Recent News and Activities -- Prof. Joshua S. Goldstein
Updated June 23, 2008
New Book:
Principles of International Relations (Pearson Longman, forthcoming July 2008).
As authors of the top-selling introductory IR textbook, Jon Pevehouse and I have realized that
professors like to teach this course in many different ways. For those who do not use a textbook,
but want a short, affordable book to cover the essential concepts and principles, this new book
will be available for Fall 2008 courses. About 225 pages long, it covers
all the major theories in the field and includes many graphics, but no color, photos, or pedagogical
features (such as text boxes and glossaries). ISBN 0-205-65266-2.
Other News:
In Fall 2008 I'll be a visiting professor at Yale and teaching a graduate
course on Theories of International Relations.
I was on a roundtable about Hayward R. Alker (my dissertation advisor)
at the International Studies Association conference
in San Francisco, March 2008. I chaired a panel at a conference in memory of Hayward at the Watson
Institute at Brown University, June 6-7.
On April 25 I participated in a day-long conference on deterrence at the
University of Maryland, organized by Shibley Telhami and Thomas Schelling.
With Neta Crawford, I co-organized an all-day
conference May 5 at CCNY in memory of my friend
and collaborator, Randy Forsberg, on the subject of "the end of
war." The program is here.
I've started working on a book about the declining number and size of wars
worldwide. My working title is The Waning of War. I hope to finish the manuscript by December.
I published an Op Ed on the
subject a few years ago, and recently met with the
Conflict Data Project staff
in Uppsala, Sweden. They are an impressive group and are the primary source for all of us tracking
the ups and downs of the world's armed conflicts.
I'm chairing a proposed panel for the ISA conference in New York next February on
"The Decline of War? Empirical and Causal Arguments." This will be a chance to get the major researchers
on this topic together in one place. Participants include Bruce Russett, Andrew Mack, Nils Petter Gleditsch,
Joseph Hewitt, Peter Wallensteen, Neta Crawford, John Mueller, Karin Fierke, and (hopefully) Ted Gurr.
Abstract: The claimed recent trend toward fewer and smaller wars worldwide has generated intense interest among IR scholars, including a strongly attended panel at the 2007 ISA convention and the Gleditsch presidential address at the 2008 meeting. This roundtable will bring together the leading researchers working on this topic from 5 countries to review the current state of knowledge. Presenters will discuss the reality and reliability of the trend and its putative causes ranging from changing norms to international institutions, democracy and economic growth. The session should develop closer cooperation among scholars from North America and Northern Europe, and enhance ties among the four leading centers publishing reports on this topic (Uppsala University, International Peace Research Institute Oslo, Simon Fraser University, and the University of Maryland).
I'll be at the
APSA conference in Boston August 28-31, 2008, but not appearing on the program.
War and Gender:
December 2007 -- I was the keynote speaker at the final conference
of the Genderforce project
in Sweden, an amazing collaboration of the Swedish armed forces,
police, rescue services, and a foundation. I loved talking about gender to a big room filled
with as many men as women and including top military commanders. I learned that for military
officers, the reasons for understanding gender are "operational effectiveness" and "force protection."
I organized a visit by the gender advisor to Sweden's armed forces (founder of Genderforce)
at Harvard July 18. Details here.
April 2007 -- I was keynote speaker at a European Union conference in Budapest
on gender in
the EU's security and defense policy. The EU does a lot of peacekeeping but we also had
interesting discussions of lessons the United States is learning about gender during its stay in Iraq.
In the August 2007 issue of International Studies Perspectives, I participated
in a forum on "Mainstreaming gender into the IR curriculum," organized by Charli Carpenter.
During its first three years I served on the editorial board of the new APSA journal, Politics
and Gender.
Ongoing Projects:
University of Maryland -- I am Nonresident Sadat Senior Fellow, at the
Center for International Development and Conflict Management. I have been helping
Shibley Telhami, holder of the
Sadat Chair for Peace and Development, with analysis and presentation of fascinating data from
public opinion polls taken in six Arab countries over recent years. This appointment has also
let me visit the university and dabble in some other projects there from time to time.
I have a chapter on "The Chicken Game in International Negotiation" in
a forthcoming volume on cooperation edited by William Zartman.
Stress Reduction:
Are you stressed out, running a rat race, and/or pulled between work and family?
Take a minute to relax and take a few deep breaths while looking at the
view from my office window.
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