Dear Subscribers,
Evan Centanni here, editor and lead cartographer of Political Geography Now.
As we reach the midpoint of 2021, you may have noticed that our conflict zone coverage has slowed down a bit, and that its focus has shifted from some countries to others. That’s largely because two of our mainstays – the Syrian and Libyan civil wars – have ground to a halt, and there have simply been no changes to the make to those maps in some time. Our Yemen, Mozambique, and Somalia coverage remains active, but on a less-frequent update schedule due to the relatively slow rate of change in those places.
We are, of course, racing to fill the gap with other coverage, and I hope you can excuse us for the temporary slowdown. To be sure, there’s plenty out there to map: Conflicts in Afghanistan and the Central African Republic have accelerated in the past year, and we’re currently working hard to relaunch our map coverage of those. There’s also a possibility of relaunching our Nigeria, Mali/Sahel, or South Sudan series, while other countries potentially in need of their own maps include Myanmar, Ethiopia, Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
In addition to the shift in world conflicts, another reason for the coverage slowdown is that substantial resources have been temporarily diverted to a much-needed upgrade to our subscriber website. Our new system, which you’re using now, is designed to be easier to browse and much more mobile-friendly, and will soon be fully automated for instant subscription signup, login, and cancellation. And many more improvements are on the way!
In the meantime, if you have specific needs or ideas on what you would like us to prioritize, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with me. You can contact me directly by email at evan@polgeonow.com. We depend on a small number of subscribers like you to fund our conflict tracking coverage, so your feedback carries a lot of weight.
Whether or not you have time to offer your thoughts, please accept my profound thanks for your continued support of our work during this major turning point.
With gratitude and my best regards,
Evan Centanni