This paper argues against what we call ‘the local trap’, in which development researchers and practitioners falsely assume that localized decision-making is inherently more socially just or ecologically sustainable. The local trap constrains research on a range of topics in development research, including productive conservation networks, agro-forestry, communitybased natural resource managemen...

One key paradigmatic subtext of Naomi Klein’s argument runs in her The Shock Doctrine (London: Penguin, 2008) is how the supposed undemocratic, violent character of ‘‘totalitarian’’ Marxist movements serve to justify repressive measures by the neo-liberal state. In inviting such a repressive response from the state, ‘‘undemocratic’’ revolutionary left movements are presented as causing the eros...

This essay describes terrorism as a mode of warfare and examines its unique characteristics, by comparing this method of struggle to other forms of violent conflict. It further emphasizes the role of terrorism as a strategy of insurgence and delineates the main strategic ideas by which terrorists have hoped to achieve their political objectives. The study evaluates terrorists' success in obtain...

There are many reasons for the health inequities that we see around the world today. Public policy and the way society organises its affairs affects the economic, social and physical factors that influence the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age - the social determinants of health. Tackling health inequities is a political issue that requires leadership, political cour...

In this article, we analyze through a political economy of communication lens the historical and political contexts in which the #YoSoy132 movement emerged, the Mexican media concentration system, and the possibilities offered by social media to young people, situating the issue of media democratization at the centre of the #YoSoy132 struggle. Drawing on two group and four individual interviews...

Debates regarding purported negative effects of video games have raged among scholars, clinicians and in the public arena. Surveys of both scholars and the general public reveal wide discrepancies in beliefs about the potential harmfulness of video games, and some evidence suggests that a ‘‘generational divide’’ may be at play. The current study examines this in a sample of 109 clinicians and c...

Violent political conflicts dominate in the global mass media sending almost every day. It is a matter of the new terrorist related conflicts that have become so conspicuous in the 21st century. How are we to understand the new pattern of political conflicts involving the massive and indiscriminate employment of terrorist attacks? To reply to this question, one may contrast the new pattern of f...

Over a decade has passed since Roe v. Wade, yet the abortion controversy has not subsided. In many respects, it has intensified. The moral issue is as unresolved as ever, while the political lines are even more sharply drawn. The controversy has so many ramifications-medical, legal, social, political, and philosophical-that it is difficult to get it clearly in view. We should not be surprised t...

University-based activists constantly find themselves at an interface between the institution that employs them and the social movements to which they are committed. The university is itself a site of struggle and contestation over pedagogy, curriculum, academic freedom, intellectual property, labour processes and political economy. In recent decades these processes have been subjected to the d...

The phenomenon of crony capitalism has been explored primarily with reference to its impact on economic growth. This study investigates the political implications of crony capitalism and, specifically, the interaction between political competition and crony capitalism. Based on a case study of political trajectories in two regions of the Russian Federation, I argue that under crony capitalism p...