Conference

What is War?

Friday-Saturday, Sept. 14-15, 2007
Hesburgh Center for International Studies Auditorium
Joan B. Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies
University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556

You can view streaming videos from this conference. These streaming videos require RealPlayer. If you do not have RealPlayer, you can download it free.

How should we define war? This is not just an academic question. The most basic human rights -- including the right to life, the right to a trial, the right to own property -- all depend on whether a conflict is legally definable as war or not.

At the moment there is no clear legal line dividing the two situations. Governments tend to deny that fighting on their territories is war, arguing instead that it is “criminal activity,” and claiming that they have it under control. Following the September 11 attacks, the United States reversed the trend, declaring war where many would see crime. Based on this argument, people have been killed, detained without trial, had their property confiscated, and lost many other rights that are taken for granted in times of peace.

This interdisciplinary conference is an outgrowth of an International Law Association study group charged with addressing the legal challenges raised by the Bush Administration’s “global war on terror.” The committee’s work is expected to have a major impact on the international community’s understanding of the rights and duties of states, organizations, and individuals.

For more information, including an agenda and speaker biographies, please see the conference website.

Co-Sponsors
Joan B. Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies
University of Notre Dame Law School

John Mueller
Woody Hayes Chair of National Security Studies
The Ohio State University

Mary Ellen O'Connell
Robert and Marion Short Professor of Law
University of Notre Dame