Promoting Justice Across Borders: The Ethics of Reform Intervention

The Institute for International Economic Policy and the GW Elliott School of International Affairs Book Launch Series were pleased to invite you to a book launch discussion of Assistant Professor Lucia Rafanelli‘s Promoting Justice Across Borders: The Ethics of Reform Intervention. Elliott School Dean Alyssa Ayres moderated the event.

Global political actors, from states and NGOs to activist groups and individuals, exert influence in societies beyond their own in myriad ways-including via public criticism, consumer boycotts, divestment campaigns, sanctions, and forceful intervention. Often, they do so in the name of justice-promotion. While attempts to promote justice in other societies can do good, they are also often subject to moral criticism and raise several serious moral questions. For example, are there ways to promote one’s own ideas about justice in another society while still treating its members tolerantly? Are there ways to do so without disrespecting their legitimate political institutions or undermining their collective self-determination? Promoting Justice Across Borders: The Ethics of Reform Intervention aims to tackle these questions.

The book launch began with a lecture by the author followed by a moderated Q&A with the audience. Questions were accepted from both in-person and online audiences.  All in-person guests were required to stay masked per GW campus policy. We reserved the right to refuse entry to guests without masks. Detailed guidelines for virtual and in-person attendance were included in the registration confirmation.

About the Speaker:

Lucia Rafanelli is an Assistant Professor of Political Science and International Affairs at the Elliott School. Her work focuses on contemporary political theory, global justice, and theories of human rights. Her other research interests include collective agency and collective personhood, philosophy of law, as well as ethics and artificial intelligence. She is a former affiliate of the Princeton Dialogues on AI and Ethics program and a current affiliate of the Institute for International Economic Policy and the Humanitarian Action Initiative at GW. She holds a Ph.D. in Politics, with a specialization in political theory, from Princeton University

About the Moderator:

Alyssa Ayres is Dean of the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University. Dean Ayres is a foreign policy practitioner and award-winning author with senior experience in the government, nonprofit, and private sectors. She was Senior Fellow for India, Pakistan, and South Asia at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), where she remains an adjunct senior fellow. From 2010 to 2013 Ayres served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia in the Barack Obama administration, where she covered all issues across a dynamic region of 1.3 billion people at the time (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, and Sri Lanka) and provided policy direction for four U.S. embassies and four consulates. Her work focuses primarily on India’s role in the world and on U.S. relations with South Asia in the larger Indo-Pacific. Her last book is, Our Time Has Come: How India is Making Its Place in the World (OUP, 2018). She holds a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago.