Why do some rebel insurgencies target cities as economic prey, whilst others are content to trade with them? This volume examines how the trade networks underpinning the economic relationship between rural and urban areas differ in their impact on (and response to) the combat frontier.

In some cases of insurgency, the combat frontier is contested and erratic, as rebels target cities as their economic prey. In other cases, it is tidy and stable, seemingly representing an equilibrium in which cities are effectively protected from violent non-state actors. What factors account for these differences in the interface between urban-based states and rural-based challengers? To explore this question, this volume examines two regions representing two dramatically different outcomes. In West Africa (Liberia and Sierra Leone), capital cities became economic targets for rebels, who posed dire threats to the survival of the state. In Maoist India, despite an insurgent ideology aiming to overthrow the state via a strategy of progressive city capture, the combat frontier effectively firewalls cities from Maoist violence. This book argues that trade networks underpinning the economic relationship between rural and urban areas - termed 'interstitial economies' - may differ dramatically in their impact on (and response to) the combat frontier. It explains rebel predatory tendencies towards cities as a function of transport networks allowing monopoly profits to be made by urban-based traders. It explains combat frontier delineation as a function of the social structure of the trade networks: hierarchical networks permit elite-elite bargains that cohere the frontier. These factors represent what might be termed respectively the 'hardware' and 'software' of the rural-urban economic relationship. Of interest to any student of political economy and violence, this book presents new arguments and insights about the relationships between violence and the economy, predation and production, core and periphery.

Chapter 1 Introduction -- chapter 2 A methodological critique and framework -- chapter 3 Empirical framework -- chapter 4 Theoretical framework -- chapter 5 The role of the state and the episode of growth in India, 1951/52-1964/65 -- chapter 6 The role of the state and the episode of stagnation in India, Summary of chapter findings -- chapter 7 The role of the state and the episode of stagnation growth in India, 1979/80 to 1991 -- chapter 8 The role of the state and the episode of growth in India, Summary of chapter findings -- chapter 9 Conclusion.

Study on Andhra Pradesh, India.

The first of five volumes summarizing the results of the World Bank research project, A comparative study of the political economy of agricultural pricing policies. The project consisted of 18 country studies that employed a common analytical framework and considered the impact of both direct policies toward agriculture and of general development policies on incentives confronting agricultural producers and on agriculture's contribution to development. Volume 1 deals with the five countries studied in Latin America: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and the Dominican Republic. See also following entry. Annotation(c) 2003 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

In this accessible book, Pranab Bardhan examines the political and social constraints on Indian development. In the newly added epilogue, Bardhan comments on the process of liberalization in the 1990's and examines the feasibility of the exercise in the light of ground realities. This ambitious and controversial book is essential reading for students of economics and politics.