This project, funded by the Academy of Finland (2013–2016), provided theoretically innovative and empirically new and valuable knowledge of the complex dynamics between governance and resistance in the context of the dominant, neoliberal development paradigm. It studied social and political struggles in three countries in South Asia – Nepal, Bangladesh and India – by examining social movements that fight against forced displacement and slum demolitions – all caused by development projects. The project engaged critically in the debate on neoliberal development by analyzing problems related to it, charting possibilities for addressing hem, and offering alternative visions for socially, culturally and politically more sustainable models of development.

Team

Many have argued that the shared history of the Mediterranean ended as the Great Powers withdrew from the area after the First and the Second World Wars. As the European colonial powers were expelled from eastern and southern coasts they reorganized themselves in the European Community and carried on with new northwesterly and transatlantic trajectories. Yet, the influence of the two Superpowers, the US and the USSR stepped into the Mediterranean as powerful opposing forces in the bipolar Cold War.

Team

Mariko Sato, Leyla Dakhli, Houda ben Hamouda.