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1401. Environment, Conflict and Peacebuilding: Addressing the Root Causes of Conflict in Darfur

Author:
Zurab Elzarov
Publication Date:
08-2022
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Conflict Trends
Institution:
The African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes (ACCORD)
Abstract:
The relationship between climate change and deadly conflict is complex and context-specific, but it is undeniable that climate change is a threat multiplier that is already increasing food insecurity, water scarcity and resource competition, while disrupting livelihoods and spurring migration. In turn, deadly conflict and political instability are contributing to climate change.[2] Darfur captured international headlines in 2004 when United States (US) Secretary of State Colin Powell declared that genocide was occurring in Sudan in his testimony to the US Senate.[3] The early-2000s conflict in Darfur between rebel groups on one side and government forces and allied militias on the other caused an estimated 300 000 deaths, and about 2.5 million people live in displacement camps across Darfur.[4] Most observers agree that the immediate cause was a regional rebellion, to which Khartoum responded by recruiting Arab militias, known as the Janjaweed, to wage a campaign of ethnic cleansing against African civilians.[5] They also argue that the three core drivers of violence in Darfur at present are disputes over land and resources, the complex network of militias and paramilitary forces, and the weakness of the rule of law and security institutions.[6] Eighteen years after the eruption of the conflict in Darfur, these conclusions regarding the main causes and triggers of the conflict remain valid. In 2021, despite the signed Juba Peace Agreement, the security situation in Darfur remained volatile, with significant inter-communal violence and fighting between government forces and rebels in the Jebel Marra area. The instability in the region continues to cause large-scale displacement, with more than 200 000 people displaced in Darfur since the beginning of 2021.
Topic:
Environment, Conflict, and Peacebuilding
Political Geography:
Africa and Darfur

1402. Natural Resource (In)justice, Conflict and Transition Challenges in Africa: Lessons from the Niger Delta

Author:
Luke Amadi
Publication Date:
08-2022
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Conflict Trends
Institution:
The African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes (ACCORD)
Abstract:
The term ‘natural resource (in)justice’ has been used in various contexts by various scholars. Contemporary resource justice scholarship highlights several different areas of debate, including power and inequality in resource access, control, ownership, greening, eco-efficiency, feminist ecology, resource transparency, just transitions,[1] resource equity, resource rights, and fairness with regards to global inequality in North/South natural resource policies.[2] Resource injustice underlines two dynamic and interwoven contexts. First, there is the anthropogenic context, which examines the adverse effects of natural resource extraction on humans, including exclusion, degradation, inequality, and unfair treatment in natural resource allocation. Second, there is the eco-centric context, which explores the adverse effects of natural resource extraction on the ecosystem or the natural environment. The broader terrain within which natural resource justice is being pursued is rapidly changing. With the rise of natural resource justice movements, new ecological threats, the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, and lethal feedback with deleterious capitalist resource extraction in the global South, resource justice is confronted with new challenges, notably resource conflict. Since the end of the Cold War, there has been a considerable and increasing number of studies on natural resource conflict, including on questions of resource appropriation or what has become known in resource conflict debates as the ‘resource curse’, which points out the paradox of poverty among resource-rich countries.[3] Conflict and poverty are intertwined. In 2013, 471 million people lived in fragile and conflict-affected countries, while 78% of the world’s poor lived in these countries (181 million people).[4] Natural resources – land, water, forests, air – are essential to life on Earth.[5] Natural resource conflict accounts for the incompatibility of goals in natural resource use or appropriation. The rural poor in developing countries remain the most vulnerable, as they directly depend on natural resources for their food and livelihood security, while the livelihoods of 2.5 billion people depend wholly or partly on agriculture.[6] The dynamics of fair and equitable resource allocation in contexts associated with resource injustice are largely unknown. This is true especially where the resource-bearing local population is either marginalised or excluded in decision-making processes regarding natural resources.
Topic:
Environment, Natural Resources, Transitional Justice, Conflict, and Justice
Political Geography:
Africa and Niger Delta

1403. Peacebuilding Policies and Frameworks in Kenya

Author:
Sylvan Odidi
Publication Date:
08-2022
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Conflict Trends
Institution:
The African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes (ACCORD)
Abstract:
Peacebuilding is both a contested and evolving concept,with no universally accepted definition.[1] Despite being a broadly fluid term without clear guidelines or goals, most scholars agree that the fundamental task of peacebuilding is to improve human security.[2] The term first emerged through Johan Galtung’s peace work. He advocated for the establishment of a peacebuilding system to stimulate long-lasting peace by finding a solution to sources of violent conflicts and enhancing local capacities for conflict resolution and peace management.[3] A report by Boutros Boutros-Ghali entitled ‘An Agenda for Peace: Preventive Diplomacy, Peacemaking and Peace-Keeping’ refers to peacebuilding as ‘an action to identify and support structures which will tend to strengthen and solidify peace to avoid a relapse into conflict’.[4] A peacebuilding agenda is critical in the realisation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which advocate for ‘peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, access to justice for all and building effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels’.[5] In the Kenyan context, peacebuilding activities and regulatory frameworks are recognised as vital processes and instruments that are necessary for the achievement of Vision 2030, which is the country’s new development blueprint that aims to transform Kenya into a new industrialising middle-income country providing a high quality of life to all its citizen by 2030. On the one hand, the peacebuilding, conflict management, and security strategy of the political pillar of Vision 2030 underscores the need for promoting peacebuilding and reconciliation, deepening policies and legal and institutional frameworks that promote order in society, as well as institutionalising dialogue between and among communities to promote harmony among racial, ethnic and other interest groups. On the other hand, the social pillar aims at establishing ‘a just and cohesive society that enjoys equitable social development in a clean and secure environment’.[6] Nyambura Githaiga observes that from a cursory glance, Kenya is not an immediate or apparent choice for a peacebuilding case study.[7] This can be attributed to the fact that peacebuilding studies primarily focus on nations that experienced highly destructive and horrific civil wars and require international intervention. However, Kenya has suffered intermittent and localised destructive conflicts, such as the 1992, 1997, and 2007-2008 election-based violence. Therefore, Kenya offers a peacebuilding case study which is not related to civil war, but part of a tactical response to repeated incidents of local destructive conflicts.[8]
Topic:
Infrastructure, Conflict, and Peacebuilding
Political Geography:
Kenya and Africa

1404. From Terrorism to Banditry: Mass Abductions of Schoolchildren in Nigeria

Author:
Freedom C. Onuoha and Joseph Chukwunonso Akogwu
Publication Date:
08-2022
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Conflict Trends
Institution:
The African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes (ACCORD)
Abstract:
Kidnapping in Nigeria is not a new phenomenon but has assumed an alarming dimension in recent times. Acts of kidnapping are increasingly perpetrated by different criminal elements, such as militias, gangs, ritualists, and terrorists, among others, for a variety of reasons. However, the increased frequency, geographical spread, and operational sophistication of kidnapping for ransom (K4R) is a major source of concern for individuals, organisations, the diplomatic community, and, indeed, the Nigerian Government. Much of the concern is about the safety of the victims as well as the cost of this expanding criminal enterprise. For instance, Nigeria’s main geopolitical intelligence platform, SBM Intelligence, estimated that between 2011 and 2020, Nigerians paid at least US$18.34 million (₦7 billion) in ransoms to kidnappers.[1] In the first half of 2021, 2 371 people were kidnapped and the sum of about US$23.84 million (N10 billion) was demanded in ransoms in Nigeria.[2] The targets are as diverse as the actors who benefit from and the factors that underpin the upsurge in K4R. Expatriates, businesspeople, schoolchildren, women, politicians, government officials, diplomats, and traditional rulers, among others, are increasingly being targeted by criminal gangs.[3] The wanton predation on schoolchildren through mass abduction by armed groups that are ideologically or economically motivated is the latest worrisome trend in the pattern of criminal victimisation in Nigeria. This article examines the trajectory of the mass abduction of schoolchildren in northern Nigeria, highlighting the drivers of mass abduction and evaluating emerging responses by the government.
Topic:
Security, Terrorism, Governance, Leadership, Peace, and Abductions
Political Geography:
Africa and Nigeria

1405. The Role of Youths in Countering Violent Extremism in Northeast Nigeria

Author:
Angela Ajodo-Adebanjoko
Publication Date:
08-2022
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Conflict Trends
Institution:
The African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes (ACCORD)
Abstract:
Northeast Nigeria is the epicentre of violent extremism in the country. Borno, Yobe, and Adamawa states, in particular, record high incidences of extremism regularly. Extremists have been responsible for various killings and wanton destruction in the north and other parts of Nigeria. At the centre of the violence are youths, who constitute the majority of the members of these extremist groups. Young people are easier targets for recruitment by extremist groups because of peer pressure, drug use, gang involvement, prior delinquency, family member gang-involvement, membership in a cult, and the quest for adventure, among others. In spite of their involvement in violent extremism, it is recognised globally that the youth can be equal partners in its prevention. The youth should be considered a country’s asset, as the future of the country as well as having the potential to be leaders of today. However, a growing ‘youth bulge’ of unemployable young people trying to survive – and subject to recruitment by armed extremist groups – is problematic, and can even present a threat to prosperity and peace.
Topic:
Violent Extremism, Youth, Conflict, and Countering Violent Extremism
Political Geography:
Africa and Nigeria

1406. The Risk Pivot: Great Powers, International Security and the Energy Revolution

Author:
Felix Shihundu
Publication Date:
08-2022
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Conflict Trends
Institution:
The African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes (ACCORD)
Abstract:
The Risk Pivot: Great Powers, International Security and the Energy Revolution shows a good understanding of conflict trends in Africa. The book highlights and provides evidence for the dangers existing in the energy revolution from fossil fuels to much-needed environmentally friendly, sustainable, and renewable energy that has become the next frontier in great power rivalries. Both the United States (US) and China are valuable stakeholders in this area and command geopolitical influence on the African continent. The book brings into perspective the geopolitical consequences of the revolutionary energy supply, demand and flow and how it is transforming the global economy, international security, and the order of states. According to the authors, the emergence of global middle-class countries, such as the Asian giants, a fast-growing source of energy demand, combined with security-challenged energy producers and exporters, such as Algeria, Libya and Nigeria in Africa, represents geopolitical instability. The authors lay out the foreign policy and security implications of dramatic changes in energy production, distribution and consumption. The danger, what the authors refer to as risk pivot, in international security is caused by a number of factors. The first factor is the increasing dependence of rising Asian powers, such as India and China, on Middle East oil and gas supplies. The second factor is the new energy partnership between China and Russia, a leading fossil fuel producer. The third factor is the shifting centre of global energy markets as a result of energy revolutions in the US. The fourth factor is the increased energy demands due to the rising global middle class, which poses challenges for governance and development. The final factor is the role of the US in securing energy flows from the Middle East following its Asia re-alignment.
Topic:
International Security, Power Politics, and Energy
Political Geography:
Africa

1407. Protecting Australian Protected Persons

Author:
Savitri Taylor and Jodie Boyd
Publication Date:
12-2022
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Statelessness & Citizenship Review
Institution:
Peter McMullin Centre on Statelessness, Melbourne Law School
Abstract:
This article examines the changing concepts of racialised citizenship in two intertwined nations: the Independent State of Papua New Guinea (‘PNG’) and the Commonwealth of Australia (‘Australia’), PNG’s former colonial ruler, as the latter sought to shake off the legacies of its recently abandoned ‘White Australia’ policy. It examines the historical intersection between PNG’s developing citizenship criteria, with its racialised articulation of who was ‘in’ and who was ‘out’, and Australia’s efforts to recast its image on the international stage as a multi-racial, non-racist and anti-imperial nation. Specifically, it demonstrates how the intersection of these policy choices impacted on a particular cohort of so-called ‘Australian Protected Persons’ (‘APPs’). APPs who happened also to fall outside PNG’s citizenship criteria were left stateless at PNG’s independence. Drawing on newly released Australian archival material, this article casts light on the particular historical moment that allowed for this outcome.
Topic:
Regional Cooperation, Citizenship, Independence, Protected People, and Stateless Population
Political Geography:
Australia and Papua New Guinea

1408. A Typology of Statelessness

Author:
Benedikt Buechel
Publication Date:
12-2022
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Statelessness & Citizenship Review
Institution:
Peter McMullin Centre on Statelessness, Melbourne Law School
Abstract:
Although statelessness within the modern state system has many facets, there has not been any attempt to work out a formal typology. When conceptualising statelessness in singular terms, theorists miss something important: they fail to capture the full moral scope of statelessness. This article addresses this shortcoming. It is divided into four parts. First, I will show how statelessness is categorised under the UN’s framework. Second, I will turn to legal and social theory to argue that statelessness can be best understood through the two concepts of responsibility and recognition. Third, I will identify three different subtypes of statelessness. They derive from the source of nationality deprivation and include voluntary statelessness, structural statelessness and denigrative statelessness. Finally, I will offer some concluding remarks.
Topic:
International Cooperation, Nationalism, United Nations, and Stateless Population
Political Geography:
Global Focus

1409. The Law is Not Enough: Realising the Child’s Right to a Nationality in South Africa

Author:
Liesl Heila Muller
Publication Date:
12-2022
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Statelessness & Citizenship Review
Institution:
Peter McMullin Centre on Statelessness, Melbourne Law School
Abstract:
The Republic of South Africa (‘South Africa’) boasts some of the most progressive and inclusive citizenship laws on the African continent, protecting the right to citizenship in both its constitution and subsidiary legislation and affording special protections to children. A simple exercise in comparative law would find that there is no statelessness problem in South Africa but that would be incorrect. A closer look at the implementation of the laws reveals serious problems in the Government’s nationality administration, resulting in statelessness. In the South African context, it is not immediately possible to tell whether a child is stateless. It is only once attempts have been made to obtain (recognition of) citizenship and those attempts have failed (because of a faulty system) that a determination can be made. Under customary international law, a person is stateless because of non-recognition of citizenship by any state, whether legally or illegally. As a result, nationality administration procedures are as important as laws. South Africa’s failure to formally recognise its citizens because of insurmountable administrative barriers and discriminatory practices is making children in South Africa stateless, rendering its impressive laws useless. This article provides a brief analysis of the historical and legislative context within which South Africa finds itself, then analyses recent jurisprudence on childhood statelessness to illustrate how the right to administrative justice is crucial to South Africa’s trajectory of success in ending childhood statelessness, offering recommendations for the way forward.
Topic:
Nationalism, Citizenship, Bureaucracy, and Administration
Political Geography:
Africa and South Africa

1410. Militarized Global Apartheid

Author:
Catherine Besteman and William Kattrup
Publication Date:
09-2022
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Brown Journal of World Affairs
Institution:
Brown Journal of World Affairs
Abstract:
Catherine Besteman is Francis F. Bartlett and Ruth K. Bartlett Professor of Anthropology at Colby College. A past President of the Association of Political and Legal Anthropologists, her most recent books include Militarized Global Apartheid (2020), Making Refuge: Somali Bantu Refugees and Lewiston, Maine (2016), and the co-edited Life by Algorithms (2019). In addition to coordinating the 2021 abolitionist initiative Freedom & Captivity, she has published six other books, and received recent fellowships from the American Council of Learned Societies, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Guggenheim and Rockefeller Foundations.
Topic:
Apartheid, International Affairs, and Interview
Political Geography:
South Africa, Global South, and Global North

1411. Rethinking Recovery: How to Sustainably Support Communities A!ected by Genocide and Sexual Violence

Author:
Nadia Murad
Publication Date:
09-2022
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Brown Journal of World Affairs
Institution:
Brown Journal of World Affairs
Abstract:
In August 2014, the Islamic State (ISIS) surrounded Yazidi villages in Sinjar, Iraq as part of an e2ort to ethnically cleanse Yazidis from existence. Over a two-week period, ISIS militants murdered more than 5,000 men and older women, took more than 6,000 women and children captive, and forced more than 400,000 individuals to 1ee their homes.1 I lived in one of those villages. My family members were killed and dumped into unmarked, mass graves. My sisters, nieces, and I were taken captive and forced into sexual slavery. 3is was no accident. Sexual violence has long been used as a weapon of war. ISIS believed that violating Yazidi women would destroy the community from within.2 For much of history, the use of sexual violence as a weapon has been considered an unfortunate byproduct of con1ict at the high- est levels of peace and security. While the international community has begun to recognize sexual violence as a weapon, many survivors are still silenced by shame and stigma. It is imperative that the taboo surrounding sexual violence is broken so that the international community can work proactively to prevent and respond to this gender-based weapon.
Topic:
Genocide, Islamic State, Sexual Violence, and Yazidis
Political Geography:
Iraq and Middle East

1412. Democracy, Demography, and the Future of the European Union

Author:
Dubravka Šuica and William Kattrup
Publication Date:
09-2022
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Brown Journal of World Affairs
Institution:
Brown Journal of World Affairs
Abstract:
Dubravka Šuica is the European Commission Vice President for Democracy and Demography. She is leading the Commission’s work on deliberative democracy, the Conference on the Future of Europe (CoFoE), demography, children’s rights, and child protection.
Topic:
Demographics, Children, European Union, Democracy, and Protection
Political Geography:
Europe

1413. Transparency and the Internet: Facebook’s Global Reach

Author:
Frances Haugen, Caroline Allen, and Kamran King
Publication Date:
09-2022
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Brown Journal of World Affairs
Institution:
Brown Journal of World Affairs
Abstract:
Frances Haugen specializes in algorithmic product management, having worked on ranking algo- rithms at Google, Pinterest, Yelp, and Facebook. In 2019, she was recruited to Facebook to be the lead Product Manager on the Civic Misinformation team, and later also worked on counter-espionage. In 2021, Haugen disclosed tens of thousands of Facebook’s internal documents to the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Wall Street Journal. Haugen is an advocate for accountability and transparency in social media.
Topic:
Internet, Transparency, Interview, and Facebook
Political Geography:
Global Focus

1414. Reification of Data: the Right to be Forgotten, Data Ownership, Network Usage Fee, and Data Sovereignty

Author:
Kyung-Sin Park
Publication Date:
09-2022
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Brown Journal of World Affairs
Institution:
Brown Journal of World Affairs
Abstract:
A regression is taking place around the world: the reification of data. Data is a relationship between sentient beings and the objects sensed, knowledge of the world external to the consciousness of that being. Transfer of data is speech. Collection of data is learning. Thus, a restriction on the transfer of data is a restriction on speech or the freedom of speech.1 A restriction on the collection of data becomes a restriction on learning or the freedom to learn. Data—origi- nally, a configuration of the consciousness perceiving external objects—is being rei3ed, that is, treated as if it is a tangible thing. Increasingly, data is deemed to be a possession by people reflected in it or those producing it and subject to delivery fees for transfer. Data is deemed capable of being “owned by data subjects,” “owned by data producers,” or charged fees for delivery.2
Topic:
Science and Technology, Networks, Data, Digital Sovereignty, and Right to be Forgotten
Political Geography:
Global Focus

1415. Remaking the Future of the Internet

Author:
James Lewis
Publication Date:
09-2022
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Brown Journal of World Affairs
Institution:
Brown Journal of World Affairs
Abstract:
A rule of thumb in Hollywood is when you have no new ideas for a 1lm, remake an old one. 5e United States is taking a similar approach to internet policy, with the well-intended “Declaration for the Future of the Internet” (hereafter referred to as “the Declaration”) reiterating themes from the dawn of the internet.1 5ere is a real opportunity for a new approach to internet policy that endorses democratic values and a reformed multistakeholder model, but the Declaration does not provide this opportunity because it ignores sovereignty and great power con6ict—the forces reshaping the internet. 5ere are 193 countries in the world. Only 60 endorsed the Declaration.2 If this had been an election, the United States would have lost. 5is outcome may partly re6ect a lack of diplomatic skill by the United States, but it also re6ects a paucity of ideas to address concerns in the developing world, which center around development, sovereignty, and the rule of law. Many nations would have welcomed a bold new vision for the internet that took their interests into account. 5ey did not get this vision from the Declaration.
Topic:
Science and Technology, Internet, and Digital Policy
Political Geography:
Global Focus and United States of America

1416. Inclusion and Environmental Protection in Space

Author:
Tony Milligan
Publication Date:
09-2022
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Brown Journal of World Affairs
Institution:
Brown Journal of World Affairs
Abstract:
A push for inclusion has been one of the most striking features of space programs in recent years, with a diverse range of agents going up to the Inter- national Space Station. NASA has been promoting the recognition of the early, but hidden, role of black scientists such as Katherine Johnson within its pro- grams of the 1960s (Johnson was celebrated in the 2016 7lm Hidden Figures).1 Beyond this, private sector activities are emerging with some built-in elements of inclusion. In 2021, Wally Funk fially could make it into space on a private sector Blue Origin suborbital flight, 60 years after being part of the privately trained female Mercury 13 group. These women were not part of the official NASA program, and they never made it into space, despite public criticism and the advantages of sending women in the cramped capsules given their generally smaller size. The women had what Margaret Weitekamp has referred to as “right stu:, wrong sex.”2
Topic:
Environment, Women, Space, Inclusion, and Protection
Political Geography:
Global Focus

1417. The Strength of Small, Lean, and Agile

Author:
Brian Binnie
Publication Date:
09-2022
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Brown Journal of World Affairs
Institution:
Brown Journal of World Affairs
Abstract:
As a youngster, the 1960s wereexciting times for space exploration. In 1968, I watched Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, a movie that sparked the minds of young adventurers everywhere. Just one year later, in 1969, I watched alongside the world as two men bounced around on the moon. With millions of others, I believed that since everything was happening so quickly, by the time we were older, there would be all sorts of opportunities available in the burgeoning 1eld of space. 9ese expectations were never realized. For 45 years, the same starry adventurers watched from the sidelines as the severed operations of NASA maintained their exclusive grip on all things space with the Shuttle and International Space Station operations. But in 2004, a small, privately owned company shocked the landscape, 0ying three space 0ights with a reusable ship to the rapt attention of millions worldwide. With the visibility provided by a $10 million prize, these 0ights became the leading story of that year.
Topic:
Science and Technology, Regulation, Space, and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
Political Geography:
United States of America

1418. Talking About NASA: Outer Space and World A!airs

Author:
John M. Logsdon, David Del Terzo, and Luka Willett
Publication Date:
09-2022
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Brown Journal of World Affairs
Institution:
Brown Journal of World Affairs
Abstract:
Dr. John M. Logsdon is Professor Emeritus at George Washington University’s (GWU) Elliott School of International A!airs, where he was the founder and long-time director of GWU’s Space Policy Institute. He is an author of many articles, essays, and edited books, with his most recent publication being Ronald Reagan and the Space Frontier (Palgrave Macmillan, 2019). In 2003, he was a member of the Columbia Accident Investigation Board and was formerly a member of the NASA
Topic:
International Affairs, Space, Interview, and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
Political Geography:
North America and United States of America

1419. Sexual Abuse, Violence, and Prostitution Toward Children in Mexico

Author:
César Niño
Publication Date:
09-2022
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Brown Journal of World Affairs
Institution:
Brown Journal of World Affairs
Abstract:
Oscar was born in an illegal prostitution center where his mother was a sex worker (we are not certain if she worked there voluntarily). Oscar was first prostituted at age four, serving up to six “clients” daily at the same center where his mother worked. Both he and his mother were constant victims of rape and physical violence. This was the environment in which he was raised. In recent decades, according to a Reinserta study, violence against children in Mexico has intensi7ed nationwide.1 From 2006 to 2018, there were 325,699 homicides, according to data from Mexico’s National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI). Of these victims, 23,420 were men under the age of 19, a little over 7 percent of the total, and 6,022 were women under the age of 19, about 2 percent of the total.2 Children represent a particularly vulnerable group, as they are immersed in practices that violate their human rights and make it impossible for them to develop physically and psychologically in an adequate manner and according to their age. They experience physical violence, sexual abuse, domestic violence, and other forms of violence that are normalized from an early age.
Topic:
Human Rights, Children, Sexual Violence, Abuse, and Prostitution
Political Geography:
North America and Mexico

1420. The State of Exception: Gangs as a Neoliberal Scapegoat in El Salvador

Author:
Leisy Abrego and Steven Osuna
Publication Date:
09-2022
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Brown Journal of World Affairs
Institution:
Brown Journal of World Affairs
Abstract:
On 26 March 2022, gangs in the small Central American country of El Salvador killed 62 people, making it the deadliest day in modern Salvadoran history.1 In the span of just three days, between 25 and 27 March, there were a total of 87 seemingly random murders of people laboring and commuting in El Salvador. In line with the common political practice since the 1990s, Salvadoran politi- cians zeroed in on punishing gangs, whom they have blamed for all social ills. Indeed, the brutal intercommunal violence of gangs is horrifying and dehuman- izing in ways that permeate everyday life for large swaths of Salvadoran society. 3ese realities make gangs particularly visible and therefore politically useful for the ruling elite, who can and frequently do turn to gangs as a distraction from their own corruption. 3e proliferation of gangs and violence, however, was not inevitable, and a political and media focus solely on gangs misses the larger picture. Gangs, and the social conditions surrounding them in El Salvador, are ultimately a symptom of a larger root problem: neoliberal capitalism. To best understand the conditions of the present moment, we trace how neoliberalism developed in El Salvador, why it has thrived across party lines, how it is fueling the actions of this particular Salvadoran administration, and how a growing grassroots cross-border movement is resisting it.
Topic:
Neoliberalism, Violence, Organized Crime, and Gangs
Political Geography:
Central America and El Salvador