At the launch of the Participatory Communication issue of Journal of International Communication(JIC) in 2001, the UN Representative in Australia remarked that the issues covered by JIC are all issues of concern to the United Nations. JIC covers these issues from a variety of disciplinary and critical perspectives drawing on scholars drawn from all over the world.
In 2005 the United Nations will celebrate 60 years of international regime development and management in areas related to security; trade; political, economic and social development; culture, education and communication; and environmental protection, to provide a cross-section of the United Nation’s areas of concern. A quick look at the United Nation’s organizational chart at http://www.unsystem.org/ shows the full breadth of governance that the UN engages, even if it is debatable that it is a world ‘government’ in the sense of the word as applied to the nation state.
JIC proposes a Special Issue to mark the 60th Anniversary of the United Nations that is not purely celebratory, but one that recognises the United Nation’s interest in promoting Civil Society throughout the world. The issue will provide a critical space that will allow international communication scholars to theorize and analyse the structure, processes and projects of the United Nations system so that this scholarship may be drawn on by the United Nations in a year of self-reflection, as it looks forward to its next 60 years.
Papers dealing with any of the following topics or areas are invited. Of course, the topics could be combined and there may be additional issues related to these topics that could be addressed:
How is the United Nations system best described as an international communication system and how does it fulfil or fail to fulfil this role? How do component parts of the United Nations system act as international communication systems? What models of international communication are at work here? How can they be improved? What alternative models should displace existing models?
Communication scholars theorize the press in relation to the state and market. How can we theorize international media in relation to the UN form of governance and transnational actors? What is the shape of the global public sphere and who are the citizens who occupy this space?
Do the media have responsibility in relation to ‘civic education’ based on a UN sponsored globally acceptable ‘civic culture’? How does such a culture interface and interact with parallel cultures?
Has the United Nations succeeded in educating nation states about its potential and vision, including its vision of universal democracy? How is the vision of the United Nations regenerated through international communication processes within the United Nations itself? What are the intercultural and geopolitical obstacles to an effective education process? What can we expect in the future?
How are the relationships between political and economic power and influence played out in the construction of patterns, processes and practices of global governance? What role do diplomatic skills play in these processes and practices.
The above topic areas are provided as triggers for the generation of ideas. They are not meant to be exhaustive or exclusionary. If a scholar is working on an area related to the United Nations which is of interest to the multidisciplinary field of International communication, s/he is welcome to send an abstract to Professor Chitty.
Abstracts should be double-spaced and no longer than 500 words. They should be submitted to the Editor (address given below) by the end of December 2004.
Articles that are submitted for review should follow the APA style guide and must be double-spaced and no longer than 7500 words. See http://www.mucic.mq.edu.au/jic for style and submission guide. They must be submitted directly to JIC at the address below before the end of February 2005.
Professor Naren Chitty
Editor, The Journal of International Communication
c/o Macquarie University Centre for International Communication
DCSMP, Macquarie University, North Ryde, NSW 2109
AUSTRALIA
E-mail:naren.chitty@mq.edu.au
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