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2018 Michael Hintze Lecture: Global Security Cultures
Why do politicians think that war is the answer to terror when wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria and Mali have made things worse? Why do contemporary conflicts never end?
Professor Mary Kaldor will introduce the concept of global security cultures in order to explain why we get stuck in certain ways of doing security. She argues that, in contrast to the Cold War period when there was one dominant security culture based on military forces and states, nowadays there are several competing cultures including Geopolitics, New Wars, the Liberal Peace and the War on Terror. She will discuss the contradictions, dilemmas and experiments that might open up alternative pathways.
This event was held at the University of Sydney on Wednesday 28 March 2018.
The Speakers:
- Mary Kaldor is Professor of Global Governance and Director of the Conflict and Civil Society Research Unit at the London School of Economics. Professor Kaldor directs the unit's largest research project, the Conflict Research Programme (CRP), an international DFID-funded partnership investigating public authority through a theoretical lens of the political marketplace, and the concept of 'civicness' across a range of countries in Africa and the Middle East. Professor Kaldor is highly regarded for her innovative work on democratisation, conflict, and globalisation, and pioneered the concept of new wars and global civil society. Her book International Law and New Wars, co-authored with Professor Christine Chinkin, was published in May 2017 and her new book Global Security Cultures is due out in spring 2018.
- James Der Derian (moderator) is Michael Hintze Chair of International Security Studies and Director of the Centre for International Security Studies. His research and teaching interests are in international security, information technology, international theory, and documentary film.