Violence in Developing Countries: War, Memory, Progress

by Christopher Cramer

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

256 pages, Paperback

First published December 29, 2006

Reviews

[Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting interpretation of the role that violence plays in developing countries and the issues with Western categorization of violence.