PERHAPS A GIFT VOUCHER FOR MUM?: MOTHER'S DAY
Ruben Andersson is a professor of social anthropology at the Department of International Development at the University of Oxford. His research has been concerned with borders, migration and security, and he is the author of No Go World (2019) and Illegality, Inc. (2014), winner of the 2015 BBC Ethnography Award. David Keen is a professor of conflict studies at the Department of International Development at the London School of Economics and Political Science. He has researched civil wars, global wars and disasters. He is the author of The Benefits of Famine (1994) and Useful Enemies (2012), among other books, and winner of the Edgar Graham prize.
"Something's terribly wrong with our public policy. Tasked with managing migration, countering terrorism, and protecting us from pandemic disease, among other things, our institutions seem to thrive amid the wreckage. Ruben Andersson and David Keen explain why. Lively and cogent, Wreckonomics provides us with the lens and the language to make sense of how failure can be success, over and over again. * Alex de Waal, Executive Director, World Peace Foundation * To understand the perverse logic of why failing policies are nevertheless politically successful-ranging from the war on drugs to the war on terror-I cannot think of a better introduction than Wreckonomics. In this highly accessible and engaging book, Andersson and Keen provide a damning dissection of our extraordinarily costly and counterproductive addiction to militarized interventions. As we've reached the 20th anniversary of the 2003 invasion of Iraq and continue to live with its disastrous consequences-with the perpetrators not only not held accountable but highly rewarded-the book could not be a more timely and important contribution. * Peter Andreas, Brown University * Elegantly written, thought-provoking and persuasively argued. Andersson and Keen offer a powerful and incisive critique of the conventional narratives that have tended to dominate debate about the motives, dynamics, and effects of contemporary ""wars and security interventions"", forcing the reader to discard lazy assumptions and drawing their attention instead to mechanisms and logics that have served to perpetuate rather than meaningfully address many of the most urgent challenges facing humanity. * Mats Berdal, King's College London * Applying a sophisticated systems approach to issues spanning the globe, Wreckonomics makes major contributions to international relations and policy analysis. * Clifford Bob, author of Rights as Weapons, The Global Right Wing, and The Marketing of Rebellion * Based on outstanding original research, thought provoking in its conclusions and challenging in every chapter. * Harry Verhoeven, School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University and author of Why Comrades Go To War: Liberation Politics and The Outbreak of Africa's Deadliest Conflict * [A] deeply-researched and wide-ranging account of how, despite manifest failings, the wars on terror, drugs and migration are entrenched in Western policy as a kind of perma-crisis for which its principal architects are never held responsible. * Samuel Rutter, The Telegraph * Provocative and thought-provoking ... the authors make their important case made with verve and style. * Paschal Donohoe, Irish Times * A remarkable new book [that] paints a searing portrait of our era of sham politics and fake wars... couldn't be more timely as the world stumbles into 2024. * Richard Lofthouse, QUAD *"
