TaxForDev Webinar Series by the Chr. Michelsen Institute and the TaxForDev-network

EVENT

Book conversation on “Roadblocks politics: The origins of violence in Central Africa”

SPEAKERS

About

Peer Schouten will present his new book on how control over trade routes drives conflict and state formation in Central Africa

About the book: Along the muddy roads and forested rivers snaking through Central Africa, rebels and soldiers, traditional authorities and civil servants, erect roadblocks where they deploy the threat of violence to impose their will on passersby. There are, in fact, so many roadblocks in Central Africa that it is hard to find a road that does not have one.

Peer Schouten has mapped over a thousand of them in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Central African Republic, and South Sudan. His new book Roadblock Politics: the Origins of Violence in Central Africa (Cambridge University Press, 2022) argues that roadblocks aren’t just a symptom of corruption or state failure but encapsulate a distinct and meaningful form of order-making.

Roadblock Politics reveals the connections between roadblocks in Central Africa and global supply chains, tracking the flow of multinational corporations and UN agencies alike through them, to show how they encapsulate a form of power, which thrives under conditions of supply chain capitalism.

The book also traces how crucial control over long-distance trade has been in the deep history of the region. In doing so, he develops a new lens through which to understand what drives state formation and conflict in the region, offering a radical alternative to explanations that foreground control over minerals, territory or population as key drivers of Central Africa’s violent history.

Speakers

Peer Schouten is a senior researcher at the Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS) in Copenhagen and associate researcher at the International Peace Information Service in Antwerp. His research interests include the political economy of conflicts, focusing on roadblocks; the role of the enterprise in peace and conflict; mineral extraction and conflict economies; conflict and climate change; and the policy for logistics and infrastructure. He has extensive research experience in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Central African Republic and South Sudan. Peer is a former Social Science Research Council (SSRC) Conflict Research Fellow and a Visiting Fellow at the Department of Geography & Center for African Studies, University of California, Berkeley. His research has appeared in journals such as Geopolitics, Theory Talks, Conflict, Security and Development, International Affairs, and Journal of International Studies, among others.

Morten Bøås is Research Professor at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI). Morten’s research focuses on issues concerning peace and conflict in Africa, including topics such as land rights and citizenship conflicts, youths, ex-combatants and the new landscape of insurgencies and geopolitics. He has conducted in-depth fieldwork in a number of African countries, especially in Central and West Africa. Morten has authored, co-authored and co-edited several books and published a number of articles for academic journals. Among his recent books are “Africa’s Insurgents: Navigating an Evolving Landscape” (published in 2017) and “Doing Fieldwork in Areas of International Intervention: A Guide to Research in Closed and Violent Contexts” (from 2020). Morten has led several major international research projects, including EU Horizon 2020-funded projects and projects funded by the Norwegian Research Council. He is joint coordinator of the TaxCapDev-network.

Tax for Development webinars

Series featuring ongoing research and initiatives to strengthen domestic revenue mobilization, with a focus on sub-Saharan Africa. 

The webinars takes place the first Tuesday each month at 3pm – 4 pm (CET). The webinars are open to everyone.  

The webinar series is jointly organized by Chr. Michelsen Institute and the TaxCapDev-network

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