Jonathan Goodhand is a Reader in Conflict and Development Studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. His research focuses on the political economy of conflict and the role of international aid, with a particular focus on NGOs.

Jonathan Spencer is Professor of the Anthropology of South Asia at the University of Edinburgh. He has carried out fieldwork in Sri Lanka since the early 1980s, concentrating at first on rural change and local politics, but writing more recently on ethnic conflict, political violence and political non-violence.

Benedikt Korf is Associate Professor in the Department of Geography, University of Zurich, Switzerland. His interests focus on the politics of violence, authority and disorder in Sri Lanka and Ethiopia. He has also worked as consultant for several aid agencies in Sri Lanka.