Post Date: April 29, 2004
On April 21, a panel of legal scholars, including Harvard Law School Dean Elena Kagan and Professors Bill Alford, Ryan Goodman and Duncan Kennedy, explored issues raised in Professor David Kennedy’s new book, The Dark Sides of Virtue: Reassessing International Humanitarianism. A webcast of the discussion is now available on the HLS Webcast page.
Kennedy’s book explores some of the negative consequences of good intentions. Specifically, problems that can emerge when humanitarian yearnings are put into action on a global scale. Previous Dean’s Forums have focused on the upcoming Supreme Court term, the Goodridge decision on same-sex marriage, and gender in the classroom.
A member of the Harvard Law School faculty since 1981, Kennedy is an international law expert and currently serves as director of the school’s European Law Research Center.