The Institute for the Studies of the Americas will host a panel and book launch for Amanda Sives’ Elections, Violence and the Democratic Process in Jamaica, 1944-2007 (Ian Randle Publications, 2010) on Wednesday, December 1, 2010, from 5:00 to 7:00pm at the Institute for the Studies of the Americas, Room G27 (Senate House, Ground Floor), Malet Street, London.

The panel discussion will feature Amanda Sives (Liverpool University) and Rivke Jaffe (Leiden University) speaking on “Crime and Democracy in Contemporary Jamaica.” The discussion will be followed by a book launch.

Election, Violence and the Democratic Process in Jamaica posits that partisan political violence is not simply a fight for scarce benefits but needs to be understood as part of political identity formation and political culture. Sives concludes that while the reformed electoral process provides an example of best practice for other developing countries, until the peculiar Jamaican problem of party-controlled garrisons is addressed, the democratic process will remain flawed. [Also see previous post New Book: Elections, Violence and the Democratic Process in Jamaica.]

Amanda Sives [MA, MPA (Liverpool), PhD (Bradford)] is a lecturer in Politics at the University of Liverpool. Her main research expertise lies in the politics of the Caribbean with a particular emphasis on Jamaica. Many of Dr. Sives’ research projects have focused on election observation, political violence and migration. She has held posts in the University of Nottingham, the Commonwealth Policy Studies Unit, and the Institute of Commonwealth Studies. She is presently a visiting fellow at the Royal Commonwealth Society.

For more information, see http://americas.sas.ac.uk/events.php?aoi_id=79

For full book description and purchasing information, see http://www.ianrandlepublishers.com/shop/elections-violence-and-the-democratic-process-in-jamaica-1944-2007/?st=shopp&s=election