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February 22, 2006
The Fletcher Forum of World Affairs Releases 30th Anniversary Edition
The Fletcher Forum of World Affairs, The Fletcher School’s world-renowned policy and international relations journal, celebrated a major milestone with the publication of its most recent issue. The Winter 2006 volume celebrates The Forum’s 30th anniversary, and features work by leading diplomats, academics, and exciting new voices in the field.
The commemorative edition, addressing topics that range from nonproliferation to institutional transparency and from the management of post-conflict societies to the future of the Sudan, is a reflection of The Forum’s aim to be an open venue for dialogue, cutting-edge research, and opinion pieces tackling the most relevant issues in international diplomacy, economics, humanitarian affairs, law, and security.
Current UN Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information Shashi Tharoor was a Fletcher student and the first editorial chairman of The Forum upon its inception in 1976. In honor of the publication’s growth and success through the years, he contributed congratulatory remarks to the new issue.
“Thirty years ago, my friends and I pushed to create The Forum principally as an outlet for student research and writing,” Tharoor recalls in his comments. “The Forum is now an established journal of international affairs, attracting contributors of great distinction and attaining (and maintaining) the exacting standards the world has come to expect from The Fletcher School.”
Cornelia Schneider, The Forum’s editor-in-chief, expressed surprise at how topics covered by Shashi Tharoor and his colleagues three decades ago remained relevant in light of events in 2006. In researching the 30-year history of The Forum, the editors found that topics of concern in 1976 included human rights violations in Cambodia, justifications for the state use of armed force in light of the Entebbe hijackings, the availability of nuclear technology, and devastating natural disasters—all topics that were mirrored in The Forum’s Winter 2006 edition.
Despite obvious developments, “the character of international affairs and the mission of The Forum remain in many ways unchanged,” Schneider remarked in her editorial foreword.
Noteworthy contributions for the 30th anniversary issue include original pieces by R. Bruce Hitchner, Dimitris Keridis, Thomas Hale, and Anne-Marie Slaughter, as well as exclusive interviews with Hans Blix, Shinichi Kitaoka, Sir Kieran Prendergast, and Jan Pronk.
Blix, who is currently the Chairman of the Weapons of Mass Destruction Commission established by the government of Sweden in December 2003, commented on his extensive career tackling nonproliferation issues, including 16 years as Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency and three years as Executive Chairman of the UN Monitoring, Verification, and Inspection Commission during the buildup to the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003.
When asked by Forum editors about the future of the global nonproliferation regime, Blix referred to the recent “diplomatic debacle” of nonproliferation talks and suggested reasons for their stagnation. “I can see that many of these nonnuclear weapons states feel cheated by the nuclear weapons states, in particular the United States, for going back on their commitments to move on with nuclear disarmament and, notably, the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty,” he said.
Kitaoka, a Japanese ambassador to the UN, and Prendergast, who served as a high-ranking UN official, offer perspectives on reform, progress, and current issues in the United Nations. Pronk, the UN’s head representative in Sudan, spoke with The Forum from Khartoum on the situation in Darfur and the prospects for peaceful resolution.
In addition to boldface diplomatic names, The Forum also features groundbreaking new work from innovative authors. Ashraf Ghani, Clare Lockhart, and Michael Carnahan, all former members of or senior advisors to the post-Taliban government in Afghanistan, offer their unique view on state-building in the twenty-first century. Regional experts Adam Azzain Mohammed and Makumi Mwagiru share thoughts on development and diplomacy in the Sudan and Kenya, respectively. And, in a new section called “Perspectives,” The Forum explores hot-button current affairs issues through brief, immediately relevant analysis. In the Winter 2006 issue, Hurricane Katrina provided the focus for a trio of pieces exploring lessons learned from natural disasters.
Throughout its 30 years as a premier student-run journal, The Forum has featured an impressive line-up of high-profile authors and groundbreaking academic work. Past contributors have included global leaders such as Kofi Annan, John Bolton, Noam Chomsky, Paul Wolfowitz, and all eight candidates for the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination. The Forum does not expect every reader to agree with all of the opinions it publishes, but hopes to encourage diversity by establishing a true “forum” in the form of a public meeting place for open discussion.
The Winter 2006 30th anniversary edition of The Forum continues the journal’s proud tradition at The Fletcher School. Copies are available for purchase at www.fletcherforum.org. Letters to the Editor may be sent to forum@tufts.edu.
By Stacy Reiter Neal, MALD '07
Posted by jessica at February 22, 2006 10:20 AM
