Competition - The 2008 Routledge-GCP&S Essay Prize

September 11 and its aftermath have dramatised one of the distinguishing trends of our time: the globalisation of insecurity. These extraordinary events have served to remind us of the sheer scale and complexity of contemporary change.

Global Change, Peace & Security (formerly Pacifica Review: Peace Security and global Change) is a scholarly journal that addresses the difficult practical and theoretical questions posed by a rapidly globalising world. By focusing on the international dimension of political, economic and cultural life, it cuts across the traditional boundaries that separate states, economies and societies, as well as disciplines and ideologies.

Global Change, Peace & Security seeks to illuminate the sharp and often perplexing contradictions of an increasingly integrated yet fragmented world. Ethno-nationalism, the break-up of established states, and religious and civilizational divisions coexist with new forms of economic and financial integration. Gross violations of human rights, environmental degradation, large and uncontrolled population movements, and rapidly expanding transnational crime are taking place at a time of unparalleled UN activism, and the rise of a host of new legal and institutional arrangements, both regionally and globally.

Global Change, Peace & Security aims to explore these trends and counter-trends. It endeavours to foster a more holistic interpretation of the dichotomy of competitive geopolitics and geoconomics on the one hand and emerging conceptions of common, comprehensive and human security on the other.It analyses the sources and consequences of conflict, violence and insecurity, but also the conditions and prospects for conflict transformation, peacekeeping and peace-building.

Global Change, Peace & Security intends to bring to this task the insights of diverse cultural and intellectual traditions, not least the increasingly influential and diverse perspectives of the Asia-Pacific region. Its aim is to contribute to a scholarly and cosmopolitan dialogue on the nature, origins and remedies of the contemporary human predicament.

Peer Review: Global Change, Peace & Security is internationally refereed. Submissions are refereed by specialists in the field for originality, structural integrity and factual accuracy. An editorial review, referee reports and the author's response to these reports form the basis of the decision whether to publish submitted articles. All decisions of the Editors are final.

Views expressed in articles and communications do not reflect the opinion of the Editorial Committee or the Editors. Communications in Global Change, Peace & Security are reflective opinion pieces and the Editorial Committee welcomes diverse perspectives on contemporary issues.