Logan Cochrane – författare

In 2014–15, the Ethiopian government, together with many academics and observers, was surprised by the outbreak of anti-government protests, as large-scale public contestation of the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) had been largely absent in the regime’s history. The dominant narrative about the EPRDF regime was that it was a top-down government, using authoritarian methods to ensure the population abided by its visions and directives, and describing its role in paternalistic ways, such as being the protector and guardian of the people.Changing this narrative, Citizens, Civil Society, and Activism under the EPRDF Regime in Ethiopia considers how citizens and civil society expressed their interests and exerted their agency in an authoritarian setting. Focusing on the EPRDF regime over a period of three decades up to 2019, the book explores civic activism in Ethiopia, presenting diverse examples of how citizens have (re)shaped the country. Challenging state-centric readings of state-society relations under EPRDF governance, this collection provides a counternarrative that emphasizes the role and agency of citizens and civil society. The contributing authors draw on a heuristic analytical framework that examines different types of interactions between civil society and state actors (co-optation, co-operation, coexistence, and contestation) and captures the ways in which civil society actors make their voices heard.At a time when authoritarian forms of governance are increasingly prevalent across the world, this critically important collection offers insight into how citizens claim their agency and challenge state power in apparently top-down contexts.

This volume provides up-to-date information on what has happened in the African ‘land rush’, providing national case studies for countries that were heavily impacted. The research will be a critical resource for students, researchers, advocates and policy makers as it provides detailed, long-term assessments of a broad range of national contexts.

This volume provides up-to-date information on what has happened in the African ‘land rush’, providing national case studies for countries that were heavily impacted. The research will be a critical resource for students, researchers, advocates and policy makers as it provides detailed, long-term assessments of a broad range of national contexts.

This open access book provides a topical overview of the key sustainability issues in Qatar, focusing on environmental sustainability from a socio-political perspective.

This open access book provides a topical overview of the key sustainability issues in Qatar, focusing on environmental sustainability from a socio-political perspective.

This open access book makes an important and original contribution in shifting the analytical lens from 'empires' to the agency of 'resilient states'. Employing a comparative framework, which highlights strategies such as diplomacy, selective modernization, and national identity, the book provides a novel and accessible way to understand how certain states maintained sovereignty. Few countries have remained independent over the last 600 years. While many books have sought to understand why and how expansionist efforts occurred, none has turned that question around, seeking answers to why and how some nations remained independent. This book brings several (but not all) of these countries together, in one collection, capturing other histories. It presents chapters on eight countries: Afghanistan, Bhutan, Ethiopia, Iran, Japan, Mongolia, Nepal, and Thailand, from 1400 to the present, and collates their historical trajectories in independence, outlining key commonalities, and differences. It is relevant to scholars in political science, development studies, decolonial and post-colonial studies, history, and international relations.