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The Collapse of Globalism

The Collapse of Globalism

For decades, globalization was promoted as a process to increase global prosperity. In 2005, John Ralston Saul published “The Collapse of Globalism and the Reinvention of the World” to make the case that globalism was on the decline. Many have praised the book as seeing well beyond its time, particularly as the financial crises followed […]

Tags: #Globalism #Globalization #John Ralston Saul #Nationalism #Negative Nationalism

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Professional Development Options (Online & Free)

Professional Development Options (Online & Free)

For those interested to gain more skills that are relevant to development and humanitarian activities, this post will list free, online resources. Each includes a brief description. If you have other suggestions of free training options, send me an email and I will add them. I have recommended that you try to make this a habit […]

Tags: #Free training #Humanitarian assistance #International development #Online Training #Professional Development

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Agricultural Transformation in Ethiopia

Agricultural Transformation in Ethiopia

“Agricultural Transformation in Ethiopia: State Policy and Smallholder Farming” (2018) edited by Atakilte Beyene is an excellent book on diverse components of the agricultural sector. Given the importance of agriculture in Ethiopia, this is an important addition as there are few books that cover the sector comprehensively (several are available that cover specific components). The introduction by Atakilte […]

Tags: #Agriculture #Atakilte Beyene #Ethiopia #Rural Development #Smallholder farming

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Why Civil Resistance Works

Why Civil Resistance Works

Over the last year I have posted about a number of books related to civil resistance. In reading that literature, one of the works that gets frequently referred to is “Why Civil Resistance Works – The Strategic Logic of Nonviolent Conflict” by Chenoweth and Stephan (2011). Given that the field of study is a relatively […]

Tags: #civil action #Civil resistance #mass movements #Nonviolence #Violence

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Can We Know Better? Reflections for Development

Can We Know Better? Reflections for Development

Cochrane, L. (2019) Review: Can We Know Better? Reflections for Development. Progress in Development Studies 19: 84-86. Starting in the 1980s, there have been regular publications of books that invite critical self-reflection in development study and practice: Rural Development: Putting the Last First (1983), Challenging the Professions (1993), Whose Reality Counts? (1997), Participatory Workshops (2002), […]

Tags: #Can We Know Better #Development #Development Studies #Reflections for Development #Robert Chambers

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Human Rights and the Food Sovereignty Movement

Human Rights and the Food Sovereignty Movement

Priscilla Claeys’s “Human Rights and the Food Sovereignty Movement: Reclaiming Control” (2015) had some high level support and praise (Jun Borras, Olivier De Schutter, etc). The beginning of the abstract reads: “Our global food system is undergoing rapid change. Since the global food crisis of 2007-2008, a range of new issues have come to public […]

Tags: #Food Security #Food Sovereignty #Human Rights #La Via Campesina #Legal Advocacy

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