'Ethics, War, and Intervention' – a conference from the Institute of Advanced Studies, Birmingham

Dates
Friday 30 May 2014 (09:30-20:00)
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The Institute of Advanced Studies (IAS) at Birmingham is delighted to announce a one-day conference on the ethics of war and intervention, to be held on 30th May, and marking the visit to Birmingham of Prof. Jeff McMahan, as Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the IAS, under its ‘Saving Humans’ research theme.

The conference will feature a paper by McMahan himself, and others, working in disciplines including ethics, political science, and history. The provisional programme is as follows:

Provisional Programme: Ethics, War, and Intervention, 30th May 2014

9.30-10.00: Coffee and Registration

10.00-11.00: Prof. Jeff McMahan, ‘Liability, Proportionality, and the Aggregation of Harm’ (Chair: Heather Widdows)

11.00-12.30: Panel Session 1 (Chair: Christopher Finlay)

• Dr Eamon Aloyo (Hague Institute for Global Justice), ‘The Last of Last Resort'
• Dr Rita Floyd (POLSIS, Birmingham), ‘Just Resort to Securitization'
• Dr Simon Jackson (History, Birmingham), 'Blockade then relief: the politics and law of humanitarian intervention in WW1 Syria’

12.30-1.15: Lunch

1.15-2.15: Prof. Victor Tadros (Law, Warwick), ‘The Uncertainties of War’ (Chair: Jeremy Williams)

2.15-3.15: Panel Session 2 - Doctoral Students (Chair: Paul Jackson)

• Lars Christie (Philosophy, Oslo), 'Humanitarian interventions and collateral damage: Distributing the Cost of Rescue'
• Amanda Cawston (Philosophy, Cambridge), ‘What is Wrong With Alienated Violence?'
• Andrew Forcehimes (Philosophy, Vanderbilt), ‘Luck ad Bellum'

3.15-3.30: Coffee

3.30-4.30: Prof. Kim Hutchings (International Relations, LSE), 'What Would We Do Without World War Two? A Feminist Critique of Cosmopolitan Just War Theory' (Chair: Scott Wisor) 

Attendance at the conference is free, but space is limited, and registration is required.

After the conference, at 5pm, Prof. McMahan will deliver a public lecture on the ethics of humanitarian intervention at the Barber Institute of Fine Art. This will be followed, from 18.30-20.00, by a drinks reception. Details on how to register for this event can be found here.

Jeff McMahan is Professor of Philosophy at Rutgers University, New York. He is the author of The Ethics of Killing: Problems at the Margins of Life (Oxford University Press, 2002) and Killing in War (Oxford University Press, 2009). He has several other books forthcoming from Oxford University Press, including a collection of essays called The Values of Lives, a book on war intended for both academic and non-academic readers called The Right Way to Fight, and a sequel to his 2002 book called The Ethics of Killing: Self-Defense, War, and Punishment.