John M. Richardson Jr. writes, lectures and consults in the fields of applied systems analysis, international development and Third World political conflict, with a particular emphasis on ethnic conflict. He is presently Professor of international Development in the School of International Service at American University, Washington D.C. He recently completed a nine year terns as tie School's Director of Doctoral Studies. At American University, he also founded and directed the Social Science Computer Laboratory and served as Director of the Center for Technology and Administration, which offered degree programs in operations research, applied computer science and environmental management. In 1988 he was Visiting Professor of international Relations, Department of History and Political Science, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka. Previously, he held teaching and/or research appointments in the Departments of Systems Engineering, Systems Research Center and Department of Political Science, Case Western Reserve University and the System Dynamics Group, Sloan School of Management, M.I.T. As an active duty Naval Officer, he taught naval weapons and space technology at the University of Minnesota.

Dr. Richardson was an early contributor to field of global modeling, under the auspices of the Club of Rome, and played a major role in the global modeling "clearing house" activities organized by the International institute for Applied Systems Analysis. His publications on global modeling are widely regarded as definitive. In 1982, he was named by an international committee of the Society for Computer Simulation as "one of the twenty most effective decision makers in the world." Dr. Richardson is the author, co?author or editor of five books. Earlier works include Partners in Development (1969), Groping in the Dark: The First Decade of Global Modeling (1982), Making it Happen: A Positive Guide to the Future (1982) and Ending Hunger: An Idea Whose Time has Come (1985). He was a contributor to the volume, Breakthrough: New Global Thinking (1988), published jointly in the United States and the U.S.S.R. His most recent book is Democratization in South Asia: 73 re First Fifty Years (1998; co?edited with S.W.R.de A. Samarasinghe). He was an editorial board member for the Volume, History and Politics ?Millennial Perspectives: Essays in Honor of Kingsley de Silva (1999), to which he also contributed. He has also published numerous professional papers and research reports. He has served as referee for Futures, Futures Research Quarterly, World Development, International Studies Quarterly, International Negotiation, Contemporary Ethnography and for the U. S. Institute of Peace. He is an editorial board member of Futures Research Quarterly and of Ethnic Studies Report and also served on the Editorial Advisory Board of Futures for many years.

His current work focuses on the causes of political conflict in Third World nations and nonviolent strategies for development. Recent publications on this subject have appeared in Futures, Ethnic Studies Report and as chapters in several edited volumes. In 1989, he received a grant from the U.S. Institute of Peace to support work on his forthcoming book, Paradise Poisoned The Political Economy of Conflict in Sri Lanka. In 1990, he was selected to deliver the bi?annual G.C. Mendis Memorial Lecture, commemorating the father of modern Sri Lankan historical studies.

Dr. Richardson is a member of professional associations concerned with futures research, political science, international development and ethnic conflict. He has held board or advisory council memberships with several such organizations including The Hunger Project, Futures, Carrying Capacity and The US Association for the Club of Rome. He is a director of the Sri Lanka-based International Center for Ethnic Studies and an International Advisory Board member of the Colombo?based Center for Private Sector Development. He has 1, consulted and appeared on radio and television throughout the United States and in Europe, Asia, Latin America and Africa.