This volume synthesizes the work accomplished at the 5 th International Security Forum (ISF) in
Zurich from 14 to 16 October 2002. It presents a thematic overview of 150 academic
presentations distributed over 6 workshop tracks 30 workshops 15 side-bar presentations and
3 plenary sessions. The book contains a timely overview of 21 st century international security
topics and challenges. Special emphasis is placed on the impact of new information and
communications technologies and knowledge management in the conduct of security and defense
policy and on a wide range of issues in the field of security sector reform and the democratic
and parliamentary control of armed forces. The contributions also offer a fresh perspective on
traditional regional and human security issues in the light of 11 September 2001 notably
asymmetric war Islam gender small arms Russia and Europe including NATO ESDP and peace
support operations. The 5 th ISF was organized by the Center for Security Studies and Conflict
Research at the ETH Zurich (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich) in Zurich in
cooperation with the Geneva Centre for Security Policy the Geneva Centre for the Democratic
Control of Armed Forces and the Graduate Institute of International Studies Geneva.
