|
Summer 2009Welcome to the second issue of the UNU Press Newsletter. Serving as a window into the activities of UNU Press, this quarterly update is designed to provide the UNU community and others interested in UNU Press with the latest information, including new and recently published titles, new initiatives, events, and reviews of Press books in scholarly journals and other periodicals. Featured BookWorld Religions and Norms of WarEdited by Vesselin Popovski, Gregory M. Reichberg and Nicholas Turner
What’s NewUNU Press launches Depository Library ProgrammeTo broaden the dissemination of its publications and build upon existing complimentary distribution, UNU Press officially launched a new depository library programme in March of this year. Initially aimed at national, as well as key university and independent academic libraries in developing countries, it is hoped the programme will expand to include libraries in more developed regions resulting in a more equitable distribution of UNU Press publications among prominent libraries worldwide. “UNU Books” opens at UNU Headquarters
A new bookstore opened on the 2nd floor of UNU HQ in early June. The store currently features many titles from UNU Press. However, it is envisaged that the store will quickly expand its offering to include books from other UN agencies as well as relevant Japanese titles from reputable local presses including the University of Tokyo Press. UNU Press establishes distribution arrangement with Academic Foundation (AF)With branches in most major Indian cities, Academic Foundation has a proven track record in the promotion and sales of academic titles in the fields of international relations and environment and sustainability across the Indian and South Asian markets. UNU press looks forward to a successful partnership with AF and to improved distribution, dissemination and sales of UNU Press titles in the region. Co-publishing deals struck with South African partnersUNU Press has secured co-publishing deals with two South African University Presses. The Press will publish HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa: Understanding the Implications of Culture and Context with the University of Cape Town Press and African Security Governance: Emerging Issues with Wits University Press. EventsInteractive Seminar on Global Issues (ISGI)UNU Press hosted the seventh and eighth UNU Interactive Seminars on Global Issues on January 30 and June 30, respectively, at UNU Headquarters. Seventh ISGI: Food Security Control and Freedom of TradePresenter, Mitsuo Matsushita, professor emeritus of the University of Tokyo and a counsel to Nagashima, Ohno & Tsunematsu, a leading international law firm in Tokyo, shed light on the relationship between domestic measures for food safety and international disciplines by referring to actual WTO dispute settlement cases. Professor Matsushita discussed some of the findings outlined in the recent UNU Press publication The WTO and Global Governance: Future Directions. Commentary was provided by Aya Iino, assistant professor, College of Commerce, Nihon University and former advisor to the Mission of Japan to International Organizations covering WTO dispute settlement issues in Geneva. Eighth ISGI: Protracted Refugee SituationsDr. Edward Newman, senior lecturer at the University of Birmingham, UK and professor Saburo Takizawa, professor at Toyo Eiwa Jogakuin University and former Japan representative of UNHCR, gave presentations at this seminar. Dr. Newman presented the results of a number of projects on protracted refugee situations, highlighting the political, social and security implications which arise from prolonged human displacement, drawing from the co-edited UNU Press volume Protracted Refugee Situations: Political, Human Rights and Security Implications Professor Takizawa commented on “Japan’s refugee regime under (re)construction,” with particular focus on a pilot resettlement scheme starting next year, and analyzed the latest trend which shows an increasing number of asylum seekers, increasing recognition and a sharp increase in humanitarian status. Commentary was provided by Ms. Kazuko Ito, attorney at law and secretary-general of Human Rights Now. UNU Press exhibits with United Nations Publications and specialized agenciesAcademic meetingsThe International Studies Association (ISA) and the Association of American Geographers (AAG) annual meetings provide two occasions when UNU Press and United Nations Publications can join forces and pool resources to exhibit publications on a combined stand, helping to raise impact and enhance the visibility of both organizations.
Members of both the ISA and AAG are seen as crucial segments of the market for the Press in terms of its readership. The conventions also provide an opportunity for UNU Press to not only showcase its new publications, but also to solicit suitable manuscripts for publication and in so doing help enhance its reputation within these communities. International Studies Association Association of American Geographers Book FairsThe London Book Fair held in April provided an opportunity for UNU Press to meet with publishing partners from Europe and Africa as well as distributors based in these regions. This year UNU Press shared a stand with UN Publications (UNP) Geneva.
UNU Press played host to United Nations Publications and four specialized agencies (World Health Organization (WHO), Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Asian Development Bank (ADB)) at the Tokyo Book Fair in July of this year. The Tokyo Book Fair continues to be the only local event where UNU Press and partners can showcase selected titles. UNU Press launches World Religions and Norms of War in New York, Washington, D.C. and LondonUNU Press and the United Nations University Office at the United Nations officially launched World Religions and Norms of War at the United Nations in New York on February 19 and at the United States Institute of Peace in Washington, D.C. on the following day. Speaking at the events were volume editors Vesselin Popovski and Nicholas Turner of UNU’s Institute of Sustainability and Peace. Other participants at the launches included H.E Ambassador Khalid Al-Nafisee, Permanent Representative of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to the United Nations; H.E. Archbishop Migliore, Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations; Walter Dorn from the Royal Military College (Canada); Henrik Syse of PRIO; David Smock of the United States Institute of Peace; and Marshall Breger of the Columbus School of Law. The book was well received with a good number of copies being sold at both locations.
The London launch was hosted by the Department of History, Department of the Study of Religions, and the School of Law at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London on May 6. The event was chaired by Professor Mashood Baderin and featured a number of SOAS professors including Dr. Yuri Stoyanov, a contributor to the volume. Dr. Vesselin Popovski, one of the volume editors, was also on hand to provide comments. The event was well attended with many of the participants purchasing a copy of the book. Recently PublishedThe Business of Sustainable Development in Africa: Human Rights, Partnerships, Alternative Business Models
This book is on the role of business decision-makers in sustainable development. It is an important read for academics, managers, and all students of business with an interest in the human and humane face of modern commerce. The strategies pursued by business managers and decisions they take may have far-reaching impacts, good or bad, on communities and the environment. Read more Co-published with The University of South Africa Press, UNISA Press. The Political Interests of Gender Revisited: Redoing Theory and Research with a Feminist Face
“In the last two decades,” Anna G. Jónasdóttir and Kathleen B. Jones write in their introduction to this important new anthology, “two trends have characterised approaches to the concept of gender in political studies … one strategically centering gender in social and political analysis and the other deconstructing gender.” Read more Co-published with Manchester University Press. Full Participation: A Comparative Study of Compulsory Voting
Full Participation is the first book-length study of compulsory voting to be published in the English language. About a quarter of all democracies in the contemporary world legally oblige their citizens to vote, making this an important aspect of electoral systems in many settings. Moreover, numerous commentators and policy-makers in voluntary voting states are coming to see mandatory attendance at the polls as an attractive option in the context of declining turnout. Read more Co-published with Manchester University Press. The Rise of Bilateralism: Comparing American, European and Asian Approaches to Preferential Trade Agreements
As multilateral negotiations become increasingly complex and protracted, preferential trade agreements have become the centrepiece of trade diplomacy, pushing beyond tariffs into deep integration and beyond regionalism into a web of bilateral deals, raising concerns about coercion by bigger players. This study examines American, European and Asian approaches to preferential trade agreements and their effect on trade, investment and economic welfare. Read more Human Insecurity in East Asia
Threats to human security do not necessarily take cataclysmic forms such as war or natural disaster. Nor does human insecurity exist solely within a suspended living environment like refugee camps. Often threats to human security are as subtle as a slow-rising tide, whose calamitous nature remains unknown till it breaks as a monstrous flood. Read more The United Nations and Nuclear Orders
Recent tensions surrounding the nuclear ambitions of North Korea and Iran, as well as the shocking revelations of A.Q. Khan’s atomic bazaar, have drawn attention to the role of the United Nations in addressing a host of nuclear challenges. Yet the world organization’s role has largely been absent from both scholarly and policy research. Read more How to purchase UNU Press booksAll UNU Press publications can be purchased directly at the sales office in UNU Headquarters (Room 918) and from UNU Books on the 2nd floor of UNU Headquarters. For e-mail orders, the sales office can be contacted at sales@unu.edu, and for orders by fax at +81–(0)3–3406–7345. Please note that orders cannot be taken over the phone although inquiries are welcome. Please call +81–(0)3–5467–1212. UNU Press publications are also offered for sale through distributors in 69 countries worldwide, including major retailers such as Amazon and Barnes & Noble. The UNU Press publication catalogue is available for free online and printed copies are available from the sales office and from UNU Books. UNU Press is pleased to offer a staff discount of 25% to UNU employees. Browse books on Google Book Search. ReviewsAfter Mass Crime: Rebuilding States and CommunitiesEdited by Béatrice Pouligny, Simon Chesterman and Albrecht Schnabel “The introduction to After Mass Crime indicates a volume that is a broad and reflective antidote to linear narrowly political and economic conceptions of reconstruction. …all who are interested in the issues and cases will find much to engage them.” International Affairs 84, No. 1, January 2008 Diasporas in Conflict: Peacemakers or Peace Wreckers?Edited by Hazel Smith and Paul Stares “Diasporas in Conflict: Peacemakers or Peace Wreckers? is a well rounded book, with multi-disciplinary approaches from the fields of political science, anthropology, sociology and feminist theory, and with diaspora case studies on Jews, Palestinians, Armenians, Eritreans, Columbians, Cubans, Sri Lankans, Kurds, Croatians, and Cambodians.” Journal of Peace Research, January 2009 Global Multi-level Governance: European and Asian LeadershipBy César de Prado “Overall the book is an excellent resource and presents a compelling case that the influence of communications technology has nurtured networks that have transformed the way in which the international system operates.” Pacific Affairs, Winter 2008-9 Institutionalizing Northeast Asia: Regional Steps towards Global GovernanceEdited by Martina Timmermann and Jitsuo Tsuchiyama “The volume can be recommended for anyone interested who desires a deeper understanding of Asian or comparative regional integration and cooperation and what can be expected from Northeast Asia as a regional contribution to overcome the current (economic) crisis.” ASIEN – The German Journal on Contemporary Asia, No. 111, April 2009 Understanding Human Well-BeingEdited by Mark McGillivray and Matthew Clarke “The book showcases alternative attempts to define, measure, and address well-being with various qualitative and quantitative approaches, as reflected by the diverse but rich background of the volume’s contributors.” Progress in Development Studies 8, no.2: 204 Back to top
|
In this issue
|
|
|
||
Recent armed conflicts—domestic and international—have drawn fresh attention to age-old questions concerning when war can be justified, and what methods and targets are permissible during war. Over more than two millennia, the world’s leading religious traditions—Hinduism, Judaism, Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam—have provided guidance in these contested domains. 
UNP Geneva agreed to host UNU Press, as well as the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), at the Cape Town Book Fair this year. This event, still in its infancy, provides an opportunity for some of the smaller Southern African publishers and distributors to meet with publishing representatives from outside the region, as well as provide a means for the local academic community and the general public to see titles they would not normally have access to.
Edited by Ralph Hamann, Stu Woolman and Courtenay Sprague
Edited by Anna G. Jónasdóttir and Kathleen B. Jones
Sarah Birch
Kenneth Heydon and Stephen Woolcock
Edited by Michio Umegaki, Lynn Thiesmeyer and Atsushi Watabe
Edited by Jane Boulden, Ramesh Thakur and Thomas G. Weiss