So I started writing to shake off the rust before the grist mill of academia starts back up later this month, and writing becomes a demand instead of a pastime. Earlier I wrote a piece where I delved into my excitement and skepticism about how technology will lead to peace and stability. This not to that … Continue reading A Musing on Tech for Peacebuilding: Continued
Political Economy
Some thoughts on James Mittelman’s “Hyperconflict”
As globalization increasingly impacts the global system of governance and statecraft, traditional analytic frames of sovereignty, power and risk are increasingly unable to account for the emerging challenges of the modern security environment. James Mittelman describes this new brand of risk as “hyperconflict”, driven by “hyperpower” and “hypercompetition”. While he does not use the same … Continue reading Some thoughts on James Mittelman’s “Hyperconflict”
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”
A few thoughts on Beatrice Hibou’s “The Force of Obedience”
The political economy of repression is a fascinating way to understand how deposed Tunisian president Zine el Abidine Ben Ali’s regime had created an entire economy of obedience and control based on economic and banking factors, social-political economic engineering, and the creation of an economic and financial reform mythology that provided a space for the … Continue reading A few thoughts on Beatrice Hibou’s “The Force of Obedience”
Charles P. Martin-Shields 