INFORMATION ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Brett Bowden Theresa is an Associate Professor of History and Political Thought. He holds appointments at the University of Western Sydney, The Austarlian National University, and the University of NSW at the Australian Defence Force Academy. His recent major publications include, the Empire of Civilization: the Evolution of an Imperial Idea (University of Chocago press, 2009), and the 4-volume edited collection, Civilization: Critical Concepts (Routledge, 2009). He is an Associate Editor of the 6-volume, Berkshire Enclclopedia of World History (2010), edited by William H. McNeil.

Atalia Omer earned her Ph.D. (November 2008) from the Committee on the Study of Religion at Harvard University. Her research interests include the theoretical study of the interrelation between religion and nationalism; religion, nationalism, and peacebuilding; the role of national/religious/ethnic diasporas in the dynamics of conflict transformation and peace; multiculturalism as a framework for conflict transformation and as a theory of justice. Her first book When Peace is Not Enough: How the Israeli Peace Camp Thinks about Religion, Nationalism, and Justice (forthcoming with the University of Chicago Press) examines the way the Israeli peace camp addresses interrelationships between religion, ethnicity, and nationality and how it interprets justice vis-à-vis the Palestinian conflict. Omer has also published articles in the Journal of the American Academy of Religion, The Journal of Political Theology, and in The Study of Nationalism and ethnicity.

Bechir Bouzid is a staff member of the International Civil Service Commission (ICSC), United Nations. Before joining the ICSC, Dr. Bouzid has worked as a governance specialist in the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA), where he has coordinated a project on the reform of Public Governance in the Mediterranean Region. His research/work areas focus on governance systems and local market conditions. He led and participated in several study/fact finding missions to field duty stations such as; Liberia, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Congo, Mexico, Oman, Egypt, Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia.. He graduated with a PhD in International Economics from the University of Paris X-Dauphine, where he has been an assistant professor and researcher.

Leslie Pruitt is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Victoria University. She received her PhD from the School of Political Science and International Studies at the University of Queensland in 2010. She has articles published or forthcoming in: Australian Journal of Peace Studies, International Journal on World Peace, Global Change, Peace and Security, and the Journal of Women, Politics, and Policy.