Research Spotlight
 

Stephen Hill is an Assistant-Professor in Political Science at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. He graduated with his PhD from the University of Birmingham (UK) in 1999 and teaches courses in international relations theory, international conflict, US foreign policy and world politics. His publications include United Nations Disarmament Processes in Intra-State Conflict (Palgrave-Macmillan, 2004) and Peacekeeping and the United Nations, with Shahin P. Malik (Dartmouth Press,1996). His research has appeared in Contemporary Security Policy, Civil Wars and The World Today and he is currently editing a special issue of Contemporary Security Policy on the issue of small arms and light weapons. The special issue is designed to generate greater academic interest in the study of small arms and to contribute to the debate before the UN Review Conference of 2006.

Small Arms Issue Spotlight
 

A special issue of Contemporary Security Policy, entitled ‘Future Directions in Small Arms Control’, is a response to, and echo of, recent calls for greater academic research into small arms and light weapons. In this sense it brings together a collection of preeminent scholars to encourage interdisciplinary dialogue and the application of diverse methodologies to questions concerning the future of small arms control. By encouraging academic analysis it also seeks to contribute to the small arms debate by addressing questions not amenable to the small arms activist community, which by its very nature is constrained by tight time frames and conditions established by donor organizations. Thus, as well as answering the question of whether the UN’s Program of Action is an appropriate response to the small arms problem, this issue also addresses questions related to the structure of the small arms movement, the nature of the small arms trade and the theoretical and practical problems posed by post-conflict disarmament. Due to be published in Spring 2006, this issue will make a significant contribution to the debate leading up to the UN Review Conference and will be essential reading for all scholars and activists concerned with the future of small arms control.

Subscription information for Contemporary Security Policy can be found at: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/titles/13523260.asp