希腊灾害与社会冲突网

DISASTERS AND SOCIAL CONFLICTS (www.erc.gr)

Scope and intent of the website: 

The  website focuses on  disasters and social conflicts, events which are very common in human communities.  Disasters are classified into three categories, based on the role of the "human factor", while conflicts are classified into a number of categories in accordance with their phenomenological bases. 

In either case, the boundaries among the various categories are not always clearcut. The rationale for the wedding of  "disasters" and "social conflicts", aside from both constituting long-term professional interests of the website owner,  is that  in the final analysis all disasters, whether "natural" or "technological," constitute "social crises" confronted by a social system whose resources for response are not commensurabe to the demands of the "disaster agent". 

In addition, many social conflicts which have culminated in violence  (i.e. in wars, terrorism etc.) have often had consequences much more serious than "natural" or "technological" disasters-except perhaps for the slow-onset types of disasters such as epidemics, drought, famines and   nuclear accidents.[1]

 The website will host  theoretical and empirical materials -either in Greek or in English - that focus on the social, political, economic and organizational causes and consequences of disasters and social conflicts, as well as materials that focus on the policies and  practices  for the prevention and/or mitigation of disaster and social conflict impacts. The phrase, "prevention/mitigation" is used deliberately because the occurrence of  such "natural" events as earthquakes, hurricanes and tornadoes etc. cannot be prevented; however, their impacts on the human environment can be  mitigated -if not prevented- when there preexists the appropriate social organization (social preparedness). With regard to social conflict, we assume that conflict is  inevitable in human communities and that conflict often has constructive consequences.  Thus, the webpage  welcomes materials which aim to reduce the negative aspects of social confict (e.g. loss of human lives, deterioriation of the quality of life etc.) and also to encourage the adoption of non-violent methods to reduce conflict.  In the latter connection, the website welcomes materials that focus on the causes and consequences of violent (e.g. wars, terrorism etc) and non-violent (protest demonstrations, boycotts, strikes, negotiations,  hunger strikes, internet approaches, etc ) means  for the resolution of social conflict on various levels of social organization (e.g. organizational, community, national, international, regional and global) and, generally, materials that focus on the policies and practices for the prevention and/or reduction of the negative impacts of conflicts.   In the age of globalization -and in vew of the magnitude of threats facing the human community- the website would be especially interested in materials that have as an object the restructuring of the UN in order to make it a more effective instrument in the reduction of social conflicts and the mitigation of their negative impacts.. 

The website publishes an electronic  newsletter, "The Emergency Bulletin",  that  hosts brief articles (less than 5 pages) on theory, research and practice/policy  of either disasters or social conflicts;  announcements of relevant professional activities;  as well as book, film, video, CD,  DVD and conference reviews.

Note to main contributors:  The webpage will host original contributions or contributions  already published but with the consent of their authors and publishers, if these materials make a significant contribution to the prevention and/or mitigation of disaster and social conflict impacts.   The contributions should be submitted  in MS-Word document and  should not exceed 50 double-spaced pages (font size 12), including the  graphics, illustrations and bibliography. Those interested in submitting materials, should send them to one of the two e-mail addresses, to em_text@erc.gr This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it   for more in-depth analyses and contributions and to em_bulletin@erc.gr This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it for brief  materials to be published in the “Emergencies Bulletin”.  All materilas will be published in PDF format  in  order to protect the rights of the contributors.  Finally, all contributions  will be  accompanied by the name of the author who will have  sole responsibility for the contents of his/her contribution.

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[1] Following the dissolution of the Emergencies Research Center (1992 -2007), a non-profit scientific organization dealing with the social and psychological aspects of disasters, the URL and the domain name were transferred  to the former Scientific Director of the Center, Dr. Nicholas P. Petropoulos.  The transfer from an organization to an individual required a reconstruction of the webpage. The new page retains the focus  on disasters but also adds the dimension of human  social conflicts.