International Dialogue

Notes from the Editor

I have to admit that there are, for all intents and purposes, two certainties when it comes to me being the Editor-in-Chief of ID. First, my office is a mess during the months of October and November. Multiple stacks of manila folders, each labeled with type of submission, author’s name and volume number, are spread out underneath my radiator—and each stack is bundled and given one of four labels: “Complete,” “Incomplete,” “Too Late/Rejected,” and “Vol. 6 2016”; there are huge stacks of material under a maroon leather chair that resides next to my desk for those who visit; and my desk is cluttered with submissions at various stages of editing and formatting.

Those contributors—typically fellow UNO faculty—who disregard the ease of electronic submission and show up at my office, perhaps with a corrected galley proof in hand, experience this mess firsthand. What they may not see or hear is the barrage of emails to and from authors, other editors, and referees, as well as my occasional ranting. I have been informed that I sometimes talk to myself behind closed doors.

This much is also certain: Given that ID does not use themes in its Call for Papers, I never know until the very end what will appear in any given issue. Obviously, the same holds true for ID’s readers, who over the years have been on the receiving end of an eclectic mix of articles and reviews, something akin to receiving a subscription to the New York Review of Books Classics Book Club. This volume is no different.

Of course, as editor, I do nudge the journal in certain ways, particularly when it comes to review essays and book reviews. Reviews of books on human rights, democracy, and political theory, as well as books by the Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Žižek continue to appear in this volume as they have in previous issues.

Volume 5 begins with an article entitled “The Battle for Jerusalem: Marcel Dubois’ Challenge to Roman Catholics, Israeli Jews, and Christian Zionists” by Curtis Hutt, a colleague and a regular contributor to ID. What struck me about his submission was the way in which he bundled the work of a French/Israeli philosopher priest, Marcel-Jacques Dubois, so that Dubois’ Christian Zionism offers hope for a more peaceful and prosperous Jerusalem. It is through Hutt’s prism that the ideas of a relatively obscure thinker may have the power to rearrange people’s lives in Palestine. This volume also includes a thought provoking discussion note by Peter Emerson. In “Majority Rule: A Dysfunctional Polity Consensus: A More Inclusive Democracy,” Emerson does something which is reminiscent of what Robert Paul Wolff did in his In Defense of Anarchism, which is to draw what some would say is an “outrageous” conclusion about democracy. Through his discussion note, Emerson tackles the concept of majority rule and uncovers its link to a less than inclusive polity. Perhaps this is especially important when it comes to places of conflict, such as Northern Ireland, the Balkans, and Ukraine. Emerson is followed by a pair of review essays that focus on European philosophers: Pieter Lemmens on Peter Sloterdijk and David A. White on Ludwig Wittgenstein. (By the way, Lemmens and White are themselves philosophers. It appears that many philosophers have found their way into this volume of ID.) Twenty book reviews and a book note complete the volume.

I thank the editors in Omaha and elsewhere, staff, and board members for their assistance in putting together this year’s volume. I want to especially thank Kathryn A. Cox Schwartz, who continues to serve as editorial assistant.

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 5:

• Andrew Crome, University of Manchester
• Sean Durbin, University of Newcastle
• Benjamin Gregg, University of Texas at Austin
• Göran Gunner, Stockholm School of Theology
• Curtis Hutt, University of Nebraska at Omaha
• Ramazan Kilinç, University of Nebraska at Omaha
• Asim Mujkić, University of Sarajevo
• Joseph Price, University of Nebraska at Omaha

- R.J.C. -- Omaha