So the last few things that went up were academic self-critique and a book review. Since "tech" is in the blog title, I thought I should put something up that touches on the digital world. For now, we'll revisit something a little older and I'll make sure I get something new up this week that's tech for … Continue reading So I felt like I should add something about tech…
Peace and Conflict
Peacekeeping, Peace Enforcement, Peacemaking, Non-violence…how is tech affecting these things
Daniel Posner’s “Institutions and Ethnic Politics in Africa”
Systematic analysis of ethno-linguistic cleavages and competition in Africa, and the world more broadly, are often chalked up to “ancient ethnic hatred” or over-simplistic cultural analyses of legacy political economics. Daniel Posner’s “Institutions and Ethnic Politics in Africa” takes the question of ethnicity in African politics and unpacks the cleavages between ethno-linguistic groups in Zambia … Continue reading Daniel Posner’s “Institutions and Ethnic Politics in Africa”
Thinking about my academic tribe…what’s yours?
During the semester I good fortune to take Dr. Mara Schoeny’s course on qualitative research for the social sciences at George Mason University's School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution. We kept logs about the experience and we dealt with questions pertaining to ethics and interpersonal aspects of conflict analysis and resolution. While these were important, what … Continue reading Thinking about my academic tribe…what’s yours?
A video describing my new course at TechChange: Technology for Conflict Management and Prevention
For those who don't like reading, but want to learn a little about my new course TC-109: Technology for Conflict Management and Prevention! TC:109 from TechChange on Vimeo.
“BBC keen on paternalistic analysis of Libyan governance”
Editor's Note: I don't think the BBC is actually keen on paternalistic analyses of Libyan governance. The title of this post is a riff on the title of the BBC article that it's based on. From what I could tell on the BBC News Africa landing page, Libyans are not interested in democracy and want … Continue reading “BBC keen on paternalistic analysis of Libyan governance”
Big day of ethics and research in conflict settings at S-CAR!
Hey everyone! I'm participating in a conference on research and ethics in conflict zones today at George Mason University's School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution and it might be interesting to pop in on remotely since it's being streamed live since it's now archived here!
A follow up post on the hippos
So I realized that maybe my interest in hippos body surfing in Gabon might have seemed random, and wanted to write a quick follow up post on why, as a doctoral student studying conflict prevention and social resilience, I enjoyed the article so much. Aside from the hippos, which were pretty cute. There are a … Continue reading A follow up post on the hippos
Pitfalls to Research, Technology and Crowdsourcing
I'll be giving a presentation at George Mason's School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution on February 9 on research methods and crowdsourcing in conflict affected settings. As I've been preparing, I've been lucky enough to have the input of the TechChange team and in particular the inimitable Rob Baker as I developed the portion of the … Continue reading Pitfalls to Research, Technology and Crowdsourcing
My thoughts on “The Tragedy of Great Power Politics”, Or How I Learned to Love Offensive Realism
The strength of John Mearsheimer’s The Tragedy of Great Power Politics is also its inherent weakness. This review will analyze the strengths of Mearsheimer’s approach to the argument, and will then explore where the argument appears to be lacking. What Mearsheimer creates in this book is a carefully argued defense of offensive realism, and he … Continue reading My thoughts on “The Tragedy of Great Power Politics”, Or How I Learned to Love Offensive Realism
A Good Question
I often try to balance my excitement around peacebuilding, technology and social change with a sober understanding of the limits of technology in this space. Of course sometimes these limits can be easy to forget about, and you need a student to bring you back to earth. For those who haven't taught, having a student … Continue reading A Good Question
Charles P. Martin-Shields 