Following the tragic attacks of September 11, 2001 the importance of combating global terrorism became a central preoccupation for scholars and practitioners of international peace and security. Presidential Professor of Political Science and Bunche Institute Director Thomas G. Weiss organized two research conferences that resulted in edited volumes that are in press. In collaboration with Oxford University Centre for International Studies, the first book is Jane Boulden and Thomas G. Weiss, eds., Terrorism and the UN: Before and After September 11 (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2004). This volume explores the situation of the United Nations in the wake of September 11 and looks ahead to possible problems and issues for the world organization. It is commonplace to hear that the world had changed irrevocably, that a paradigm shift had occurred. Is that the case? If so, why and how is this manifested? If not, why not?
With funding from the Mellon Foundation, a year-long faculty seminar series was organized, which led to a second volume: Thomas G. Weiss, Margaret E. Crahan, and John Goering, eds., Wars on Terrorism and Iraq: Human Rights, Unilateralism, and U.S. Foreign Policy (London: Routledge, 2004). This collection of essays offers an in-depth analysis of the impact of the war on terrorism and the war in Iraq on the enjoyment of human rights, both domestically and internationally, and explores the resultant tensions between unilateralism and multilateralism in U.S. foreign policy. One of the core concerns is the extent to which human rights have been eroded by the increasing demands of national and international security prompted by 9/11, and the collection addresses the question of whether human rights and security promotion are diametrically opposed, or mutually reinforcing. The contributors challenge popular characterizations of U.S. policy along the spectrum between unilateralism and multilateralism; they provide insight into the implications of the decision to go to war in Iraq as well as the implications of its conduct and aftermath for the future of transatlantic relations; and they address the issue of conflict management in the Middle East, the moral authority of international institutions, and the viability of the United Nations.
The table of contents for both books is available at http://web.gc.cuny.edu/RalphBuncheInstitute/.