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Apologies cross-postings, best wishes, Terrell The Legacy of Leo Strauss A Conference to be held at the University of Nottingham, UK 27-28 March, 2006 Plenary speaker: Professor Anne Norton (University of Pennsylvania) author of Leo Strauss and the Politics of American Empire (Yale University Press, 2004). Leo Strauss, who died in 1973, was born in Germany in 1899. He emigrated to the United States in 1937 and taught at the new School for Social Research in New York between 1938 and 1949 and the University of Chicago from 1949 to 1967. Strauss was the author of fifteen books, including The Political Philosophy of Hobbes (1936), Natural Right and History (1953), Thoughts on Machiavelli (1958), What is Political Philosophy?(1959), The City and Man (1964) and had a considerable influence on students of the history of political thought and its methodology. The conference will appeal to anyone working in these areas. As well as appealing to students of politics whose concerns are entirely theoretical, Strauss is also of interest to students of contemporary American politics and international relations, largely because of the influence he has had on the American ‘neo-conservative’ right and on US foreign policy under the current Bush administration. One of the aims of the conference will be to attempt to bridge the divide between ‘theory’ and ‘practice’ by attempting to draw out the practical, policy implications of Strauss’s ideas, as interpreted by his followers today. Additionally, this aspect of the conference should appeal to students of politics who have an interest in ‘think tanks’ and/or the role of intellectuals in politics generally, especially émigré intellectuals in 20th century US politics. The conference is an international one. One of its purposes is to bring together researchers from a variety of different countries and at different stages of their academic careers who are currently working on Strauss and who would like to share their ideas with others researchers working in the same or similar areas. It is hoped that the conference will provide an opportunity for postgraduate students working on Strauss from different countries to discuss their ideas with postgraduate students form other countries and with established academics who are already working in this field. The conference will last for two days and will be structured around the following themes: (1) Strauss’s contribution to methodological debates in the history of ideas, especially the history of political thought; (2)Strauss and the history of political philosophy (his critique of modernity; his conservatism; his defence of the idea of natural law or right; (3) Strauss’s influence on 20th C. political philosophy (his relation to a number of major 20th C. thinkers); (4) Strauss’s influence on contemporary US politics (his relationship to neo-conservatism);(5)Strauss’s influence on US foreign policy; (6) Strauss’s relevance for those interested in the politics of émigré intellectuals in general; or, more specifically, émigré thinkers in 20th C. US political and intellectual life; (7) The religious dimension of Strauss’s political thought The academic convenors of the conference are: Dr Tony Burns (School of Politics and International Relations, University of Nottingham), e-mail [log in to unmask] Professor Richard King (School of American and Canadian Studies, University of Nottingham), e-mail [log in to unmask] Further details and conference registration forms may be collected from and should be returned to: Mrs Sheila Jones Secretary Humanities Research Centre C112 Law & Social Sciences Building University of Nottingham University Park Nottingham NG7 2RD Tel: +44 (0)115 9514838 Fax: +44 (0)115 9514818 Web site: http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/hrc/ The conference programme and a registration/booking form may also be found on the web-sites of the United Kingdom Political Studies Association; the School of Politics and International Relations, University of Nottingham, UK; and the School of American and Canadian Studies, University of Nottingham, UK. Professor Terrell Carver Department of Politics University of Bristol 10 Priory Road Bristol BS8 1TU United Kingdom +44 (0)117 928 8826 www.bristol.ac.uk/politics