Violence in Developing Countries: War, Memory, Progress

Why is there so much violence in the developing countries? What does it have to do with economic development? What does it have to do with globalization? Christopher Cramer takes a hard look at war, recent uprisings, insurgencies, and violence in Angola, Brazil, and Iraq. Cramer explains the financing of wars and compares post-conflict reconstruction efforts. He takes special issue with common perspectives on violence, which deny that war has any positive effects and believe that peace can be easily achieved through democratization and free trade. Cramer identifies common fallacies and shows that modern (Western) liberal democracies haven't outgrown violence, and don't only resort to it in self-defense. Providing a far more practical assessment, Cramer boldly argues that violent conflict has led to radical and positive reshaping of social relationships and provoked favorable social change. Violence in Developing Countries forges an alternative understanding of how violence shapes a globalizing society.

"There is a growing preoccupation... of violence in the world, and particularly in the 'South' or the 'developing world'. Governments in advanced industrialised countries... have increasingly strained to catch up with the realization of just how pervasive violent conflict and other manifestations of violence are in much of the world." --from Violence in Developing Countries Indiana University Press

Offers a surprising and sobering view of war and violence in the developing world

Christopher Cramer is Professor in Development Studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies, London.

Preface and Acknowledgments

Introduction: A Whiff of Angola

1. Violence, Memory, and Progress

2. Categories, Trends, and Evidence of Violent Conflict

3. Deviant Conditions

4. Angola and the Theory of War

5. How to Pay for a War

6. Passionate Interests

7. The Great Post-Conflict Makeover Fantasy

Conclusions

Notes

Bibliography

Index