The Cold War, Human Rights, and Self-Determination

During the Cold War countless peoples and movements in both the decolonizing world and the advanced industrial states mobilized under the banner of self-determination and sought to institutionalize its status as a human right in international law. In this talk, focusing on the end of European empire in the 1970s, Professor Simpson explains why self-determination came to have such expansive and potentially disruptive meaning in the post-WWII era, serving as a short-hand for a wide range of claims to sovereignty.
Bradley Simpson received his Ph.D. in history from Northwestern University in 2003. He is assistant professor of history and international affairs at Princeton University and the author of ECONOMISTS WITH GUNS: AUTHORITARIAN DEVELOPMENT AND U.S.-INDONESIAN RELATIONS, which was published by Stanford University Press in 2008. Professor Simpson is currently working on two book projects, an international history of the idea self-determination, and a study of U.S.-Indonesian-international relations during the Suharto era (1966-1998).

The talk is sponsored by the Center for Cold War Studies and International History (CCWS) and cosponsored by the Interdisciplinary Humanities Center and by the Orfalea Center for Global and International Studies.

The event is free and open to the public. A brief reception, with refreshments, will follow Prof. Simpson’s presentation. Please join us for this exciting event!

hm 2/17/12