NEWSLETTER - OCTOBER 2008
Dear Colleagues,
This is a long overdue newsletter for our Network. The delay in issuing this newsletter is due to a number of factors. The Steering Committee wanted to complete the revamp of the Website of the Network. We also wanted to both complete the transition of the role of Coordinator from Ashok Swain to Ramses Amer and to recruit a new Research Assistant – Florian Krampe.
The Steering Committee has also been involved in writing a self-evaluation as part of a Sida Process of evaluating the Network. In addition we have completed a proposal to Sida for continued support for the period 2009-2011. We have also been discussing the timing of the next Network Conference originally planned for late October 2007 and in order to avoid a congestion of peace and conflict related conference in Sweden we have postponed into early 2009. An announcement will be made once the dates and venue have been decided upon.
In this Newsletter – which is under new format and design – we highlight the new Website. We issue a call for contribution to our Working Paper Series. We highlight the forthcoming book published by Anthem. We highlight two Network related events in Gothenburg.
The steering Committee
The newsletter as pdf!
NEW BOOK RELEASE
The Democratization Project: Challenges and Opportunities
Resulting out of last years conference the Swedish Network of Peace, Conflict and Development Research will publish the book 'The Democratization Project: Challenges and Opportunities' by Anthem Press (London) in 2009.
Democratization is a field where unexpected and sudden events have repeatedly challenged conventional wisdom. Fore example, who in the mid-1970s would have foreseen the democratization of Cambodia, Albania, South Africa or East Timor? Our current 'wave' of democratization is complex and diverse and understanding it requires a variety of theoretical approaches. (...)
OPEN CALL FOR PAPERS - WORKING PAPER SERIES
Together with the international advisory board, the Network steering committee has chosen to introduce a working paper series, Working Papers in Peace, Conflict and Development Research, which will publish selected papers presented at Network events. The working paper series is available freely from the website and will be advertised through the Peace Network Newsletter, the website and at Network events. If you have presented a paper at one of the Conferences organised by the Network or at other Conferences and Workshops on topics that are of relevance to the Network, and would like your paper to be considered for publication as a working paper, please contact Editor Ramses Amer.
NEW BOOK: GLOBALIZATION AND CHALLENGES TO BUILDING PEACE
This new edited volume, edited by the steering committee of the Network, was published in October 2007. The book is based upon a selection of the papers presented at Globalization and Peacebuilding, the 2006 annual conference of the Network.
Description: The world has gone through a major transformation in the last two decades. The end of the Cold War in Europe has led to massive increase in the private capital flow and, also, has brought an information and telecommunication revolution. In this new interdependent and interconnected world, international trade and investment has overtaken the importance of national economies. Globalization has created new opportunities as well as many risks and challenges. Globalization generates new wealth and encourages technological innovations, but at the same time it has failed to support and promote sustainable human development and thus can be accused of generating anguish and deprivation. This has already resulted in growing civil unrests and in some cases contributed to armed conflicts in the developing world. However, peace and conflict research has till now somehow overlooked the influence of increasing globalization on the formation and management of such emerging conflicts.
The study of globalization also tends to overlook a proven fact that the management of conflicts in the South has been invariably influenced by the global powers and their strategic politics. This impresisve edited volume makes an attempt to assess: what concrete measures exist and are likely to be effective in addressing the causes of conflict and building peace in an increasingly interdependent world? (...)