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- Date Issued:
- 1996-06-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- African Journal of Political Science
- Description:
- The paper undertakes a re-interpretation of the problem of internal conflicts and civil wars in Africa, from the perspective of citizenship and rights. The central argument is that although the genealogy and dimensions of conflicts and civil wars in Africa are quite complex and varied, however, underlying most of those conflicts, especially those that erupted within the last decade, is the issue of citizenship and rights. The construction and nature of the state in Africa, which is rooted in the colonial pedigree, tend towards the institutionalization of ethnic entitlements, rights and privileges, which creates differentiated and unequal status of citizenship. This tendency de-individualizes citizenship and makes it more of a group phenomenon. As such, rather the state providing a common bond for the people through the tie of citizenship, with equal rights, privileges and obligations, both in precepts and practice, people's loyalties are bifurcated. The result is usually tensions and contradictions in the public sphere as claims of marginalization, exclusion and domination among individuals and groups are rife. The consequence is mostly conflicts and civil wars in Africa.
- Date Issued:
- 2001-12-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- African Journal of Political Science
- Date Issued:
- 1997-06-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- African Journal of Political Science
- Description:
- On 8 May 1996, Thabo Mbeki made what, within the context of the politics of identity in South Africa, was regarded as a ground breaking speech in which he boldly declared: "I am an African." This predated a call for the "African renaissance" in an address to the United States Corporation Council on Africa in 1997. Since then, the concept of the African renaissance has assumed a life of its own, not only within the borders of South Africa but throughout the African continent. The term and the idea of an African renaissance are not new. Neither is the pronouncement of an African identity an historic one since so many people have, over the centuries, publicly declared and identified themselves as Africans. This paper argues that the concept of the renaissance has since brought into sharp focus the post-Apartheid notion of the "return". Two conceptions about "the return" are identified. The first is an Afro-pessimistic conception that construes the return as a regression to something similar to the Hobbesian "state of nature" and thus retrogressive and oppressive and, the second, and opposite, conception interprets the return as necessary, and thus progressive, liberatory politics. It is argued that the former view smacks of distorted (apartheid's) representations, symptomatic of most western images of Africa and the African, a view driven by ideological and political motives desirous of halting and obstructing transformatory praxis. In defense of the libratory interpretation, an attempt is made to show, contra current views,that this interpretation is not conservative, nativist or essentialist but that, in line with Aime Cesaire's Return to the Native Land and Amilca Cabral's Return to the Source projects, it is directed at reconstructing and rehabilitating the African while forging an identity and authenticity thought to be appropriate to the exigencies of "modern" existence.
- Date Issued:
- 2002-12-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- African Journal of Political Science
- Description:
- This article examines the idea of African renaissance in relation to the teaching of human rights in African schools. It explores the connection between the African Renaissance and human rights, and whether there is a specific African concept of human rights. In the light of these discussions, the article sketches a perspective that should underpin the teaching of human rights a task that the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, 1981 obligates its States Parties to undertake.
- Date Issued:
- 2000-06-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- African Journal of Political Science
- Date Issued:
- 1996-06-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- African Journal of Political Science
- Description:
- The article discusses peacekeeping in Africa, primarily, though not exclusively, of the United Nations. More specifically, it examines some problems associated withthe expanded utilization of peace enforcement in the absence of an international consensus on the norms and principles governing the collective use of force in various dimensions. The concept of "farming out" of peacekeeping both to regional organizations and to willing coalition of member-states is reviewed. It is argued that, almost invariably, collective peacekeeping in the post-cold war period has been executed in a haphazard and ill-defined manner. It is also argued that largely because of such shortcomings, credibility and legitimacy of the United Nations as the ultimate guarantor of international peace and security has all but been lost.
- Date Issued:
- 2001-12-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- African Journal of Political Science
- Description:
- Globalised political science, including its professionalisation, is part of the cultural superstructure facilitating Western hegemony. It functions under the guise of universal science, with serious implications for knowledge production in and about Africa, especially African politics. During this period of liberal triumphalism, it has undergone a paradigmatic shift in its application to African politics, emphasising institutional reform as a pre-requisite for democratic transition, thereby exposing its limitations. It conflates the problem of democracy with institutional reform; it is unable to account for the role of various social forces in securing the current transition to democracy; and it is unable to relate the problem of democracy to the problem of underdevelopment in Africa.
- Date Issued:
- 2000-06-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- African Journal of Political Science
- Date Issued:
- 1996-06-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- African Journal of Political Science
- Description:
- Presidential address delivered at the 11th Biennial Congress of the African Association of Political Science (AAPS) in Durban, South Africa, June 23-26,1997.
- Date Issued:
- 1997-12-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- African Journal of Political Science