PTSD: three papers I wish I had the time to write

8.4.07

three papers I wish I had the time to write

Well, it's not all concert-going and being amused by the rest of the population (and myself--I was the one standing at the back, holding a puffy jacket and trying to create some space around me. Also, add "making awkward movements which resembled dancing not at all" to that) but work often raises its ugly head. Well, today while grading the Interpretive Research Proposals produced by my students, I took some time off to think about paper-writing. Instead of dissertating (or doing another revision of another paper), I would like to start writing these:

1. The Critical Security paper. Yes, most of yous have heard about this but how about a paper that explores what this whole concept of "Critical security" means and how "critical" is being used differently by different groups of people?

2. The Private Security paper. Mercenaries. 'Nuff said. Or, large groups of people have been fighting as (and for) mercenaries throughout the past however many years. Large numbers of Nepali people have been (and are) mercenaries/private security operators (or "Private Military Contractors" as the US Army calls them) for decades. It's seen as a legitimate, honourable career goal. But why is there massive publicity now and what does that mean to international security? I could use my "insider's knowledge" of visiting YouKnowWhere (place whose symbol is a Bear claw) for this and I always wanted to write a proper ("academic") article about that experience.

3. This whole British sailors-in-Iran issue. Especially now that the sailors have been given permission to sell their stories to the media. Read the comments on the BBC (and keep in mind that this is the BBC so "offensive" comments are automatically "moderated" aka removed) for the fairly strong feeling there seems to be about this issue. The shift in public opinion from being supportive of these kids to thinking "oh, well, selling your stories to the media is just not cricket" (but in stronger terms than that) is telling. As is the silence on the part of the Iranians now that they have released the sailors.

Again, what about security here? I suppose we can all say that the sailors' tales will not be focusing on the spiffy suits they got when released (well, except the one woman who obviously got the Iranian bag lady's hand-me-downs) but on the trials they had to undergo.

Labels: international security, marvell had it right, substitute paper-writing for love