the cradle of mankind, oil, water, conflict and development all in Kenya.

The economist [economist.com] has an interesting piece on the northern region in Kenya called Turkana. Called the cradle of life for its findings of ancient human artefacts, it currently goes through significant changes with hick-up oil development, challenging water resources and local and international conflict risks. 

FT Special report on Azerbaijan

Since our visit to Baku [oxcarre.blogspot.com] a few weeks ago, we gained additional interests in the developments in Azerbaijan. Today, the Financial Times issued a Special Report on the country. available here [FT.com], with the main tag line:
Reform offers the best hope for national stability

New Research: 'Oil Above Water'

Vincenzo Bove (University of Warwick, profile [warwick.ac.uk]), Kristian Skrede Gleditsch (University of Essex, profile [essex.ac.uk]), and Petros G. Sekeris (University of Portsmouth, website) write on,

"Oil above Water": Economic Interdependence and Third-party Intervention

Abstract:

We explore economic incentives for third parties to intervene in ongoing internal wars. We develop a three-party model of the decision to intervene in conflict that highlights the role of the economic benefits accruing from the intervention and the potential costs. We present novel empirical results on the role of oil in motivating third-party military intervention. We find that the likelihood of a third-party intervention increases when (a) the country at war has large reserves of oil, (b) the relative competition in the sector is limited, and (c) the potential intervener has a higher demand for oil.

Forthcoming in Journal of Conflict Resolution