"Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Empire" at U-Chicago, April 14th, including Glenn Greenwald

The Student Forum on Political Thought presents:

Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Empire:

Humanitarian Intervention and Neo-Orientalism

Featuring Tariq Ramadan, Glenn Greenwald, Cherif Bassiouni, and Jennifer Pitts

Saturday, April 14, 2012

The University of Chicago, Rockefeller Chapel

(5850 South Woodlawn Avenue Chicago, IL 60637)

5:45 (Doors Open); 6:00 (Panel Begins)

Contact: chicagostudentforum@gmail.com

Free and Open to the Public

Speakers:

- Jennifer Pitts is an Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago, and a leading expert on the history and formation of liberal ideology and its role in Western empire-building. She is the author of "A Turn to Empire: the rise of imperial liberalism in Britain and France" and translator of "Alexis de Tocqueville: Writings on Empire and Slavery";

- M. Cherif Bassiouni is Emeritus Distinguished Research Professor of Law at DePaul School of Law and President Emeritus of the International Human Rights Law Institute. He is the author/editor of 67 books on International Law, Human Rights, and Criminal Law, played a leading role in the formation of the International Court of Justice and the prosecution of war crimes in Yugoslavia, consultant to the United Nations, and was a Nobel Prize Nominee (1999);

- Glenn Greenwald is an Award-Winning Journalist for Salon.com, and a leading constitutional lawyer and expert on civil liberties in the United States. He is a New York Times Best-Selling Author of "How Would a Patriot Act?" (2006), "A Tragic Legacy" (2007), and "With Liberty and Justice for Some: How the Law Is Used to Destroy Equality and Protect the Powerful," has been acclaimed as one of the most influential political pundits in the United States, and was recently acclaimed for his work on the Wikileaks scandal.

- Tariq Ramadan is a Professor of Contemporary Islamic Studies at Oxford University, President of the European Muslim Network, and Director of CILE : Center for Islamic Legislation and Ethics. He is a leading expert on the integration of Islam in modern Western society, the interpretation of Islamic law and jurisprudence, and the role of Islam in interfaith dialogue and modern politics, as well as the author "Islam, the West, and the Challenge of Modernity" (2001), "Western Muslims and the future of Islam" (2004), and "The quest for meaning: developing a philosophy of pluralism" (2010).

Event Description:

The uprisings of the Arab Spring, and the prolonged nature of the internal conflicts in Libya and Syria, have once again sparked debate over the status of international law and the use of military intervention to enforce human rights. However, the discourse over humanitarian intervention has often overlooked the more unsavory aspects of liberal thought and Western power politics. This panel will explore the fundamental problems concerning Neo-Liberalism and its connections to the development of Neo-Orientalist thought. The panel will begin with Professor Pitts providing the historical foundations of liberal thought and its relationship with the colonialist ventures of Western European nations; Professor Bassiouni will then discuss the development of international law in the post-World War era and its use as an instrument to advance the strategic goals of great powers of the Cold War Era; Mr. Greenwald will then contextualize this use of international law and humanitarian intervention to justify U.S. involvement in foreign countries, especially in the Middle East, as well as advance U.S. geo-political strategy in the post-Cold War Era; and it will conclude with a discussion by Professor Ramadan on the academic study of Orientalism, the rise of Neo-Orientalism in conjunction with Neo-Liberalism, and influence of neo-Orientalist thought in the formation of Neo-Liberalism and political policies towards the Middle East and beyond.

About Us:

The Student Forum on Political Thought is a recently-formed coalition of student groups at the University of Chicago devoted to the exploration and exposition of the most pressing political and global issues of our era. While many of the issues which the Student Forum seeks to discuss are prominent, the goal of the SFPT is to provide a more nuanced and analytical discussion than is often presented through the media, political leaders, as well as academia. Most importantly, the SFPT is a student-run coalition which seeks to allow the voices of the students at the University of Chicago to be heard in the contemporary discourse over issues such as the global economic crisis, multi-culturalism, politics in the media, and other such critical issues. "Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Empire: Humanitarian Intervention and Neo-Orientalism" will be the first of a series of panels which explore a variety of political, social, and economic issues and to truly make the student body itself a respectful and rigorous forum on political thought.

Hosted By:

The University of Chicago Muslim Students Association

Sponsored By:

The University of Chicago Office of International Affairs, UChicago College Dean's Fund for Student Life, The University of Chicago Department of Political Science, The University of Chicago Center for International Studies, Center for the Study of Race, Politics, and Culture, Office of Multicultural Student Affairs, Center for Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Chicago, The University of Chicago Human Rights Program, Student Government at the University of Chicago