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June 15, 2005

Fletcher’s International Development Studies Journal Praxis Reinvents Itself, Focusing on Human Security Issues

In addition to the physical renovations that the Fletcher School has undergone during the last academic year, other Fletcher mainstays have also experienced makeovers. Praxis, formerly known as Fletcher’s Journal of Development Studies, celebrated its 20th year of publication by joining forces with the school’s Institute of Human Security (IHS) and renaming itself Praxis: Fletcher Journal of Human Security.

A team of Fletcher students has traditionally edited Praxis, and this year is no exception. Second-year students Sarah Titus and Melinda Willis served as Co- Editors-in-Chief, and along with marketing director and classmate Anne Williams, Titus and Willis led a team of student staff editors, all of whom brought a mixture of journalistic, academic or hands-on experience in the field of Human Security.

In the 2005 issue (portions of which are available online), Fletcher professor Peter Uvin, the director of the five-year-old Institute of Human Security, describes IHS' relationship with the Feinstein International Famine Center at Tufts’ Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy. Among the IHS, the FIFC, and engaging Fletcher graduate students and associates, Praxis has aimed for a mix of scholarly yet “operationally relevant” research, combining academics, practitioners and observers’ perspectives on development, conflict resolution and human rights.

The current issue, Human Security and Perspectives on Building Peace, includes thoughts from FIFC director Peter Walker on last year’s Tsunami disaster, the politics of disarming vigilante warlords in Afghanistan, an interview with academic and theologian Hugo Slim, and an extended discussion on a rights-based approach to development.

Through its newly redesigned website, readers can purchase subscriptions to the journal, which is published once annually, and prospective authors may submit manuscripts for publication in the 2006, Volume XXI issue. Praxis encourages submissions from Fletcher students and their colleagues worldwide, as well as from experienced practitioners and academics.

Article by Stephanie Lindenbaum, MALD '05

Posted by jessica at June 15, 2005 03:04 PM