The book provides critical perspectives that reach beyond the technical approaches of international financial institutions and proponents of the liberal peace formula. It investigates political economies characterized by the legacies of disruption to production and exchange, by population displacement, poverty, and by 'criminality'.

"Will be of interest to those working on conflict and peace studies, economic development, cultural studies, and women in the modern world. A key new publication." --Chandra R. de Silva, Old Dominion University ..". offers a superb overview of how a civil war, driven by ethnicity, can engender a new culture and a new political economy... Highly recommended." -- Choice Economy, Culture, and Civil War in Sri Lanka provides a lucid and up-to-date interpretation of Sri Lankan society and its 20-year civil conflict. An interdisciplinary examination of the relationship between the economy, broadly defined, and the reproduction of violent conflict, this volume argues that the war is grounded not just in the goals and intentions of the opposing sides, but also in the everyday orientations, experiences, and material practices of all Sri Lankan people. The contributors explore changing political and policy contexts; the effect of long-term conflict on employment opportunities and life choices for rural and urban youth; life histories, memory, and narratives of violence; the "economics of enlisting" and individual decisions about involvement in the war; and nationalism and the moral debate triggered by women's employment in the international garment manufacturing industry. Contributors are Francesca Bremner, Michele Ruth Gamburd, Newton Gunasinghe, Siri T. Hettige, Caitrin Lynch, John M. Richardson, Jr., Amita Shastri, Deborah Winslow, and Michael D. Woost.

Examines the relationship between the ethnic conflict and economic development in modern Sri Lanka.

There is widespread dissatisfaction with the current suite of evaluation and monitoring tools available to peacebuilders and those responding to conflict. Yet, despite this dissatisfaction, there are few concrete moves to investigate alternative methods of gauging the success or failure of peace initiatives. This volume explores alternative methods of assessing peace. These methods tend to be bottom-up and people-centric and are interested in many aspects of conflict societies that orthodox top-down indicators often miss. The methods explored in this work chime with the contemporary interest in critical approaches to peace and conflict studies, and approaches that are interested in local perspectives. The volume also connects with a growing interest in civic epistemology, or the co-production of data whereby research ‘subjects’ participate in the research and have a chance of understanding the relevance of research. All of the contributors to the volume have significant field experience in conflict-affected areas and their work is informed by an engagement with the everyday challenges and opportunities facing people in war zones. This bookw as published as a special issue of the Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding.

This book gives a critique of the contemporary global capitalist system and the adverse consequences suffered by the developing countries as a result of their 'integration' into this system. The current neoliberal paradigm of capitalist development as the only or the best alternative for the economic, social and political development of the developing countries is rejected. The authors search for more human and ecologically sustainable alternatives, focusing on Latin America, Asia and women. Contributors are David Barkijn, Robert N. Gwynne, Richard L. Harris, Cristóbal Kay, Jorge Nef, Mustapha Kamal Pasha, Cathy A. Rakowski, Wilder Robles, Melinda J. Seid, and John Weeks.