The Nils Petter Gleditsch JPR article of the Year Award 2021 goes to Alison Heslin
| Published date | 01 March 2022 |
| DOI | 10.1177/00223433221085626 |
| Date | 01 March 2022 |
The Nils Petter Gleditsch
JPR article of the Year Award 2021
goes to
Alison Heslin
A jury consisting of Zeynep Taydas (Clemson University), Aysegul Aydin (University of Colorado Boulder) and Jana
Krause (University of Oslo) have awarded the 2021 Journal of Peace Research Nils Petter Gleditsch Article of the Year
Award to Alison Heslin (Center for Climate Systems Research, Columbia University) for her article entitled ‘Riots
and resources: How food access affects collective violence’ ( Journal of Peace Research 58(2): 199–214). All articles
published in Volume 58 of JPR were eligible for the award. Articles were judged on their theoretical contribution,
methodological sophistication and substantive relevance.
The award-winning articleaddresses an importantquestion and offersa novel insight into the collective violenceliterature
by examiningthe role of food access in riot mobilization. Usingan in-depth analysis of two setsof events – riot occurrence
and non-occurrence in WestBengal (India) and Dhaka (Bangladesh) – thestudy unravels the complexityof the food and
conflict relationship. In both places, riots took place during a period ofsharp global increases in food prices, which saw
‘foot riots’ erupt in a number of countries, primarily in the Global South. Relying on newspaper reports of riots and
extensive interviews, Heslinanalyzes the motives and grievances of community members in riot-hit places and contrasts
them to communities where rioting did not take place. She argues that many ‘food riots’ were not, in fact, directly
motivated by food access. Rather, her analysis of pathways of mobilization demonstrates that a change in food access
motivatedprotest and violenceby changing the meaning andseverity of existing grievances,some of which were unrelated
to foodaccess, such as low wagesand corruption. Thearticle outlines the waysthat food access interactswith local contexts
to initiate violent conflict.The author concludes that effectively addressing the causes of food-related instability requires
an understanding of local contexts, motivating grievances, and how food access relates to these grievances.
The article brings theoretical and methodological sophistication to an under-studied phenomenon and makes an
important contribution to research on political violence, climate change, and global inequalities. The author also
contributes to the resource curse literature by suggesting that food prices are more likely to motivate riots, compared
to oil and clothing. The jury hopes that Heslin’s article will stimulate further research on the global and local
dynamics of food access, climate change, and conflict, which is much needed by policymakers.
The award is USD 1,000.
Honourable mention goes to the runners-up:
Philip A Martin (2021) Commander-community ties after civil war. JPR 58(4): 778–793.
Valerie Sticher & Sinis
ˇa Vukovic
´(2021) Bargaining in intrastate conflicts: The shifting roles of ceasefires. JPR 58(6):
1284–1299.
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