Shadow globalization, ethnic conflicts and new wars : a political economy of intra-state war

Shadow Globalization, Ethnic Conflict and New Wars looks at the interrelation of armed conflict, international economic flows and organized crime in the post-Cold War era.

The focus on the political economy of contemporary ward gives this book an original take on ethnic conflict that so far has almost exclusively been analysed though the lens of identity formation. Focusing in the political economy of a variety of contemporary intra-state wars, the authors question several of the widely held theoretical perspectives about the relationship between war and state-making.

Their ideas are examined in relation to a wide range of case studies in the war on drugs, the mafia statelets emerging in the Balkans, the Kurds in Iraq and the Lebanese and Somali civil wars. Putting the focus in the political economy if so-called new wars, the book presents a series of studies that analyse the complexities of current warfare by zooming in from the global sphere to local spots of organised violence, So it raises questions about the very idea of intra-state wars and shows that these wars are inseparably linked to the global economy and the world political order. In this way, it is also a unique contribution to understanding the post-September 11 world. This will be topical and controversial reading for students and scholars of international relations, international political economy, as well as experts in foreign policy, peace and conflict studies.

Jurgen Endres, Joakim Grundel, Michael Robert Hickok, Dietrich Jung, Michael Pugh, Klaus Schlichte, Francesco Strazzari, Hans T. van Veen