“All things change, nothing is extinguished,” wrote Ovid in the Metamorphoses, a book about the surprising, even astonishing forms that change can take. It is my privilege in this “Letter from the Director” to report on the exciting changes now taking place at ECAAR. The first and most obvious is our very name. After much discussion over the past two years among the Executive Committee and the staff, and a vote of overwhelming support by the Board of Directors, in the New Year we will become Economists for Peace and Security (EPS). Here’s why.

At the height of the Reagan build-up, ECAAR was founded as Economists Against the Arms Race. When the Cold War ended, we kept the acronym but changed the words for which it stood, and become Economists Allied for Arms Reduction. We remained a group of economists and concerned citizens working on economic aspects of international security issues. With this name we became a UN-registered NGO, expanded to our present twelve international affiliates, produced papers, studies and reports, and hosted conferences on every continent. In spite of this real success, we found there were real problems with our existing name.

First, it did not describe the totality of our work. Yes, we work for arms reduction, but we work not merely to reduce stockpiles but to stop the spread of small arms, mass-casualty conventional systems, and nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons. And our members work on a whole range of issues relating to the economics of war, conflict and peace. Founding Trustee Lawrence Klein, in his response to the new name, wrote “the main thing that we can do is to get the major arguments in favor of peace, conflict resolution, and healthy economics up for analysis and discussion now.”

Secondly, Economists Allied for Arms Reduction was a mouthful, hard to say and understand. Board and staff members, when making phone calls to new contacts found that we always needed to say the name at least twice. One of our newest Board members, Trustee William Sharpe, responded to the EPS idea with a resounding “Yes please!” because he had already found the name a handicap in his efforts on our behalf.

Finally, our name appeared to outsiders to indicate a political bias. We have always been a non-partisan organization, open to anyone who wishes to join; but our old name excluded us from policy discussions to which we could make essential contributions.

Economists for Peace and Security is short, to the point, and comparatively snappy. It survives translation. It describes our mission and our approach succinctly.
Most people understand that economics plays a role in building a safer world. For years, we have used the tagline “War and famine. Peace and milk,” a Somali proverb which is a simple and profound expression of the relationship between economics and peace. Our new name will make it easier for people to apprehend who we are, what we’re doing and why it’s so important.

To accompany our new name we have a new logo (see below): a rather understated dove forms a falling line on graph paper. We have kept the dove as a hopeful symbol of the lasting peace toward which we work. The graph indicates our reliance on scientific analysis to further our cause.

There will be other changes during the new year. Our office will be moving to the Levy Economics Institute of Bard College. The Levy Institute and its President, Dimitri Papadimitriou, have generously made free office space available to us in their beautiful building, which will significantly reduce our overhead We have a lively new website (the draft site is posted at www.epsusa.org). We hope to have a new Spanish affiliate.

And we will have a new Director. After four and a half years at ECAAR, and three and a half as Director, for personal reasons I am resigning effective January 15th, 2005. I look forward to continuing my association with EPS; I will edit the newsletter, policy briefs, and the new EPS website from my new home. My work here has been the most satisfying of my professional life so far, and it has been a great honor and joy to work with our Directors, members and staff. The next “Letter from the Director” will be from my good friend and colleague Thea Harvey, who has served as our Development Manager since August 2002.

Thea’s current title is perhaps deceptive. Her primary responsibilities have been to prepare grant proposals, develop relationships with major donors, and manage special events. But she has always seen “development” in the broadest possible sense: how can she help develop our capacity to fulfill our mission? Toward that end she has undertaken a membership recruiting drive (resulting in over 150 new members); she has worked closely with our international affiliates; and she has conceived and written each edition of our electronic newsletter, NewsNotes.

Thea brings many skills to the directorship. She has considerable fiscal acumen (not one of my great strengths). She writes elegantly and has a working knowledge of four languages apart from English. Most importantly, she is possessed of a deep devotion to our cause and of tremendous tenacity. EPS will be in excellent hands, and I hope you will join me in welcoming the to her new job. A note on pronouncing her name: “Th” as in Theresa, and the whole rhymes with “Isaiah.”