Terrorism and International Politics: Past, Present, and Future
29-30 September 2011
Geneva, Switzerland
Conference organized by the Graduate Institute for International and Development Studies in partnership with the Fondation Pierre du Bois pour l'histoire du temps présent
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. Participants include, among other, Profs
Richard Jensen, Christopher Andrew, Charles Townshend, Wolfgang Krieger,
Abraham Wagner, Sean Kalic, Douglas Burgess, Mohammad-Mahmoud Ould
Mohamedou, Gianluca Pastori, and Richard Thornton.
A keynote speech will be delivered by Prof David C. Rapoport.
Preliminary programme Conference_Programme_26_May_11.pdf (102 Kb)
