Dickinson discusses 'Outsourcing War and Peace' in Washington, D.C.

<p>Professor <a href="http://apps.law.asu.edu/Apps/Faculty/Faculty.aspx?individual_id=57267">… Dickinson</a>, Faculty Director of the College of Law’s Center for Law and Global Affairs, recently discussed her new book, <em>Outsourcing War and Peace: Preserving Public Values in a World of Privatized Foreign Affairs</em>, at the Center for American Progress in Washington, D.C. The book examines the increasing privatization of military, security, and foreign aid functions of government, considers the impact of this trend on core public values, and outlines mechanism for protecting these values in an era of privatization.</p><separator></separator><p>See the Center for American Progress page on Dickinson’s appearance <a href="http://www.americanprogress.org/events/2011/02/outsourcing.html">here</… Feb. 22 event included a panel discussion with Lawrence Korb, Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress, and Melina Milazzo, Pennoyer Fellow with Human Rights First. It was moderated by Pratap Chatterjee, Visiting Fellow at the Center for American Progress.</p><separator></separator><p>“Over the past decade, states and international organizations have shifted a surprising range of foreign policy functions to private contractors,” the Center stated in publicity materials. “But who is accountable when the employees of foreign private firms do violence or create harm? <em>Outsourcing War and Peace: Preserving Public Values in a World of Privatized Foreign Affairs</em> … explores the threat that services that are now delivered by private contractors pose to core public values of human rights, democratic accountability, and transparency. (Dickinson) offers a series of concrete reforms that are necessary to expand traditional legal accountability, construct better mechanisms of public participation, and alter the organizational structure and institutional culture of contractor firms.”</p><separator></separator><p>Dickinson’s work focuses on human rights, national security, foreign affairs privatization, and qualitative empirical approaches to international law. She is a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a member of the Executive Council of the American Society of International Law, and co-organizer of a Collaborative Research Network on Empirical Approaches to International Human Rights Law, convened under the auspices of the Law &amp; Society Association.</p><separator></separator><p>Judy Nichols, <a href="mailto:Judith.Nichols@asu.edu">Judith.Nichols@asu.edu</a><br />(480) 727-7895<br />Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law</p>