Politics

The Politics of Evidence

The Politics of Evidence

Evidence is important. We want to know what we are doing works (or doesn’t work). But, what happens when particular types of evidence are required to get funding, and what impact does this have on the types of work that is supported by donors? These questions are engaged with in the edited volume “The Politics […]

Tags: #Cost effectiveness #Evidence #Politics #Social Justice #Value for Money

Thought Provokers

Post-doc: Power, Poverty & Politics

The International Institute of Social Studies of the Erasmus University Rotterdam the Netherlands is seeking to fill three full-time (100%) vacancies for the position of Post-Doctoral Researcher for a two year period from 1 January 2017 to 31 December 2018. We welcome applications from prospective postdoc researchers who are interested in doing operational research on […]

Tags: #DR Congo #Gender #Politics #Poverty #Power

Jobs

Post-doc: State and Disintegration in the Middle East

The CEU Center for Religious Studies and the Institute for Advanced Study at CEU announce the launch of “Striking from the Margins: Religion, State and Disintegration in the Middle East,” a two-year research project commencing in September 2016 with a major grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York. The research program will host host […]

Tags: #Marginality #Middle East #Politics #Religion #State

Jobs
People of the Plow

People of the Plow

James McCann’s People of the Plow (1995) presents the agricultural history of Ethiopia from 1800 to 1990. While historical, it is also in many ways anthropological, particularly in the parts wherein the author draws on years of fieldwork. What I found particularly interesting in the book is the broader discourse within which the book is […]

Tags: #Agriculture #Anthropology #Ethiopia #History #Politics

Thought Provokers
Two Faces of Civil Society

Two Faces of Civil Society

A number of authors promote civil society as a mechanism to improve aid: Dwyer (2015) argued it as an alternative to traditional, top-down aid, Roy, Negron-Gonzales, Opoku-Agyemang and Talwalker (2016) as poor people’s movements, Eyben (2014) of the people-centered alternative vision of civil society, and Acemoglu and Robinson (2006) about the necessity of collective action for democratic […]

Tags: #Civil society #Effective aid #International development #NGOs #Politics

Thought Provokers

PhD Studentships: Anthropology (Oslo)

Faculty of Social Sciences Department of Social Anthropology Job Description The Department of Social Anthropology invites candidates to apply for 2 Ph.D. Research Fellowships, with starting date in January 2017. The Department wishes to recruit two Ph.D. candidates with excellent research qualifications within Social Anthropology. Applicants should relate to one or more of the Department’s core […]

Tags: #Anthropology #Globalization #Migration #Politics #Power

Jobs

Post-doc: Mobility & Political Authority

Under the auspices of the South African Research Chair for Mobility & the Politics of Difference, the African Centre for Migration & Society at Wits University seeks applications for a 1-2 year post-doctoral fellowship. This position is a response to unprecedented levels of urbanisation and mobility across the African continent. Driven by conflict, ambition, and […]

Tags: #Authority #Migration #Mobility #Politics #Urbanization

Jobs

Co-opting Aid for Political Purposes

Guest blog on WhyDev: Donors face difficult challenges. Sometimes they face choices between conflicting priorities. For example: (1) governments should have the right to determine how and where resources are used, and (2) individual human rights should be upheld and protected. These principles often conflict, particularly in countries where democratic governance is weak. Rosalind Eyben […]

Tags: #International development #Politics #Power #Practice #Process

Research

Post-doc: Governance, Transportation & Change

We require two Postdoctoral Research Fellows for the European Research Council (ERC) Advanced Grant led by Professor Paul Nugent entitled African Governance and Space: Transport Corridors, Border Towns and Port Cities in Transition (AFRIGOS).  You will investigate the process of ‘respacing’ Africa, a political drive towards regional and continental integration, on the one hand, and […]

Tags: #Africa #Governance #Infrastructure #Politics #Transportation

Jobs
Why Nations Fail

Why Nations Fail

Why Nations Fail (2012), by Acemoglu and Robinson, is probably one of the most influential development studies books of the last decade. Although the idea itself is not new, the authors make a details and persuasive argument that institutions are a primary reason for national wealth and poverty. They write: “The central thesis of this […]

Tags: #Economic growth #Institutions #Politics #Power #Why Nations Fail

Thought Provokers