Conference organised by the Graduate Institute for International and Development Studies in partnership with the Fondation Pierre du Bois pour l'histoire du temps présent
Abstract
The 11th of September 2011 marks the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington in 2001. The decade since then has seen further acts of terrorism committed in Europe, for instance in Madrid in 2004 and in London in 2005 to only name the most tragic ones. However, the threat deriving from terrorism did not emerge out of the blue in 2001. As a matter of fact, terrorism or political violence in one form or another has always been a feature of human political relationships.
The conference, organised by the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in partnership with the Fondation Pierre du Bois pour l’histoire du temps présent, will assess the long-term evolution of terrorism over the past 200 years. It will focus on the nature and characteristics of terrorism as well as examine state reactions to it. In order to do so, the conference centres on different time periods and issues: the late 19th century and anarchist terrorism; the early 20th century and attempts by countries and the League of Nations to fight terrorism; state and state-sponsored terrorism in the second half of the 20th century; the intimate link between terrorism and the struggle for national liberation in the Cold War era; the reactions of international organisations such as the UN to terrorism; current and future trends in terrorism and counterterrorism.
To accomplish this task, the conference will investigate into the origins and characteristics of different types of terrorism before and after 9/11 as well as into the reactions of states and the international community. The ultimate aim of the conference is to contribute to a better understanding of the phenomenon of terrorism by looking at its historical evolution, an aspect that is easily ignored in contemporary debates about terrorism.
This conference will provide a platform for academic exchange that will involve experts from around the globe. In addition to established professors from universities in Asia, Europe and the US, contributors to the conference include recent PhDs as well as advanced PhD students.
Click here to consult the full programme of the Conference
A keynote speech will be delivered by David C. Rapoport
Professor Emeritus of Political Science, University of California, (UCLA)
The International Context of the Four Waves of Modern Terror
Thursday 29 September 2011, 6:30 PM
David C. Rapoport is the Founding Director of the Center for the Study of Religion at UCLA, where he was also Director and Chair of the Center for the Study of Religion and the Interdepartmental Religious Major. He is author, editor and co-editor of six books: Assassination and Terrorism (1971) The Morality of Terrorism (1982), The Rationalization of Terrorism (1982), Inside Terrorist Organizations, (1988, 2001), The Democratic Experience and Violence (2001), and Critical Concepts in Political Science: Terrorism (2006). Rapoport is now working on a book, The Four Waves of Modern Terror: A Generational Analysis. He has published over sixty academic articles, which include studies in political theory, religion, terrorism, and the history of violence. Rapoport has received numerous grants and awards including a Fulbright fellowship, and grants from the Ford Foundation, the Mellon Foundation, the Reason Foundation, and H.F. Guggenheim, among others. He was a consultant for the University of Chicago Fundamentalism project from 1988-92 and has been a consultant for a variety of professional and government organisations.A preliminary programme will be available shortly.
Consult the Conference Summary
No registation required
Auditorium Jacques-Freymond, 132 rue de Lausanne, Site Barton
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