Partners in History: Danbury TAH Grant

Does a “War on Terror” Make Sense? In this lecture Philip Bobbitt marshals historical, legal, and strategic analyses to understand the idea of a “war on terror.” Does it make sense? What are its historical antecedents? How would such a war be “won”? Arguing that the United States is the chief cause of global networked terrorism owing to its overwhelming dominance, he will focus on the threats this dominance evokes generally rather than on the jihadist movement. At present, he will argue, we have defined the problem of winning the fight against terror in a way that makes the situation virtually impossible to resolve. We need to change our ideas about terrorism, war, and even victory itself.Bobbitt will further argue that the United States has ignored the role of law in devising its strategy, with fateful consequences, and has failed to reform law in light of the changed strategic context. Along the way he will introduce new ideas and concepts—Parmenides’ Fallacy, the Connectivity Paradox, the market state, and the function of terror as a by-product of globalization—to help us prepare for what may be a decades-long conflict of which the battle against al Qaeda is only the first instance.At stake is whether we can maintain states of consent in the twenty-first century or whether the dominant constitutional order will be that of states of terror.  Professor Philip Bobbitt, one of the nation's leading constitutional theorists, will speak at Western Connecticut State University on Wednesday evening, October 22, 2008 in Warner Hall at the mid-town campus.  Professor Bobbitt's interests include not only constitutional law but alsointernational security and the history of strategy. He has published seven books: Tragic Choices (with Calabresi) (1978),Constitutional Fate (1982), Democracy and Deterrence (1987), U.S.Nuclear Strategy (with Freedman and Treverton) (1989), ConstitutionalInterpretation (1991), The Shield of Achilles: War, Peace and the Courseof History (Knopf, 2002), and, most recently, Terror and Consent (Knopf,2008).  Bobbitt is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He isalso a Fellow of the Club of Madrid. He is a Life Member of the AmericanLaw Institute, and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, thePacific Council on International Policy, the International Institute forStrategic Studies and the Executive Council of the American Society ofInternational Law. He is a member of the Commission on the Continuity ofGovernment. He has served as Law Clerk to the Hon. Henry J. Friendly (2Cir.), Associate Counsel to the President, the Counselor onInternational Law at the State Department, Legal Counsel to the SenateIran-Contra Committee, and Director for Intelligence, Senior Directorfor Critical Infrastructure and Senior Director for Strategic Planningat the National Security Council. Before coming to Columbia he was A.W.Walker Centennial Chair in Law at the University of Texas Law School. Heis a former trustee of Princeton University; and a former member of theOxford University Modern History Faculty and the War Studies Departmentof Kings College, London. He serves on the Editorial Board ofBiosecurity and Bioterrorism.  For the Fall term 2005, he was the JamesBarr Ames Visiting Professor of Law at Harvard Law School.  For theSpring term 2007, he was the Samuel Rubin Visiting Professor of Law atColumbia Law School at the conclusion of which he joined the faculty ofColumbia Law School.  He also serves as a Senior Fellow at the Robert S.Strauss Center for International Security and Law at the University of Texas.......................................................For campus map and directions click here