Robert Jervis, Saltzman Member and Adlai E. Stevenson Professor of International Politics, would like to extend an invitation to join the International Security Studies Forum, a website and online discussion board for students, scholars, and anyone who is interested in the subject to share ideas:

As the Founding Editor, I would like to call your attention to the International Security Studies Forum (ISSF)–instructions on how to subscribe are at the end of this letter. You can pass this on to others who might be interested. In cooperation with its counterpart in diplomatic history (H-Diplo), we engage in 5 kinds of activities, which can be sampled by going to http://www.h-net.org/~diplo/ISSF/.

First, we publish Roundtable reviews of recent books in security studies, featuring multiple reviews and an author’s response. Our objective is to have most Roundtables appear at the latest within six months of a book’s publication, although pressure on reviewers’ time often puts this goal beyond reach.

Second, we have shorter reviews of selected journal articles. Here we usually assign only one review, but seek multiple perspectives in cases of particular interest or contention.

Third, we organize discussions among scholars of issues that are germane to the field but are often not addressed in the print media. For example, in June 2010 we published roundtable discussions on “Politics and Objectivity in History and Political Science” and “Biology and Politics.” These attracted much interest and the attention of a wide range of international scholars.

Fourth, scholars are invited to submit their own comments, questions, and ideas about security studies. For example, a book, article, or recent event might prompt any of us to put out a query or an idea that was too brief to merit an article, but that we think is worthy of discussion.

Perhaps most importantly, you are encouraged to not only read this material, but comment on it. Our goal is to make ISSF the site for vigorous discussion, help build a community, and facilitate the exchange of ideas and the establishment of new connections. Because the list is shared with the existing H-Diplo membership (of 4000 active subscribers), we have the enormous potential for developing a global network of international historians and security studies scholars.

As is the case with H-Diplo publications, many of our ISSF publications are assigned in undergraduate classes and graduate seminars. Since all publications are freely available to the world community, our archive provides open access to a range of scholarship that is not usually accessible to students and or to faculty at smaller institutions around the world.

You can subscribe by going to http://www.h-net.org/lists/subscribe.cgi, choose H-Diplo as the list from the pulldown menu, and fill in your name, institution, and e-mail address. Alternatively, you can send a message to listserv@h-net.msu.edu, leave he subject line blank, and put a message that follows this template: SUB H-Diplo firstname lastname, affiliation (example: SUB H-Diplo John Smith, Michigan State University). Do not include signatures or any other extraneous material in the body of the text. Once you send the above message, listserv will ask you to confirm that you want to subscribe. To do so, reply to the message that is fowarded to you with only the word ‘ok’ in the message.

Robert Jervis
ISSF Founding Editor