On March 5 and 6, 2012, International Relations and Political Science faculty took part in an international conference on human security at BU. The event, entitled “Liberty and Security in a Time of Global Re-ordering,” was organized by the Center for the Study of Europe at BU, in cooperation with the Center for the Study of Asia and the Center for International Relations, with funding from GR:EEN: a European Commission Seventh Framework program examining the current and future role of the European Union in an emerging multi-polar world. BU is one of 16 universities around the world participating in the program.
The focus of the conference was on human rights and security issues and the ways in which rights are seen as a legitimate part of the security discourse. Panel discussions included “Power Relations and Global Challenges in a Time of the BRICS,” “The Rise of the BRICS: Emerging Issues, Europe, the US, and the Middle East, Religion, Radicalisation,” and “Counter-Terrorism, and Cultural Discourses of Human Security.” Keynote speeches were given by Shaun Breslin, Professor of Politics and International Studies at the University of Warwick (where GR:EEN is headquartered), and BU Professor of International Relations Andrew Bacevich.