'Brand Warfare and the Demobilization of FARC Rebels in Colombia'

This talk examines the intersection between the counterinsurgency state and the marketing nation in Colombia. Through an ethnography of the government’s efforts to interpolate and demobilize fighters from leftist insurgencies, Dr Fattal analyzes the joint effort of the Program for Humanitarian Attention to the Demobilized in the Colombian Ministry of Defense and the consumer marketing firm it hires to transform guerrilla subjects into entrepreneurs and consumer citizens.

Title TBC

Invited speakers present and lead discussion in a series of seminars during termtime at Green Templeton College.

PODCASTS of past seminars are available on iTunesU or, for those without iTunes, from http://podcasts.ox.ac.uk.

Change & Challenge: Philippine Foreign Policy and the Philippine-U.S. Alliance

From 2010 to 2016, then President, Benigno Aquino balanced China’s expansive maritime claim in the South China Sea. President Aquino challenged China by shifting the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ (AFP) focus from domestic security to territorial defence, bolstering closer Philippine-U.S. security relations; acquiring American military equipment; seeking from Washington an explicit security guarantee under the 1951 Mutual Defence Treaty (MDT); and promoting a strategic partnership with Japan.

Testimonies for Transformation in a World in Turmoil

At a time of spiraling political turmoil and rising threats of war, can we find new methods to enact
global transformation? How can we rehumanize international affairs and redefine prevailing
paradigms of power, using testimonies, stories and artistic expressions? Can we vivify our efforts to
envision and enact change in response to current threats, drawing on creativity and the arts?
This timely gathering of eminent scholars and practitioners from around the globe, will engage in

'Voicing Opposition: Labor Repression and Trade Liberalization in Developing Countries'

Abstract: This book explores organized labor's role in the rapid trade liberalization pursued by developing countries since the 1980s. It argues that labor unions opposed liberalization, and where labor rights were well protected, they effectively slowed down the rate of trade policy reform. Labor unions were particularly influential when democratization opened up public debates about economic policy. Unions called general strikes and pushed back against the liberalization demands of export-oriented businesses and pro-reform technocrats.
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