Writing about Western Sahara and Morocco in a feature article online at World Politics Review, Professor Jacob Mundy asserted that “a web of geopolitical interests keeps the conflict in a permanent state of limbo.”
Mundy, assistant professor of peace and conflict studies, looks for a disruptive event to “unbalance the deadlock,” though, he wrote, the likeliest events — the Arab Spring, the 2012 Mali crisis, and renewed oil and gas interest in the area – all have failed to do so, at least thus far.
Mundy’s conclusion: “Right now, oil is the factor to watch when it comes to the Western Sahara dispute.”
Mundy has taught at Colgate since fall 2011. He is co-author of Western Sahara: War, Nationalism, and Conflict Irresolution and co-editor and contributor to The Post-Conflict Environment: Investigation and Critique. His forthcoming book is Imaginative Geographies of Algerian Violence.
Read Mundy’s September 16 article here (PDF). He has been quoted in the Washington Post, USA Today, Boston Globe and other outlets.
