JMSS AWARDS OF EXCELLENCE

This issue of The Journal of Military and Strategic Studies presents a variety of student papers. Five of these – three prize winners and two honourable mentions – are from the Winter 2007 annual conference hosted by the Society for Military and Strategic Studies at the University of Calgary. The conference, now in its 9th year, draws a number of students from North America and around the world. The papers included here give an indication of the quality, and of the breadth of subject matter and approach, of the presentations at the conference. Ryan Flavelle looks at the approach to the treatment of “battle exhaustion” (now Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) in the Canadian Army in World War II. Dave Perry examines the role played by Canadian civilian contractors in support of our deployment in Afghanistan. Anita Singh looks at
Darfur, from the perspective of women trapped in and threatened by the conflict there. Our two honourable mentions, Dan Fitzsimmons and Claire Woodside, look at the media’s effects on strategy in Somalia and Iraq, and at the impact of the “resource curse” on West Africa.

In another student paper, Mark Agnew examines the problematic support given by states -- especially the United States – to weapons inspections in Iraq.

Together, these papers show the strength of the emerging generation of scholars of military and strategic studies in Canada.

By James F. Keeley and John R. Ferris, Co-Editors, JMSS