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Strife Monthly Newsletter - March 2021

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Welcome to Strife’s monthly newsletter!

The aim of this newsletter is simple- to allow you to keep up with all that has been going on at Strife, and to allow us to share the exciting work that we have been doing.

Be sure to keep reading and to follow us to find out more about what Strife has to offer.

Click here to get the newsletter in a fully formatted PDF.

Letter from the Editor

Over the past year Strife Blog and Journal has taken on a diverse team with editorial and operational staff from across five continents, based at numerous institutions, all specialising in the analysis of conflict in all its forms. Strife publications have grown, with the Journal moving from biannual to quarterly. The Blog has dramatically increased its output, now publishing one article per day. I am proud of the work and dedication of the editorial and operational teams’ efforts to make these goals a reality.

This newsletter is the start of a set of initiatives from our Communications team to promote the most recent developments and projects here at Strife. Strife’s goal is to promote the work and achievements of postgraduate and early career researchers. We hope this newsletter will provide a snapshot not only into our publications but the work of the overall team that contribute to Strife. To that end, I am pleased to be able to introduce our pilot scheme for Women In Writing as part of our celebrations of International Women’s Day and Women’s History Month. Over the coming months we look forward to bringing updates on the publications, updates from our operational and communications teams as well as dates for your diary.

A Happy Easter to you from all at Strife.

Anna B. Plunkett
Editor in Chief, Strife Blog and Journal

International Women’s Day at Strife

Happy Women’s History Month! This month we’ve had a chance to reflect on the changing position of women through the decades, and though many steps have been made in the right direction, it remains clear that there is still much to do in our field.

Too often, the voices of women on issues of conflict and security are marginalised or go unheard, despite the critical role they play in conflict, development, peacebuilding and international security. We want to support women in writing their own chapter in the history of conflict. To this end, we launched the Women in Writing Mentoring Scheme in October 2020.

The women in the scheme were assigned a mentor who helped guide them through every step of the writing process—from the generation of ideas to editing, to publication. A companion on their year-long journey, the mentors will be their open door to the world of writing, so that the women will be able to confidently walk through and shine on their own. Later, they may then lend a hand to the women following in their footsteps.

Our nineteen mentees have had the chance to write and publish one article for Strife Blog, with their next round of publication quickly approaching in May. We also created a series of unique and exclusive events focused on transferable and soft skills as well as possible career pathways. From workshops on editing to coffee chats with working professionals in academia, policy, think tanks, and the private sector, we have given them a chance to network, ask questions, and see what it is like to be a woman in conflict from the perspective of experts.

We are proud to say we have provided a unique experience for the MA students who took on this opportunity.

Calls for Papers

Strife not only publishes its academic blog, but also its peer-reviewed academic journal, Strife Journal, which is led by doctoral and graduate researchers at the War Department at King’s College London.

Strife Journal was happy to announce the opening of the first Call for Papers for 2021 on the 4th of March.

The deadline for submission is the 12th of April 2021. More information on deadlines and submission guidance can be found here.

Strife’s new Ethics Statement

Strife is pleased to announce the publication of our Ethical Standards, now available in full here.

We believe that it is crucial to highlight the ethical principles that are the foundation of all of our work.

If there are any queries or questions that you may have on the ethical guidelines or procedures of the Strife Blog and Journal, please contact [email protected].

Top Articles at Strife Blog for March 2021

Strife Journal: First Round of Call for Papers for 2021

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Strife Journal is pleased to announce the opening of the first round of Call for Papers for 2021, with a deadline for all papers of 12 April 2021.

Strife is a biannual peer-reviewed dual-format publication which publishes articles on the theme of conflict, broadly defined. Submissions may include studies of conflict in history, art and media, of the relationship between war and state, of the interrelation of war and society, analyses of strategy, operations and military tactics, diplomacy and international relations, as well as more narrowly defined subjects. There is no restriction as to period or geographical focus.

Strife Journal - Call for Papers

Articles should be between 4000–5000 words and include an abstract of 100 words. Submitted articles must meet the outlined submission guidelines. Articles that do not meet referencing and formatting guidelines risk being rejected for publication.

Please email submissions to [email protected].

Call for Papers: Rethinking States of Exception Series

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Strife is pleased to announce the call for contributions to its ‘Rethinking States of Exception’ Series.

This series is looking to publish on examinations of contemporary productions of “states of exception” that go beyond Carl Schmitt and Giorgio Agamben’s traditional theorizations, and incorporate critical, transnational, post-colonial, as well as feminist perspectives to produce a more nuanced theoretical paradigm. The theory’s crux lays in its ability to explain the everyday use of mechanisms of power in today’s liberal democracies, as well as in contexts of despotic power and complete impunity. Nevertheless, the theory’s traditional framework falls short of fully accounting for these mechanisms as a result of its ungendered, unracialized, and ahistorical approach. Only in recognizing the ways in which gender, race, and colonial legacies affect distributions of power can we truly uncover the conditions under which states of exception and the entity of homines sacri are produced today.

Themes could include but are not limited to:

  • Refugee Politics and Statelessness
  • Arbitrary Detention, Mass Incarceration, and the Carceral State
  • Negotiations and Imaginaries of Borders, Sovereignty, and States of Exception
  • Covid-19 and Viruses as Metaphors of Exception
  • The War on Terror
  • Intersex, Transexual, and Queer Bodies as States of Exception
  • The Violence Produced by Exceptions

Questions could include but are not limited to:

  • How do we account for and respond to the contemporary production of states of exception?
  • Should responses to violent crises always be constitutional?
  • What does the “state of exception” mean in a neoliberal world order where executive power is inseparable from the interests of the private sector?
  • What is the relationship between human reproduction and governance?
  • What function does the securitisation of irregular migration fulfill? In what strategies is it integrated?

This interdisciplinary series is not limited to geopolitical perspectives and welcomes contributions from diverse fields, such as gender studies, law, economics, contemporary arts, and much more. Articles should be around 1000-1200 words in length and meet with all of the submission guidelines. Articles will be subject to a review by the Series Editor and the Blog Coordinating Editor prior to acceptance to the series. Articles that do not meet referencing and formatting guidelines risk being rejected for publication.

Articles should be submitted by 2nd March 2021. If you are interested in submitting an article for publication, or have an idea or query you wish to discuss, please contact our editorial team at: [email protected]

Call for Papers: Caribbean Maritime Security Series

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Strife is pleased to announce the call for contributions to its ‘Caribbean Maritime Security’ Series.

This series is looking to publish on a range of topics and perspectives related to Caribbean maritime security. There is no restriction as to period, nor is there a requirement to include a broader regional perspective. Articles can focus on a single theme related to Caribbean Maritime Security like a specific country within the region. The themes could include but are not limited to:

  • Regional Navies and Coast Guards
  • Emerging Maritime Threats in the Caribbean
  • ‘Great Power Competition’ in Caribbean Maritime Security
  • Port and Panama Canal Infrastructure Security
  • Caribbean History and Maritime Security
  • Illegal Narcotics Trafficking as a Maritime Issue

Articles should be around 1000-1200 words in length and meet with all of the submission guidelines. Articles will be subject to a review by the Series Editor and the Blog Coordinating Editor prior to acceptance to the series articles that do not meet referencing and formatting guidelines risk being rejected for publication.

Articles should be submitted by 19 February 2021. If you are interested in submitting an article for publication, or have an idea or query you wish to discuss, please contact our editorial team at: [email protected].

Strife Blog - Call for Submissions

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Last year, the Strife Blog published over sixty submissions as well as three dedicated series, across a range of topics dealing with human conflict, broadly defined. Most recently, articles published on the Strife Blog dealt with intelligence oversight in the British Parliament to movements for political participation in West Papua. From pieces focused on localised conflict and from the field reporting, to debates on grand strategy and questions on the new World Order, Strife Blog also publishes interviews with academics, experts, specialists, and artists.

Conflict may be the continuation of politics by other means, but it is so much more than just that. That is why we especially value diverse perspectives on global issues – conflict is deeply unpredictable, so avoiding tunnel vision is crucial to providing relevant analysis. Strife Blog is open to submissions from analytical pieces on current affairs to engagements and reflections on history. We also welcome submissions of book, event, film, and exhibition reviews as well as interviews across all themes related to conflict.

Our articles are between 1200 and 1500 words, with a short bibliography and an image to go with the text. With both readership and contributors spanning both the academic and policy worlds, we engage in both the theoretical and practical. So, whether you are a first-time writer or an experienced veteran, our editorial team is here to help, providing comments and suggestions throughout your article. At Strife, editors do not dictate changes from on high, but rather work alongside you to refine your argument.

If you’re interested, our contact address remains open throughout the year – [email protected].

For any general questions, you can contact the Managing Editor at [email protected].

 

We’re looking forward to your submissions!