This week, we shifted from behind battle lines (with our 2/12 Wednesday Seminar), to the weapons and technologies great powers use in war. Students, faculty and staff gathered at noon to listen to Jennifer Erickson (Associate Professor of Political Science and International Studies at Boston College) discuss “New Technologies and Norms of War: Submarines and Poison Gas in World War I.” Erickson discussed how the strategic choices states made during World War I regarding the use of chemical weapons and submarines shaped future restraints on the use of those weapons. Also discussed was the common thread between perceived immoral warfare weapons of the past (e.g.: submarines and chemical warfare) and modern day (e.g.: drones). A great Q&A with the audience followed.

The next Wednesday Seminar (to be held on 3/4), features Brendan Green, the Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Cincinnati. Green will present: “The Revolution That Failed: Nuclear Competition, Arms Control, and the Cold War,” based off his book of the same title, from Cambridge University Press. 

For more details on our upcoming seminars, please visit our Wednesday Seminars page.