Publications

This book focuses on the use of small arms in violence and attempts by the state to govern the use and acquisition of these weapons.

It is likely that hundreds of thousands of people are killed every year as a result of armed violence – in contexts ranging from war zones to domestic violence. This edited volume examines why these deaths occur, the role of guns and other weapons, and how governance can be used to reduce and prevent those deaths. Drawing on a variety of disciplines, ranging from anthropology through economics to peace and security studies, the book’s main concern throughout is that of human security – the causes and means of prevention of armed violence.

The first part of the book concerns warfare, the second armed violence and crime, and the last governance of arms and their (mis)-use. The concluding chapter builds on the contributors’ key findings and suggests priorities for future research, with the aim of forming a coherent narrative which examines what we know, why armed violence occurs, and what can be done to reduce it.

This book will be of much interest to students of small arms, security studies, global governance, peace and conflict studies, and IR.

This special issue is resulting from the work of the Working Groups on “The role of media and ICT use for evolving social relationships” and “Audience transformations and social integration” of the COST Action IS0906 “Transforming Audiences, Transforming Societies”.

How we can tell apart the shifting, interlocking patterns of the landscapes past or present – this is the challenge of this book taking the reader to the heart of the various societies of this cultural heritage that we call the European landscapes. Across the braod panel selected by the researchers it is the long-trailing memory of European history itself that emerges in the profuse scope of images and representations. By presenting some thirty cases the book displays the plurality of approaches undertaken in the research and analysis that has come to be part and parcel of the protection and safeguarding policies for the environmental and landscape heritage as well as the valorisation practices of this common cultural non-renewable asset.

During the period 2001-2003, the COST Action E25 conducted a European survey of forest field research and monitoring facilities. The survey was carried out as national inventories. The overall aim was to make a pan-European survey of valuable forest field research and monitoring facilities dedicated to long-term forest ecosystem or landscape research related to sustainable forest management.