Preventing War and Promoting Peace: A Guide for Health Professionals is an interdisciplinary study of how pervasive militarism creates a propensity for war through the influence of academia, economic policy, the defense industry, and the news media. Comprising contributions by academics and practitioners from the fields of public health, medicine, nursing, law, sociology, psychology, political science, and peace and conflict studies, as well as representatives from organizations active in war prevention, the book emphasizes the underlying preventable causes of war, particularly militarism, and focuses on the methods health professionals can use to prevent war. Preventing War and Promoting Peace provides hard-hitting facts about the devastating health effects of war and a broad perspective on war and health, presenting a new paradigm for the proactive engagement of health professions in the prevention of war and the promotion of peace.

Presents a new paradigm for the engagement of health professions in the prevention of war and the promotion of peace
Offers a variety of skills and activities used to proactively prevent war and promote peace
Explores the ways militarism is embedded in US society and how that promotes the propensity to war.

Table of contents
Dedication
List of figures
List of tables
Contributors
Foreword Barry S. Levy and Victor W. Sidel
Preface Shelley K. White
Acknowledgements
Introduction: intersections of militarism, imperialism and corporate power as context for the prevention of war and promotion of peace William H. Wiist
Part I. The Health Effects of War and Weapons of War:
1. The effects of war on combatants, veterans and their families Evan Kanter
2. Health effects of war on civilians Kaveh Khoshnood, Bandy X. Lee, and Chanel Marin
3. The consequences of war on the natural environment Michael J. Lawrence, Aaron J. Zolderdo and Steven J. Cooke
4. Weapons of war and mass destruction Curtis Holland, Marjorie Cohn, Ira Helfand and Jean Grassman
Part II. Social Determinants of War:
5. The normalization of militarism and propensity for War John Lindsay-Poland
6. Structural violence and war: global inequalities, resources and climate change Patrick T. Hiller
7. Under what conditions does ethnic conflict result in armed violence? Clark McCauley and Joseph G. Bock
8. The war profiteers: defense contractors driving the permanent war economy Miriam Pemberton
9. News as entertainment: the ultimate war propaganda machine, or opportunity to promote peace? Annabel McGoldrick
10. The quiet military buyout of academia Kathy Barker
Part III. Preventing War and Promoting Peace:
11. Use of complex systems modelling to strengthen public health's role in preventing war William H. Wiist
12. The ethics of war and peace in the contemporary era Andrew Flescher
13. The role of international law in preventing war and promoting peace Stuart Casey-Maslen
14. Lessons from a historical view of health organizations' activism for the prevention of war Casey Hurrell
15. A gluttonous military budget leaves our social welfare in poor health Jonathan White
16. Pacifism and conscientious objection: war resistance in the United States Geraldine Gorman
17. Countering military recruitment in high schools Amy Hagopian and Kathy Barker
18. Civil disobedience and direct action in the prevention of war Kurt Schock
19. Advocacy skills for the primary prevention of war Regina A. Galer-Unti
Part IV. Teaching and Research in Public Health Toward the Prevention of War:
20. Teaching and learning methods for engaging health professionals in the prevention of war Shelley K. White
21. Conducting health research toward preventing war and promoting peace William H. Wiist
Appendix:
1. Public health competencies for the prevention of war
2. War, militarism and health: toward primary prevention: a syllabus outline Shelley K. White
3. Additional resources.