Last night the conference on “Justice and Global Politics” started with keynote speaker James A. Buchanan, the 1986 Nobel Prize winner in economics. Buchanan spoke on the different mindsets the U.S. and Europe have when looking at people and the enforcement of justice.
A forerunner in his field, he was the first to use economic models to understand political situations and is founder of the Center for Study of Public Choice at George Mason University. He is the author of more than 13 books and hundreds of articles.
The bi-annual conference, which is hosted by The Social Philosophy and Policy Center will continue today from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Saturday 8:30 a.m. to 3:45 p.m.
The 12 speakers will discuss current topics such as the legitimacy of the war in Iraq, terrorism and the role the U.S. should play in promoting democracy. Each speaker is allotted a one hour session. They will speak for about 15 minutes followed by an open forum for discussion and questions from the audience. The speakers come from a wide range of disciplines including law, sociology, philosophy and religion.
“I think this is going to be interesting for students because its very relevant to current issues like the war on terrorism and the war in Iraq,” said Deputy Director and Editor of Publications for the center Ellen Paul, “There will be lots of discussions of real world things happening now.”
Speakers are chosen one and a half to two years in advance by various people affiliated with the University and the Social Philosophy and Policy Center. They try to have speakers with different perspectives on various issues and different ideological views, according to Ellen Paul deputy director and editor of publications.
The center has three major programs; the bi-annual conference program, a visiting scholars program and the publication of the Cambridge University Press journal Social Philosophy ‘ Policy. This is one of the three leading academic journals published on political and social philosophy in the nation, according to program director Nico Maloberti.
Faculty, staff and graduate students usually attend the conference, but this year’s event especially should be of interest to everyone, said Maloberti.
“This should be great for everyone to attend because of the nature of the topic,” said Maloberti. “This is one of the rare occasions when academic minds of this state will be discussing more practical issues. It will be very interesting to hear what they have to say about all these problems.”
The conference, held in the McFall Center Gallery, is open to all students, faculty and staff and is free.
Conference speakers are asked to write their papers well in advance of the conference. The journal consisting of papers from this fall’s conference should be finished in January 2006.
The conferences have been held by the center since 1983. The spring conference, titled, “Taxation, Economic Prosperity, and Distributive Justice” will be held June 9-12, 2005 in California.
