Enmity, War, and Peace in the History of Political Thought

Session Submission Type: Virtual Created Panel

Session Description

This panel convenes four papers on the themes of war and peace in the history of political thought. Colleen Mitchel returns to Greek and Roman histories to explore how ancient historians represented and documented crimes of sexual violence in war, reflecting on their work as a resource for thinking about these crimes that persist in contemporary warfare. Alex Tuckness and John Parrish ask whether combatants fighting on the side of justice in war are afforded special rights, turning back to the classic work of Hugo Grotius to explore ethico-political relations between enemy combatants. In his paper, Christopher Meckstroth recovers modern German thought on federal solutions to the problem of international order, in distinction the universal empire model. Lastly, Shinkyu Lee returns to Arendt’s critique of violence to analyze her treatment of enmity in politics, at both the micro- and macro-level. Together, these four papers generate a conversation about enmity, the rules of war, and the possibility of peace in international politics.

Sub Unit

• Division 1: Political Thought and Philosophy

Individual Presentations

• Sexual Violence Against Women in Ancient Political Thought - Colleen Mitchell

• Grotius, Just War, and Just Politics - Alex Tuckness, Iowa State University; John Michael Parrish, Loyola Marymount University

• Kant, Gentz, and Arendt on Federation and Perpetual Peace - Christopher Meckstroth, University of Cambridge

• Arendtian Plurality in the World of Enmity - Shinkyu Lee, Oberlin College

Chair

• Yvonne Chiu Naval War College

Discussant

• Theodore Christov George Washington University