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FOREWORD

RYAN ALEXANDER

After six and a half years at the helm, this issue of the Journal of Global South Studies will be my last. It has been a pleasure and an honor to serve as editor, and I depart on fond terms. I want to thank the many people who have contributed to the journal—associate editors, the book review editor, copy editors, journal managers, authors, manuscript readers, and book reviewers—one last time. I also look forward to aiding in the transition to the next editor, who will be announced at the October conference of the Association of Global South Studies in Mérida, Mexico.

The five articles contained in this issue cover a wide range of geographic and topical areas. These include the following: a consideration of scale in relation to urbanization efforts in Iran from the eighteenth century to the present; an analysis of the UN Cocoyoc Declaration, which defined standards of environmental regulation in international development; the application of a subaltern realist framework to the local dynamics of Pakistani administration in the disputed territory of Gilgit Baltistan; an exploration of factionalism within the Tigray People’s Liberation Front after the Tigray War in Ethiopia; and a comparison of the use of force in peace efforts in Brazil, India, and South Africa. This issue also includes a brief section called “Notes from the Field.” In it are two short pieces that are timely and thought-provoking. They are not peer-reviewed full-length articles but rather pieces written “from the field” by established experts. As always, we hope that you find the content stimulating and enjoyable.

Our parent organization, the Association of Global South Studies, was established to provide an international structure to support the humane and scientific study of peoples, problems, and issues in the world’s developing countries, with the ultimate goal of improving the quality of life in those places. The late Dr. Harold Isaacs, professor emeritus of history at Georgia Southwestern State University in Americus, Georgia, founded the Association of Third World Studies (ATWS), Inc., in 1983. The association now has a global membership and chapters in South Asia and Africa. In the summer of 2016, following a vote of the members of the association, ATWS was renamed the Association of Global South Studies (AGSS).

As ATWS, the association began its history as an institution in 1991 when, under a newly ratified constitution, elected officials assumed responsibility for the management of the organization. Since 1992, the executive headquarters have been located at Georgia Southern University (1992–2003), Mississippi State University (2003–2006), Louisiana State University–Shreveport (2006–2024), and the State University of New York at Plattsburgh (2024–). Due to the dedicated and energetic leadership of Zia H. Hashmi and Paul Rodell at Georgia Southern, Shu-hui Wu at Mississippi State, William Pederson at LSU-Shreveport, and Lauren Eastwood at SUNY Plattsburgh, AGSS has made great progress as a global, professional organization. In 1995, the United Nations recognized the success of AGSS by granting it UN “consultative status,” thus enabling the association to increase its direct impact on world development. AGSS has an established and newly revamped website, to be found at http://apps.gsw.edu/atws/.

Membership in AGSS is open to any person interested in studying developing countries. Yearly membership dues are $60.00, which includes an annual subscription to JGSS. The yearly subscription rate is $60.00; single copies are $30.00. Discounts are available to students and residents of developing countries. Journal subscription, as well as copies of JTWS/JGSS, may be obtained by writing to the editor, Ryan Alexander, at ralex006@plattsburgh.edu. Individuals interested in submitting articles to be considered for publication by the JGSS Board of Editors should send a message to the same.

Articles appearing in this journal can be found through the databases JSTOR and Project MUSE, and are abstracted and indexed in the International Bibliography of Periodical Literature, the International Bibliography of Book Reviews, the International Bibliography of the Social Sciences, the International Political Science Abstracts, Political Science Abstracts, Sociological Abstracts, Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts, Historical Abstracts and America: History and Life, Periodica Islamica, A Matter of Fact, Media Review, Consumers Index, Social Sciences Index, University Microfilms, PAIS Indexes, and CAB International (CABI).

RYAN ALEXANDER, EDITOR