Month: June 2018

This Week in South Sudan – Week 23

Tuesday 5 June A former information minister in Western Bahr el Ghazal, Omer Eshag Mohamed, announced his decision to join the opposition movement led by General Paul Malong. Foreign Policy: “Conflict in Abyei Could Reignite South Sudan’s Civil War” Thursday 7 June The Government of South Sudan and the Government of Sudan agreed to repair… Read more »

Decolonize Academia!

Today the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) is holding a seminar titled Decolonizing the Academy. Our aim is for this seminar to start a national discussion about the legacy of the colonial era in Norwegian academia – both in relation to its formal structures and the ways in which we as researchers conceptualize and categorize… Read more »

The Long Peace Most Likely Began during the Vietnam War

Two statisticians at the University of Oslo have blown a hole in Steven Pinker’s famous theory that the Long Peace dates from 1945 onwards. But Pinker is excited about the new calculations, which suggest that this more peaceful period instead began in 1965 – during the Vietnam War. In his 2011 book, The Better Angels… Read more »

This Week in South Sudan – Week 22

Monday 28 May The Kenyan opposition leader, and the country’s special envoy to South Sudan, Raila Odinga, met with President Salva Kiir to discuss ways of resolving the civil war. Odinga is also scheduled to travel to South Africa to meet the former first vice-president Riek Machar. The South Sudan United Front/Army (SSUF/A) has returned… Read more »

I Am a Friend of Israel. And I Can’t Accept Its Indiscriminate Violence Against Palestinians in Gaza

The political leadership in Israel often uses the concept of “friend” and “enemy.” Other countries also use those concepts from time to time, but it seems that they are particularly prevalent in Israeli political language. For instance, Prime Minister Netanyahu talks of “true friend” Donald Trump, “close friend” Narendra Modi of India, while other leaders… Read more »

Food Insecurity and Unrest

Food price fluctuations over the last decade and the corresponding unrest in several countries in Asia, Africa and the Middle East have led to a renewed interest in the link between food and unrest. A recent policy brief highlights some of the main findings in the field and suggests avenues for future research related to… Read more »