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Call for Papers
"War, Virtual War and Human Security"
4th Global Conference
Inter-Disciplinary.Net
Budapest (Hungary)
2-5 May 2007
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Is war an extension of politics by other means? The
locomotive of technology? Is it humankind in its most
natural state; or is human society - despite perceptions and
ongoing conflict around the world today - actually moving
toward an aversion to war and a state of peace? This
inter-disciplinary and multi-disciplinary conference seeks
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 seeks to explore the historical, legal, social,
human, 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;
1. How do we Talk about War?
Portrayal, awareness, language and expression. How do we
come to understand war in contemporary and historical
cultures?
* The Language of modern contemporary warfare, the
language of war in society, in the work space and
popular culture; obscuration of conditions of being at
war and the condition of peace
* Militarization of society, propaganda, war toys,
computer gaming; in fashion - 'military chic'
* Representing the realities of war versus national
interest' - images of the heroism, glory, tacit and
explicit justifications of war; the horror of war and
societal responses.
2. Representations and Experiences
Viewing War as a multi-layered social phenomena.
* Recovering from war, trauma, rehabilitation.
* The experience of war; art, literature, music, poetry,
cinema and the theatre; the role of the media -
journalism, radio, television, the internet; propaganda;
* The representations and experiences of protest
3. History and Development of Warfare and War Fighting.
How have we fought and why. Lessons learned, mistakes
repeated.
* Warfare in human history, revisionism and
post-revisionism.
* The sources, origins, and causes of war; why and how
do wars begin?
* Means and methods in war - land, sea, air, space,
nuclear, chemical, biological; terror and terrorism;
conventional and guerrilla warfare; civil war; total'
warfare'.
* 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;
nuclear deterrence/compellance; changes in the nature
and role of military personnel; information and
information warfare.
4. Extent, Conduct and Morality
Can war even be distinguished form peace, combatant from
non-combatant, who are legitimate targets? The totalisation
of war in modern culture.
* Where are we now? How has war pervaded our society and
culture in everyday life?
* The extent of war; geo-political, physical; blockades,
sanctions, defence expenditure and the impact on social
and public policy; on social and human capital.
* The regulation and control of warfare; how is and
should warfare be conducted? What are the limits of
conflict? Are there any prohibitions in fighting a war?
* Globalization; the human, geographic, social and
economic boundaries of war in the modern era.
* Resource warfare, food, water, oil and mineral wealth,
challenges in the 21st century
5. Rights and Security
Have the means and methods in war, finally outpaced
International law and norms of behaviour? What protection is
available? If truth is the first casualty in war, is human
rights the second?
* Human security issues; protection, shelter, economic
security; public health.
* Human rights; protection, promotion and abuses;
genocide, ethnic cleansing; terrorism; scorched earth;
war crimes; crimes against humanity.
* Armed non-state actors, roles, practices and
regulation.
6. The Boundaries of War
How far will humankind push the limits of acceptable
behaviour and practice in war?
* The 'morality' and the 'ethics' of war; just war;
deterrence; pre-emptive war; 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 status of combatants in warfare, the impact
of civilians; neutrality.
* War and religion; the important role of religion, the
church, and the intellectual elite in multi-ethnic
conflict specifically and in.war in general; just war,
jihad and crusade.
* War and gender; women in war; impact, abuses, role in
war as combatants and in peace building. Gender equality
issues and peace building, cultures of violence in
society propagating conflict.
* Children and war, child soldiers, trauma, exposure,
conditioning, propaganda, bereavement, expression though
play, art and behaviour.
* Slavery and war; past, present and future; unwilling
combatants, from janissaries to mamelukes, to conscripts
and child soldiers.
* Resistance under occupation, where collaboration ends
and resistance begins? Forms of resistance.
7. Prevention and Peace
Can we give peace a chance? Viewing war as un-natural,
preventable within a variety of frameworks. The legal
mechanisms and the trans-national social movements 'waging
peace'.
* Peace building; means and methods; negative peace and
building a positive peace; war-termination and
nation-building.
* 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.
* Conscientious objection, alternative service.
* The Peace Movement
8. Non-state Actors and NGOs in War
Breaking the state conundrum, participation in relief from
the depredations of war, alleviating the suffering, advocacy
from theatres of war. Or compromising humanitarian Aid?
Force multipliers? Abrogating combatant's responsibilities
toward their populations.
* History: The Quakers to the Red Cross and beyond.
* NGOs, the 'third space' actors in the relief of the
impact of warfare, aid and development programmes,
refugees and IDPs, child soldiers, landmines / cluster
munitions; small arms light weapons (SALW/DDR), NGOs
prolonging conflict by abrogating state and combatants
responsibilities in time of conflict.
* Armed non-state actors. Terrorists? Freedom fighters?
Private security forces. Mercenaries in the modern
world.
9. Future War: Revolutions in Military Affairs - Emerging
Types of Warfare.
Be afraid, be very afraid. Are there no limits to
mans inhumanity to man?
* Cyber-war Virtual war; cyber-terrorism; cyber-power,
cyber-war; computer technologies in the conduct of war.
* Technology leaps - acquiring WMD
* Space war - fantasy or an emerging reality? Issue in
the militarisation and weaponisation of space.
* Bio-warfare: gene warfare; the genetic codes of
agriculture and livestock as targets in war
The Steering Group particularly welcomes the submission of
pre-formed panel proposals. Papers will also be considered
on any related theme. 300 word abstracts should be submitted
by Friday 12th January 2007. If an abstract is accepted for
the conference, a full draft paper should be submitted by
Friday 13th April 2007.
300 word abstracts should be submitted to the Organising
Joint Chairs; abstracts may be in Word, WordPerfect, PDF or
RTF formats.
Organising Chairs
Graeme Goldsworthy
Harvard Medical School
Vrij Universiteit Medisch Centrum, Amsterdam
Healthnet-TPO, Netherlands
E-Mail: [email protected]
Andrew Wilson
Professor of Strategy,
Strategy and Policy Department,
United States Naval War College, USA
E-Mail: [email protected]
Rob Fisher
Inter-Disciplinary.Net
Priory House, Wroslyn Road, Freeland, Oxfordshire
United Kingdom
E-Mail: [email protected]
The conference is part of the Probing the Boundaries
programme of research projects. It aims to bring together
people from different areas and interests to share ideas and
explore various discussions which are innovative and
exciting.
Three volumes of themed papers are in preparation and/or in
print from the previous meetings of this project. All papers
accepted for and presented at this conference will be
eligible for publication in an ISBN eBook. Selected papers
accepted for and presented at the conference will be
published in a themed hard copy volume.
For further details about the project please visit:
http://www.inter-disciplinary.net/ptb/wvw/war.htm
For further details about the conference please visit:
http://www.inter-disciplinary.net/ptb/wvw/wvw4/cfp.html
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http://interphil.polylog.org
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http://cal.polylog.org
