Contested Resource Extraction,Anti-Corporate Protests and the Politics of Movement Alliance in Bangladesh

Why do activist groups form alliances and why do some alliances later fall apart? This article asks these questions in the context of a popular mobilisation against resource extraction in Bangladesh. It focuses on the dynamics of a strategic alliance between a locally organised community mobilisation against a British mining company and an urban radical activist group, known for its anti-capitalist activism, to explore the subsequent collapse of the alliance and the demobilisation of one group. Based on the qualitative analysis of in-depth interviews with activists and organisational documents, the article probes the underlying causes of rupture. Although several individual and organisational factors are identified, it is argued that Bangladesh’s confrontational political culture and its authoritarian party system played a critical role, with local activists vulnerable to co-optation or being silenced by powerful political actors. The article contributes to social movement scholarship by emphasising that specific political cultures can undermine efforts to build strategic alliances between diverse social movement organisations.     

SA‐EU‐chile: Pioneers in north‐south relations

A look at the many plans, processes, agreements and disagreements that have led the Congo to its current transition phase.     

Overcoming stigma and fostering participation: mechanisms for community reintegration in Colombia

ABSTRACT

Mechanisms for community reintegration are under-researched. In Colombia and elsewhere, scholars outline the importance of effectively reintegrating ex-combatants into local communities, but they hardly consider the practicalities of it. A major hindering factor to community reintegration is stigma. It leads to a fear of ex-combatants, causing people to refrain from participating in community reintegration projects. This article identifies and analyses four principal mechanisms that help to overcome stigma and foster participation: information provision, inclusion of target groups in design and implementation, provision of incentives for participation and a change in the narrative surrounding ex-combatants. The analysis is based on a series of interviews with project staff and ex-combatants, taking into account state-run and local projects in Colombia’s capital Bogotá. This article identifies potential for increased co-operation between state and local actors. Furthermore, it argues that projects should increasingly work with interest instead of geographic communities. Working with interest communities creates incentives for participation and facilitates community reintegration in urban environments. Accordingly, this article counters the argument that community reintegration in cities is difficult to achieve.     

Practices and challenges of converting former fighters into civil servants: the case of Eritrea

This study critically discusses the practices and challenges of converting the former Eritrean fighters into civil servants and their management afterwards. The study finds that, although both categories of the Eritrean civil servants (ex and non‐ex‐fighters) have been working together since independence, ex‐fighter civil servants were given special privileges in a number of human resource management (HRM) practices, such as recruitment and selection, placement, promotion, training and compensation. That is, the political involvement in the management of the ex‐fighter civil servants was considerable, which in turn has led to a certain degree of politicisation in the civil service. The Eritrean experience draws a number of lessons with regard to process, treatment within the workplace and different perceptions on the part of the two categories of civil servant. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.