Transformation in Iraq: From Ending a Modern War to Creating a Modern Peace April 4, 2008

Overview:

This symposium will assess the legitimacy and viability of current international law, insofar as it governs the transformation from post-war occupation to post-occupation peace. Using Iraq as a test case, the symposium will test this modern law against both changed contemporary realities and recent developments in moral and political thought. The first panel will will bring together a number of renowned moral, political, and legal philosophers to address the question of what fundamental obligations the U.S. has to Iraq in moving from occupation to post-occupation. The second panel assess the current state of the law, and consider whether it has evolved sufficiently from its origins to encompass democratic "nation building" and economic reforms within its ambit. The third panel will, finally, explore the possibility of developing American exit strategies from Iraq that meet these broad moral and legal requirements.

List of Panels and Confirmed Speakers:

Panel One: Moral Obligations of an Occupier to the Occupied

Robin Kar (LLS)(moderator)
Jules Coleman (Yale)
Jeff McMahan (Rutgers)
Jeremy Waldron (NYU)

Luncheon Speaker: Noah Feldman (Harvard) (Author, What We Owe Iraq: War and the Ethics of Nation Building)

Panel Two: Legal Obligations of an Occupier to the Occupied

Cesare Romano (LLS)(moderator)
Kristen Boon (Seton Hall)
Sean Watts (Creighton)
Ralph Wilde (University College London)

Panel Three: Practical Realities: Exiting Iraq

David Glazier (LLS)(moderator)
Ambassador Feisal Amin Rasoul Istrabadi (Indiana-Bloomington)
Phillip Carter (McKenna Long & Aldridge)
Noah Feldman (Harvard)
Olga Oliker (RAND Corporation)

Official Website: http://ilr.lls.edu/2008Symposium.htm