July 19, 2005  The Watson Institute's Global Security Program held a two-day workshop in early June to challenge and expand the security discourse by adding new voices, ideas, and imperatives. Organized by program director, James Der Derian, "Beyond Terror: A New Security Agenda" brought together a group of international experts to consider a new global security agenda that better addresses critical issues overshadowed by the "war on terror." Among the issues that the participants assessed were the dangers of organized warfare and transnational terrorism against the threats and vulnerabilities created by failed states, resource conflicts, transnational crime, environmental degradation, pandemics, weapons proliferation, information warfare, and genocide.

Eugene Jarecki, an award-winning documentary filmmaker, gave the keynote address at the workshop and screened his most recent film, Why We Fight, which won the 2005 Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival. The documentary takes its name from a series of propaganda films that Hollywood director Frank Capra began making in 1942 to embolden the American war effort against Nazism. Jarecki uses the film and President Eishenhower's farewell address to critique the contemporary use and justification of military force by the U.S.

During the workshop, Eugene Jarecki was interviewed by John Phillip Santos, writer and documentary producer. Click on the links below to hear Eugene talk about: (Clips are viewable in Internet Explorer)

The importance of dialogue
The cost of empire
The role of American media
Why Americans fight

Transcripts:
To read the full interview with Eugene Jarecki, click on the links below.
Part 1

The bulk of the conference was divided into the following broad themes and questions:

Click on the participants' names below to view excerpts from their presentations. Clips are viewable in Internet Explorer.

Opening Remarks
Thomas J. Biersteker

Rethinking Global Security: Forces, Flows, and Vulnerabilities (What are the current challenges to traditional conceptualizations of global security?)
James Der Derian [View Full Transcript]
Dan Deudney
Michael Klare
Stephen Del Rosso

Human Security: Past Debates, Current Prospects, Future Face (10 years after the conception of "human security," what is the state of this contested subject?)
Andrew Mack
Taylor Owen
Annick Wibben

National Security: "A New York State of Mind"? (Everything changed after 9/11—or did it? What are the implications of 9/11 for U.S. national security?)
John Tirman
Steve Walt
Hugh Gusterson

International Security: On the Use and Abuse of Force (How are the nature and norms of warfare evolving?)
Matthew Evangelista
Deborah Avant
Peter Dombrowski

Transnational Security: Expansion, Erosion, or Transformation of State Power? (In light of the increasing securitization of global issues, is there still a meaningful distinction to be made between internal and external security concerns?)
Rey Koslowski
Nikos Passas
Sue Eckert

Network Security: The Benefits and Risks of Interconnectivity (Since 9/11, different actors have produced profound global effects through interconnectivity, but is interconnectivity just another word for vulnerability?)
John Phillip Santos
Michael Dillon
Eva Horn
Eugene Thacker

Rethinking Global Security after 9/11 (What kind of conceptual, normative, and institutional changes are needed to bring us closer to global security?)
James Der Derian
Abbott Gleason
Catherine Lutz
Simone Pulver