. So, we are defending access to oil which we decreasingly need,” she said.

Crawford commended emission reduction programs in the military but called for bigger changes.

“The military has very good people looking at incremental ways to reduce their emissions. I’m talking about a much larger restructuring, though, and that’s not happening,” Crawford said.

“What I am arguing in the book is, first of all, count the emissions. Secondly, they don’t have to be as high. The military has shown, in fact, that they can decrease their emissions. They are not doing it very ambitiously, and they can. And this matters.”

The $100,000 Grawemeyer prizes also honor seminal ideas in , ,ĚýĚý˛ą˛Ô»ĺĚý. Winners visit Louisville to accept their awards and give free talks on their winning ideas.

.Ěý

Steven Feldstein, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, earned the prize for ideas set forth in his , “The Rise of Digital Repression: How Technology is Reshaping Power, Politics and Resistance” published by Oxford University Press in 2021.

Feldstein examined how governments in China, Thailand, Ethiopia and the Philippines have used a wide range of digital tools such as internet shutdowns, disinformation campaigns, artificial intelligence and even DNA collection to repress their citizens. For example, authorities in Hong Kong used facial recognition to identify protest leaders and censorship tools to keep protest information from circulating.

“My goal was to learn how digital technology will affect the way governments rule in the future,” he said. “I found that as people come to rely more on online communication, their leaders are realizing they can use the same tools—Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and TikTok—to spread propaganda, sow division and intimidate their critics.”

His findings have disturbing implications for democracies and civil society organizations worldwide, said Rodger Payne, who directs the world order award.

“Through skillful, thorough research and analysis, Feldstein shows how democracies are backsliding and authoritarian governments are becoming revitalized by the use of digital technology,” Payne said. “He also shares creative ideas for democracies, civil society organizations and businesses to mitigate that trend.”

, who works in Carnegie’s Democracy, Conflict and Government Program, was a U.S. Department of State deputy assistant secretary in the Obama administration. A former associate professor at Boise State University, he also was policy director at the U.S. Agency for International Development. He has a law degree from University of California-Berkeley and a bachelor of arts degree from Princeton University.

Recipients of next year’s are being named this week pending formal approval by trustees. The annual, $100,000 prizes also honor seminal ideas in music, psychology, education and religion. Winners will visit Louisville in the spring to accept their awards and give free talks on their winning ideas.

“It gives me great pleasure to announce Marion Hambrick as the new executive director of the Grawemeyer Awards. Dr. Hambrick comes highly recommended by his colleagues and peers, and we are grateful for his willingness to accept the role,” said UofL Provost Lori Stewart Gonzalez.Ěý“The Grawemeyer Awards pay intentional and profound tribute to the power of creative ideas and the impact a single idea can have on the world.ĚýI am confident Dr. Hambrick has the intellectual acumen and motivation to continue advancing Charles Grawemeyer’s vision of inspiring, honoring and nurturing achievements in ,Ěý,Ěý, ˛ą˛Ô»ĺĚý.”

Hambrick served as the director of the Grawemeyer Award in łÉČËÖ±˛Ą from 2017 to 2020. The Grawemeyer Awards are presented annually by UofL and the Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary. By creating these awards, UofL alumnus  found a way to inspire, honor and nurture scholarly achievement.

Hambrick earned his BA in finance from Transylvania University in 1995, his MBA in finance from the University of Kentucky in 1996 and his PhD in educational leadership and organizational development with an emphasis in sport administration from UofL in 2010.

His teaching areas focus on financial principles in sports and conducting doctoral seminars in sport administration research. His research interests are centered on social network analysis in sports and recreational sport participation.

He was presented with the Red and Black Award for outstanding advising and instruction in 2010 and 2012 and was a UofL Faculty Favorite nominee in 2013 and 2015. Hambrick is a member of the North American Society for Sport Management and is lead or co-author of articles published in journals such as Managing Sport and Leisure, Sport Management Review, Journal of Sport Behavior and others.

Hambrick succeeds Charles Leonard, who retired from UofL in November.

, a political science professor who chairs Rutgers’ doctoral program on women and politics, received the prize for ideas set forth in “Violence Against Women in Politics,” her 2020 book published by Oxford University Press.

For the book, she collected details on the growing attacks against women in politics worldwide and reviewed dozens of previous studies on the issue. Based on her findings, she sorted the violence into five types: physical, psychological, sexual, economic and intimidation through words and images. In all cases, the intent of the behavior was to exclude women from public life, she said.

As she chronicles the stories of women who have been bullied, shamed, threatened, arrested and even murdered while serving in political roles, Krook explains how the phenomenon has caused women to withdraw from politics and has made others reluctant to enter the field. She ends the book with ideas to address the problem.

“Besides harming individual victims, violence against women in politics tramples on human rights, disrupts institutions and undermines gender equity,” she said. “The hostile acts continue with little being done to stop them.”

Krook has received honors from the American Political Science Association and International Political Science Association for her studies of women and politics. She collaborated with the National Democratic Institute to develop #NotTheCost, a global campaign to end violence aimed at keeping women out of political life, and has advised the United Nations and U.S. Congress on gender and politics issues.

“Her work shines a spotlight on the worldwide pervasiveness of violence against women in politics and challenges us with a call to action,” said Charles Ziegler, Grawemeyer World Order Award director. “What’s more, she details specific ways to correct the problem at all levels, from local electoral districts to international organizations.”

Recipients of next year’s are being named this week pending formal approval by university trustees. The annual, $100,000 prizes also honor seminal ideas in music, psychology, education and religion. Winners will visit Louisville in April to accept their awards and give free talks on their winning ideas.

UofL presents the annual prizes for innovative ideas and works in music composition, world order, psychology and education and gives a religion prize jointly with the seminary. Award recipients will be named at 10 a.m. EST on the following dates:

• Music Composition, Dec. 6
• Ideas Improving World Order, Dec. 7
• Psychology, Dec. 8
• łÉČËÖ±˛Ą, Dec. 9
• Religion, Dec. 10

All recipients will be asked to visit Louisville in April to accept their $100,000 prizes and give free talks about their winning ideas.

Charles Grawemeyer, a UofL graduate, former seminary trustee and philanthropist, set up the awards program in 1984 to recognize the power of creative thought and underscore the impact a single idea can have on the world. He also asked that laypeople be involved in award selection to ensure broad understanding of the winning ideas.

That’s the recipe for the 2021 Grawemeyer Awards celebration, set for 7 p.m., Thursday, April 15. Usually held as a gala banquet, the 2021 celebration will be livestreamed via .

Announced in December 2019, the Grawemeyer Award winners for 2020 are being honored in 2021 following the cancellation of their award banquet last year. Because of the global COVID-19 pandemic, the winners will be honored in a remote ceremony that will give them the opportunity to discuss the work that led to their awards.

By creating these awards,ĚýUofL alumnus H. Charles Grawemeyer found a way to inspire, honor and nurture achievements in music composition, education, religion, psychology and ideas improving world order.Ěý

The livestreamed event will be hosted by UofL Grawemeyer Award Director Charles Leonard and will feature recorded remarks from UofL President Neeli Bendapudi and Louisville Seminary President Alton Pollard III. The seminary co-presents the award in religion with UofL.

Speaking live will be the 2021 winners:

• , a San Diego composer who won the music composition award for his orchestral work evoking the threat climate change poses to humanity
• , an American University professor who won the world order award for his book challenging the United Nations to rethink how it handles environmental problems
• , a King’s College, London, behavioral geneticist, who won the psychology award for explaining how DNA influences how we work with the world around us
• , of Harvard University’s Graduate School of łÉČËÖ±˛Ą and High Tech High Graduate School of łÉČËÖ±˛Ą, which is linked with a network of diverse charter schools in San Diego, respectively, who co-won the education award for their study of how to encourage deeper learning in U.S. high schools
• , a Willamette University professor who won the religion award for showing how an early Christian creed urging human solidarity applies in modern life

For additional information, visit the Grawemeyer Awards website.

Those ideas earned their creators 2019 , $100,000 prizes recognizing how powerful concepts can change the world. Award recipients were named Dec. 3-7.

The winners are:

• , music composition, for writing the non-traditional concerto “Nomaden”
• , ideas improving world order, for designing a framework to help nations expand human rights
• , for developing a theory explaining how drug addiction works in the brain
• , for explaining how white Protestant dominance of U.S. politics and culture is ending

“As is so often the case, our award recipients have addressed important issues of the day in a highly creative manner,” said Charles Leonard, Grawemeyer Awards executive director.

“From shedding new light on opioid addiction to charting a vast political and cultural change, from improving the well-being of people worldwide to welcoming diverse cultures into Western classical music, all of their ideas have potential to enrich our lives.”

UofL presents the annual prizes in music, world order, psychology and education and gives the religion prize jointly with Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary.

No education award was given this year because “jurors could not single out an idea likely to advance our field in a highly significant way,” said Marion Hambrick, an associate professor in UofL’s College of łÉČËÖ±˛Ą and Human Development, who directs the award.

The late Charles Grawemeyer, a UofL graduate and former seminary trustee, set up the awards in 1984 to underscore the impact a single idea can have on the world. He also asked that laypeople be involved in selecting the awards to ensure broad understanding of the winning ideas.

All of the Grawemeyer Award recipients will visit Louisville in April to give free, public talks on their winning ideas.