EPS will host a screening of the award-winning film Soldiers of Peace on Tuesday, August 18 at 7:00pm at the historic Rosendale Theatre at 330 Main Street. in Rosendale, NY. Following the film there will be a question and answer session with James K. Galbraith who is interviewed extensively in the film.

The film, narrated by Michael Douglas, presents the stories of fourteen initiatives around the world working to build peace in war-torn regions, and features interviews with Sir Bob Geldof, Sir Richard Branson, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Gareth Evans, James Galbraith, HH Prince Hassan of Jordan, and Hans Blix.

Suggested donation is $20. For more information, please email Ellie Warren at elliewarren@epsusa.org.

More information about the film can be found at http://www.soldiersofpeacemovie.com/about/synopsis.php

The Faculty of Economics and Business of the University of Amsterdam and the Flemish/Dutch chapter of Economists for Peace and Security (EPS) are honored to announce the winners of the 2008 Isaac Roet Prize. EPS congratulates Ms. Marijke Geerts, Universidad Torcuato Di Tella,  Buenos Aires, Argentina and Mr. Paul Duffill, The University of Sydney, Australia for their winning essays. The topic of this seventh edition of the Prize was Resource Access and World Peace: Policies to Promote Global Stability in View of Growing Scarcity of Non-renewable Natural Resources.

The members of the jury of the 2008 Isaac Roet Prize are:

• Jurgen Brauer, Director of EPS and professor at Augusta State University;
• James K. Galbraith, Director of EPS and professor at University of Texas;
• Cor A.J. Herkströter, professor at University of Amsterdam and former CEO of the Royal Dutch/Shell Group of Companies;
• Henk Jager, professor at University of Amsterdam;
• Haim Roet, Secretary-General of the Israeli Foundation for Quality Management;
• Joseph E. Stiglitz, Professor at Columbia University, Nobel Laureate and Trustee of EPS.

The prize of Euro 5,000 will be shared by the two winners. More information about the prize and judging can be found at http://www.epseu.org/isaacroetprize/competition2008.html

The Global Peace Index 2009 was released in early June. The report this year includes research and analyses from EPS on the economic value of peace (starting on page 30 of the discussion paper). In this, its third year of publication, the Index reports New Zealand and the Scandinavian countries again rank as the most peaceful nations and Iraq and Sudan are at the bottom of the list.

http://www.visionofhumanity.org/gpi/results/rankings.php
http://www.visionofhumanity.org/images/content/GPI-2009/2009-GPI-DiscussionPaper-20090525.pdf

Volume 4, No. 1 of the Economics of Peace and Security Journal is now available online. Non-subscribers can access the abstracts and contents pages. This issue contains symposia on defense innovation and the economics of conflict with contributions by:

• Renaud Bellais on defense innovation and venture capital
• Sylvain Daffix and Yves Jacquin on European defense R&D and national R&D systems
• Peter Hall and Andrew James on industry structure and innovation in the British defense sector
• Philip Verwimp introduces the symposium articles
• S. Mansoob Murshed on greed, grievance, and social contract
• M. Zulfan Tadjoeddin and Anis Chowdhury on violence in Indonesia
• Ana María Ibáñez on forced displacement in Colombia
• Steven Spittaels and Filip Hilgert on conflict mapping in the Congo
  

And articles by:

• Christopher E.S. Warburton on war and exchange rate valuation
• Steve Chan on the democratic peace proposition
• Steve Townsend on Thomas Friedman’s First Law of Petropolitics
• Ronen Bar-El, Kobi Kagan, and Asher Tishler on military planning

EPS members receive a 25% discount on the annual subscription to the Economics of Peace and Security Journal. Regular one-year subscriptions are $40 per year; for EPS members the one-year subscription is $30.

The Journal is a peer-reviewed online publication hosted by EPS-UK. Published twice yearly, it raises and debates all issues related to the political economy of personal, communal, national, international, and global peace and security. Past contributors have included Joseph Stiglitz, James Galbraith, and Lawrence Klein. The Journal’s website also includes book reviews submitted by members and subscribers.

For more information about the Journal or to subscribe, visit http://www.epsjournal.org.uk/.

To become a member of EPS (and to qualify for the subscription discount) visit http://www.epsusa.org/membership/membership.htm.

The Working Group on Violent Conflict & Economic Institutions is a joint project of the Center for International Studies and the International Development Group at MIT.

The VC&EI Working Group seeks to make important progress toward better understanding those organizations and institutions (broadly defined) that arise in, adapt to, and allow individuals to cope with violent conflict. These institutions form the substrate of the wartime and postwar economy, and underpin the transition from the former to the latter.

The Group focuses on five broad areas of interest:

1. Firm organizational dynamics
2. Distribution networks
3. Urban spatial & economic structures
4. Formal & informal regulatory institutions
5. Property rights & civilian livelihoods.

The Group's working papers, recorded talks, and upcoming events calendar can be found at http://stellar.mit.edu/S/project/conflictstudies/index.html

IPS (Inter Press Agency http://www.ipsnews.net/) brings you independent news and views on nuclear abolition. The latest issue of their newsletter, Beyond Nuclear Nonproliferation, includes these articles:

• Disarmament More Urgent Than Ever By Mikhail Gorbachev
• FRANCE: Ambiguous on Nuclear Disarmament By Alecia D. McKenzie
• GERMANY: Have no Nuclear Weapons, Just Share Them By Wolfgang Kerler
• INDIA: Opposition to ‘Nuclearism’ Builds Up By Ranjit Devraj

http://www.nuclearabolition.net/documents/Newsletter_BEYOND_NUCLEAR_NON-PROLIFERATION_Number_03.pdf

Call for papers: Eurasian Peace Science Conference, January 8 – 9, 2010 at Koc University, Istanbul, Turkey. The Conference's goal is to broaden cooperation among Eurasian and Middle Eastern peace science scholars and seeks to bring together research on conflict and peace-related topics from throughout the world.

All aspects of the peace science field are welcome including in particular: (a) empirical studies of political violence and peaceful resolution, (b) quantitative and formal analyses of conflict and peace processes, (c) peace science methodology and theory, (d) alliances, investment, trade, and conflict, (e) economic and political causes of war and terrorism, (f) contemporary regional conflicts in Eurasia and Middle East, (g) security and foreign policy, and (h) conflict analysis and management.

All submissions with tentative titles, abstracts (150-300 words) and contact information for authors should be sent to Eurasiaps@ku.edu.tr. All submissions before July 15, 2009 will be considered for the conference. Proposals after that date will only be considered if there are presentation slots available.

Call for papers: Climate Change, Social Stress and Violent Conflict State of the Art and Research Needs International Conference, November 19 – 20, 2009 in Hamburg, Germany. Possible topics include:

• Empirical basis of linkages between environmental stress and violent conflict, revisiting the
  debate on violent reactions to resource scarcity
• Empirical basis of past climate change and prediction of climate futures, in the context of
  potential effects on humans that might possibly cause conflicts, in particular water and food
  scarcity, migration, disasters
• Conceptual approaches and contributions of academic disciplines to understanding causal effects,
  cascading potential and tipping points in climate-security interactions
• Impacts and conflicts associated with response strategies to address climate change, such as
  nuclear power, bioenergy, geo-engineering, disaster management.
• Security concepts and their relations to climate change and violent conflict, connecting to the
  “securitization” discourse
• Regional case studies of climate-induced security risks and conflicts: Sahel zone and Darfur,
  Middle East, Southern Asia, Central Asia, Latin America, Mediterranean, Arctic
• Mechanisms and institutions for addressing climate security challenges and opportunities for
  strengthening international cooperation and peace.

Abstracts should be sent by August 31 to ClimateSecurity@uni-hamburg.de

For more information please contact Prof. Dr. Jürgen Scheffran, Research Group Climate Change and Security, KlimaCampus, Universität at juergen.scheffran@zmaw.de.

For more information, please visit www.bepress.com/peps

Fulbright Scholar Program for US Faculty and Professionals for 2010–2011 is open. The Fulbright Scholar Program offers 105 awards in lecturing, research or combined lecturing/research in economics, including seven Fulbright Distinguished Chairs and the Middle East and North Africa Regional Research Program.  Faculty and professionals in economics also can apply for one of the 144/All Discipline awards open to all fields.

The application deadline is August 1, 2009.  US citizenship is required.  For a full listing of all Fulbright programs and other eligibility requirements, please visit our website at www.cies.org or send a request for materials to mailto:scholars@cies.iie.org. For a detailed listing of Fulbright opportunities in economics, please consult our website at:< http://www.cies.org/award_book/award2010/discipline/ECON18.htm

The Financial Crisis, the US Economy, and International Security in the New Administration was held at the Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis, New School University, New York, New York on Friday, November 14, 2008. The conference was organized by Economists for Peace and Security, the Charles Leopold Mayer Foundation Initiative for Re-thinking the Economy, and the Levy Economics Institute of Bard College. To see the video and transcripts from the conference visit http://www.epsusa.org/events/08conf/program.htm.

The Initiative for Re-thinking the Economy also has a webpage devoted the conference at http://www2.i-r-e.org/spip.php?article51.

Space, Security and the Economy, a report on the Bush Administration’s outer space policy, warns that the present policy of space dominance could transform outer space into a military battleground.

Official US policy asserts the right to deny any nation access to space if its actions are “perceived” to be hostile. This policy, together with other actions such as withdrawal from the ABM treaty and the ongoing development of weapons intended to attack objects in space, could lead to the deployment of weapons in space. If the US stations weapons in space other nations are likely to do the same, and we will be faced with an arms race in space.

The report concludes that no one can prevail, and all stand to lose, in an arms race in space. Among other consequences would be negative effects on the growing scientific and commercial uses of space, and on the economy. In particular, private investors would be unlikely to place additional resources at risk in a vulnerable area of potential military conflict.

The report calls for changes in the policy of space dominance, greater transparency in military space spending, and detailed information about government and commercial space activities.

To view a PDF of the report, visit http://www.epsusa.org/publications/papers/spacesecurity.pdf.

To request a hard copy, please email Thea Harvey theaharvey@epsusa.org.

Read YubaNet’s blog about the report: http://yubanet.com/usa/Report-Economic-Impact-of-Arms-Race-in-Space.php.

“Arms, War and Terrorism in the Global Economy Today: Economic Analyses and Civilian Alternatives” is a volume published by Bremer Schriften zur Konversion. It presents papers of two joint seminars of EPS and the European Association for Evolutionary Political Economy (EAEPE), which took place in Rethymon, Crete, Greece, as well as papers from the 2004 Second International Conference on Defense, Security, and Economic Development held in Larissa, Greece.

Contributing authors include Michael Intriligator, Fannie Coulomb, Jacques Fontanel, Jurgen Brauer, Gulay Gunluk-Senesen, J. Paul Dunne, Luc Mampaey, Claude Serfati, Christos Kollias, Clark Abt, and Lucy Law Webster, as well as many other notable economists.

The book is available from the publishers, LIT Verlag, for €24.90 at http://www.lit-verlag.de/isbn/3-8258-0045-1.

Fact Sheets: Periodically, we release two-sided fact sheets designed to give an accessible, graphic look at one specific issue of concern to our members and constituency.

Global Arms Trade 2004 examines the world’s supplies of conventional weapons and small arms. http://www.epsusa.org/publications/factsheets/globalarmstrade.pdf.

Military vs. Social Spending: Warfare or Human Welfare compares US and global military spending with the costs of achieving the UN Millennium Development Goals. http://www.epsusa.org/publications/factsheets/milexMDG.pdf.

Conflict or Development? This book has a regional focus on Africa, the site of most of the world’s current armed conflicts. In its pages, some of the leading economists of the day analyze and reflect on the relationships among military spending, domestic and foreign policy, security, and human welfare. Features include country studies, sections on business and conflict, and “Trends in World Military Expenditure.” Written in a general-interest style, with informative maps, tables, and graphs, the series is designed to inform the debate among policymakers, activists, journalists, academics, students, and citizens worldwide.

You can order Conflict or Development by emailing theaharvey@epsusa.org.

Conflict or Development is also a valuable resource in teaching economics, political science, and international relations courses. To review a copy for use in your syllabus, email Thea Harvey at mailto:%20theaharvey@epsusa.org.

Data Resource webpage offers links to data sources for:

• International military expenditure and conflict indicators
• US military expenditure and capabilities
• Western Europe
• Russia

http://www.epsusa.org/network/data.htm. If you know of a data source that you feel should be added to our list, please contact Thea Harvey at mailto:theaharvey@epsusa.org.

EPS members are invited to the Green Economist Directory.

Never has there been a greater need for innovative thinking about economics and the environment. Economics for Equity and the Environment Network (E3) is looking to engage more economists who subscribe to a vision of an engaged, practical economics, in which an understanding of social equity and environmental protection cannot be separated.

The goal of E3 Network is to develop new applied arguments for environmental protection and to involve our economists more actively in public policy. Their economists engage in innovative research, publish in top journals and newspapers, testify before Congress, participate in press conferences, and consult with decision makers and NGOs on either a fee or pro bono basis.

If you are interested in joining over a hundred other economists across the country in these efforts, please sign up for the Green Economist Directory at www.e3network.org/gdreg.php. Signing up doesn’t commit you to anything and your contact information will never be shared with anyone without your permission. Any questions, please contact Kristen Sheeran, E3 Director, at director@e3network.org.

For more information about E3’s programs for economists and graduate students, please visit our website at http://www.e3network.org/.

Want to get the word out on the topic that matters most to you? With a letter to your local paper, you can help bring your message not only to your neighbors, but directly to the offices of your Members of Congress as well, where staffers and our lawmakers themselves follow opinions from home with an especially watchful eye.

The ACLU has a tool that helps write and send letters to local papers. Available are a list of media outlets by state, tips on how to write a letter in your own words, plus talking points for the listed topics.

http://action.aclu.org/site/PageServer?pagename=LTE_SOTU_2007&JServSessionIdr001=3bu4
9o8t91.app20a

August 7 – 10, 2009. 7th General Conference of Mayors for Peace in Nagasaki, Japan. Registration and travel information at https://apollon.nta.co.jp/peace07e/.

If you have enjoyed this issue of EPS NewsNotes, or if you wish to support our mission, please consider donating to EPS. You can do so securely online through our website or by sending a check to:

Economists for Peace and Security
at the Levy Economics Institute
Box 5000
Annandale on Hudson, NY 12504
USA

Questions? Call (845) 758-0917, or email mailto:%20info@epsusa.org.

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