Tuesday 16th - Thursday 18th July 2002
Mansfield College, Oxford
Call for Papers
This inter-disciplinary and multi-disciplinary conference marks the launch
of a new project to provide a challenging forum for the examination and
evaluation of the nature, purpose and experience of war, and its impacts
on all aspects of communities across the world. Viewing war as a multi-layered
phenomenon, the conference series will seek to explore the historical,
legal, social, religious, economic, and political contexts of conflicts,
and assess the place of art, journalism, literature, music, the media
and the internet in representation and interpretation of the experience
of warfare.
In particular papers, workshops, reports, and presentations are invited on any of the following themes;
- the sources, origins, and causes of war; why and how do wars begin?
- the ‘control' of warfare; how is and should warfare be conducted? What are the limits of conflict? Are there any prohibitions in fighting a war? Security issues; protection issues; borders and boundaries
- the nature of warfare; strategy and strategic thought; changes and the implications of changes in the ways wars are fought; the influence and effect of technologies; changes in the nature and role of military personnel; information and information warfare
- types of warfare - land, sea, air, space, chemical, biological; guerrilla warfare; ‘total' warfare'; genocide, ethnic cleansing; terrorism; preemptive war; scorched earth; war crimes; crimes against humanity
- the extent of war; blockades, sanctions, defence expenditure and the impact on social and public policy
- the ‘ethics' of war; just war; deterrence; defence and self-defence; the influence of nationalism; the place of human rights; societies and the military; increases in moral sensibilities - qualms about carpet bombing, collateral damage; the important role of religion, the church, and the intellectual elite in multi-ethnic conflict
- the experience of war; art, literature, music, poetry, and the theatre; the role of the media - journalism, radio, television, the internet; propaganda; representing the realities of war versus ‘national interest' - images of the heroism, glory, tacit and explicit justifications of war
- the prevention of war; the role of conflict resolution; avoiding war; peace-keeping; the role and importance of law and international legal order; the rise and impact of non-violent movements
Papers will be considered on related themes. 300 word abstracts should be submitted by Friday 5th April 2002. Full draft papers should be submitted by Tuesday 18th June 2002.
The conference is sponsored by Inter-Disciplinary.Net and Learning Solutions as part of the ‘Probing the Boundaries' programme, and aims to create working ‘encounter' groups between people of differing perspectives, disciplines, professions, and contexts.
The project is to be supported by an e-mail discussion group, ISSN e-journal, and dedicated ISBN publication series.
Selected papers accepted for and presented at the conference will be published in a themed volume.
For further details click here; and information, please contact Dr Rob Fisher