Responding to the war with Iraq among social work faculty in the USA, UK and Australia.

The governing body of international social work, the International Federation of Social Workers (IFSW), provides ethical standards by which social workers around the globe are to abide. In terms of political activism, IFSW lays out guidelines that state that member associations are responsible for promoting debate, education and research regarding ethical questions (Healy, 2001). Furthermore, in terms of social work standards for agencies and organizations, it states that if necessary remedies are not achieved after channels have been exhausted, appropriate appeals to higher authorities or the wider community interest should be initiated (Healy, 2001). Therefore, social workers are encouraged to get involved in political activism. Issues that were once viewed as local or national are now being recognized as global issues impacting all levels of society (Lyons, 2006). However, many writers have documented how social workers have abandoned their mission of social and political action for a more clinical or therapeutic approach with clients (Gil, 1990; Hawkins et al., 2001; Schriver, 1987; Specht and Courtney, 1994), and how radical social work has changed paradigms in the current social work framework (Fook, 1993; Healy and Leonard, 2000; Leonard, 1995, 1996). Another issue of consideration is that many social workers who are employed by the government or seeking federal funds are hampered by real and perceived limits imposed by the federal government on their ability to engage in political activism, particularly when linked to the employment setting (Thompson, 1994). This may have an impact on social work educators who are employed by state-funded universities, seeking federally-funded grants or collaborating with federally-funded agencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]