2011

Thursday, November 17
4:00 p.m., McGuinn Auditorium (121)

Plato’s Philosophers
Catherine Zuckert

Program for the Study of the Western Heritage Lecture Series

Catherine Zuckert is the Nancy Reeves Dreux Professor of Political Science at the University of Notre Dame, where she teaches political philosophy. She is the author of Plato's Philosophers: The Coherence of Dialogues (University of Chicago Press, May 2009, Postmodern Platos: Nietzsche, Heidegger, Gadamer, Strauss, Derrida (University of Chicago Press, 1996) and Natural Right and the American Imagination: Political Philosophy in Novel Form (Rowman & Littlefield, 1990). She is also co-author (with Michael Zuckert) of The Truth about Leo Strauss: Political Philosophy and American Democracy (University of Chicago Press, 2006), and Editor of the REVIEW OF POLITICS.

Thursday, November 15
4:30 p.m., Gasson Hall 100

"To no one deny or delay right or justice" - Magna Carta 1215, Imperfect constitutions, imperfect courts and the ideal of justice
Hon. Margaret H. Marshall

Co-sponsored by the Clough Center for the Study of Constitutional Democracy, the McMullen Museum, the BC Legal History Roundtable, and the Departments of History and Political Science

The Honorable Margaret Marshall is the former Chief Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, and the first woman to serve in that position. Born in South Africa, Marshall spent her college years as a student leader in that nation’s anti-apartheid movement. She moved to Boston in 1964, attended undergraduate and graduate school at Harvard University, and received her law degree from Yale University. From 1976 to 1992, Marshall practiced law in private practice in Boston. She served as the president of the Boston Bar Association from 1991-1992, and as General Counsel to Harvard University from 1992-1996. In 1996, Governor William F. Weld appointed Marshall to the Supreme Judicial Court as an Associate Justice. In 1999, she became Chief Justice, serving in that position until her retirement in 2010. Marshall is currently a member of the Yale Corporation, the governing board of Yale University.

Tuesday, November 1
4:30 p.m., Gasson Hall 100

Giving an Account of the West: Political History and Political Philosophy
Pierre Manent

Pierre Manent teaches political philosophy at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales in Paris, and has been a visiting lecturer at Boston College. A co-founder of the journal Commentaire, his works in English translation include Democracy Without Nations: The Fate of Self-Government in Europe; Modern Liberty and its Discontents; and Tocqueville and the Nature of Democracy.

Thursday, October 27
4:30 p.m., Gasson Hall 100

The Tragedy of William Jennings Bryan: Constitutional Law and the Politics of Backlash
Gerard Magliocca

Book Lecture, co-sponsored by the Political Science Department and The Clough Center for the Study of Constitutional Democracy

Featuring Gerard N. Magliocca, Professor of Law, Indiana University School of Law—Indianapolis; Michael Kazin, Professor of History, Georgetown University; Ken Kersch, Associate Professor of Political Science and Director of the Clough Center for Constitutional Democracy, Boston College; M. Elizabeth Sanders, Professor of Government, Cornell University.

Tuesday, October 11
4:45 p.m., Gasson Hall 305

Machiavelli and Shakespeare’s Rome
Paul Cantor

Program for the Study of the Western Heritage Lecture Series

Paul Cantor is the Clifton Waller Barrett Professor of English at the University of Virginia. His books include Shakespeare’s Rome, Shakespeare:Hamlet, and Gilligan Unbound: Pop Culture in the Age of Globalization.

Tuesday, October 4
5:15 p.m., Higgins 310

Is Tribalism Still Relevant in the United Arab Emirates?
Andrea Rugh

Islamic Civilization and Societies Lecture, co-sponsored by the Political Science Department and the Boston Forum on the Middle East.

Andrea Rugh is currently Adjunct Scholar at the Middle East Institute of Washington, D.C. She is the author of several major works on the culture and politics of the Middle East and the Arab world including Family in Contemporary Egypt, The Political Culture of Leadership in the United Arab Emirates, and Simple Gestures: A Cultural Journey Into the Middle East.

May 4
4:00 p.m., McGuinn 121

The Political Science Department sponsored the lecture “Obama and Asia: the Unexpected” by Victor Cha, who served as U.S. deputy head of delegation to the Six-Party Talks. Cha, director of Asian Studies at Georgetown, is the Korea Chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

April 1
4:00 p.m., McGuinn Auditorium 121

Msgr. Robert Sokolowski, Elizabeth Breckenridge Caldwell Professor of Philosophy, The Catholic University of America, will deliver the Ernest Fortin Memorial Lecture, "Words, Pictures and the Truth of Things."

Immediately following the lecture, there will be a dinner discussion in McElroy Faculty Dining Room.Emeritus Professor of Philosophy Richard Cobb-Stevens will be the discussant.

RSVP to carol.fialkosky@bc.edu for the dinner by Monday, March 28, 2011.

Sponsored by the Ernest Fortin Memorial Foundation through the Department of Political Science and the Institute of Medieval Philosophy and Theology.
More information contact shirley.gee@bc.edu.

March 23
5:00 p.m., Murray Family Function Room, Yawkey Athletic Center
Reception to follow at 6:00 p.m.

Behrakis Professor Robert C. Bartlett will give a public lecture to celebrate the establishment of the Behrakis Professorship in Hellenic Political Studies. The title of his talk is "Aristotle on Chance."

Monday, March 21
4:45 p.m., Devlin Auditorium 008

Mark Blyth, Professor International Political Economy, Brown University, will present "The Global Financial Crisis: Long Run Causes and Long Term Issues." 

March 2
4:30 p.m., Murray Room 426, Yawkey Athletic Center, Boston College

The Clough Center for the Study of Constitutional Democracy presents a roundtable discussion: “Is Partisanship a Bad Thing?” with Nancy Rosenblum, Russell Muirhead, and R. Shep Melnick. Nancy Rosenblum is the Senator Joseph Clark Professor of Ethics in Politics and Government, and Chair of the Department of Government at Harvard University. Russell Muirhead is the Robert Clements Associate Professor of Democracy and Politics, Dartmouth College. R. Shep Melnick is the Thomas P. O’Neill, Jr. Professor of American Politics at Boston College.

February 16
4:00 - 6:00 p.m., McGuinn 121

The Political Science Department announces the First Foreign Policy Lecture Series, featuring Daniel Byman, “A Progress Report in the War on Terrorism.” Daniel Byman is Professor in the Security Studies Program at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, and a Senior Fellow at the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution. He has served as a Professional Staff Member with both the 9-11 Commission and the Joint 9-11 Inquiry Staff of the House and Senate Intelligence Committees. His writings include The Five-Front War: A Better Way to Fight Global Jihad and A High Price: The Triumphs and Failures of Israeli Counterterrorism.