GIGA Working Papers

This Working Paper analyses the nature and effects of sanctions pressure imposed on authoritarian regimes, reviews mechanisms of how economic and diplomatic restrictions work, and examines authoritarian targets’ attempts to engage in pressure proofing.

The impact of digitalisation on labour markets is felt worldwide. In the Global South, internet access expands, digital platforms proliferate, but access to and use of digital technologies remains far from universal. We review evidence on the labour markets effects of some of these digital trends.

This working paper examines the military’s contributions to COVID-19 pandemic responses and their implications for democracy in eight countries in in Asia-Pacific and Latin America.

This study investigates the characteristics of Africa’s tech sector and its impact on economic development, specifically on labour markets. Using a novel database, we show how African startups are increasingly driving development through locally adapted “home-grown” digital technologies.

How has the COVID-19 pandemic impacted civic space worldwide? Contrary to mainstream assumptions of “shrinking space,” analysis of five world regions in the Global South and non-OECD Europe and the Caucasus shows that civil society actors have, in fact, often still been able to sustain civic space.

How do autocrats communicate everyday acts of repression? This paper introduces and analyses a novel dataset on justifications for incidents of repression in Morocco and Tunisia during the years 2000–2010, showing that the chosen forms thereof influence how officials subsequently talk about them.

Using a Comparative Area Studies approach to Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, and South Asia, we discuss how regional issues shape global non-proliferation and disarmament politics. Focus is on the nuclear-weapon-ban norm, recently codified in the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.

What effect has the COVID-19 pandemic had on different armed actors across the Global South? This comparative analysis of regional trends and different armed actors provides evidence for regional specificities and an overall brief decline in violence before a return to pre-pandemic levels.

How do large-scale land acquisitions increase the risk of conflict, and what kind of policies can mitigate this effect? The authors address these questions with a policy-oriented synthesis of prior research and develop policy recommendations in highlighting the need for regulatory frameworks, consultation, and transparency.