RELIGION & VIOLENCE: AN ENCYCLOPEDIA OF FAITH AND CONFLICT 12/10 By Michael Shank and Courtney Erwin REFERENCE REVIEWS of “Victims of Religious Violence” Chapter: “Two over-arching essays – on terrorism and on victims – give us a welcome steer here on what is what…Victims come in all shapes and sizes […]
Publications
A New Way Forward: Rethinking U.S. Strategy in Afghanistan
A NEW WAY FORWARD: THE REPORT 08/2010 By The Afghanistan Study Group At nine years and counting, the U.S. war in Afghanistan is the longest in our history, surpassing even the Vietnam War, and it will shortly surpass the Soviet Union’s own extended military campaign there. With the surge, it […]
US Policy in Iraq: A Plague on Both Houses
JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL PEACE OPERATIONS Vol 3, No. 6 May-June 08 By Michael Shank For all of Washington’s white papers on the war in Iraq, testimonies by General David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker, and wonkish retching over the war’s latest development – the recent routing of Iraq Prime Minister Nouri […]
Strategic Arts-Based Peacebuilding
PEACE & CHANGE: A JOURNAL OF PEACE RESEARCH Vol. 33, Issue 2, April 08 By Michael Shank and Lisa Schirch Abstract The arts offer peacebuilders unique tools for transforming intractable interpersonal, intercommunal, national, and global conflicts – tools that are not currently prevalent or available within the peacebuilding field. The […]
Reducing Taliban Recruitment by Development
JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL PEACE OPERATIONS Vol. 3, No. 1, July-Aug 07 By Michael Shank United States Secretary of Defense Robert Gates’ recent commentary that “things are slowly, cautiously headed in the right direction” in Afghanistan convinced very few. General Dan McNeill, commander of NATO’s International Security Assistance Force, seconded the […]
The Need for a Robust Security Strategy in Iraq
JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL PEACE OPERATIONS Vol 2, No. 5, March-April 07 By Michael Shank The 43rd MÜNICH Conference on Security Policy, an annual February forum discussing security and foreign policy challenges in European and American relations, brought the latest chastisement of United States security policy, this time by the Germans. […]
Understanding Political Islam in Somalia
CONTEMPORARY ISLAM No. 11562, March 07 By Michael Shank Preface By the time this article is published, much will have transpired in recent months within Somalia. Between December 2006 and January 2007, the Ethiopian and United States governments invaded Somalia by land and air, respectively, ousting the ruling Union of […]
US Mayors Climate Protection Agreement: A Model for Climate Change Action and Social Movements
GMU 2006 By Michael Shank Abstract: Over seven-hundred U.S. mayors are signatories to the Mayors Climate Protect Agreement, which commits each signatory’s city to aggressive emissions reduction standards. The seven-hundred-plus signatories represent a social movement that is unparalleled in the U.S.; no other public or private organization is exhibiting this […]
Social Justice is the Will of the People: An Interview with Noam Chomsky
SEATTLE JOURNAL FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE Vol. 3, Issue 2, Spring/Summer 2005 By Michael Shank The Transforming Social Justice section of this issue explores what social justice is, what the social justice movement has accomplished, and whether the movement should transform itself to confront today’s most pressing issues effectively. Mr. Noam […]
Redefining the Movement: Art Activism
SEATTLE JOURNAL FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE Vol. 3, Issue 2, Spring/Summer 05 By Michael Shank FOREWORD BY HOWARD ZINN* When I think of the relationship between artists and society – and for me the question is always what it could be, rather than what it is – I think of the […]