Information about the Authors

Abdul Aziz Said is the Mohammed Said Farsi Professor of Islamic Peace and Director of the Center for Global Peace. Dr. Said was a member of the White House Commission on the Islamic World during the Carter Administration, has served as a consultant to the U.S. Information Agency and Department of State, and has played an active role in Arab-Israeli dialogues. His publications in the field of international relations have covered a wide range of topics, including human rights, ethnicity, multi-national corporations, American foreign policy, peace and conflict resolution, and Islamic-Western relations. His work, Concepts of International Politics in Global Perspective, is now in its fourth edition

Elise Boulding is Professor Emerita of Sociology, Dartmouth College, and former Secretary General of the International Peace Research Association. A scholar-activist, she has undertaken numerous transnational and comparative cross-national studies on conflict and peace, development, family life, women in society as well as writing on the future. Her books include: The Underside of History: A View of Women through Time (1992); Building a Global Civic Culture, (1990); One Small Plot of Heaven: Reflections of a Quaker Sociologist on Family Life, (1989); The Future Images and Processes with Kenneth Boulding (1995); and Cultures of Peace: The Hidden Side of History, (2000).

Nathan C. Funk is an assistant professor of International Relations at the American University School of International Service. His areas of specialization include peace and conflict resolution, Islam and Middle Eastern politics and culture. He has authored or co-authored writings on conflict resolution, dialogue, the contemporary Middle East, Islam and United States foreign policy.

Christopher Mitchell holds the Drucie French Cumbie Chair of Conflict Resolution and International Relations at the Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution, George Mason University, Virginia. He is the author of The Structure of International Conflict (1981), Peacemaking and the Consultant's Role (1981), A Handbook of Conflict Resolution (with Michael Banks, 1996) and most recently Gestures of Conciliation (2000). He was one of the original members of John Burton's Centre for the Analysis of Conflict at University College, London.

Luc Reychler is Professor of International Relations and Peace Research at the University of Leuven, Belgium. He is also Convener of International Peace Research Association's Commission on Conflict Resolution and Peace Building. Dr. Reychler has published many journal articles on field diplomacy, conflict prevention as well as a book entitled Peace Building: A Field Guide (2001).