In July 2002, at Mansfield College, Oxford, an inter-disciplinary conference on war (entitled 'War and Virtual War') was held so as to redress some of this disciplinary isolationism and to forge an integrative dialogue on war, in all its facets. The papers in this volume were nominated by delegates as the most paradigmatic of the ethos of the original project and the most successful in achieving its aims of inter-disciplinarity and critical dialogue.
Dr. Paul Rexton Kan is currently an Associate Professor of National Security Studies at the US Army War College at Carlisle Barracks. He was awarded the General George C. Marshall Faculty Research Grant to complete his book, Drugs and Contemporary Warfare. He is also the recipient of a Madigan Faculty Writing Award for his article, "Drugging Babylon: The Illegal Narcotics Trade and Nation-Building in Iraq" published in the June 2007 edition of the journal Small Wars and Insurgencies. His research on Mexican cartel violence will be part of an upcoming book on the subject while his research on North Korea's illicit international activities will be published as a monograph by the Strategic Studies Institute. He is currently working on his next book, "Whiskey Rebellions, Opium Wars and Other Battles for Intoxication".