Confronting The Don The Political Economy Of Gang Violence In Jamaica

The book provides robust discussions on the ways in which Jamaicans are experiencing flawed democracy; the impact it has not just on the political system and their political participation but also economic development and socio-cultural challenges.

This book develops a comparative study on violence in Jamaica, El Salvador, and Belize based on a theoretical approach, extensive field research, and in-depth empirical research. It combines the Caribbean and Central America into a single comparative research that explores the historical (from the conquista onwards) as well as contemporary causes of violence in these societies. The volume focuses on forms of violence such as gang violence, police violence, every day forms of violence, vigilantism, and organized crime. The analysis provides a theoretical perspective that bridges political economy as well as cultural approaches in violence research. As such, it will be of interest to readers studying development, violence, political, Central American, and Caribbean studies.

The latest volume of the Political and Military Sociology annual review features empirical research on topics that focus on security, military training, culture, and the challenges of bureaucracy, law, and violence in democracies. The articles cover an impressive geographic range from Europe to Africa and to the Middle East.Two essays address threats to democratic polities by corrupt governmental and legal institutions and by electoral violence and intimidation. The first argues that a culture of "dualism" in Greece helps produce problems. The second analyzes the power of military student fraternities in Nigeria, arguing that democracy is threatened by these organizations.Two contributors then address the security and military challenges in Iraq. The first argues that successful military advisors must play dual roles as both peacekeeper-diplomats and warriors. The second poses that Iraqi government policies privileging the Shia population have alienated other groupsand helped support for groups such as ISIS. The final essay analyzes the acculturation of new soldiers to Zimbabwean military life through the training experiences of recruits.The volume also includes reviews of recent books on military and security matters.

EU studies increasingly recognize the salience of new regional insights. Hence, this collection of original essays provides a broad overview of regionalism, together with detailed analyses on the construction, activities, and implications of both established and emerging examples of formal political and economic organizations as well as informal regional entities and networks. Aimed at scholars and students interested in the continuing growth of regionalism, The Ashgate Research Companion to Regionalisms is a key resource to understanding the major debates in the field. Organized into three main sections, this volume deals with a wide range of issues covering the following important research areas: -Section one covers theoretical and methodological approaches to the study of established and formal regionalism, emerging and informal regionalism, inter-regionalism, and levels of regionalism. -Section two provides detailed case-studies of established and formal regionalisms: EU, NAFTA, ASEAN, SAARC, OAS, MERCOSUR, AU, ECOWAS, and SADC. -Section three offers case-studies that investigate emerging and informal regionalisms in Oceania, the Arab League, BRICSAM, and the Commonwealth(s) as well as thought-provoking chapters on micro-regional processes evident in spatial development initiatives, transnational gangs, transfrontier conservation areas, and the migration-conflict nexus in natural resource sectors. With the study of regionalism becoming an increasingly important part of politics, international relations, development, and global studies courses, this comprehensive volume is a valuable addition for classroom use.

This collection reflects the result of interactive academic work initiated by Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi University Inc., Miami, Florida, during the academic year 2018, and also the scholarly work of academics supporting our University. The authors include international academics from the United States of America, Great Britain, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Switzerland, Austria, Serbia and Macedonia. Table of Contents: About the Authors; Craig Paterson--Contextualism & the History of Philosophy; Darko Beki¿--Triangle Concept of Unification-Demilitarization Neutralisation of Korea: An Outline; Orlando Mardner--Economic Dimensions of Armed Groups & Intra-State Terrorism: Preventions Through Geostrategic Changes in the International Laws of Financial Systems; Stephan U. Breu--The Challenge of Educating Refugee Children to Avoid Creating Tomorrow's Extremists; Hatid¿a Beri¿a--Historical Context of Military Interventionism; Parvis Hanson--The Future of Globalization: Help or Hurt the World's Poor; Joseph P. Garske--Common Law & Civilian Legal Cultures: Finding A Language of Law for the Global Age; Craig Paterson--The Societas Civilitas, Hate Speech & State Imposed Restrictions; Elmar Kuhn --Education as the Key for a Global Society in Peace & Freedom; Manish Sharma--Global Ecology & Sustainable Development: A Study in Gandhian Perspective; Paul Borrow-Longain--Law of Heraldic Arms; Craig Paterson--William Tyndale's Publication of The New Testament in the English Vernacular; Milka Ristova & Sanja Angelovska--The Contributions of International Law & NonGovernmental Organizations in Facilitating the Peaceful Reunification of the Korean Peninsula; Stephan U. Breu--Blockchains & Cybercurrencies Challenging Anti-Trust & Competition Law; Zoran R. Vitorovic--Preventive Diplomacy as a Key for the Reduction of Asymetric Conflicts; Stephan U. Breu--International Law Under Attack by Geostrategic Tensions Between Leading Nations.

The present volume represents the first published book on gangs in the Caribbean. The study of criminal gangs is both timely and of the utmost importance to policy and security in the region. In many countries across the Caribbean, criminal gangs are increasing in number and prominence, and official crime data indicate that they are responsible for an increasing proportion of violent crimes. The Caribbean region experienced a dramatic increase in murder rates from 14.3 murders per 100,000 inhabitants in 2000 to 28.1 murders per 100,000 inhabitants in 2010. In some of the countries with comparatively high murder rates, such as Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago, the proportion of gang-related murders has reached alarming levels. In the case of Trinidad and Tobago, for example, for the period 2001 to 2012, 29.5% of all murders which occurred were classified as gang-related, with fully 38% being so classified in 2012. The Caribbean represents a diverse region with very different cultures and security issues. Foreign experiences and research on gangs may not generalize to the region, nor may foreign policy be entirely relevant. The present volume represents an attempt to come to terms with the phenomenon of gangs in the Caribbean, and presents a wealth of empirical data, as well as an analysis of the varying issues from a number of disciplinary perspectives. Much of what is currently known about gangs in the Caribbean is brought together in this volume, with the primary aims of understanding the varying issues and examining relevant strategies for dealing with the proliferation of criminal gangs.

Security challenges pose significant hardship for citizens of Caribbean nations. Public safety is threatened by high rates of crime – especially violent crime – in much of the region, the plague of the illicit drug trade, transnational organized crime, gangs, the current global proliferation of crimes of terrorism and related violent extremism and radicalization. The situation diminishes morale among the youth, their education and their future, and operates as a major push factor. Yet, surprisingly, there has been a scarcity of scholarly work that addresses these conditions. This interdisciplinary volume succinctly responds to the gap in criminological and security studies on the Caribbean by drawing attention to the understudied nexus of crime, violence, and security that is so pervasive in the region, and the ways in which underdevelopment re/creates environments for insecurity. The book is organized in three parts: Part one encompasses conceptualizations of crime, violence and punishment. Part two takes up country cases on crime and security. Part three addresses issues of regional security, both public and private. This timely volume will be valuable reading for scholars, students, practitioners and policy makers who share a critical interest in the scope, impact, and inter-relationality of crime, violence, and in/security in the region.