Watson Events

Pierre Hassner and Stanley Hoffmann -- The Role of Passions and Fear in Contemporary World Politics

The Role of Passions and Fear in Contemporary World Politics

The decreased capacity of states to regulate contemporary violence, be it collective or individual, is attracting attention, commentary and analysis from scholars as well as the media. As diffused forms of violence, from acts of genocide to suicide bombings, appear to defy governance through rational calculation, there has been a renewed effort to investigate causes and alternatives that lie outside the states 'cold reason'.

With the support of the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Innovating Global Security Lecture Series brings to the Watson Institute two eminent scholars, Professor Pierre Hassner from Sciences Po, Paris (France) and Professor Stanley Hoffmann from Harvard University,Cambridge (USA), who will explore the themes of fear and passion in world politics. The event takes place April 13, Tuesday at 12 PM, Joukowsky Forum, Watson Institute for International Studies, 111 Thayer Street.


Pierre Hassner, CERI-Sciences Po Paris, France
"Tamed or unleashed? The dialectics of passions in today's crises and conflicts"

Stanley Hoffmann, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.
"Change of World, Change of Fears"