Sidney Tarrow, Emeritus Maxwell M. Upson Professor of Government at Cornell University, will deliver the 21st annual Hesburgh Lecture in Ethics & Public Policy on April 30 (Thursday) at 4 p.m. in the Hesburgh Center for International Studies Auditorium at the University of Notre Dame. The Hesburgh Lecture is free and open to the public.
Tarrow’s lecture, “Seeking Peace in Wartime; Opposing War in Peacetime” will explore the effects of recent wars — the Ukrainian war, the violent outcome of the Arab Spring, the ISIS takeover of parts of Iraq and Syria — on the U.S. peace movement.
Since September 11, 2001, the United States has been fighting in conflicts that elude the laws of war in what is legally a time of peace. For the U.S. peace movement, this has had contradictory effects. Tarrow's lecture will explore these contradictions and propose a path for those who seek to advance the cause of peace.
“Sid Tarrow’s long and continuing scholarship on social movements, political activism, and political protest embodies the sort of cross-disciplinary approach that animates the discipline of peace studies,” said Ruth Abbey, interim director of the Kroc Institute.
“His enduring focus on grass roots movements for social change, peace and justice is inspiring and instructive to those in the scholarly and peacebuilding communities.”
Tarrow’s most recent books, which focus on social movements and contentious politics, include War, States, and Contention: A Comparative Historical Study (forthcoming) and The Language of Contention. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
The Kroc Institute established the Hesburgh lectures in 1995 in honor of the Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh, C.S.C., the late president emeritus of Notre Dame, a global champion of peace and justice, and the founder of the Kroc Institute. Each year a distinguished scholar, policymaker, and/or peace advocate is invited by the Kroc Institute director to deliver a major lecture on an issue related to ethics and public policy in the context of peace and justice.
Past Hesburgh Lecturers have included:
- Ebrahim Rasool (2014), South Africa's Ambassador to the United States, “Relic of the Past or Template for the Future: Nelson Mandela’s Impact on Peacemaking and Statecraft in the 21st Century”
- Jessica Tuchman Mathews (2013), President, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
- Amartya Sen (2012), 1998 winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics; Lamont University Professor and Professor of Economics and Philosophy at Harvard University, "The Demands of Justice"
- Francis Deng (2011), Special Advisor to the UN Secretary-General on the Prevention of Genocide and Mass Atrocities,“The Paradox of National Protection in Divided Nations”
- Martha Minow (2010), The Dean and Jeremiah Smith, Jr. Professor, Harvard Law School, “Education as a Tool in Preventing Violent Conflict: Suggestions for the International Criminal Court”
- Shirin Ebadi (2009), 2003 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, lawyer and human rights advocate in Iran, “Human Rights in the Islamic World”
- Rev. Bryan Hehir (2008), Parker Gilbert Montgomery Professor of the Practice of Religion and Public Life at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, “Beyond the ‘Challenge of Peace’: Pastoral Letter for Our Day” and "The Hardest Case: The Politics and Ethics of Proliferation”
- Shashi Tharoor (2007), author and former Under-Secretary-General, United Nations, “Globalization, Terrorism and the Human Imagination” and “The Future of the United Nations”
- Mary Kaldor (2006), Professor of Global Governance & Director of the Centre for the Study of Global Governance, London School of Economics, "The New Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan" and "Just War and Human Security"
- Congressman Lee Hamilton (2005), former vice-chair of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks and former chairman/ranking member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, “Fighting Terrorism” and “How to Use American Power”
- Kenneth Roth (2004), executive director, Human Rights Watch, “The War in Iraq: Justified as Humanitarian Intervention?” and “Counter Terrorism: Are Human Rights an Obstacle or Part of the Solution?”
- Michael Walzer (2003), Professor Emeritus, School of Social Science, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton University, “Emancipation and Empowerment: The Global Order”
- Freeman Dyson (2002), Professor Emeritus, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton University, “Eight Tales for Technophiles: Successes and Failures in Using Technology to Help the Poor” and “The World Economic Forum Debates: The Future of Science and Technology”
- Anthony Lake (2001), Distinguished Professor in the Practice of Diplomacy, Georgetown University, and former Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, “Balances of Power, Imbalances of Weakness: Globalization and U. S. Foreign Policy” and “Peacekeeping: Defining Success”
- Saskia Sassen (2000), Professor of Sociology and the Committee on Global Thought, Columbia University, “States and the New Geography of Power: De-Nationalized State Aendas and Privatized Norm-Making”
- Martha Nussbaum (1999), Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics, University of Chicago Law School, “In Defense of Universal Values” and “Religion and Sex Equality”
- Michael Ignatieff (1998), Member of Canadian Parliament and former director of the Carr Centre for Human Rights and Policy, Harvard University, “Barbarism and Civilization in the Age of Human Rights” and “Genocide and Human Identity”
- Richard Falk (1997), Albert G. Milbank Professor Emeritus of International Law at Princeton University, “Democracy and Prospects for Humane Governance”
- Jean Bethke Elshtain (1996), Laura Spellman Rockefeller Professor of Social Political Ethics, University of Chicago Divinity School, “Civil Patriotism or Cosmopolitism?” and “The King is Dead: Sovereignty at the Century’s End”
- Stanley Hoffmann (1995), Paul and Catherine Buttenwieser University Professor, Harvard University, “Problems of Humanitarian Intervention I” and “Problems of Humanitarian Intervention II”
Contact: Anne Riordan, 574-631-9370, riordan.14@nd.edu