Development Aid and Human Security in Uganda
Human insecurities regarding food, water, education, and health characterise Uganda, despite the billions of aid dollars that flow into the country each year. The connection between development aid and corruption takes a central stage in this article, which shows how the intended purpose of development aid is largely diverted to meet the individual needs of elites, leaving the basic needs of the majority poor unattended to. The author concludes by boldly stating that if accountability, transparency, community participation, and good governance are not enforced in Uganda, then however much aid flows to Uganda, the common man SHALL remain in poverty and misery.
Deporting Our Future
The United States is home to some of the most prestigious colleges and universities in the world, and thousands of students from around the globe travel to the country to receive an education that will allow them to extend their career in ways that they would not be able to in their home countries. However, with such strict immigration laws, many are allowed to receive the American education, but are deported back to their home country during their stay or shortly thereafter. Shakena Goode offers an opinionated outlook on how this affects the American economy and should influence amendments to immigration policy in the country.
Democracy if necessary but not necessarily democracy
Democracy if necessary but not necessarily democracy Author: Gerald Caplan Originally Published at Peace and Conflict Monitor on: 03/02/2015 “We have a profound disagreement with the Cuban government when we talk about democracy and human rights,” President Obama’s representative said in Havana the other week. Except it’s not true. In fact, the two governments […]
Degrowth Through a Post-Development Lens
If current crises like environmental degradation and social inequality can be said to be the result of our economic and social systems, the concept of a degrowth economy has been advanced as a possible solution. Degrowth is in direct contrast to economic systems such as capitalism or sustainable growth, and in fact has much more in common with a post-development perspective in advocating for a fundamental transformation of society that will challenge the very notion of what an ‘economy’ is as well as the dominant discourses which shape our perception of reality.
December 1st, Day of the Abolition of the Army, Costa Rica
Ronald Castro Fernández describes the circumstances around Costa Rica’s decision to abolish the army in 1948, and its enshrinement into the constitution in 1949.
Cultivating Autonomy: Maize and Cultural Survival in El Quiché, Guatemala
David Golding examines how the Guatemalan military specifically targeted maize and milpa in its operations during the 1970s and 80s. He argues that the objective of these campaigns was to subjugate Mayan cultural space and food production, previously autonomous, to state control under the guise of development.
Humanitarian Assistance and Peacebuilding: Congruence as a By-product of Incompatibility
Mahmoud Abdou discusses the differences and similarities between humanitarianism and peacebuilding in both operational and ideological terms, and shows how they have increasingly supported each other in the post-Cold War era as instruments of the liberal peace approach to global governance.
Human Rights Defenders in Burundi: Betrayers or Contributors?
Vital Nshimirimana discusses the issue of protection of human rights defenders in Burundi. He argues that human rights defenders are subject to assassinations, kidnappings, death threats and intimidations. He assesses the relationship between human rights defenders and public authorities and regrets that activists are often viewed as enemies of the country. He also argues that the state must comply with its duties regarding human rights. He concludes that since human rights defenders dedicate their lives, endeavours and means to the promotion and protection of human rights, they contribute to the establishment of a democratic society; and as such they deserve due support and protection.
Key words: Human rights defenders, death threats, killings, intimidation, state’s human rights duties, public powers, citizens.
How to Transform Drug Policy in Mexico: Suggestions to the Next President
The upcoming presidential elections in Mexico may provide an opportunity to break from the failed policies of the ongoing “war on drugs” and pursue an alternative, rights-based, and public health-centered drug policy. After discussing the social costs and self-defeating rhetoric of the “war on drugs”, this paper offers some hope that a change is in the air, and makes several concrete policy recommendations for the incoming president.
How the nonhuman made us human
Animals, plants, and the wider natural world are often reduced to mere “environment”, a backdrop for human affairs over which we assume absolute superiority and dominion. In this thought provoking essay, Febna Reheem Caven argues that our physiology, psychology, identity, cultural expressions, and ultimately, our existence depend on the active collaboration of the natural world. To find peace and fulfilment, then, we will have to re-identify with the ultimate “Other” — the nonhuman.