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International Dialogue

Notes from the Editor

Every issue of a publication beyond its inaugural issue, it seems, differs from its predecessor. Some are uniquely disturbing, however. This issue of ID is no exception. For the first time an issue of ID is without a single article. Submissions do not always make their way past the reviewers and into a journal. That is a given when it comes to peer-reviewed publications. But knowing all this did not make the prospect of an articleless issue any less unsettling and, if I may, horrifying. In fact, I do not recall ever thumbing through the pages of a journal that had no research to speak of within its “covers.” But I took solace in recalling a Turkish proverb that Christopher Hitchens once offered up to his readers: “When the axe came into the woods, many of the trees said: ‘At least the handle is one of us.’” This recollection was followed by the thought that perhaps the next issue of ID will be bulkier as compared to the slimness of this one. Nonetheless, I am pleased to present the fourth volume of ID: International Dialogue, A Multidisciplinary Journal of World Affairs. It begins with an interesting review essay covering the work of Slavoj Žižek and is followed by a dozen book reviews.

I thank the other editors and the board members for their assistance this year. I also thank Kathryn A. Cox Schwartz, who has graciously agreed to continue to serve as editorial assistant following her retirement from UNO, as well as Tijana Okić, the administrative assistant in Sarajevo. Eugene Jones, a faculty member at Mahidol University International College, Thailand, will serve as the journal’s first book review editor in Asia.

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 this volume:

• Francesca Billiani, University of Manchester
• Philip Cooke, University of Strathclyde Glasgow
• Adam Fforde, Victoria University (Australia)
• Moshe Gershovich, University of Nebraska at Omaha
• Leonard J. Greenspoon, Creighton University
• Dejan Guzina, Wilfrid Laurier University
• Klaus Hock, University of Rostock
• Curtis Hutt, University of Nebraska at Omaha
• Fikret Karčić, University of Sarajevo
• Ibrahim Kazerooni, University of Denver
• Frank LeVeness, St. John’s University
• Asim Mujkić, University of Sarajevo
• Eldar Sarajlić, Central European University
• P. Diego Sarrió Cucarella, Pontificio Institutodi Studi Arabi e d’Islamistka
• Jeffrey Shandler, Rutgers University
• Jelena Subotić, Georgia State University
• Ugo Vlaisavljević, University of Sarajevo

Last, I sadly announce the passing of one of ID’s past contributors, Edward Abplanalp, a philosopher who was passionate about social and environmental justice. In fact, he was thinking about penning another contribution for this issue, but that was not to be. Ed was a colleague of mine for many years at UNO and a former contributor to the International Third World Studies Journal & Review, a publication to which some of the ID editorial staff were affiliated. He finished his teaching career at Illinois Central College. To be sure, Ed was a real mensch.

- R.J.C. -- Omaha