Transnational Oil Companies struggle to operate in the face of widespread anti-oil protests and civil conflict in the Niger Delta. Shell, in particular, has faced considerable security challenges since the emergence of an active civil society in the early 1990s – most notably manifested by MOSOP. The brutal repression of that group proved ultimately counterproductive and Shell now aims to build a security-development nexus in partnership with local people. However, the policy is based on a paradox.
The first part this essay introduces the concept of microfinance and the rationale behind targeting women, which is critically examined. The second part looks at the impact of microfinance initiatives on poverty alleviation. Drawing on examples from some African and Asian countries, the argument is built on the examination of two dimensions of poverty, namely income generation and empowerment.
Eyal Weizman’s comprehensive account of the techniques of expansion and oppression deployed by the Israeli forces in the Occupied Territories provides a thorough and graphic exposé of a whole range of colonizing methods. In this essay I attempt to highlight a selection of Weizman’s observations and relate them to the arguments of Yiftachel and an updated understanding of Foucauldian population geography by Legg.
A relationship between international actors based on sponsorship differs from classical notions of clientelism and soft power, and is critical of exclusively statist conceptions of international politics. Sponsorship, I argue, becomes a mutual determinant and accelerator of globalisation.
In order to guide democracy development efforts in the Middle East, Western policymakers must be guided by a realistic and nuanced view of the region. Militancy and terrorism, especially, have traditionally been viewed in terms of simple dichotomies and broad generalizations. This paper attempts to address this issue by offering a framework for the evaluation of Islamist political parties and their participation in democratic systems.
Sun Tzu famously wrote that “If you do not know others and do not know yourself, you will be imperiled in every single battle.” If we want to fight terrorism, we must understand both state and terrorist; to this end, we should examine how and why terrorism is linked to the state.
Following a provision of the Doha agreement, signed by Lebanese political leaders to put an end to the May 2008 crisis, the Lebanese parliament discussed the country’s Parliamentary Electoral Draft Law and voted for reform on September 29th, 2008. But many of the proposals made by the National Commission were rejected, leading Minister of the Interior Ziyad Baroud to qualify it as “a cup half full”. But is this too optimistic?
Neoconservatism’s approach of democratising the Middle East via military intervention, tempering terrorism in the area, and dealing with Iran decisively has already formed the core of Obama’s policy package, all continuations from the Bush administration.
The EU is generally not regarded as a ‘global power’: its internal division over the US-led intervenion in Iraq and its lack of a coherence towards the wars in the Balkans are cited as prominent examples of its weak standing in global politics. It is only in recent years that an increasing number of academics have emphasized the unique tools it holds to influence international relations.
The way policy makers define poverty dictates the types of strategies that they use for alleviation, and their success. In Latin America numerous definitions have been employed, the current favourite being the profiling approach. This essay examines the various definitions of poverty on offer to Latin America, and the problems associated with each of them.
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