The Foot-and-Mouth Disease (FMD) outbreak of 2001 in the UK was completely unprecedented in its scale and severity, with over four million animals culled and a cost to the Exchequer of over £4 billion. Local authorities were at the front line in dealing with the outbreak, in coordinating the...

This paper reports on a recent pilot project by the English government aimed at introducing 'single pot' funding for local voluntary and community groups. It finds that implementation difficulties undermined the success of the scheme. Moreover, whilst local voluntary and community groups were...

This paper evaluates the contribution that village appraisals can make to sustainable development in local communities in rural areas. Based upon an evaluation of the JIGSO initiative, it both outlines the strengths of this approach and argues for the necessity of proper community infrastructure...

Popular perceptions of China and its global role are often shaped by two words: ‘made in’. Yet this vision of China that focuses primarily on Beijing as a coming economic superpower is relatively new, and it is not that long ago that two other words tended to dominate debates on and...

<title/> Central Africa is currently characterised by conflict and disorder with concomitant social, political, and ecological dislocation. The war(s) in the Democratic Republic of Congo and its borderlands are a catastrophe in the heart of Africa. At the formal level, the Southern African Development...

The global development landscape is rapidly changing with the acceleration of the economies of emerging countries and this has important implications for sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Notably, these emerging partners share a broad comparative advantage in their outward engagement. They are able to...

The European Union (EU) is increasingly aspiring to be a global peace and security actor. Using the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) as a test case to analyse such ambitions, this article reveals that the EU’s attempts to build peace and security are severely compromised by its...

Book Review