A reflection from the recent Drugs and Disorder conference (“image of coca farmers Colombia – Bing images,” n.d.) I had a chance to attend the Drugs and Disorder Conference from Feb 14-16, where I had an opportunity to learn about how drugs affect individual lives in Myanmar and Colombia ; I specifically learned how the demand for the cocaine that comes from the manufacturing process of coca leaves has impacted
Learning from research on illicit drug economies in Afghanistan, Colombia, and Myanmar. Starting from February 14, a group of academics and stakeholders will come together to share the latest research findings on the effect of illicit drug economies in Afghanistan, Colombia, and Myanmar. The conference will focus on the role of drugs in terms of peacebuilding and development in these conflict-affected states. The conference will feature country-specific and thematic analysis,
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
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
Jonathan Goodhand is Professor Conflict and Development Studies at the SOAS Department of Development Studies. His research focuses on the political economy of conflict, war to peace transitions and increasingly on the role of borderlands, with a particular focus on South and Central Asia. Oliver Walton is a Lecturer in International Development at the University of Bath in the Department of Social and Policy Sciences. His research focuses on NGOs, civil society
Tobias Franz completed his PhD at SOAS on the political economy of local economic development and institutional change in Colombia and has taught in the SOAS Development Studies department. The joy of the international community and the mainstream press was overwhelming when, on August 24th, after 52 years (or 70, depending on the definition) of armed conflict the Colombian Government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) announced a final
Emma Saville (MSc Violence, Conflict and Development 2014) is the Education Programme Manager at PositiveNegatives. Emma’s book, Human Trafficking as a Weapon of War: Sudan a Case Study, has recently been published. She tweets from @_EmmaSaville_. An estimated 35.8 million persons are thought to be currently enslaved worldwide. Human trafficking is a fundamental violation of human rights that has been referred to by some as a form of ‘modern-day slavery’ (see
Jonathan Goodhand is a Professor Conflict and Development Studies at the SOAS Department of Development Studies. His research focuses on the political economy of conflict, war to peace transitions and increasingly on the role of borderlands, with a particular focus on South and Central Asia. Oliver Walton is a Lecturer in International Development at the University of Bath in the Department of Social and Policy Sciences. His research focuses on
Adam Hanieh is a Senior Lecturer in the SOAS Department of Development Studies. He is the author of the 2013 book Lineages of Revolt: Issues of Contemporary Capitalism in the Middle East. His research interests include political economy of the Middle East, labour migration, class and state formation in the Gulf Cooperation Council and Palestine. ISIS emerged out of the dashed hopes of the Arab Spring In the wake of the
Gilbert Achcar is Professor of Development Studies and International Relations in the SOAS Department of Development Studies. His most recent books are Marxism, Orientalism, Cosmopolitanism and The People Want: A Radical Exploration of the Arab Uprising.
The discourse of war is already upon us. But it must be resisted.
French President François Hollande’s reaction to the terrorist outrage that struck again at the heart of Paris has been to declare war — just as George W. Bush did in the face of “the mother of all terrorist attacks” that struck the heart of New York.
By doing this, the French president has chosen to ignore the many criticisms of the Bush administration’s choice, even though these expressed the prevailing opinion in France itself at that time. And he did so despite the fact that the disastrous balance sheet of the Bush administration’s “war on terror” well justified its critics. Sigmar Gabriel himself, the German vice-chancellor and head of the Social Democratic Party, brother party of the French Socialists, has declared that talk of war only plays into the hands of ISIS.
