Justifying War: Propaganda, Politics and War in the Modern Age

Dates: 8-10 July 2008
Location: University of Kent, Canterbury
Website: http://www.justifyingwar.com/

In the modern age, propaganda has become synonymous with warfare, the battle for hearts and minds occupying a central position within military and civilian planning. This conference intends to promote a broader, comparative approach to the themes of justifying war and the ‘just war’, drawing on social, political, military, cultural and economic studies from the Napoleonic Wars of the 19th Century through to the current war in Iraq.   While the conference is mainly historical in focus, there is naturally a contemporary resonance between the experience of past efforts to justify war and more recent activities, notably in the Middle East and Eastern Europe.