Event Reports - DDMI Annual Lecture and Amb. Butler Guest Lecture

2014 DDMI Annual Lecture

** Professor Rosemary Hollis, City University London **

 

Professor Rosemary Hollis of City University London gave the 2014 DDMI Annual Lecture. A leading analyst of Middle East affairs, Hollis spoke to a packed house in the Main Hall of the International Politics Building on 27 February 2014. Her lecture was entitled ''Britain and the Palestine Question, 1914-2014.''

The evening began with greetings and opening remarks from Professor April McMahon, the Vice-Chancellor of Aberystwyth University. DDMI Director Jan Ruzicka, the event chair, then stood to introduce the speaker. He discussed the history of the DDMI and its Annual Lecture, and then gave the floor to Professor Hollis.

Hollis explained that her research on the Middle East is primarily from the perspective of external players. She has paid attention in particular to the United Kingdom and to European Union, and somewhat less to the United States.

The lecture focussed on British foreign policy and the search over the last 100 years for a just solution to the Palestine question. Presently there is devotion to a two-state solution idea (that is, a state for Jews and a state for Palestinians), and if this is not to be, to the creation of a bi-national state. We have come full circle, Hollis said, in the sense that this is what Britain wanted for Mandate Palestine which they controlled formally from 1922 to 1948. Indeed, a number of the concepts – e.g. the two-state solution – discussed 100 years ago are the very same ones considered today.

The current British view is that a two-state solution would be best. But this begs the question of whether what the British think still matters to the rest of the world. The British, after all, lack the capacity to deliver a solution to the Palestine question. Why then, Hollis asked, is it important to explore the past and present British views on this question?

Hollis argued that the British view is significant and worthy of study and reflection. This is because the policy preferences of big players like the British can influence the international community’s approach to problem-solving. There were two main threads to the lecture: what was conceived of as desirable by the British over the past 100 years, and what was left out of the story as inconceivable or certainly not desirable.

Hollis’ lecture adopted a nine phase chronology. For each of the phases, Hollis discussed where the British were coming from at the time, and what they thought the Palestinian situation should be. A key theme running through to the present is this: British foreign policy in the Middle East has always had Britain’s rather than local interests at its core.

After the conclusion of Professor Hollis’ 50 minute lecture, there was about 45 minutes of spirited questions and answers. Vice-Chancellor McMahon then hosted the 2014 DDMI Annual Lecturer for dinner at her official residence.

 

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Special Guest Lecture – Amb. Richard Butler

In the latest event of the DDMI’s scholar / practitioner speaker series, Ambassador Richard Butler delivered a lecture on the topic, 'Iraq Was Disarmed: the invaders didn't find any WMD because there weren't any to find.' Butler spoke to a crowd of more than 170 people in the Main Hall of the International Politics Building on 10 March 2014.

A diplomat/practitioner for 30 years, Butler began by setting out how the international system works in terms of the maintenance of international peace and security. Going back to the United Nations’ founding in 1945, he said we now have a recognized political authority (the UN Security Council), agreed law, and basic principles of interstate relations.

Butler then outlined three key recent problems undermining international order – the invasion of Iraq in 2003, the current crisis in Syria, and nuclear non-proliferation. He also discussed the first Gulf war of 1990-91 and events leading to his appointment as head of the UN Special Commission (UNSCOM) to disarm Iraq. Butler focused on his difficulty in dealing with the Iraqis – trying to get the proof that Iraq had no WMD.

He contrasted the broad international support for that war with the case of the second Iraq war in 2003. Butler said that as far as he was concerned Iraq had been disarmed. He did not think Iraq constituted a threat to international peace and security in 2003. But this was not acceptable to the United States, United Kingdom, and a few others. The world witnessed the spectacle of states breaking the law and invading another state on false pretences. That was not, Butler said, how the system for the maintenance of peace and security was supposed to work.

Butler turned to the terrible Syria crisis. He ran through several of the leading explanations for the violence in Syria and what it means for the region. He did not comment on the truth or accuracy of these explanations. He very firmly stated that the great powers on the UN Security Council were completely failing to do their jobs and maintain international peace and security.

The nuclear non-proliferation treaty was the final of Butler’s three major topics. He noted that he is not sure about Iran’s nuclear intensions, adding that no one is sure. He compared the present situation to the ‘certainties’ before the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Butler said that current negotiations suggest the world is moving away from confrontation with Iran.

Following the end of the talk, there was a vigorous questions and answer session.