Newswise — Niall Ferguson, professor of international history at Harvard University, one of the nation's leading historians of the global economy, and Jeffrey Norwitz, professor of national security at the U. S. Naval War College are the featured speakers at this year's Rush D. Holt History Conference March 3-5 at West Virginia University.
"Defining Security in an Insecure World" will be the theme, as scholars from around the world gather in Morgantown to consider what lessons the past may offer about the present national security crisis.
Since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, issues concerning national security have eclipsed nearly all else on the American political landscape. In such a volatile political and social climate, the Rush Holt Conference offers an important and timely venue for consideration of issues that have such profound implications for the American people, organizers say.
Dr. Ferguson has been called the most talented British historian of his generation, but his work has an urgent relevance to the present as well as the past. His new book, "Colossus: The Price of American Empire," discusses the resemblances between the United States today and the great Roman and Victorian empires of the past.
A public intellectual who was named by Time magazine as one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World, Ferguson will present this year's Callahan Lecture at WVU's Eiesland Hall auditorium at 8 p.m. Saturday, March 5. The lecture will be entitled, "Can Capitalism and Democracy Make the World More Secure?" The Callahan Lecture is named for longtime WVU history professor James H. Callahan.
Dr. Norwitz has traveled extensively as an agent for the Naval Criminal Investigative Services. His lecture at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, March 3, in the Mountainlair Ballroom, will open the Rush Holt Conference. His topic will be "Spy Catching and Tales of Counterintelligence."
Panel discussions will be conducted throughout the day on Friday, March 4, and Saturday, March 5. Discussion topics include:
"¢ War and International Security: Historical Perspectives"¢ Threats from Within: European Revolutionaries in the 19th and 20th Centuries"¢ When Women Kill: Gender and Terrorism"¢ Terror, Its Victims, and Global Indifference: Kenya's Ground Zero"¢ Radicalist Groups in the Muslim World"¢ Security vs. Repression: Real and Perceived Threats in America"¢ Anti-Terrorism: A Strategical and Tactical Analysis"¢ Defining Boundaries: Diplomacy and the Quest for National Security
A roundtable event will also be held Friday. The subject will be "One Man's Patriot, Another Man's Terrorist: Historical Perspectives on Radicalism, Terrorism and State Responses."
The Senator Rush D. Holt History Conference is sponsored by the Department of History in WVU's Eberly College of Arts and Sciences.
More on the Net: http://www.as.wvu.edu/history/
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