When Guerillas Govern

Today I was unable to attend a guest lecture by government professor Nelson Kasfir of Dartmouth College. He was scheduled to speak at the Hong Kong Theatre at the London School of Economics & Political Science (LSE) at 16:00.

The event was free and conveniently located -- just a few blocks off Temple station, off of the Circle or District lines. But I still managed to miss it. (I stayed home to finish some homework.)

But Prof. Kasfir would have been fascinating. He is the author of interesting articles which I have never read but which sound terribly interesting. His themes of guerrilla armies, civilian democracies and civil society complement the broader discourse going on about weak, failed or non-existent states.

Some of Prof. Kasfir's recent articles include:

• "Guerillas and Civilian Participation : The National Resistance Army in Uganda, 1981-86," Journal of Modern African Studies, Vol. 43, No. 2: 271-296 (June 2005).
• "Civil Society, the State and Democracy in Africa," Commonwealth & Comparitive Politics, Vol. 36, No. 2: 123-149 (July 1998).
• "The Conventional Notion of Civil Society: A Critique." Commonweal & Comparitive Politics, Vol. 36, No. 2:1-20 (July 1998).

Look forward to a dialogue with some of you about these kinds of topics.