Research, ideas, and leadership for a more secure, peaceful world

Past Event
Seminar

A Grand Strategy: Edward Mead Earle and the Depression Era Origins of Security Studies

Open to the Public

Security studies, as an American field of inquiry, has particular historical origins. Contrary to standard views, it was the unraveling of the international order in the 1930s that compelled a collection of internationalist institutions and individuals led by historian Edward Mead Earle to bind together a variety of new and traditional disciplines to create an entirely new field focused on the problem of security.

Please join us! Coffee and tea provided. Everyone is welcome, but admittance will be on a first come–first served basis.

Date: Time: - Location: Littauer Building - Belfer Center Library, Room 369
U.S. Army Air Force Gen. Carl A. Spaatz (left) congratulated Edward Meade Earle on his receipt of the Presidential Medal for Merit in 1946.

About

Security studies, as an American field of inquiry, has particular historical origins. Contrary to standard views, it was the unraveling of the international order in the 1930s that compelled a collection of internationalist institutions and individuals led by historian Edward Mead Earle to bind together a variety of new and traditional disciplines to create an entirely new field focused on the problem of security. The goal was dual: confronting the crisis at hand by influencing public views, altering academic discussion, enhancing government capacity, and creating an American "Grand Strategy" while also establishing enduring institutional and intellectual foundations for an enduring scholarly project that would contended with future national security problems generated by the modern world. In this effort, Earle and his foundation, government, and university collaborators had significant impacts on the evolution of security studies as a field that are still felt today.

Please join us! Coffee and tea provided. Everyone is welcome, but admittance will be on a first come–first served basis.

 

Complete Photo Credit: From the Shelby White and Leon Levy Archives Center, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, N.J., USA