Call for Editor: Peace Review Issue on the Psychology of War

We seek an editor to work with a co-editor to assist in the development of a special issue of Peace Review on “The Psychological Interpretation of War.” The key elements of the position include soliciting and receiving contributions, working with authors to refine their contributions, and editing. Please send a letter outlining the reasons for seeking the position, describing how your experience, expertise, skills and interests make you an appropriate candidate. Include a current CV and respond via e-mail to:

PeaceReviewEditor@earthlink.net

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Special Issue of the Peace Review: The Psychological Interpretation of War

The belief that political disagreements can be nonviolently resolved often presumes that disputes leading to armed conflicts emanate from issues in the real world. If, however, political quarrels actually derive from inner, psychological conflicts, what would constitute a viable strategy for pursuing the objective of peace? This special issue of Peace Review will explore the anxieties and desires that fuel our attraction to and compel us to embrace the idea of war.

War often is conceived as an immutable element of society, even as “human nature.” We propose that the existence and persistence of warfare as an ideology and institution is a problem to be interrogated rather than something to be assumed or taken for granted. Why has war been a recurring feature of human social life and history? Why do people express a passion for war in spite of the misery it inevitably creates and disillusionment that follows in its wake?

Viewing war as a socially constructed institution or human creation does not diminish our recognition of the profound impact that war has exerted throughout history. This issue of Peace Review seeks papers examining how our internal, mental world impacts upon and interacts with our cultural world to generate wars and warfare. What are the sources and meanings of our attachment to an ideology whose primary product is suffering and death?

Writer’s deadline for this special issue: October 2005.

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The Peace Review

Peace Review is a quarterly, multidisciplinary, transnational journal of research and analysis, focusing on the current issues and controversies that underlie the promotion of a more peaceful world. Social progress requires, among other things, sustained intellectual work, which should be pragmatic as well as analytical. The task of the journal is to present the results of this research and thinking in short, accessible and substantive essays. Recent contributors include Richard Rorty, Stephen Zunes and Drucilla Cornell.

Peace Review Home Page:
http://www.usfca.edu/peacereview/index.htm

Submission Guidelines for the Peace Review:
http://www.usfca.edu/peacereview/guidelines.htm

For further information call Orion Anderson at 718-393-1104.