Ethics and War Series: "Who Should Fight? The Ethics of the Draft" (panel discussion)

This panel discussion focuses on the draft versus the volunteer army in the U.S. Our distinguished panelists examine "who should fight" in a democracy, focusing on the ethical dimension of a state's system of military service. 

Panelists are:

David Kennedy (History, Emeritus, Stanford). Kennedy's scholarly focus is on the integration of economic and cultural analysis with social and political history. Among his numerous publications are Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929-1945, which won the Pulitzer Prize; Over Here: The First World War and American Society, which uses the history of American involvement in World War I to analyze the American political system, economy, and culture in the early twentieth century; and Freedom From Fear: The American People in Depression and War, which recounts the history of the United States in the two great crises of the Great Depression and World War II.

Eliot Cohen (Strategic Studies, Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies). Cohen's work focuses on diplomacy, international relations, irregular warfare, military history, military power and strategy, as well as strategic and security issues. He has served as Counselor of the U.S. Department of State, a member of the Policy Planning Staff of the Secretary of Defense, and a member of the Defense Policy Board. He also directed the U.S. Air Force's Gulf War Air Power Survey.

Jean Bethke Elshtain (Social and Political Ethics, Divinity School, The University of Chicago). Regularly named as one of America's foremost public intellectuals, Elshtain writes frequently for journals of civic opinion and lectures widely in the United States and abroad on themes of democracy, ethical dilemmas, religion and politics, and international relations. Elshtain has authored many books including Women and War; Democracy on Trial (a New York Times' notable book for 1995); and Just War Against Terror: The Burden of American Power in a Violent World (named one of the best nonfiction books of 2003 by Publishers Weekly.

The Ethics and War series is sponsored by:

The McCoy Family Center for Ethics in SocietyThe Stanford Humanities Center The Center for International Security and Cooperation [CISAC] The Stanford Creative Writing ProgramThe Program on Human Rights Stanford Summer TheaterThe Program on Global JusticeStanford Continuing StudiesTaube Center for Jewish Studies Stanford Institute for Creativity and the Arts (SiCa)The John S. Knight Fellowship Program