IRCPPS in the Links: Field Work in Conflict Settings

Jason Lyall writes in the Monkey Cage about the ethics and logistics of field work in a conflict zone:

...As part of my due diligence, I traveled to Khan Abad district with my survey team to participate in training sessions and to conduct site inspections of the survey actually being carried out. That’s when the problem arose. While we had negotiated prior access to our villages with the local militia commander, word had leaked from a careless enumerator that “two foreigners” (my program manager, Prakhar Sharma, and myself) were present. Turns out  a rival arbakicommander, one who controlled the main route to our chosen village, had also heard the news and was now setting up an ambush to catch us as we exited the village. Since I’m writing this blog post, you know that things ended well...

Summary: Comparative Politics - Volume 43, Issue 4 - July 2011

In this issue of Comparative Politics:

• Pop-Eleches and Tucker present a new framework for considering the effect of communist-era legacies on postcommunist political values and behavior.
• Maleski, Abrami, and Zheng compare the impact of institutions on income inequality in China and Vietnam.
• Green offers a new theory explaining patronage allocation based on the logic of institutional choice, whereby political leaders allocate patronage in accordance with the varying political threats they face.
• Day examines the structural factors that influence the outcomes experienced by failed rebel groups, with a case focus on Uganda.
• Balán examines the political dynamics that lead to corruption scandals, focusing on cases in Chile and Argentina.
• Nylen composes a review essay  on the next generation of literature on participatory institutions in Latin America.