STUDENT NEWS

Andrew Blom

LAS Doctoral Student Earns Prestigious Newcombe Fellowship

Is a nation required to resort to war just because it owns the right to do so? Or, for humanitarian purposes, can a nation choose not to wage war? In examining, in part, this question, LAS philosophy doctoral student Andrew Blom has reaped more than philosophical debate.

Blom is among an elite group of scholars nationwide to be named a winner of the prestigious Charlotte W. Newcombe Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship for the 2008-09 academic year. The fellowship, which was granted to 29 doctoral candidates representing 10 fields of study, features a 12-month award of $23,000 to complete a writing dissertation that addresses ethical and religious questions in the humanities and social sciences.

“I feel very honored to have the highlight that a national fellowship brings to my work, to the quality of our philosophy department and to UIC,” Blom said. “Fellowships that provide support for a full year of research are not very common in the humanities. They are especially prized in our field because they not only support the recipient's work but also open up an assistantship to support the work of others.”

Blom's dissertation examines the thought of Hugo Grotius, a philosopher and founding theorist of international law and justice.

While Grotius’s contributions about diplomacy and war are well known, little scholarly attention is paid to the norms beyond justice in the case of war. A recurring argument in Grotius’s major work, The Rights of War and Peace, is that owning a right to resort to war does not require it to be exercised.

In his dissertation, “Justice with Humanity: Hugo Grotius and the Ethical Basis of International Affairs,” Blom argues Grotius's humanitarian ethic is based on a secular perspective that can be applied to individuals and governments equally.

“When we respond to conflicts in ways that escalate fear and resentment, however misplaced these responses may seem… we play a role in creating a great danger to people's lives and human rights,” he said. “I think that it is important for us to approach conflicts in ways that enable us to make a firm stand for what we believe to be our rights while retaining a willingness to adjust the ends we seek. Grotius proposed that we can find the motivation for taking such a stance in our concern for the humanity of ordinary citizens on both sides of the conflict.”

Grotius’ theory applies today, particularly in the case of how a nation responds to threats to its own rights. Blom used, as an example, the current conflict between Thailand and Cambodia, in which both countries began mobilizing troops to the borders. Each country claims that a Hindu temple with historical significance is part of its own territory. Cambodia is recognized internationally as holding the right to the territory and the right to defend it if attacked. It also has every right to move troops into the area as a precaution.

“But these movements also hold a real danger of escalating the conflict into a violent one. In cases like this, taking full advantage of one's rights to make defensive threats is not clearly advisable from a humanitarian perspective,” Blom said. “The Cambodian government has so far handled the conflict with a good deal of restraint. The humanitarianism that we find in Grotius' approach to conflicts would encourage these kinds of gestures toward peace.”

According to Blom's adviser, he has thoroughly earned this highly competitive honor. “His dissertation is a beautiful and groundbreaking study of a figure to whom philosophers have paid insufficient attention, and it sheds a new light on just war theory,” said Sam Fleischacker, professor of philosophy and a leading moral and political philosopher. “I expect that the Newcombe is just the first sign of the national interest that will be paid to his work.”