Mehrdad Vahabi, Maître de Conférences-HDR at the University of Paris VIII and researcher in the Chaire Économie de Défense network, will be taking part in the next :
«Armaments and Security Talks 2016
Organised by the Association des auditeurs et cadres des hautes études de l'armement (AACHEAr) in partnership with IHEDN, on Thursday 7 April at the École Militaire.
These talks will provide an ideal opportunity to open the debate on the themes of «Defence, armaments and new power relations».
The debates will focus on three round tables :
- The evolution of power ratios
- Technology and weaponry: new challenges
- Security weapons in the face of Islamist terrorism
Further information and registration coming soon at http://aachearr.fr/
Merhdad Vahabi has just published a book with Cambridge University Press:
The Political Economy of Predation, Manhunting and the Economics of Escape
Abstract
- Still in early stages of development, conflict theory presents a growing interest in understanding the economic costs and benefits of conflicts. In this book, Mehrdad Vahabi analyses one type of conflict in particular: manhunting, or predation, in which a dominant power hunts down its prey and the goal of the prey is to escape and thus survive. This contrasts with traditional warfare, in which two (or more) powers enter into a conflict and the goal is to fight to win domination. The economics of escape casts light on costs and benefits of predatory activities, and explores the impact of violence as an impediment to developing countries with respect to assets structure. This book is unprecedented in its research and thought and develops a new theory of predation in economics that makes a significant contribution to the field.
- Analyses conflict theory through one particular type of conflict: manhunting, or predation
- Documents the empirical details of manhunting, the US invasion of Iraq, drone military strikes, and the political economy of the Islamic Republic of Iran
- Proposes a theoretical framework that applies to many economic and political facts
Content
1. Introduction
2. The meaning of predation
3. Domination, manhunting and conflictual costs and benefits
4. Rational conflict theory, paradox of war and strategic manhunting
5. Appropriation, violent enforcement and transaction costs
6. Appropriation, the state space and the economics of escape
7. Predatory nature of the state and democracy
Epilogue.
