International Development - Research

This book examines the relationship between humour and politics in Africa. Moving beyond the idea of humour as a mode of resistance, the book investigates the ‘political work’ that humour does and explores the complex entanglements in which the politics, practices and performances of humour are located.

Drawing on empirical research with the UK’s two largest Food Banks, this book explores the prolific rise of food charity over the last 15 years and its implications for overcoming food insecurity.

Exploring the significance of Norbert Elias’s reflections on civilization for international relations, this book explains the working principles of an Eliasian approach to civilization and demonstrates how the interdependencies between state-formation, colonialism and an emergent international society shaped the European 'civilizing process.'

This book presents a comprehensive exploration of the state of infrastructure in Africa and provides an integrated analysis of the challenges the sector faces, based on extensive fieldwork across the continent, providing an important resource for researchers, students, policymakers and NGOs.

This path-breaking book shows the efforts that small states have made to participate more fully in International Organizations (IOs). It highlights the challenges created by widened participation in IOs and develops a model of the dilemmas that both IOs and small states face as the norms of sovereign equality and the right to develop coincide.

This book explores the experiences of ethnic performers' in a small Chinese city. Introducing the concept of ‘intimacy as a lens’, the author examines intimate negotiations involving emotions, sense of self and relationships as a way of understanding wider social inequalities.

Based on unprecedented empirical research, this book assesses how institutional legacy and external intervention have shaped the structural conditions of corruption in the Afghan police force and state. Filling a major gap in the literature, this is an invaluable contribution to the literature and to anti-corruption policy in developing states.

This ground-breaking and compelling book shows in fine detail the life struggles of those who live on a public housing estate in Dublin. Combining long-term research into residents’ lived experience with critical realist theory, it provides a completely fresh perspective on public housing in Ireland and arguably, beyond.

In this timely book, Ed Atkins asks: are we getting decarbonisation right? And how could it be made better for people and communities? In doing so, this book proposes a different type of energy transition. One that prioritises and takes opportunities to do better – to provide better jobs, community ownership and improve people’s homes and lives.

Africa’s unique position as an international diplomatic actor has not always been given the attention it deserves. This volume bridges this gap by offering a fresh, comprehensive and realistic overview of African diplomacy.

Introducing the concept of ‘knowledge alchemy’ as the formulation of global standards through the use of indicators and algorithms, this book explores how knowledge alchemy increasingly informs national and institutional policies and practices on economic performance, higher education, research and innovation.

This book chronicles the postwar experiences of the children of MRTA members in Peru, exploring struggles over memory, truth and societal stigma. It contributes to testimonio research in education and advocates learning from war-torn nations as sites of knowledge production and creativity.