Viewing war as a multi-layered phenomenon, the conference series seeks to explore the historical, legal, social, religious, economic, and political contexts of conflicts, and assess the place of art, journalism, literature, music, the media and the internet in representation and interpretation of the experience of warfare.

In particular papers, workshops, reports, and presentations are invited on any of the following themes:

 
• the sources, origins, and causes of war; why and how do wars begin?
 
• the ‘control’ of warfare; how is and should warfare be conducted? What are the limits of conflict? Are there any prohibitions in fighting a war? Security issues; protection issues; borders and boundaries
 
• the nature of warfare; strategy and strategic thought; changes and the implications of changes in the ways wars are fought; the influence and effect of technologies; changes in the nature and role of military personnel; information and information warfare
 
• types of warfare - land, sea, air, space, chemical, biological; guerrilla warfare; ‘total’ warfare; genocide, ethnic cleansing; terrorism; preemptive war; scorched earth; war crimes; crimes against humanity
 
• the extent of war; blockades, sanctions, defence expenditure and the impact on social and public policy
 
• the ‘ethics’ of war; just war; deterrence; defence and self-defence; the influence of nationalism; the place of human rights; societies and the military; increases in moral sensibilities - qualms about carpet bombing, collateral damage; the important role of religion, the church, and the intellectual elite in multi-ethnic conflict
 
• the experience of war; art, literature, music, poetry,  and the theatre; the role of the media - journalism, radio, television, the internet; propaganda; representing the realities of war versus ‘national interest’ - images of the heroism, glory, tacit and explicit justifications of war
• the prevention of war; the role of conflict resolution; avoiding war; peace-keeping; the role and importance of law and international legal order; the rise and impact of non-violent movements.

Papers will be considered on related themes. 300 word abstracts should be submitted by Friday 11th April 2003. Full draft papers should be submitted by Friday 4th July 2003.

One volume of themed papers is in preparation from the first conference. All papers accepted for and presented at this conference will be published in an ISBN eBook. Selected papers accepted for and presented at the conference will be published in one or more themed hard copy volumes.

Papers should be submitted to Dr Rob Fisher at rf@inter-disciplinary.net as an email attachment in Word or WordPerfect; abstracts can also be submitted in the body of the email text rather than as an attachment.

Further details and information about the War and Virtual War project can be found at:

http://www.inter-disciplinary.net/war.htm

For specific information about the conference, please go to:

http://www.inter-disciplinary.net/wvw2cfp.htm