The American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the oldest and most prestigious scholarly association in the country, held a workshop for authors at the Thayer Hotel. The workshop is part of the American Academy’s program on New Dilemmas in Ethics, Technology, and War. The program will culminate in the publication of a two-volume special issue of the American Academy’s journal, Daedalus. As an indication of USMA’s standing in the community, the American Academy reached out to faculty at West Point to request the opportunity to conduct the workshop here so that their authors could benefit from USMA faculty feedback. The workshop showcased articles on many urgently important topics, including nuclear weapons, cyber war, asymmetric warfare, counter-insurgency, targeted killing, drones and autonomous weapons systems, the responsibility to protect, and war crimes trials. Approximately 30 scholars from around the world participated in the workshop. These authors included General Officers such as Brigadier General Mark S. Martins and General (ret) C. Robert Kehler as well as numerous civilian scholars such as Michael Walzer, Scott Sagan, Antonia Chayes, and John Fabian Witt. A number of civilian leaders were invited to address the group, including Stephen Rapp (former United States Ambassador at Large for War Crimes Issues), Arafat Jamal (Head, Inter-Agency Coordination Service, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees), James Ross (Legal and Policy Director of Human Rights Watch) and Lloyd Axworthy (former Canadian Foreign Minister). Approximately 30 USMA faculty members and 30 Cadets participated in the workshop over the three days. These Cadets and faculty were from a variety of departments, including English and Philosophy, History, Law, and Social Sciences. This event solidifies USMA’s position as a center for the very best scholarship on matters of ethics, war, and peace.
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