On April 19 and 20, Wagner College and the University of Paris-Sorbonne are sponsoring an international symposium on “International Relations, Diplomacy and Violence from the Medieval to the Early Modern Era: Toward a Global Approach.” The program is being hosted by Wagner College, and its organizers are Wagner College history professor Makhroufi Ousmane Traoré and Indravati Félicité of Paris-Sorbonne.
If diplomacy and violence appear to be contradictory or mutually exclusive, it is because their current definitions rely on the unique way in which we think and talk about diplomacy in the modern era.
Increasingly, we think about diplomacy — “the art of negotiation” — as the peaceful means of resolving conflicts between states, while violence is the projection of state or collective force to achieve political ends.
It is the apparent contradiction between diplomacy and violence that will be examined at the symposium on “International Relations, Diplomacy & Violence.”
The symposium will hear presentation by 16 scholars — 1 from Denmark, 7 from France, 1 from Italy and 7 from the USA. Three of the scholars are Wagner College professors, and four are affiliated with the University of Paris-Sorbonne.
The two-day program includes three panel discussions:
- “Military Violence and Diplomacy,” chaired by Sanjay Subrahmanyam (UCLA & Collège de France)
- “Violence as a Means of Diplomatic Strategy,” in two parts:
- “Diplomacy: A Way to Avoid Violence?” chaired by Denis Crouzet (Paris-Sorbonne)
- “Rituals, Institutions, Practices,” chaired by Élisabeth Crouzet-Pavan (Paris-Sorbonne)
- “Imperial Diplomacy and Violence,” chaired by Lucien Bély (Paris-Sorbonne)
The symposium will conclude with a keynote address to be delivered by Sanjay Subrahmanyam, “Early Modern Diplomacy and Cross-Cultural Encounters,” on Wednesday, April 20 at 2 p.m. in Spiro Hall 4. Members of the Wagner College community are welcome to attend the keynote address.
Thanks to the following Wagner College offices, departments and programs for their support: Center for Intercultural Advancement; Office of the Provost; Academic & Cultural Enrichment program; Department of History; Department of Government & Politics; Department of Art, Art History & Film; Department of Business Administration; Department of Education; Department of Modern Languages, Literatures & Cultures, and the Evelyn L. Spiro School of Nursing.