1708, 2017

Book review of Nandini Sundar’s The Burning Forest

By Safa Joudeh|August 17, 2017|Conflict, Democracy, Forced displacement, Journal of Agrarian Change, Neoliberalism, Political ecology, State in development|0 comments

This post is written by Christian Lund who is Professor of Development, Resource Management, and Governance, at the Department of Food and Resource Economics, at Copenhagen University. It is part of the Journal of Agrarian Change blog, hosted on the Development Studies at SOAS blog. The Burning Forest. India’s War in Bastar, by Nandini Sundar. Delhi: Juggernaut, 2016. Pp. 413+xvi. ₹ (Indian Rupees) 699 (cloth). ISBN 978-93-8622-800-0. Terror is at the heart

0307, 2017

Using Literary Comics to Understand the Role of Borderland Brokers in Post-War Transitions

By Jo Tomkinson|July 3, 2017|Borders, Conflict, Migration, Peace, State in development|0 comments

This post is written by Jonathan Goodhand, Professor in Conflict and Development Studies in the Department of Development Studies at SOAS, and Oliver Walton, Lecturer in International Development, University of Bath. “It is true that Hambantota is the periphery and is in need of development. However, we should not blame people (from the centre). We must portray the periphery as a partner. Not as a hotbed of resistance”. The quotation

2806, 2017

Book Review of Bina Agarwal’s Gender Challenges

By Jo Tomkinson|June 28, 2017|Agriculture, Journal of Agrarian Change, Political ecology, State in development, Women's rights|0 comments

This post is written by Haroon Akram-Lodhi who is Professor in the Department of International Development Studies, Trent University, Ontario. It is part of the Journal of Agrarian Change blog, hosted on the Development Studies at SOAS blog. Gender Challenges, Volume 1: Agriculture, Technology, and Food Security, by Bina Agarwal. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2016. Pp. 400+xxiii. US$235 / Rs. 6595 (3-volume set, pb.). ISBN: 978-0-19-809982-6. Gender Challenges, Volume 2: Property,

2704, 2017

The Centrality of the Margins: Brokering Borders and Borderlands in the age of Trump and Brexit

By Jo Tomkinson|April 27, 2017|Borders, Migration, State in development|0 comments

This blog post is written by Dr Sharri Plonski (SOAS) and Dr Patrick Meehan (SOAS). Borders are never far from the news these days, with a relentless media focus on Donald Trump’s new America and Theresa May’s ‘Hard Brexit’. Trump’s Mexico Wall epitomises this border neurosis and symbolises a wider trend towards protectionism that seeks to thwart the flow of people (into the country) and of capital, jobs and control

2609, 2016

Who ‘Does’ Development?

By Jo Tomkinson|September 26, 2016|Aid, Health, State in development|0 comments

Michael Jennings is a Head of Department and Senior Lecturer in the SOAS Department of Development Studies. His research interests include the politics and history of development processes in sub-Saharan Africa; governance, civil society, non-governmental organisations and faith-based organisations; and social aspects of health in Africa. Where to start with the piece by new Minister for International Development, Priti Patel, in the Daily Mail? Her assertions that too often aid doesn’t