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1. The Private Sphere Trap: Women and the climate crisis in Iraq

Author:
Laila Barhoum
Publication Date:
06-2025
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:
This Oxfam briefing paper examines the intersection of gender inequality and climate change in Iraq, focusing on the agricultural sector. Women in Iraq face systemic barriers that confine them to the "private sphere," limiting their participation in decision-making processes critical to climate adaptation and mitigation. Through qualitative research, including focus group discussions and key informant interviews, the paper highlights how social norms, economic dependency, and lack of access to resources exacerbate women’s vulnerability to climate impacts. It provides actionable recommendations to foster inclusive climate action, such as raising awareness, leveraging respected female leaders, and improving technical support for farmers. The report underscores the urgent need to dismantle male-dominated structures to build a resilient and equitable future for Iraq.
Topic:
Agriculture, Climate Change, Inequality, Rural, Decision-Making, Adaptation, Livelihoods, Gender, and Social Norms
Political Geography:
Iraq and Middle East

2. Rural-Urban Migration in South Asia: A Case Study of Pakistan

Author:
Aliya Naz and Farzana Naheed Khan
Publication Date:
01-2021
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
South Asian Studies
Institution:
Department of Political Science, University of the Punjab
Abstract:
The recent estimates suggest that South Asia is the least urbanized region in the world, however, Pakistan is one of the most urbanized countries in this region. Rural-urban migration is considered the main cause of urbanization and an inherent part of economic development process. Therefore, this study examines the determinants of rural-urban migration in Pakistan and utilizes two waves of Labour Force Survey of Pakistan (2006 & 2018). The study finds that there are various determinants of migration such as age, gender, marital status and education but higher levels of education appear to be important determinants of migration. This finding suggests that migration decision is positively linked to the human capital embodied in the individual. Therefore, policy makers should focus on the provision of higher education institutions. So, people may contribute to their own development as well as to the development of the country.
Topic:
Education, Migration, Labor Issues, Urban, and Rural
Political Geography:
Pakistan and Middle East

3. Media and Political Socialization in Pakistan: A Study of Rural and Urban Areas

Author:
Hamayun Masood and Malik Adnan
Publication Date:
01-2021
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
South Asian Studies
Institution:
Department of Political Science, University of the Punjab
Abstract:
The aim of this study is to describe the media interference scenario in the political socialization process of Pakistan. The role of media is not limited to stipulate new skills but also reinforces the social and cultural change and at the same time contributes in political socialization process. The study is conducted in the provinces of Pakistan including Balochistan, KPK, Punjab, Sindh and the capital city of the state (Islamabad). The multi- stage random sampling method is adopted and the total of 2000 respondents was chosen. 1000 of the respondents are male and 1000 are female and the proportion from each equality is equal like 1000 respondents from urban areas and 1000 respondents from rural areas. The minimum age limit for the respondents was chosen based on the minimum vote casting age limit. The analysis of gathered data is conducted through SPSS and the findings are described in tabular form. The two theories 'Agenda Setting and Knowledge Gap Hypothesis' are combined for evaluating study. Survey method is adopted for the study to collect quantitative data via questionnaire that included 49 questions. For testing hypothesis of the study, Chi-Square tool of statistics is used. The findings revealed that media is among the most influential and effective agents of political socialization and the consumption of different media tools encourage people to participate in political activities. Further, the urban area people are found to be more politically socialized as compare to the people of rural areas. Therefore, easy and equal accessibility of media can make political socialization process more powerful.
Topic:
Communications, Mass Media, Media, Urban, Rural, and Participation
Political Geography:
Pakistan and Middle East

4. When the Water Runs Dry: What is to be done with the 1.5 million settlers in the deserts of southwest Afghanistan when their livelihoods fail?

Author:
David Mansfield
Publication Date:
06-2020
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit (AREU)
Abstract:
It was following the fall of the Taliban regime that people began to encroach upon the deserts of south west Afghanistan and claim it as their own. After an initial investment in shallow wells that ran dry, increasing numbers of settlers began to use percussion drills to sink wells into the ground up to 130 metres in depth. Then, with affordable diesel generators and waterpumps imported from Pakistan and China these farmers transformed what was once rocky desert soil into productive agricultural land.
Topic:
Agriculture, Water, Rural, and Land
Political Geography:
Pakistan, Afghanistan, China, Middle East, and Asia

5. Fracture In Food And Agriculture As Urban And Rural Areas Integrate: Searching For New Horizons Where The Old Stalls

Author:
Bediz Yılmaz
Publication Date:
11-2018
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation (TESEV)
Abstract:
We are at a time when old definitions are being shaken up. Here I will track these splits and try to see what traces are shaping in their place. Let’s start with the city and the rural area. There is a credo of a definition in urban sociology. Despite changes in the social reality and notwithstanding those sociological approaches with a critical perspective, this definition does not change and is repeated through generations. The definition says: “City is the place where nonagricultural economic activities take place.” It is difficult to assert the validity of this definition in any particular time in history, and one does not know where to begin to explain that it does not stand today either. If you live in a medium-sized city like Mersin it is especially difficult to tell apart the city and rural areas, which one violates the other, what exactly is a rural area and which way it falls.
Topic:
Agriculture, Food, Food Security, Economy, Urban, and Rural
Political Geography:
Turkey and Middle East

6. Mapping nomad-farmer conflict in Afghanistan

Author:
Antonio Giustozzi
Publication Date:
07-2017
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit (AREU)
Abstract:
In December 2016, the Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit (AREU) launched a European Union-funded project, ‘A three-pronged research effort into essential areas of Natural Resource Management (NRM), Food Zone policy, ground water, and the shifting interests of stakeholders in the conflict opposing sedentary and nomad populations,’ that includes a component about nomad-farmer conflict. The project will unfold over a period of three years and is organised in stages. Project fieldwork involves a total of 16 case studies spread around Afghanistan, of which seven saw a first wave of fieldwork carried out during the first stage. It also includes interviews with government officials, community leaders and other conflict observers, both in Kabul and in the provinces. This brief summarises the preliminary findings of stage one, drawn from the seven case studies. Follow-up work will include not only nine more cases studies and the bulk of interviews with conflict observers, but also additional interviews in the seven case studies that feed into this preliminary briefing.
Topic:
Agriculture, Conflict, Rural, Farming, and Nomad
Political Geography:
Afghanistan and Middle East

7. Journal of Public and International Affairs 2016

Author:
Megan Campbell, Geoff Cooper, Kathryn Alexander, Aneliese Bernard, Nastasha Everheart, Andrej Litvinjenko, Kabira Namit, Saman Rejali, Alisa Tiwari, and Michael Wagner
Publication Date:
05-2016
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Public and International Affairs (JPIA)
Institution:
School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA), Princeton University
Abstract:
It is rare to find a journal that examines women’s participation in South Sudan in one chapter and the exploitation of outer space resources in the next; that dissects the effects of Chinese investment in Sub-Saharan Africa and demystifies the Ferguson effect. But the Journal of Public and International Affairs is not your average journal. It represents the very best of what graduate-level public policy students have to contribute to the pressing policy debates of today. It is wide-ranging in subject matter and trenchant in its recommendations. Founded in 1990, but with an ancestor publication dating back to 1963, the JPIA is based on the notion that students of public policy have important things to say about public affairs and that careful analysis and targeted critique can pave the way for meaningful change and progress. The graduate students published in this year’s JPIA combine practical experience from around the world with intensive academic study. They have spent the last year diving deep into the issues they are passionate about and have all been challenged by the need to move past descriptive analysis and towards concrete solutions. These papers represent the best of their scholarship.
Topic:
Security, Gender Issues, Government, Regional Cooperation, International Affairs, Foreign Direct Investment, Counter-terrorism, Women, Inequality, Protests, Policy Implementation, Rural, and Sanitation
Political Geography:
China, Iran, Middle East, India, Central America, West Africa, North America, South Sudan, Sahel, and United States of America

8. Briefing Note on Fieldwork in Kandahar Province, December 2015 – January 2016: Opium Poppy and Rural Livelihoods

Author:
Paul Fishstein
Publication Date:
04-2016
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit (AREU)
Abstract:
This briefing note provides initial observations from fieldwork conducted between 14 December 2015 and 8 January 2016 in ten field sites within Arghandab, Panjwai, and Zharai Districts of Kandahar Province. In 2014/15, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC),farmers in Kandahar Province cultivated 21,020 hectare of opium poppy, the third largest area after Helmand and Farah, notwithstanding an estimated 38 percent decrease in cultivated area from 2013/14.
Topic:
Agriculture, Rural, Drugs, and Farming
Political Geography:
Afghanistan and Middle East

9. Running out of Options: Tracing Rural Afghan Livelihoods

Author:
Paula Kantor and Adam Pain
Publication Date:
01-2011
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit (AREU)
Abstract:
In 2002-03, AREU documented the livelihoods of dozens of households across rural Afghanistan. When research teams revisited a selection of these families in 2008-09, they found the majority worse off than before, with many struggling to meet even the most basic of day to day needs. This paper documents the converging set of pressures that have set so many families on the path towards poverty in recent years. Faced with drought, rising food prices and a ban on lucrative opium poppy farming, many households diversified into nonfarm labour as a means to cope. In some cases, this was successful; households able to tap into urban employment opportunities or political connections improved and occasionally flourished. However, for the majority diversification was not enough. The disappearance of opium farming as an engine of growth coupled with multi-year drought left many local economies unable to absorb the flood of new workers. As wages fell and jobs grew scarce, many families grew increasingly dependent on charity, credit and food aid to make ends meet. In this precarious position, shocks such as spending on ill-health or major social events were enough to put many livelihoods in jeopardy. As costs mounted, households were forced to resort to increasingly damaging strategies to stay afloat, selling off land and marrying their daughters early to secure bride prices. In the light of these problems, the paper highlights a need for policymakers and programmers in the agriculture and rural development (ARD) sector to balance their current focus on markets with greater efforts to stabilise vulnerable livelihoods. Interventions must find ways to protect the basic livelihood security of the most poor, prevent damaging loss in the face of downturns and promote rural Afghans’ capacities to take advantage of new opportunities, all while recognising that social factors such as gender norms or local power structures pose substantial obstacles to improvement. In many cases, helping people guard against damaging losses may need to be coupled with ARD efforts that look beyond local bounds, expanding labour opportunities in urban centres both at home and abroad.
Topic:
Security, Agriculture, Poverty, and Rural
Political Geography:
Afghanistan and Middle East

10. Beyond the Market: Can the AREDP transfor

Author:
Adam Pain and Paula Kantor
Publication Date:
02-2011
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit (AREU)
Abstract:
The recently-launched Afghanistan Rural Enterprise Development Program (AREDP) was set up as a mechanism to promote rural employment and reduce poverty through market-led growth. However, the limitations of both agriculture and opportunities away from the farm as a path to prosperity raise serious questions about the AREDP’s ability to achieve its goals. This paper paper draws on the results of AREU's Afghanistan Livelihood Trajectories study to examine these issues. The general decline in household livelihood security it observed suggests that the vision of an agriculturally-led economic transformation has borne little fruit over the course of the past decade. In the few households that prospered, livelihood improvement was often closely tied to engagement with urban economies and links to patronage networks. For the majority that did not, rural diversification was primarily a coping strategy to mitigate agricultural failure, rising food prices and income loss from the opium ban. While the AREDP may boost market-driven agriculture in already productive areas with good access to markets, it is unlikely to achieve the kind of generalised transformation of Afghanistan’s rural economy that it hopes for. If it is to achieve its stated goal of reducing poverty, the programme must do more to test its underlying assumptions regarding community solidarity and market competition, as well as taking greater account of local and regional contexts. It must understand that poverty alleviation is not simply a secondary product of market development, but an end in itself.
Topic:
Security, Agriculture, Development, Rural, and Community
Political Geography:
Afghanistan and Middle East