Who is going to be the new World Bank President? For one man and his supporters, there is only one viable candidate for this position: he himself. In a recent Washington Post op-ed, he has laid out his unique set of experience and expertise. Those who dare to cast any doubt are either tackled head-on [...]
Archive for the ‘Peace and Conflict’ Category
The World Bank needs a strategic arbiter, not a narcissistic insider
Posted in Development Theory, International Politics, Peace and Conflict on March 16, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
Why don’t American cities burn?
Posted in Peace and Conflict, Urban Politics on February 18, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
I recently attended UPenn Prof. Michael Katz’s book talk at the New America Foundation. In Why Don’t American Cities Burn, Katz offers a historical analysis of the systemic and social constraints to violent collective action by minorities in U.S. cities which, Katz argues, result from a set of profound economic and political transformations. Although I [...]
New OECD Report: “Do No Harm: International Support for Statebuilding”
Posted in Afghanistan, Development Theory, International Politics, Peace and Conflict on February 8, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Despite the best of intentions, donors can inadvertently undermine statebuilding processes. When the resources they deliver or the reforms they advocate weaken rather than strengthen the state’s decision- and policy-making functions, their efforts can do more harm than good. Donors can also do harm by creating a brain drain away from state organizations. When aid [...]
Politicophobia: How the UN Fails Afghanistan
Posted in Afghanistan, Development Theory, International Politics, Peace and Conflict on January 4, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
In a parliamentary democracy with a president at the executive helm, it is one of the former’s most critical prerogatives to review, approve or potentially reject the latter’s cabinet. This is the procedure followed in the U.S. and many other countries in the world. Even the otherwise weak European Parliament in Strasbourg retains the right [...]
Comparing Afghan Apples With Vietnamese Oranges, or Why There Is No Solution For Afghanistan
Posted in Afghanistan, International Politics, Peace and Conflict on December 2, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Once upon a time, not too long ago, there would have been a solution for Afghanistan, one that had a realistic chance of success. “Success” would have meant a stabilization of the modest gains made during the first three of the post-war years (2002-2004), and the “solution” would have looked roughly as follows: a highly [...]
New Article in Critical Planning
Posted in Afghanistan, Peace and Conflict, Urban Politics on September 13, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
The key questions that I am posing in this article are: how can we explain city-level politics in two countries located at the very fringes of global capitalism, and how can a resulting reconfigured theoretical framework be integrated into an international comparative urban research agenda. Contemporary Sierra Leone and Afghanistan present major structural differences compared [...]
Afghanistan Commentary on Swedish Radio
Posted in Afghanistan, International Politics, Peace and Conflict on September 8, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
For the Swedish speakers among you, check out Marcus Hansson’s 20-minute feature on Afghanistan’s botched reconstruction, broadcast on September 2, 2009 on Swedish Radio 1. It includes interviews with several international observers. For instance, Antonio Donini at the Fletcher School comments on the aid industry and the discrepancy between its global mobility and its lack [...]
Racial Discrimination at the World Bank: New GAP Report
Posted in International Politics, Peace and Conflict on July 16, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Last week, the Government Accountability Project (GAP) released a report that investigates and finds evidence of racial discrimination against black professional grade employees at the World Bank. The report, which documents the treatment of these employees in recruitment, retention and internal judicial decisions, finds that a race ceiling exists at the institution, and that the [...]
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