In “Islands of Agreement: Managing Enduring Armed Rivalries” (Harvard University Press, 2007), Assistant Professor Gabriella Blum LL.M. ’01 S.J.D. ’03 reconsiders the conventional theory and practice of international conflict resolution. Even where violent conflict exists, she argues, it is often only one facet of an ongoing interstate relationship. And Blum believes that within the most entrenched and bitter struggles, adversaries can carve out limited areas that remain safe or even prosperous.
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In “Blasphemy: How the Religious Right Is Hijacking Our Declaration of Independence” (John Wiley & Sons, 2007), Professor Alan M. Dershowitz contends that fundamentalist Christian political activists are misusing the declaration to Christianize America. He accuses the Religious Right of twisting words and phrases in the declaration to suggest that the founding of the nation was based on Christian precepts. Dershowitz asserts that it is more than ironic that the document, written by Thomas Jefferson—who was a proponent of the separation of church and state—should be used in this way.
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In his book “Mechanisms of Democracy: Institutional Design Writ Small” (Oxford University Press, 2007),Professor Adrian Vermeule ’93 argues that in established constitutional polities, law can and should—and to some extent already does—provide mechanisms of democracy, which he defines as small-scale institutional devices and innovations that promote democratic values of impartial, accountable and deliberative government. For example, one such mechanism—submajority voting—improves accountability by allowing democratic minorities to force majorities to confront important public issues.