NEWS NOTES
April 2004
News Notes
is a monthly email update of goings-on at ECAAR. In it you will find information
on current projects, announcements of upcoming events and publications, and
an action corner. We would like to include information on what our members
are doing. If you would like to submit information about an event or publication
that you are involved with, please send an email to theaharvey@ecaar.org.
(The fine print - we reserve the right to edit submissions for space or content.)
In this issue (click on a heading to jump to that
section):
*ECAAR News
*Links
*In Other News
*Funding Opportunities
*ECAAR Publications
*Action Corner
*Upcoming Events
*How Can I Help
*ECAAR NEWS*
* The Washington, DC-based Center for Arms Control and
Non-proliferation, who partnered with ECAAR to produce the "Full Costs
of Ballistic Missile Defense," continues to use the information found
in the study to plead for sanity. On March 26th, during a press conference unveiling
"An Open Letter to President Bush," the Center criticized the
deployment of "a system that doesn't work to protect us against a threat
that is very unlikely." The complete missile defense system -- the first
stages of which are to be deployed this year - will cost the American taxpayer
upwards of $10.2 billion during Fiscal Year 2005, and could cost as much as
$1.2 trillion by 2035. The "Open Letter" is signed by nearly fifty
retired senior military officers, including former Joint Chiefs Chairman Admiral
William Crowe, Air Force General Alfred Hansen and Marine Corps General Joseph
Hoar.
“We're asking the Pentagon to follow its own well-established policy: thoroughly testing a system before it is deployed to ensure that it works. The truth is, there as yet are not even plans for operational testing,” retired Lt. General Robert C. Gard, Jr., who serves as the Center's senior military fellow, observed. The Center's Senior Associate for Policy, John Isaacs, noted that the system “hasn't really undergone any realistic testing in realistic conditions” and that the money proposed for its deployment could be better spent by ensuring that the system's technology works before the administration claims success. “If some of the technological obstacles can be overcome prior to deployment the American people will be better served,” Isaacs said. “Right now it looks as if the Bush administration is deploying this system simply to say that they have done it. They're saying that the American people are protected. Well, they're not.” Read the press release and the letter to President Bush at http://64.177.207.201/pages/16_547.html
*On March 9th, ECAAR Board Members Richard Jolly and Lawrence Klein, and Sarah Meek, Head of the Arms Management Programme of Institute for Security Studies in Pretoria,South Africa, made presentations to the UN Commission of Government Experts on Disarmament and Development. The session lasted from 10am until 1pm. There was lively discussion, with participation of government experts from Sweden, Germany and Sri Lanka - though many others also participated. The German Representative, Friedrich Groning, Ambassador and Deputy Commissioner of the Federal Government for Arms Control and Disarmament was clearly a committed voice, influenced in part because he had at one time been ambassador in Costa Rica. The UK Representative was Geraldine O'Callaghan, Senior Adviser on Arms Control, Conflict and Humanitarian Affairs Department of Department for International Development,UK. The Sri Lankan delegate was Prasad Kariyawasam, Director General/Economic Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Sri Lanka.
Dr. Klein presented a paper which he first presented in Korea,
and which drew careful questioning by the South Korean delegate, who was extremely
interested in the parallels drawn with German reunification a decade or so ago.
The paper by Sarah Meek on Confidence Building Measures, was very specific
and touched on issues often ignored in the economic literature. Dr. Jolly's
paper was on Human Security, Disarmament and Development.
*On Tuesday, April 6th, ECAAR-Australia hosted a successful
"International Symposium on Resources and Conflict in the Asia-Pacific
Region." The day began with a keynote address by Jurgen Brauer, and
ended with an after-dinner address by Michael Intriligator, both of whom are
Vice-Chairs of ECAAR-US's Board of Directors. Despite some heavy fog which slightly
delayed some of the participants, attendance was good.
The papers, adressing important issues of regional concern, drew good discussions
from the floor at all the sessions. There
will be a release of policy briefs resulting from the conference, and we anticipate
the publication of some of the papers.
*ECAAR Board Member, Robert Reich in a commentary aired on NPR's Marketplace on April 7, 2004, spoke on, A Failure of Intelligence and Economics. "Attention is focused this week on Condoleza Rice's testimony about what she knew and when she knew it. But more important information about what America could have done -- and could do to prevent future terrorist attacks - may emerge from elsewhere tomorrow. That's when the International Monetary Fund begins a conference examining the economies of the Middle East - a topic the United States has basically ignored for decades...For decades now, the United States has viewed the Middle East as a place requiring military and diplomatic attention, at most, but not basic economic reform. And that may have been a huge mistake - a failure of intelligence more fundamental than any intelligence failure preceding 9/11." http://www.robertreich.org/reich/20040407.asp
*The New Nation, Bangladesh's Independent News Source, ran an
article by Joseph Stiglitz, ECAAR Board Member, April 8th. The article, entitled,
"The Global Benefits of Equality," discusses globalization
from the point of view of a farmer in a developing country. "Picture yourself
as a poor African farmer, scraping a living on a hectare or two. While you may
not have heard of globalisation, you are affected by it : you sell cotton, which
will be woven into a shirt by a worker in Mauritius in a style designed by an
Italian, to be worn by some well-off Parisian. You are better off than your
grandfather, who relied on subsistence farming. But you are also the victim
of globalisation, and the unfair global economic regime that has been crafted-and,
in some cases, made increasingly unfair-over the years." http://nation.ittefaq.com/artman/publish/article_8135.shtml
*ECAAR Board member, Amartya Sen is to discuss his recent work
on the relation between democracy human capabilities, and economic development
in a talk entitled, "The Content of Democracy," at the New
School University, Tishman Auditorium, Thursday April 22 at 6pm. The evening
will be moderated by Bob Kerry, President of New School University. Respondents
will be Arjun Appadurai, Provost, New School University, and Richard J. Bernstein,
Dean of the Graduate Faculty, New School University. The event is free and reservations
are strongly suggested. (In fact, last we heard, the event was "sold
out.") For information call (212) 229-5488 or email boxoffice@newschool.edu.
*Call for Papers: for sessions on
The Political Economy of War, Peace, Armament, Disarmament, and Conversion organized by the European ECAAR affiliates in conjunction
with the European Association for Evolutionary Political Economy (EAEPE) to be regularly held at the annual
meetings of EAEPE: October 28-31, 2004, in Rethymnon, Crete (
*The National Priorities Project website is chock full of information about the US Budget and the effect of military spending on other priorities. This year for Tax Day they feature a special page called, "Where Do Your Tax Dollars Go?"In 2004 military spending and debt servicing consume nearly half of your tax dollar, while education gets less than 4 cents, and natural resources and the environment less than 2 cents. View the impact your taxes are having by state or city at www.nationalpriorities.org
* The Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL) offers some good news- the overall number of significant armed conflicts in the world has gone down for the second year in a row. As 2004 began FCNL registered 24 significant ongoing armed conflicts (1,000 or more deaths) and another 38 hot spots that could slide into or revert to war. The total number of actual conflicts is 3 more than the 1998 all-time low of 21 in the fifteen years of the annual survey. There were 30 conflicts at the beginning of 2003, and 38 in 2002. For a breakdown and analysis of the world's conflicts see http://www.fcnl.org/smith/world_war-1.htm
* One of the most interesting testimonies to come out of the recent Senate Armed Services Committee Hearings, from an ECAAR point of view, was that of Vice-Admiral Lowell Jacoby, Director, Defense Intelligence Agency. In his prepared and oral testimony he emphasized repeatedly that economic, demographic, and societal elements are important factors in creating atmospheres that foster terrorism and threat. "[P]oorly educated workforces limit ability to compete in the global economy... "Demographic bubbles [large youth populations]" which burden government services and economies promise continued problems." Admiral Jacoby states that globalization itself is assisting terrorists, proliferators of illicit weapons and military technology, narco-traffickers and alien smugglers through the use of the world's financial, communication and transportation systems. To read the text of his prepared statement go to http://www.iwar.org.uk/homesec/resources/threats-2004/jacoby.htm
*Marcus Corbin, of the Center for Defense Information, and Miriam Pemberton, of Foreign Policy in Focus, along with other members of the Security Policy Working Group, released a Task Force Report on March 1st outlining a strategy for "A Unified Security Budget for the United States." The report finds despite promises of a comprehensive approach to fighting terrorism, the Bush administration has concentrated its resources overwhelmingly on its military forces, at the expense of other security tools. Bush's 2005 budget would spend seven times as much on the military as on homeland security and all other forms of non-military security programs. Further, that budget is being spent on a cold-war-style large-scale conventional challenge that we no longer face. The report offers a working model for rebalancing our national security budget, filling its missing military and non-military pieces, without increasing its overall bottom line, and creating a net gain in security. Read about the task force, the executive summary or the full 22 page report at http://www.fpif.org/protected/securitybudget.html
*Dyan Mazurana and Susan McKay's study, "Where are the Girls?" raises awareness of the militarization of the lives of girls in fighting forces and the role they play. The authors use data gleaned from their research in Northern Uganda, Mozambique and Sierra Leone to reveal that girls in fighting forces are not, and never have been, simply "camp followers."
This study is addressed to all those who work in countries that
are in conflict or ravaged by war, whether they are community groups or multilateral,
governmental, or non-governmental organizations. Where are the girls, if they
are not counted as part of the military when the time comes for disarmament,
demobilization and rebuilding of societies? "There has been little analysis
of the specific needs of girls recruited by fighting forces and demobilisation
programmes have rarely been gender-sensitive. McKay and Mazurana's work provides
a welcome and important contribution to our understanding of this enormously
important issue and will, one hopes, lead to an improved response from humanitarian
and child protection agencies." - Iain Levine, Program Director, Human
Rights Watch
http://www.ichrdd.ca/english/commdoc/publications/women/Girls/girlsmainEN.html
* In the Niger Delta of Nigeria many people live without access to clean drinking water, basic health care or schools. Yet $20 Billion worth of oil is produced here every year. In one town Chevron Texaco has promised to build a school, a town hall, and to dig a well and bring electricity in exchange for the rights to drill offshore. So far, they have built only a jetty, which now due to erosion is not even adjacent to the shore. Relations between oil companies and residents have deteriorated so far that they now look at each other down the barrel of a gun along the 300 mile coastal "corridor of conflict," says Chris Alagoa, a development worker in the area. The residents are harassing the oil company employees when they don't get what they want, and the oil companies are calling in government troops for protection. The oil companies have been trying to keep the peace by paying local chiefs, but the money tends to go for personal luxuries, called the 5 G's- guns, girls, gold, ganja, and gin. Then neighboring towns fight to win the company benefits. "The companies thought they were buying peace, but in fact they helped arm these communities," said Alagoa. Reuters carries the entire interview with Mr. Alagoa at http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=ourWorldNews&storyID=4634770&pageNumber=0
*FUNDING and EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES *
*Only one percent of women in India has a college education (and three percent
of men) as of 1997. Mrs. Helena Kaushik Women's College in Rajasthan fulfills
a great need for women in this rural district. The college offers BAs, BSs,
and MSs in a variety of subject areas including Economics, Mathematics and Political
Science. The Director of the College, Dr. Surendra K. Kaushik, invites professors
to come teach for a one- or two-week seminar, or for a semester or a year. For
more information on the college see their website www.helenakaushik.org
or email Dr. Kaushik at skaushik@pace.edu.
* The College of Business Administration, School of Economic Development, Georgia Southern University, invites applications for two tenure-track positions in economics beginning August 1, 2004. Both positions require a commitment to quality teaching, a Ph.D. in Economics, evidence of research activity, the ability to teach Principles of Economics, and MBA courses effectively. One or more years teaching experience, recent refereed publications, and experience working with a diverse student body preferred. For the first position, candidates must also have the ability to teach undergraduate Statistics and Quantitative Analysis courses. Send letter addressing the qualifications cited, a current curriculum vitae, and three letters of reference (applications via email will not be accepted) to: Dr. Darrell Parker, Acting Director, School of Economic Development, Georgia Southern University, P.O. Box 8152, Statesboro, GA 30460-8152, (912)-681-5216, Fax (912)681-0710. Screening begins April 23, 2004. Applications will be accepted until the postmark deadline of May 14 2004.
*ECAAR PUBLICATIONS*
*The ECAAR Review 2003. Titled "Conflict or Development?"
this edition has a regional focus on
You can order the Review at http://www.ecaar.org/Review_files/order.htm
We believe the Review can be a valuable teaching tool in economics, political
science, and international relations courses. If you are interested in
teaching this book, please contact Kate Cell (Katecell@ecaar.org) for a copy to review.
* "The Full Cost of Ballistic Missile Defense" The study
estimates that the total life-cycle cost for a layered missile defense system
could reach $1.2 trillion through 2035. You can order a copy of the report
from the co-sponsor of the study, http://www.armscontrolcenter.org/nmd/fullcost.html,
or download the PDF file from http://www.ecaar.org/index.htm.
*ACTION CORNER*
* Last month's Action Corner encouraged our readers to endorse a plan for a
new security platform for the US, called SMART Security. This plan was
introduced into the House of Representatives on March 18th, co-sponsored by
21 Members of Congress. If you go to http://capwiz.com/fconl/issues/alert/?alertid=5392881
and enter your zip code, you can find out if your Representative is already
sponsoring the bill, and thank him or her, or if they are not yet a sponsor
you can send an email encouraging them to support the bill.
*The UN Security Council has formally tabled a draft resolution
on non-proliferation, but may take action as soon as mid-April. The draft resolution,
as it currently stands, fails to acknowledge the indivisible relationship between
non-proliferation and disarmament. If this resolution is passed as is, it would
further contribute to the dangerous de-linkage between these two, incontrovertibly
interdependent goals. NGOs, led by Reaching Critical Will, an initiative of
WILPF (the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom), are urging civil
society to contact Security Council members http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/resources/govcontacts/SCcontact.html
and their Ministries of Foreign Affairs http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/resources/govcontacts/govindex.html
to demand an open session of the Security Council as they debate this unprecedented
resolution. An open session would allow for all UN Member States to contribute
to the discussions, as well as air the proceedings for the public. The resolution
can be found at: http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/political/WMD_SCRes.pdf.
* April 8th marks the one-year anniversary of the introduction of legislation in Congress for the formation of a Department of Peace. A Department of Peace would focus on non-military peaceful conflict resolutions, prevent violence, promote justice and democratic principles to expand human rights, both domestically and internationally. The campaign for the DoP is urging citizens to contact their Representatives and ask them to co-sponsor the bill (H.R. 1673). See http://www.dopcampaign.org for more information about the proposed Department. You can call (800) 839-5276 to reach the Capitol Switchboard, or reach your Representatives through http://www.congress.org.
* Your vote matters. In the US, register to vote, or update
your address or party affiliation, at https://www.workingforchange.com/vote/index.cfm?ms=G00001
* Anyone who would be willing to put an ECAAR flyer up on a departmental bulletin
board or similar venue, please contact Thea Harvey, Development Manager at theaharvey@ecaar.org.
We would like News Notes to be a way for ECAAR members and our community to
keep in touch. We will include, if you send them to us, notices on events
and publications that you are involved with.
*UPCOMING EVENTS*
*Friday, April 16, 2004. The Study Group on the Economics of Security in
a Post-9/11 World. The topic will be "Who's Afraid of the Military
Industrial Complex," presented by Study Group CO-Convener William D.
Hartung. Bill is the director of the Arms Trade Resource Center at the World
Policy Institute, and an author, most recently of How Much Are You Making
on the War, Daddy? -- A Quick and Dirty Guide to War Profiteering in the Bush
Administration (Nation Books/Avalon Group, 2004). The
Study Group will meet from 2:30-4:00pm; coffee and tea at 2:00 pm, refreshments
afterward, in Room 720,
*April 16-22, 2004. Women's Action for New Directions (WAND) and Georgia State University's Power of Women present the "No Nukes Film Festival" at Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA. For information contact Atlanta WAND at wandatlanta@mindspring.com or (404) 524-5999.
*Thursday, April 22, 2004. Amartya Sen is to discuss his recent work on the relation between democracy, human capabilities, and economic development in a talk entitled, "The Content of Democracy," at the New School University, Tishman Auditorium, at 6pm. The evening will be moderated by Bob Kerry, President of New School University. Respondents will be Arjun Appadurai, Provost, New School University, and Richard J. Bernstein, Dean of the Graduate Faculty, New School University. The event is free and reservations are strongly suggested. (In fact, last we heard, the event was "sold out.") For information call (212) 229-5488 or email boxoffice@newschool.edu.
*April 18-24, 2004. The 2004 Youth Summit On Sustainable
Development,
* May 24-28, 2004. Peacebuilding, Conflict Transformation, and Post-War Reconstruction, Reconciliation and Resolution, a five day international training programme for practitioners and policy makers organised by TRANSCEND and the Peace Action, Training and Research Institute of Romania in Cluj-Napoca, Romania See. http://www.transcend.org/ for more information.
* May 25-28, 2004. Conference sponsored by International Philosophers
for Peace (IPPNO) entitled Capitalism with a Human Face? at
*May
30-June 18, 2004. Summer Peacebuilding Institute: Conflict Transformation
Across Cultures, sponsored by the Center for Social Policy and Institutional
Development at the School for International Training in
* June 3- 8, 2004. WIIS 2004 Summer Symposium for Graduate Students in International
Affairs. The Women in International Security Summer Symposium
is an intensive six-day program in Washington, DC comprising seminars on security
issues with leading policy experts, career development workshops, a crisis simulation,
student research presentations, and unique networking opportunities. http://wiis.georgetown.edu/
*June
9-11, 2004 at the Tinbergen Institute at the
*
June 18-20, 2004. 2nd International Conference on Defense, Security
and Economic Development, at TEI of Larissa,
*June 24, 2004. The Second UWE Annual Lecture
on Economics and Security will open the Eighth Annual Conference on Economics
and Security(see below). Dr. Michael Brzoska of the Bonn International Centre
for Conversion (BICC), and Secretary of ECAAR-Germany, will speak on "How
Rational Are Decisions on Defence?" at the Frenchay Campus of the University
of the West of England, Bristol. For attendees of the conference transportation
will be available from Burwalls Hall. See: http://carecon.org.uk/
for more information.
*June 24-26, 2004. ECAAR-UK, along with the Arms Production
and Trade Group, the University of the West of England and the
*July 1-2, 2004.
*July 6-11, 2004. The International Sociological Association
Research Committee 01, the Middle East Technical University-Ankara, and the
Turkish Military Academy host an International Conference on "Military
Missions and Their Implications Reconsidered: The Aftermath of September 11th"
in Ankara, Turkey. Visit www.asterya.com/isarc01 for more
information.
* July 15-16, 2004. The Centre for Global Political Economy at Simon
Fraser University, Vancouver, Canada is organizing an international conference,
The WTO and Beyond: Global Governance and State Power in the 21st Century.
http://www.sfu.ca/~cgpe/projects.html
*October
28-31, 2004, Annual Meetings of EAEPE, the European Association
for Evolutionary Political Economy, in Rethymnon, Crete (
*If you are considering buying a book online, please take a look at What We Give.com (http://www.whatwegive.com/). They have thousands of titles available at a discount to you, and ECAAR receives a portion of the purchase price.
*Please consider becoming a member of ECAAR. Your annual membership entitles you to discounts on publications, invitations to events, and most importantly, by joining us you help to ensure that reasoned perspectives on essential economic issues will continue to be heard. Membership dues and other donations are fully tax-deductible. Visit http://www.ecaar.org/Membership.htm for more information.
*If you have enjoyed this issue of ECAAR NewsNotes, or if you wish to support our mission, please consider making a donation to ECAAR. You can do so securely online through our website at https://www.chi-cash-advance.com/sforms/appeal196/contribute.asp or by sending a check to ECAAR, 39 E. Central Ave., Suite One, Pearl River, NY 10965. If you have any questions call (845) 620-1542, or email ecaar@ecaar.org.
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