International Dialogue

Notes from the Editor

It has been a stressful but interesting year. Most of my work has been done at home, but with an occasional visit to the friendly confines of my office at UNO. In the Notes from the Editor for Volume 10, I wrote about a hope “of renewed normalcy.” I have come the conclusion that such a hope is not possible for me. A number of life altering events occurred in my life in 2020–one being that I contracted COVID. Luckily it was a mild case, but one lasting effect has been I no longer enjoy eating most foods. That is a major impact, because eating was one of life’s pleasures for me. Meals now are more like novel experiments, with an unpredictable outcome. Not having taught in a classroom for a year, I think going back in front of students will be like an experiment. I do not think that the clock can be turned back to the way things were. But one thing seems to have remained constant, and that is ID.

There is one structural change, however. A “Perspective” section has been added. It is a place where work that has a more popular feel will be published. Submissions for Perspective will be selected through an in-house process. The inaugural Perspective is a short piece that I authored, “Fleeing from War or Pandemic, and Returning Home.”

This year’s volume contains the work of scholars from North America. Volume 11 begins with two articles submitted from Canada. The first is an article entitled “Forbearance, Endogenous Development, and Aid Work” by Selina L. Haynes and Mark S. Williams. Since Haiti is in the news not because of some terrible natural disaster but because of a presidential assassination, there has been talk about sending more development aid to the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. This work by Haynes and Williams sends a clear message that those who decide on such matters should rethink how they go about their business. “The international aid industry continues to export pain and unpaid Westerners to undertake development work of questionable and suspect utility to Africa, and to the less-developed countries of other regions”—in short, it has failed “to meaningfully improve the quality of life due to a multitude of systemic challenges within the industry” (4). This paper nudges us in a different direction.

The second article is by Marie-Josée Lavallée, entitled “Do Politics Repel Truth? Hannah Arendt on Political Controversies in Dialogue with Plato.” The author shows us an intimacy between Arendt’s work on a variety of controversies of her time and Plato’s dialogues.

This is followed by a review essay by Edward Sankowski and Betty J. Harris, two of ID’s assistant editors, who select work by Slavoj Žižek on the COVID-19 Pandemic. The book review that follows the Sankowski and Harris essay deals with international relations theory and Middle Eastern conflicts. The volume ends with my contribution to Perspective.

I thank the editors, staff, and board members for their assistance in putting together Volume 11 in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. I want to thank Kathryn A. Cox Schwartz, who has served as editorial assistant since the inception of ID, and the Executive Committee of The Leonard and Shirley Goldstein Center for Human Rights for their continued financial support. I also thank Angela Brown for her continued work as administrative assistant.

There is still a need for additional board members and editors, including an associate editor. Interested individuals should send a letter of interest and a CV to rconces@unomaha.edu.

I thank all those who reviewed manuscript submissions to ID over the past year. I am grateful for their adherence to deadlines and, most importantly, their insightful comments to both editors and authors. The following list includes board members and external referees who reviewed submissions for Volume 11: