Stephen Zunes is an assistant professor of politics and chair of the Peace & Justice Studies Program at the University of San Francisco. His articles have appeared in Middle East Policy, Current History, Arab Studies Quarterly, Third World Quarterly, New Political Science,International Journal, and other scholarly publications. He is an editor of Peace Review and writes and researches extensively in the area of social movements and peace studies.

Lester R. Kurtz is a professor of sociology and Asian studies at the University of Texas, Austin. His research focuses on the analysis of social conflict, the sociology of culture and religion, and global social theory. His other books include Gods in the Global Village: The World's Religions in Sociological Perspective (1995) and The Web of Violence: From Interpersonal to Global (co-edited with Jennifer Turpin, 1997). He is editor-in-chief of the Encyclopedia of Violence, Peace, and Conflict (1999).

Sarah Beth Asher is an independent researcher and has lived and worked in the Middle East, India, China, and Europe, where she served in the US Army Medical Corps. She has been involved in research on violence as a public health issue.