This page is no longer being updated and remains online for informational and historical purposes only. The information is accurate as of the last page update.
For questions about page contents, contact the Communications Division.
William Safran will speak March 25 as part of 250th celebration
William Safran, professor emeritus of political science at University of Colorado at Boulder, will deliver a public lecture entitled “The Changing Relationships between France & the United States,” 7:30 p.m., Tuesday, March 25, 2008 in Kirby Hall of Civil Rights, Room 104.
Free and open to the public, this lecture is part of the College’s yearlong celebration of the 250th anniversary of the birth of the Marquis de Lafayette.
A web site dedicated to the celebration and to the Marquis’ unique connection to the College provides information and updates.
Ilan Peleg, Charles A. Dana Professor of Social Science, who is organizing the event, is enthusiastic about Safran’s visit. He says, “Students, faculty members, and people from the community might want to attend this lecture and listen to Professor Safran’s analysis of the relationship between the United States and France, the complexity of which was revealed in the debate over the Iraq War.”
Safran spent 38 years teaching at University of Colorado at Boulder and has also taught in several French, Spanish, and Israeli universities. He is, according to Peleg, “one of the most prominent experts on French politics, as well as on ethnic conflict.” Safran serves as the editor-in-chief of the leading journal in the field of comparative politics, Nationalism and Ethnic Politics.
His books include Politics in Europe, now in its fourth edition; The French Polity, now in its sixth edition; Ideology & Politics: the Socialist Party of France; and Veto-Group Politics. He has also edited six volumes, including Language, Ethnic Identity and the State, and has written more than 60 scholarly articles in an array of different languages.
Safran has given lectures at Aix-en-Provence, Bordeaux, Grenoble, Nantes, Nice, Paris, Toulouse, and a multitude of other French and European universities.