The last two posts I wrote focused on the social and political structures that drive data collection and availability. In these posts I was primarily talking about statistics in wealthy countries, as well as developing countries that aren't affected by conflict or violence. When it comes to countries that are beset by widespread conflict and violence, … Continue reading The Challenge of Conflict Data
Politics
How is Public Data Produced (Part 2)
I published a post yesterday about how administrative data is produced. In the end I claimed that data gathering is an inherently political process. Far from being comparable, scientifically standardized representations of general behavior, public data and statistics are imbued with all the vagaries and unique socio-administrative preferences of the country or locality that collects … Continue reading How is Public Data Produced (Part 2)
How Is Public Data Produced?
The 2016 Global Peace Index (GPI) launched recently. Along with its usual ranking of most to least peaceful countries it included a section analyzing the capacity for the global community to effectively measure progress in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), specifically Goal 16, the peace goal. The GPI's analysis of statistical capacity (pp. 73-94) motivates a critical question: … Continue reading How Is Public Data Produced?
After Paris, Now What?
Like many people I've been following the events in Paris with shock and sadness. I've watched the narratives evolve out of the tragedy, and a few resonate with me. Western leaders have seemed incapable of any kind of creative response to ISIL and the wider risks they pose. I responded on Twitter to an article … Continue reading After Paris, Now What?
Diagnosis Matters: Preventing human trafficking on the demand side
I was watching the news past Saturday when Australia's Prime Minister, Tony Abbott, took time out from a talk on iron ore prices (or something along those lines) to discuss the ongoing issue of people smuggling. It's a short video that you'll have to follow the link to see (The Australian doesn't provide embed code), but … Continue reading Diagnosis Matters: Preventing human trafficking on the demand side
Building Peace #5: PeaceTech
I'm excited to have my work included in Building Peace's latest issue on technology and peacebuilding. This is my doctoral topic and one of my main interest areas, so it's exciting to see it become an increasingly important topic in the conflict resolution and peacebuilding sphere. Here's a link to the entire contents of the … Continue reading Building Peace #5: PeaceTech
Dachau: A concentration camp up close
Yesterday I had the opportunity to visit the Dachau memorial outside Munich, Germany. First, I encourage everyone who can to go, it's a superb and moving memorial. Particularly though, as someone who studies violence and the political economy of conflict and who also studied German political history, I was wondering how I'd feel visiting one … Continue reading Dachau: A concentration camp up close
Peacekeeping tech with Dr. Walter Dorn
I got to interview Dr. Walter Dorn of Canadian Forces College about his work on technology and peacekeeping for my TechChange course on technology for conflict management and peacebuilding - a good interview that lends some operational and political insight for using these tools in peacekeeping settings!
Upcoming events!
Unfortunately the last few months have been fairly low output in terms of blog posts. This can be credited to resettling after returning from Samoa, getting back to work with the tech community in D.C, and of course getting a dissertation written. I have had the chance to get myself on a few panels this … Continue reading Upcoming events!
Putting the ‘political’ back in political economy
I stumbled across an article in the New York Times a few days ago by Tyler Cowen of George Mason University and a regular contributor to the blog Marginal Revolution. Entitled "Income Inequality Is Not Rising Globally. It's Falling.", it takes a crack at attempting to indicate that while country-level income inequality is increasing the overall effects … Continue reading Putting the ‘political’ back in political economy
Charles P. Martin-Shields 