International Security Studies Brady-Johnson Grand Strategy Lecture Series: “Machiavelli: Geo-strategist”

Event time: 
Wednesday, March 26, 2014 - 4:30pm
Location: 
Hall of Graduate Studies, Room 211 See map
320 York Street
New Haven, CT 06520
Event description: 

The International Security Studies Brady-Johnson Grand Strategy Lecture Series presents:

Philip Bobbitt (Law ‘75), one of the nation’s leading constitutional theorists: “Machiavelli: Geo-strategist”.

(This lecture was originally scheduled for February, but was postponed due to snow; please save the new date and venue and we hope to see you there. )

Professor Bobbitt’s interests include not only constitutional law but also international security and the history of strategy.

He has published eight books:

  • Tragic Choices (with Calabresi) (Norton, 1978)
  • Constitutional Fate (Oxford, 1982)
  • Democracy and Deterrence (Macmillans, 1987)
  • U.S. Nuclear Strategy (with Freedman and Treverton) (St. Martin’s, 1989)
  • Constitutional Interpretation (Blackwell, 1991)
  • The Shield of Achilles: War, Peace and the Course of History(Knopf, 2002),
  • Terror and Consent (Knopf, 2008)
  • The Garments of Court and Palace: Machiavelli and the World That He Made (Atlantic Monthly Press, 2013).

In The Garments of Court and Palace: Machiavelli and the World That He Made, Bobbitt explores this often misunderstood work in the context of the time. He describes The Prince as one half of a masterpiece that, along with Machiavelli’s often neglected Discourses prophesies the end of the feudal era and describes the birth of the neoclassical Renaissance State. Using both Renaissance examples and cases drawn from our current era, Bobbitt situates Machiavelli’s work as a turning point in our understanding of the relation between war and law as these create and maintain the State. This is a fascinating history and commentary by the man Henry Kissinger called “the outstanding political philosopher of our time.

Admission: 
Free
Open to: 
General Public