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International Dialogue

Notes from the Editor

This is the first volume since ID started receiving support from The Leonard and Shirley Goldstein Center for Human Rights at the University of Nebraska Omaha. Not only has the Goldstein Center begun to host ID on its website, but the Center is providing staff funding as well. This support will help the journal to expand its global reach.

This was a transition year, moving from one platform to another, resulting in some disruption to user access to ID. However, the glitches have been worked out and the journal site is up and running. Although further changes may be in store, decisions regarding those will be made later in the year.

This issue is reminiscent of some past volumes in which there were few if any research articles. No fear of falling victim to “gigantism” in this issue. The editorial staff firmly believes that quality always trumps quantity. Perhaps it is not even a matter of quality. To push this point even further, I agree with the New York City artist Philip Crangi, when we said, “the challenge is being true to who we are while trying to create that new piece. This is a personal endeavor; I want this work to be honest. To create something new all the time and to also make sure it’s worthy of existing— That’s tough.” I agree it is not easy, but I think it is also a bit more complicated than “integrity” and “novelty,” at least insofar as ID is concerned. For Susan Sontag, “a writer is someone who pays attention to the world.” However, I wonder. What about the scholar, the sort of person who submits his or her work to this journal? What do they “look at”? For that matter, what do I “look at”? For sure, those who submit to ID are attentive to the world, but it is not simply a matter of, as Zadie Smith has suggested, the intimacies that swell the heart. It includes much more; it includes the stuff that requires the heavy lifting of the mind as well. The scholar qua writer deals with the world of ideas and concepts, of argument and logic. I, as editor, however, must take it all in, that which stirs the heart and the mind, and make sure that integrity, novelty, and all the rest are taken into account as piece after piece are pushed through the review process and onto the “printed” page. I hope something like that can be felt in this volume.

Volume 8 is once again an eclectic mix of works covering a diverse array of topics and by scholars mostly of whom reside outside the U.S. The volume opens with an article entitled “Is There a Crisis of Sustainable Development?” by Edward Sankowski and Betty J. Harris, Assistant Editors of ID, and longtime contributors to the journal. This work is timely, given that the effects of climate change are being experienced worldwide. Sankowski and Harris argue that there is a crisis of sustainable development. Such development may reference a value system, but it may also mean a set of societal development processes that are manifested in political economy and culture. They make the case that one crisis of sustainable development in either meaning arises from a combination of elements that are fundamental to neoliberalism. Connecting sustainable development and neoliberalism is their contribution.

Three review essays that, in broad-brush strokes, cover the intricacies of legal interpretation, liberation and repression, and critical theory follow the Sankowski and Harris article. The first is captured by Triantafyllos (Tria) Gkouvas in his piece on what linguistics and philosophy have to offer legal interpretation. The second is addressed by John Reynolds on Israeli control over the Occupied Palestinian Territory. The third is the focus of Miguel Vatter’s contribution on citizenship, insurrection, and recognition through the lenses of Étienne Balibar on the one hand, and Axel Honneth and Jacques Rancière on the other. Ten book reviews and a book note complete the volume. These latter contributions focus on recent books dealing with normative theory in economics, hate speech, ethnic cleansing in Europe, Iran, climate change and sustainability, human rights, moral philosophy, Brazil, and the German philosopher Martin Heidegger.

I thank the editors in Omaha and elsewhere, staff, and board members for their assistance in putting together this year’s volume. I want especially to thank Kathryn A. Cox Schwartz, who continues to serve as editorial assistant; Tijana Okić, the administrative assistant in Sarajevo; and the Executive Committee of The Leonard and Shirley Goldstein Center for Human Rights for supporting ID.

There is still a need for additional editors. 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 8:

• Per Bauhn, Lund University
• Svenja Bromberg, Goldsmiths University
• Elizabeth L. Chalecki, University of Nebraska at Omaha
• Victoria J. Haneman, Creighton University
• James Ingram, McMaster University
• Zayn Kassam, Pomona College
• Paul Kriese, Richmond, IN
• Frank Le Veness, St. John’s University
• Stephen Morton, University of Southhampton
• Joseph Price, University of Nebraska at Omaha

- R.J.C. -- Omaha