TABLE OF CONTENTS
AWARD TO DAVID SEGAL
TWO STUDENT PAPERS AWARDED
FACING NEW CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES
CALLS FOR PAPERS
RECENT PUBLICATIONS
ANNOUNCEMENT
 
 

INSERT PICTURE OF DAVID SEGAL AND MADY SEGAL

During the PWSC Business Meeting, out-going Chair Mady Segal presented the 2000 Award for Distinguished Contributions to Scholarship, Teaching, or Service to Professor David R. Segal, University of Maryland. What impressed the Award Committee most, and what is in the several letters of nomination for him, is Dr. Segal’s truly extensive contributions on all three areas of the award: scholarship, teaching, and service. Here are just a few of the many accolades from the letters of nomination:

Two student paper awards were made this year at the PWSC Business Meeting held at the Washington Hilton on August 12, 2000. The Elise Boulding Student Paper Award for the best undergraduate paper was given to Matthew Morgan, U.S. Military Academy, for his paper, "Warrior Scholars: The Need for Intellectual Ability in the Modern Officer Corps." The Elise Boulding Student Paper Award for the best graduate student paper was given to Natasha Chen Christensen (pictured), UCLA, for her paper, "Geeks at Play: Doing Masculinity on an On-line Gaming Site." Joe Elder, University of Wisconsin, served as chair of the Boulding Award Committee; other Committee members were: Morten Ender, Dana Eyre, Niranjan Karnik, and Lynn Woehrle.

INSERT PICTURE OF NATASHA CHEN CHRISTENSEN
 
 

The fields of peace studies and security studies are undergoing great changes, adapting to the increasingly globalized post-cold war world. Consequently, peace studies and security studies are converging in many ways. Members of the Peace, War, and Conflict section of the ASA are excellently situated to meet the resulting new challenges. The diversity of our activities and interests provides insights and knowledge that can enhance the work of each of us.

For example, one set of challenges and opportunities pertains to the salience of domestic conflicts associated with ethnic, linguistic, religious and other communal identities. Some of these conflicts, as in Rwanda, Sri Lanka, East Timor, and Bosnia have been characterized by widespread killings. The salience of such actions sometimes has helped trigger interventions by other governments and by international governmental and non-governmental organizations. State sovereignty is less of a barrier to such interventions than it has been in the recent past.

International norms regarding individual and collective human rights and regarding democratic institutions are increasingly accepted throughout the world. They provide incentives and justifications for interventions to stop terribly destructive violence. Such interventions sometimes take the form of military actions conducting by national and by international organizations, a new form of peacekeeping operation. They also provide incentives and justifications for supporting resistance against oppressive regimes; again, including the use of coercive force. Such developments have many implications for members of this section. Many peace workers are serving in countries wracked by destructive conflicts; they are giving workshops, facilitating dialogue groups, serving as mediating channels of communication between enemies, and consulting about constructing more democratic and law-constrained political institutions. Major ideas in peace studies seem to be increasingly accepted. These include the value of positive peace as well as of negative peace, the efficacy of nonviolence, and the possibility of constructively transforming conflicts. Students in undergraduate and graduate courses seem to see peace work as something they can do and have an effect. This is heady stuff.

But, the new developments also pose risks. We may become like officials, trying to protect and extend our turf for our projects and to compete inappropriately with each other. Even more importantly, working closely with officials promises to provide access and influence, but it also can entail a significant degree of co-optation. For example, during the cold war the US government was viewed in the peace studies community as a primary party in that conflict and a reasonable target for peacemaking efforts. Now, the U.S. government is more often viewed as acting to prevent violent conflicts, to interrupt them when the violence becomes hugely destructive, and to restore peace afterward.

Consequently, we give less attention to the possible role of the U.S. government and many other governments, of international governmental organizations, and of transnational corporations as they pursue policies that exacerbate conflicts. These may pertain to arms sales and to economic practices. On the other hand, many peace movement organizations and other transnational social movement organizations are actively opposing certain policies of those organizations, notably of the World Trade Organization and International Monetary Fund.

The dangers of some of the new global developments for the field of peace studies and security studies may be countered by strengthening ties with the newly active transnational social movement organizations. We may even help foster constructive ways in which the struggles in which they are engaged are conducted.

Most significantly, the diversity of our membership should benefit our work. It may also helps guard us from the dangers in adapting to the new global developments we confront.
 
 

The Peace, War, and Social Conflict Section of the American Sociological Association invites undergraduate and graduate students to submit a paper on any topic related to the sociology of peace, war, military institutions, or social conflict. The first place Award for both undergraduate and graduate student papers is $150.00 each toward the cost of travel to the American Sociological Association Annual Meeting in Anaheim, California, August 18-22, 2001. The award recipient(s) is invited to submit and present her/his paper during the meetings. Papers must have been written within the past two years. They must be typed, double-spaced with a 12-point font. The page limit is 25 pages including tables, references, and illustrations. Each submission should include a separate cover page listing the author's contact information (including mailing address, telephone number, and e-mail address), paper title, and whether the paper was written as an undergraduate or graduate student paper. No student identifying information should appear in the body of the manuscript. All students will be notified electronically about their submission and about the final selections.

Submit five copies of the paper by April 1, 2001 to:

Morten G. Ender, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Sociology
Department of Behavioral Sciences and Leadership
Thayer Hall
United States Military Academy
West Point, New York 10996
U.S.A.
 
 

The door is open for presentations at the Eastern Sociological Society in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. If you have a work-in-progress or completed paper, consider presenting it at our sessions. The session is Military Sociology, broadly defined, including topics such as peacekeeping, military families, war and peace, military institutions, race and gender in the

military, armed forces and society, U.S. and Other Militaries, recruitment,leadership.

The Cold War Conflicts: Korea and Vietnam Area of the Southwest/Texas

Popular Culture Association invites papers on any and all aspects of the wars in Korea and Vietnam and popular culture to be presented at its annual meeting, which will be held at the Sheraton Oldtown Hotel in Albuquerque,

New Mexico from March 7-March 10, 200l. For details about the meeting, check the organization's web site: www2.okstate.edu/swpca

We are also interested in papers which address all aspects of the Cold War and are particularly interested in papers covering the impact which the Cold War had on popular culture in Eastern block as well as in Western nations. Politics, cinema, literature, and journalism are all areas of interest.

The deadline for proposals is November 1, 2000. Please send a brief prospectus (about 150 words) to:

Philip J. Landon
Dept. of English
University of Maryland, Baltimore County
Baltimore, MD 21250
Phone: 410-455-2052
Fax: 410-455-1030
E-mail: landon@umbc.edu
 
 

International conference, April 12-13, 2001, La Rochelle (France). Deadline for submission of proposals: November 30, 2000.

Reading committee's decisions: December 20, 2000. Deadline for submission of final paper (electronically): February 28, 2001.

Papers should not exceed 40,000 characters in length. Applications (either in French or English) should be in the following format and sent electronically: First Name, Given Name; Institution; Status E-mail; Address for postal correspondence; Phone(s); Fax; Title; Summary of the paper in 4 lines; Paper proposal (between 3000 and 6000 characters, spaces included); giving an idea of the empirical content; keywords.

The application form should be sent electronically to both following addresses: jsimeant@univ-lr.fr and ngarreau@univ-lr.fr. Please direct inquiries on the content of the debate to Prof. Johanna Simeant, jsimeant@univ-lr.fr or jsimeant@club-internet.fr, or by telephone 00 33 (0)5 46 45 85 20. The final division into panels and sessions will take place after the selected contributions have been received.
 
 

"Decision-Making in Social and Religious Movements, Direct Action Campaigns, and Movement Organizations," Volume 24, Volume Editor: Patrick Coy, Kent State University.

Papers analyzing the use of consensus, modified consensus, various forms of majority rule, hierarchical, and other decision-making and planning systems in a variety of social movement contexts (including transnational) are

sought. Articles that address how the internet and electronic mail impact social movement decision-making are welcomed, as are diverse research methodologies.

Due date: February 15, 2001. Accepted papers will appear in Volume 24,published in early 2002. For more information, see http://www.personal.kent.edu/~pcoy.

SERVICE-LEARNING AND SOCIOLOGY: RESEARCH, SYLLABI, AND INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS (2ND EDITION).

Materials may include, but are not limited to: complete syllabi, course outlines, handouts, assignment sheets, or any other written materials relevant to using service-learning in teaching sociology. We are also requesting "advice" or "tips" from sociologists using service-learning in their teaching who have been successful at building and maintaining community partnerships.

Deadline for submissions is November 30, 2000. Submissions from non-traditional campuses are encouraged. Send questions regarding content and format, as well as specific materials to the following:

Section I. Complete Service-Learning Courses

PEACE STUDIES DEPARTMENT

The Peace Studies Department of the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University seeks candidates for a full-time, tenure-track position to begin Fall 2001. More information on the department and the colleges can be found at http://www.csbsju.edu.

All applicants must submit a letter of application, statement of teaching philosophy, curriculum vitae, copies of all transcripts, and three recent letters of recommendation to:

College of Saint Benedict
Human Resources Office
37 South College Avenue
St. Joseph, MN 56374

Applications received after December 1, 2000 cannot be guaranteed consideration. Women and people of diverse racial, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds are encouraged to apply. The College of Saint Benedict/Saint John's University are EEO/AA employers.

***Editor’s note: This job posting has been abbreviated. For more information see http://www.csbsju.edu/humanresources/faculty.html. ~sl