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War in 140 Characters

War in 140 Characters

If you have been following the problematization of social media over the years, the stories in “War in 140 Characters: How Social Media is Reshaping Conflict in the Twenty-First Century” (2017) by David Patrikarakos might not be all that surprising. For those who are interested in how these processes actually take place – beyond the […]

Tags: #Conflict #Echo chamber #Social media #Troll factory #War

Thought Provokers
From Poverty to Famine in Ethiopia

From Poverty to Famine in Ethiopia

Rural live in Ethiopian history is largely absent in the historical record – historians are able to work with a wealth of material from the long written record in the country, but these tends to only reflect a small segment of society. James McCann’s “From Poverty to Famine in Northeast Ethiopia: A Rural History 1900-1935” […]

Tags: #Ethiopia #Famine #History #Poverty #Resistance

Thought Provokers

New Publication: Large-Scale Transdisciplinary Collaboration for Adaptation Research

Cundill, G., Harvey, B., Tebboth, M., Cochrane, L., Currie-Alder, B., Vincent, K., Lawn, J., Nicolls, R. J., Scodanibbio, L., Prakash, A., New, M., Wester, P., Leone, M., Morchain, D., Ludi, E., DeMaria-Kinney, J., Khan, A. S. and Landry, M. (2018) Large-Scale Transdisciplinary Collaboration for Adaptation Research: Challenges and Insights. Global Challenges doi: 10.1002/gch2.201700132. Abstract: An increasing […]

Tags: #Adaptation #Climate change #Collaboration #Transdisciplinarity #Transdisciplinary

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A Diplomat’s Memoir of South Sudan

A Diplomat’s Memoir of South Sudan

When I first came across Nicholas Coghlan’s “Collapse of a Country: A Diplomat’s Memoir of South Sudan” (2017), I passed it up. Memoirs can be interesting, but not always great (unless you are interested in the day to day activities and experiences, often without in-depth contextualization). However, while on route to South Sudan myself, I […]

Tags: #Accountability #Conflict resolution #Governance #Nicholas Coghlan #South Sudan

Thought Provokers
How China Escaped the Poverty Trap

How China Escaped the Poverty Trap

Yuen Yuen Ang’s “How China Escaped the Poverty Trap” (2016) is an excellent read and should be essential reading for all development studies students and actors. This book challenges many assumptions that have long been repeated as mantras in research and practice. The author summarizes the book as one that “investigates how China escaped the […]

Tags: #China #Development Studies #How development occurs #Inequality #Participation

Thought Provokers
The Parable of the Pauper

The Parable of the Pauper

“Imagine a pauper who turns to two finance gurus for advice. Not only is he broke, this pauper is poorly educated and lives in a rough neighborhood. The first guru urges, “Earn your first paycheck. Once you start making money, your circumstances will improve, and you will eventually escape poverty.” The second guru counsels differently: […]

Tags: #Best practices #China #Development #Development Studies #Parable of the pauper

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