Search results

With their huge demand for arms and substantial natural resource revenues, Angolan belligerents have made Angola a 'dream country' for savvy businessmen able to juggle political relations, arms dealing, and natural resources brokering. Recent investigations by the French judicial system, the UK‐based NGO Global Witness, and UN sanctions monitors have cast a new light on the arms deals and corruption that plagued Angola throughout the 1990s. This Briefing retraces the rise of two businessmen who benefited from and participated in the Angola tragedy. Their careers highlight the inadequacies and ambiguities of the international community and international law in terms of regulating businesses during armed conflicts. Recent initiatives bringing about more transparency and accountability in the use of resource revenues are important steps forward, but an international legal framework is required to take into account the commercialised nature of contemporary wars and war economies.

Violence is a confounding concept. It frequently defies explanation and lacks an agreed upon definition. Yet geographers are well positioned to bring greater conceptual clarity to violence by thinking through its intersections with space. In setting the tone for this special issue on Violence and Space we highlight some of the key lines of flight that have shaped geographical thinking on violence. While there are a significant number of geographers interested in the question of violence, the field of 'geographies of violence' remains an emerging area of research that deserves greater attention and a more rigorous examination. By emphasizing the spatiality of violence, this special issue aims to contribute to a more sustained conversation on the violent geographies that shape our daily lives, our encounters with institutions, and the various structures that configure our social organization. This introduction is but an initial sketch of what we believe needs to be a much larger and unfolding research agenda dedicated to understanding violence from a geographical perspective. ; Departmentof Geography, Universityof Victoria