Join us on Thursday, October 24 to meet Thomas Weiss, discussing Humanitarian Intervention: Ideas in Action.

This event which is free and open to the public will be held at 2:00 p.m. at the recently opened Durham Public Library on Madbury Road, in Durham.

A singular development of the post Cold-War era is the use of military force to protect human beings. From Rwanda to Kosovo, Sierra Leone to East Timor, soldiers have rescued civilians in some of the world's most notorious war zones. Drawing on two decades of research, Thomas G. Weiss will provide a compelling introduction to the theory and practice of humanitarian intervention in the modern world. He examines political, ethical, legal, strategic, economic, and operational dimensions and uses a wide range of cases to highlight key debates and controversies.

Thomas G. Weiss is presidential professor of political science at The City University of New York’s Graduate Center and director of the Ralph Bunche Institute for International Studies, where he is co-director of the United Nations Intellectual History Project and chair of the Academic Council on the United Nations System. He was editor of Global Governance, research director of the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty, research professor at Brown University's Watson Institute for International Studies, executive director of the Academic Council on the United Nations System and of the International Peace Academy, a member of the UNCTAD secretariat, and a consultant to several public and private agencies. He was educated at Harvard and Princeton Universities and has written or edited some thirty-five books and numerous scholarly articles about multilateral approaches to international peace and security, humanitarian action, and sustainable development.