During the Egyptian uprisings against president Mubarak in 2011, people demanded bread, freedom and social justice. Bread is the daily staple for millions of Egyptians, and came to symbolize the demand for a fairer economic system. But does food insecurity necessarily cause social unrest and conflict?

CMI has received funding for one new project on Latin American democratisation and peace processes and one project on abortion rights lawfare.

The military has seized power under the banner of 'unity and harmony' to defend the constitutional monarchy. In the short term, they have won. In the longer run, the outcome is much less certain.

Ethiopian women are flocking to the labour market making money of their own. Does this mean that there will be more gender equality? With a grant from the Research Council of Norway's scheme for Young Talented Researchers, CMI’s Lovise Aalen will lead a new project studying the impact of economic growth on the lives of women in developmental states.

Europe experiences ultra-conservative push-backs on social advances in sexual and reproductive rights. Who are the actors, what motivates them and how do they work?

After decades of efforts to end female genital mutilation (FGM) in Sudan, the prevalence of the practice is still staggering. So far, attempts to criminalize FGM have been futile, but there is an election coming up. Will a new national assembly open up for law reform?

On 19 March, Farkhunda was lynched by an angry mob on the streets of Kabul. She had been falsely accused of burning the Quran. In a swift trial, four men were sentenced to death, eight to 16 years in prison. The Farkhunda trial is a statistical outlier. In Afghanistan, few men are punished for violence against women.

Kjetil Selvik, CMI, Øystein Lyngroth, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Eva Svoboda, Overseas Development Institute (ODI). As ...

The US military strike that devastated the MSF hospital in Kunduz in northern Afghanistan on 3 October generated profound, if short-lived, outrage in much of the world. The US government promised an investigation, and in late October appointed a military panel to do so. Yet its investigation is unlikely to address the more fundamental questions this attack raises: Why have US-airstrikes repeatedly produced catastrophic cases of “collateral damage” in Afghanistan?

The most common sources of illicit financial flows are tax evasion and money laundering. Countermeasures include institution building strategies, ...