The United States is once again at war in the Middle East. At this moment, it is uncertain if it will be a relatively short and decisive conflict like the First Gulf War, or a painful and drawn-out quagmire like the Second. Professor Eric Fleury of Connecticut College will discuss the origins of the conflict, evaluate the strategies of the various players, and address its likely consequences for both the short and the long term.
Who: Eric Fleury, Professor of Government and International Relations, Connecticut College
When: Wednesday March 25, 2026 | Reception: 5:30pm | Presentation: 6:00pm
Where: First Congregational Church of Old Lyme
About the Speaker:
Eric Fleury’s work lies at the intersection of international relations and political theory. He examines how contemporary topics build upon foundational concepts of diplomacy and warfare, with a particular interest in how leaders both shape and are shaped by public opinion in times of crisis. His first book, On Absolute War: Terrorism and the Logic of Armed Conflict, examines how terrorism both affirms and modifies the classic maxim of Carl von Clausewitz, “war is merely the continuation of policy by other means.” Prof. Fleury’s current book project focuses on the breakdown of the so-called ‘liberal international order’ as the guiding concept of U.S. foreign policy. Drawing on Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America, he shows how the very effort to understand foreign policy as the expression of a singular ideology is in fact the byproduct of a tug-of-war between public opinion and the bureaucracy, and that the current crisis is best understood as the failure to achieve a consensus within either body.