Description:

The Buffett Institute for Global Affairs has launched a yearlong initiative focused on international diplomacy in turbulent times. The series will explore key moments in recent diplomacy through lunchtime lectures throughout the winter quarter on the landmark peace processes of the last few decades. Lunch will be provided beginning at 12:15 p.m.

Henri Lauzière, Associate Professor of History at Northwestern’s Weinberg College of Arts & Sciences, will give a lecture on the Oslo Accords:

In the mid-1990s, the world witnessed something that many of us never imagined would occur in our lifetime: Israelis and Palestinians had managed to come to an agreement to solve the so-called conflict that opposed them. The much-touted Oslo Accords, however, did not usher in an era of peace. This is not only because the Accords lacked mechanisms for assuring their implementation and because it was easy for radical opponents of the Accords to undermine the limited amount of trust that existed between the negotiating parties. It was also because both sides went into negotiations for different reasons and with quite different expectations. This talk will provide a historical overview of the context in which the Oslo solution emerged, so as to shed light on the diverse—and sometimes incompatible—logics that compelled the Israeli government and the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) to reach a diplomatic breakthrough in the first half of the 1990s.

Please note that 720 University Place is not an ADA-accessible space. Increasing physical access to buildings and facilities is a goal of the University, but not all buildings and venues have been updated.