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”
Politics
“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”
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
A Post on Pragmatic Meaning: Part 2
I ended the first post in this series claiming that Facebook is a space for developing Pragmatic Meaning, while Twitter is not. As discussed in the last post, we are looking at a long-tail process when we set about making meaning in a political environment. In the context of a political movement if we compare the … Continue reading A Post on Pragmatic Meaning: Part 2
A Post on Pragmatic Meaning: Part 1
The title of this website refers to Habermas’s Theory of Pragmatic Meaning, and uses a reference to the coffee house as the place where political meaning is made regardless of class, family, or economic station. With this in mind, I’m currently writing a paper for the International Conference on Interdisciplinary Social Sciences that draws on … Continue reading A Post on Pragmatic Meaning: Part 1
New Media, Old Tactics: Humor and Ridicule in Political Protest
A friend of mine living in Cape Town forwarded a humorous advertisement for Nando’s Chicken, a restaurant chain based in South Africa. The advertisement carried the title “The Last Dictator Standing” and provided an enjoyable laugh, especially for those with some knowledge of African dictatorships: After watching, I started to think about the role that … Continue reading New Media, Old Tactics: Humor and Ridicule in Political Protest
Charles P. Martin-Shields 