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- Date Issued:
- 1997-06-01T00:00:00Z
- 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 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:
- The primary concern of this essay is to explain the nature of the 'transaction' between electoral politics and tribalism, especially with reference to the multiparty elections of 1992. It argues that the politics of the 1992 general elections show how ethnicity continues to be a major force influencing the behaviour of politicians and voters alike. What is more, where power and wealth were at stake, ethnic relations became conflictual. The elections also manifested how the elites can mobilise ethnic passions to defend and or promote what is otherwise their narrow sectional interests. The masses followed their leaders because of the lingering belief that only "one of your own" can best serve communal interest if placed in a position of power. But it was also clear that ethnic ideology has its limitations. Intra-ethnic divisions were manifest where narrow sectional interests came into play. The emergence of splinter parties led by members of the same ethnic group was the inevitable consequence of such contradictions.
- Date Issued:
- 1997-06-01T00:00:00Z
- 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
- Description:
- This essay examines the causes and other factors which induce internal population displacement in Nigeria. It argues in opposition to traditional explanations that population displacement is a complex problem most often arising when the rights of a group are violated or denied; or when the physical security of members of the group is threatened. The nature of the state is a major causal factor inducing population displacement, especially where it is unable to ensure access for all its citizens or accord them adequate physical security.
- Date Issued:
- 1998-12-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- African Journal of Political Science
- Description:
- The failure of banks has financial, economic, social and political implications. Banks serve as deposit holders and financial intermediaries. As deposit holders they are the custodians of savings and via the market for capital, transfer the savings into investment or consumption. The particular role which banks play in the modern economy is significant and accordingly they are subjected to an extensive regulatory framework to ensure that they can continue to play the role for which they have been designed and to maintain confidence in the monetary andfinancial system. Despite these regulations (some would argue, because of these regulations) banks still become insolvent or fail to meet the conditions for maintenance or renewal of their licences. The final arbiter of this decision is usually the central bank. In the Republic of South Africa (RSA), it has been suggested that the central bank - Reserve Bank of South Africa (RB) - has been unduly political in determining the manner in which it has applied banking regulation and conducted its role as lender of last resort. This paper contributes to this debate by discussing the manner in which the RB has performed its role and ways in which bank supervision in South Africa can be improved.
- Date Issued:
- 1998-12-01T00:00:00Z
- 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:
- This study is about changes and evolution in the military relationship between France and its former colonies in the Central Africa sub-region.
- Date Issued:
- 1999-12-01T00:00:00Z
- 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:
- The paper addresses the problem of rehabilitation of demobilised soldiers which is a neglected aspect of peace and reconstruction initiatives in societies emerging from conflict. Using the case of Mozambique, it discusses the problem of rehabilitation at the individual and community levels; and argues that successful rehabilitation depends on a deeper knowledge of the customs and traditions of the community; because, as shown by the Mozambican experience, a mechanism of community reception plays a crucial role in ensuring the successful rehabilitation of ex-soldiers.
- Date Issued:
- 1998-06-01T00:00:00Z
- 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
- Description:
- The debate on the form and content of Tanzania's constitution and democracy has been on the agenda throughout the four decades of independence. In the recent process of transition since the 1990s, a series of political reforms such as introducing multi-partyism have been undertaken with the view of widening the space for democracy. This paper addresses several problems surrounding this transition. It argues that democratization is much more than the introduction of multiparty politics and debates the various components of the constitution that are an obstacle to popular participation including the monopoly of political parties in politics. The main stay of democracy is for the people to have a say and power in their own lives and not to depend on the power of political parties.
- Date Issued:
- 2002-12-01T00:00:00Z
- 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:
- Though Uganda's 1996 election appeared satisfactory, this was only in form; the intriguing influence of money, material considerations, and deliberate use of the power of incumbency to influence the outcome of the elections corrupted the electoral process and distorted its outcome. This phenomenon which I have called "monetisation of elections", debased the principles of liberal democracy, and condoned corruption as a political virtue. This development could easily subvert the democratisation process and create grounds for a legitimacy crisis.
- Date Issued:
- 1997-06-01T00:00:00Z
- 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
- Date Issued:
- 2002-06-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- African Journal of Political Science
- Date Issued:
- 1996-12-01T00:00:00Z
- 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
- Date Issued:
- 2002-12-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- African Journal of Political Science
- Description:
- Militarisation in Africa is primarily a symptom of intra-state crises. The crises gave rise to a security vacuum which states and groups seek to fill through violence. The ensuing vicious cycle of insecurity will not be broken, and substantial demilitarisation will not be achieved, without addressing the structural causes of the crises. The priority in this regard is the establishment of good governance. While a positive relationship may exist between disarmament, development and security, the more significant relationship is between good governance, secuirty and disarmament.
- Date Issued:
- 1998-12-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- African Journal of Political Science
- Date Issued:
- 1999-12-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- African Journal of Political Science
- Description:
- This essay addresses an important variable in Nigerian politics, namely, ethnicity and the ways in which it affects the conduct of national affairs. It represents an effort at theorizing the role and place of ethnicity in the transition from authoritarianism in a multi-ethnic setting such as that represented by Nigeria. Drawing on historical evidence on the ways in which ethnicity was constructed in colonial and post-colonial Nigeria as well as the wide literature on the subject, an attempt is made to demonstrate the centrality of the variable to Nigerian politics but without suggestion that it is the sole or most important determinant of political outcomes. Indeed, it is argued that there are other important variables, such as class, which not only affect the political process but also impinge on ethnicity. The ways in which ethnicity influences the different phases of the transition from authoritarianism are discussed drawing on the Nigerian experience.
- Date Issued:
- 2000-12-01T00:00:00Z
- 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
- Date Issued:
- 2000-06-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- African Journal of Political Science
- Date Issued:
- 2003-06-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- African Journal of Political Science
- Description:
- Undoubtedly, globalisation is a complex process. It is touted as having the potential to accelerate Africa's development if the continent's economies would be reformed in accordance with market principles. But clearly, globalisation is widening the disparities between the developed and developing economies. Africa's economies, in particular, are experiencing severe stagnation and, in some case, decline. By exacerbating Africa's development crisis, globalisation further poses a challenge to Africa. It emphasizes economic integration as the only viable alternative for survival in this New World order, and the urgency for a renewed commitment to the African Economic Community (AEC). Given the inherent weakness of existing regional integration schemes and the constraints in the development environment, there is also the need to reformulate the theoretical basis of the African Economic Community by incorporating the idea of "variable geometry" to enable countries to join the AEC as and when they can cope with the economic and political demands of integration.
- Date Issued:
- 2000-06-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- African Journal of Political Science
- Description:
- This article discusses the arrangements for the election of parliament and the provincial legislatures in the new South Africa. Present electoral provisions in terms of the Interim Constitution of 1993, as well as the prospects for the elections of 1997 and beyond, in terms of the Final Constitution, are covered. The article also reviews the results of the 1994 general election and offers a general assessment of South Africa's electoral provisions.
- Date Issued:
- 1997-06-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- African Journal of Political Science
- Description:
- This paper addresses the very serious problem of human rights abuse in conflict situations in Africa. It revisits the various causes and nature the of human rights abuse during conflicts, and notes that within the context of armed conflict, human rights are joined with International Humanitarian law to establish protection for non-combatant who have been the major casualties during these conflicts. It concludes on the note that Africa must accede to the minimal standards of engagement for protection of human rights and possibly support this with the infusion of the African values of sense of community and dignity of the human person in the existing legal regime.
- Date Issued:
- 2000-06-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- African Journal of Political Science
- Description:
- The article seeks to examine the ambiguities and ambivalence of the concept of African renaissance. It situates the roots of the African renaissance in the cultural component, which challenges the right of Europeans to impose their cultural-spiritual values on African communities. This cultural project is traced from the early-fifteenth century when Europe sought to make Christianity a universal religion and in order to contain Islam, African religions and the Asian belief system. It is argued that the concept is a useful tool in the struggle of the African people to redefine a new political and ideological agenda of pan-Africanism in the age of globalization. The key pillars of the African renaissance are socio-cultural, political, economic regeneration and improvement of Africa's geo-political standing in world affairs.
- Date Issued:
- 2001-12-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- African Journal of Political Science
- Date Issued:
- 2002-12-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- African Journal of Political Science
- Date Issued:
- 2003-06-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- African Journal of Political Science
- Date Issued:
- 2003-06-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- African Journal of Political Science
- Date Issued:
- 1996-12-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- African Journal of Political Science
- Description:
- The constitutional framework for government and politics in Africa has long been ignored by those attempting to find solutions to Africa's current political, economic and social crises. This article argues that fundamental constitutional change is necessary if African countries could implement successful liberal democratic and free market reforms. It also assesses the prospects for a return to constitutionalism for the mediation of power relations in Africa.
- Date Issued:
- 1997-12-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- African Journal of Political Science
- Date Issued:
- 1999-12-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- African Journal of Political Science
- Description:
- Military regimes in Nigeria exhibit patrimonial characteristics such as personal rule, absence of separation between the public and private realms, patron-client administrative networks, veneration of the ruler, massive corruption, ethnic/sectional-based support, and repression of opposition and violation of human rights. Most of the dangers posed by military rule to democracy is not really because of its intrinsic authoritarian posture, although it is the most perceptible. It is the patrimonial tendency in military rule that creates the most transcendent and pernicious effect on democracy because of unconcealed ethnic/sectional alignment of regimes. This generates inter-ethnic acrimony and rivalry, in effect, delegitimizes the state and state power, and consequently, engenders a hostile environment to the growth of democracy.
- Date Issued:
- 2000-06-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- African Journal of Political Science
- Date Issued:
- 2001-06-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- African Journal of Political Science
- Date Issued:
- 2001-12-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- African Journal of Political Science
- Date Issued:
- 1999-12-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- African Journal of Political Science
- Description:
- This paper examines the state of civil-military relations and the prospects for demilitarisation and democratisation in contemporary West Africa. Its underlying thesis is that West Africa poses one of the greatest dilemmas to the prospects for demilitarisation in Africa. At the same time, it offers a potentially useful mechanism for regional peace and security with implications for (de)militarisation in Africa. While the paper recognises the historico-structural dimensions of militarisation as well as the behavioural obstacles to demilitarisation, it captures the challenges and prospects in terms of the complexity of state-civil society relations and suggests a holistic understanding of the concept of security. This, it does with a view to de-emphasising force as the key mechanism for conflict resolution, and promoting an inclusive institutional framework for demilitarisation and development.
- Date Issued:
- 1998-06-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- African Journal of Political Science
- Date Issued:
- 2000-12-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- African Journal of Political Science
- Date Issued:
- 1999-06-01T00:00:00Z
- 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
- Date Issued:
- 2001-12-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- African Journal of Political Science
- Date Issued:
- 1997-12-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- African Journal of Political Science
- Description:
- The implementation of democracy in the world faces three marketing obstacles; namely, political conditionalities, the fact that it has to follow a step by step approach, and thirdly, the fact that there is a gap between formal democratic development and social participation. It is within the context of these obstacles that African democracy has to be established. This paper argues that the African model of political democracy has to be rooted in the tradition of an inclusive society in which a series of inequalities exist. Second, African democracy has to adapt or "assimilate, — redefine and set about utilising Western experiences that are intimately connected with its own cultural, social and political identity." Thirdly, there should be positive discrimination towards sub-Saharan Africa by the more powerful countries in so for as they should recognise Africa's capacity to decide its own future as opposed to an imported model of democracy.
- Date Issued:
- 1996-12-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- African Journal of Political Science
- Description:
- Bad governance is a major contributor to poor service delivery in Africa. In Kenya, the level of accountability in the management of public affairs has consistently declined since independence. This is in spite of various legal instruments and watchdog institutions established to regulate and monitor the ethical conduct of public officials. This paper argues that the pattern of consolidation of power embarked upon by Kenya's post-colonial rulers was a major underlying factor in the deterioration of ethical standards in the public service. The construction of patron-clientilist relations were quite pronounced in this regard. The same goes for the deliberate manipulation of ethnicity. The paper concludes by advocating the adoption of a number of measures in order to enhance accountability in the public service of Kenya.
- Date Issued:
- 2003-06-01T00:00:00Z
- 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
- Date Issued:
- 1996-06-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- African Journal of Political Science
- Description:
- This article traces the evolution of corruption as a political issue in Tanzania and evaluates the efforts of the Mkapa administration to control it. Corruptionis conceptualized as embedded in societal, economic and power relations. However, many of the anti-corruption efforts are part of liberal reforms that are based on the assumption that corruption is an individual act or personal misuse of public office for private gain. These liberal reforms are, at best, of limited value because they fail to take into account much of the dynamics that support corruption in Tanzania. While the Mkapa administration has taken partially successful steps to control corruption, these efforts have not fundamentally undermined the supporting environment for corruption in the country.
- Date Issued:
- 2002-06-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- African Journal of Political Science
- Description:
- Since the 1994 elections ushered in the Government of National Unity (GNU) led by Nelson Mandela and his African National Congress there have been claims that a stable, multi-racial democratic society has finally triumphed in South Africa. This article refutes such thesis; it examines the prospects for consolidating democracy, and argues that the lack of significant progress regarding social (class and race) and economic (ownership) relations under the GNU is likely to precipitate a political crisis. This could produce an authoritarian response and thereby severely compromise the democratic and socio-economic aspirations which inspired the anti-apartheid struggle.
- Date Issued:
- 1997-12-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- African Journal of Political Science
- Date Issued:
- 1998-06-01T00:00:00Z
- 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
- Date Issued:
- 1999-12-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- African Journal of Political Science
- Date Issued:
- 1999-06-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- African Journal of Political Science
- Description:
- Despite the pervasive trend of election monitoring and observation, especially in Eastern Europe and Africa since the early 1990s, there has been little, if any, academic discourse on this subject. Instead, the focus of intellectual and policy debate has been on macro political issues of political liberalization and democratization; the main concern being whether or not the democratization process started in the early 1990s in Africa is being consolidated. This article raises a three pronged thesis. Firstly, although monitoring and observation are inextricably intertwined in both theory and practice, they denote two different processes, hence it is imprudent to use them synonymously. Secondly, election monitoring and observation, especially the latter, do not apply uniformly and in a consistent pattern in developed and developing countries and this raises profound questions of international standards, norms and practices of democratic governance. Thirdly, although election monitoring and observation represent good practice at the micro level of democratization, they have also tended to be used as part of the political conditionality and leverage through which industrial countries impose their hegemony over developing countries and thereby undermine their already enfeebled national sovereignty. No other country portrays so vividly and poignantly the controversies surrounding the above three themes than Zimbabwe which recently went through two major elections, namely the 2000 Parliamentary election and the 2002 Presidential election.
- Date Issued:
- 2002-06-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- African Journal of Political Science
- Description:
- The paper examines how market reforms are reconstituting the notion of social welfare services in Africa within the context of the rural-urban divide. Market reforms in the social welfare sector seek to reverse this divide and negotiate a new consensus in the rural-urban equation. Priority and funding re-adjustment by the state, decentralisation, deregulation, and commercialisation are new elements in the provision of social welfare services in Africa. The objectives, among others, are to facilitate equity and access to those services, especially by the rural population. But the extent to which those objectives have been realised remain questionable.
- Date Issued:
- 2000-06-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- African Journal of Political Science
- Description:
- In the recent political transitions in Africa competitive elections have become the most critical events in the allocation of power. However, little attention has been given to the design of electoral systems, that is, the rules used to determine the allocation of parliamentary seats and of the presidential office. With few exceptions, plurality and majority systems are assumed to be the simplest, natural, and most democratic systems of converting votes into seats. This paper explores alternative electoral systems for apportioning seats in parliament and for securing the presidency. Specifically, it simulates outcomes in the 1992 Kenyan general elections using a proportional representation system in the parliamentary elections and a preferential ballot system in the presidential contest. The overriding normative goal is "fair representation," especially given ethnically-driven electoral behavior. The simulations reported here offer possible outcomes that could have emerged had different electoral rules been used in the 1992 elections. Given both the data used and the conditions prevailing in the 1992 elections, the specific outcome of each simulation is valid only as a demonstration and a discussion tool.
- Date Issued:
- 1997-06-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- African Journal of Political Science
- Date Issued:
- 2001-06-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- African Journal of Political Science
- Description:
- The paper examines two models in conflict management and prevention: multinational regional forces represented by the ECOMOG, and private security firms represented by the Executive Outcomes. It argues, on the one hand, that the ECOMOG experience proves that greater political acceptance, knowledge of the conflict, etc., are not automatic advantages for a regional multinational force. On the other hand, the Executive Outcomes' professionalism and quick successes contrast sharply with ECOMOG's prolongation of the Liberian conflict: EO could provide stability in Angola and Sierra Leone by swiftly repulsing two threatening insurgencies. The paper concludes that the proliferation of private security firms is a reflection of the endemic instability on the African continent; an indication that they provide a service which most African national armies and multinational forces are unable to provide: and that this trend might continue until Africa gains the resources and the political will to cope with its internal conflicts.
- Date Issued:
- 1998-06-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- African Journal of Political Science
- Description:
- Three times has post colonial Nigeria tried to operate a democratic constitution; three times have these attempts generated centrifugal conflict. Defective constitutions, inherently corrupt politicians and class struggle as explanations have limited causal logic. The recurrence of conflict only under particular conditions has tended to indicate the validity of the structural explanation, and the phased succession a cyclical interpretation. How valid is the discernment of cycles in Nigeria's political history? If the claim that "historical events are unique" is not demonstrated to follow from the nature of events, that "history repeats itself" becomes an equally possible hypothesis. All history, therefore, is reasoned history. Yet, the phases of the Nigerian conflict cycle: Northern hegemony - Southern challenge (Crisis) - military rule, indicate a struggle to appropriate the state and reveal the existence of conflict units, the needs of which are usually sought and met in the same manner. Could these conflict cycles be said, therefore, to have immanent causes?
- Date Issued:
- 1998-12-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- African Journal of Political Science
- Date Issued:
- 1999-06-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- African Journal of Political Science
- Date Issued:
- 1996-12-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- African Journal of Political Science
- Date Issued:
- 2001-12-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- African Journal of Political Science
- Date Issued:
- 1996-12-01T00:00:00Z
- 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
- Date Issued:
- 2002-06-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- African Journal of Political Science
- Description:
- This essay examines the role which the Nigerian media played in the transition from military rule to elected civilian government. It observes that the immediate political context of the transition was a post-Abacha liberalizing military administration as well as a resurgent civil society. This context meant that the media was able to play a relatively robust role in reporting and influencing the transition although the fact that the Abdulsalami Abubakar regime refused to repeal several "death decrees" targeted at the media remained a key constraining factor on the boldness and imaginativeness of the press in its reporting and monitoring of the transition. Furthermore, while the media, in all its plurality, offered coverage to all of the political parties, it was equally clear that the better financially-endowed People's Democratic Party (PDP) which also emerged as the dominant party was able to win greater advantage over the two other political parties, namely, the All People's Party and the Alliance for Democracy, through the purchase of advertisement space in the print and electronic media. On the whole, the Nigerian media played its role in the transition with credit and whatever weaknesses are observed in its performance and in the skewing of the outcomes of the transition owe more to the shallowness of the transition itself and less to the shortcomings of the media.
- Date Issued:
- 2000-12-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- African Journal of Political Science
- Description:
- Despite improvements in some social sectors in some countries, conditions in African countries worsened over the last two decades of the 20th century. As corporate globalization continues to make in roads into national policies and politics, further weakening the ability of African countries to act, there is a need to explore other alternatives for development in Africa. Although this article is essentially an effort to articulate a theoretical deconstruction and reconstruction of the African State, in its content, it is based on numerous empirical case studies and research projects developed by the author over the years on Africa's international relations, political economy, development, and world politics. Reconceptualizing the African state is a must because, firstly, about four decades of preoccupation with development have yielded only very meager returns. It has proven a mistake to attempt to analyze something that has not yet been seriously on the agenda, dealing mainly with symptoms related to behaviors of the state instead of its substance. Secondly, all the available evidence points to the inescapable conclusion that political conditions in Africa are the greatest impediment to development. Thirdly, despite the explosion of the number of actors in the global system and the deliberate efforts of mega financial, multinational and multilateral institutions to African States, and also despite the fact that the African systems of delivering services or performance at the national level are highly problematic, the African State is still the most visible actor in world politics. Finally, the fate of Africa's peoples and cultures has been historically defined by the dynamics of the state, especially its role in international political economy and in making alliances for its own immortality. Colonial Africa was created essentially as states and not as nations, and neo-colonial political elites inherited African States as the central agencies defining the parameters of economy, culture, and the people or citizens.The typologies used here are shaped by an historical structuralist approach that stipulates that systems, states, corporations or social institutions do not function randomly. The system is not just the sum of its elements. It is more than what is tangible. This holistic approach puts the emphasis on change. The African State in its current form is not an agent of positive social change because this state was created to advance the interests of metropolitan capitalism. Development has not started in Africa for many reasons, despite the goodwill of many Africans and African social movements. African people need to reinvent new state forms that can effectively address issues related to poverty, gender inequalities, etc. Despite corporate globalization and the struggles to dismantle welfare states, African people can learn a great deal from the policy and politics of such states.
- Date Issued:
- 2002-06-01T00:00:00Z
- 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 political economy of Africa is at the crossroads. The centrally controlled economies are giving way to global liberalism. Yet many of the continent's economies are still suffering from the residual effects of centralism, while poorly adjusting to the new dispensation. In the meantime, regionalism as a development strategy seems to be getting a new lease of life in the general development discourse in Africa while assuming varying forms. Furthermore, under globalization, Africa maybe on the verge of becoming an important player as an emerging market. Such forms of development are creating a dynamism in the new political economy of the continent, which may drive the African renaissance.
- Date Issued:
- 2000-06-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- African Journal of Political Science
- Date Issued:
- 2000-12-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- African Journal of Political Science
- Description:
- This paper seeks first to underscore the limitations of Western models of civil control which African countries employ to create stable civil-military relations. Second, it uses the recent experience of Southern African civil-military relations to illustrate the extent to which effective civil control over the military has been secured through a combination of objective and subjective mecahnisms. And finally, it suggests some revisions in the conceptual architecture of late modern civil-military relations theory so as to ensure that discipline is more consistent with the exigencies of the African political landscape.
- Date Issued:
- 1998-06-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- African Journal of Political Science
- Description:
- This essay attempts to analyse the role and organisation of the North American delegation at the Seventh Pan African Congress held in Kampala, Uganda, from April 3-8, 1994 within the context of current political movements in the United States. Particular attention will be paid to more recent events taking place in the United States, such as the Million Man March, to elucidate the current crisis in African-American leadership. I will argue that this crisis has very real implications with regard to fostering solidarity and redefining a Pan Africanism that is shaped by the needs and aspirations of the producers who make up the overwhelming majority of the African diaspora and the continent.
- Date Issued:
- 1996-06-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- African Journal of Political Science
- Description:
- This article critically examines the depth of the reforms and elections that underpinned Nigeria's recently concluded political transition. It also analyses the important challenges confronting democratic consolidation in the face of the "imperfect" nature of the political transition, revolutionary pressures from below and factional struggles within the hegemonic elite -- all of which have direct implications for the social contract and the national question. At the end it is argued that this transition is Nigeria's last chance -- and except it transfers real power to the Nigerian people, the current struggles could signpost grave portends for the Nigerian Project.
- Date Issued:
- 2000-12-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- African Journal of Political Science
- Date Issued:
- 2003-06-01T00:00:00Z
- 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:
- This paper addresses the concept of policy dialogue as it applies to issues of gender equity and participation. It discusses the basic elements of the concept, explores five models of policy dialogue as well as constraints to the institutionalisation of policy dialogue for gendered development. It argues that the constraints emanate from the hegemony of the neo-liberal discourse on development; the effect of globalisation on the balance of power among key institutions in international, national and local arenas; the rigidities within national bureaucratic cultures; and the unequal patterns of development as well as contradictions within gender constituencies.
- Date Issued:
- 1997-12-01T00:00:00Z
- 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:
- South Africa's general elections of 1994 was a unique occurrence in the country's history, having for the first time enfranchised the majority of the country's citizens. The 1999 elections advanced this process of democratizing the South African policy. This article examines the electoral systems that were applied to two elections, as well as the role of the Independent Electoral Commission in connection with those two elections. It argues that the legal and institutional frameworks established by the relevant laws ensured free and fair elections; but above all they advanced the democratization process.
- Date Issued:
- 2001-06-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- African Journal of Political Science
- Description:
- This paper briefly examines the unprecedented political events in Malawi that began in March 1992 and culminated in multi-party elections in which Dr. Banda's regime yielded the reigns of power to a democratically elected government. Using detailed results of the 1994 presidential and parliamentary elections, the paper argues that regionalism rather than ethnicity appears to be the dominant factor influencing voting patterns at the national level. Regionalism appears to have resulted in the formation of three super ethnic groups each with its own regional base. Elites are securing political power by redefining the ethnic equation; and their competition for scarce resources and political power continues to occur in the guise of spatial units, among which the super ethnic region is the more salient, and has consequently become the most influential factor in elections.
- Date Issued:
- 1997-06-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- African Journal of Political Science
- Description:
- Poor management, corruption and vested political interests have made Kenya's sugar industry so inefficient that the country's goal of attaining self-sufficiency in sugar production will remain unattainable for a long time. To explain the persistence of this situation, the article examines the management practice in the industry, prevailing production arrangments and the problems associated with it, focusing on the politics that pervades the entire system.
- Date Issued:
- 2001-06-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- African Journal of Political Science
- Date Issued:
- 1999-06-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- African Journal of Political Science
- Date Issued:
- 1999-12-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- African Journal of Political Science
- Description:
- Economic and political liberation in Africa has affected fragile national identities constructed over the past thirty or so years. This has led to the reconstruction of different identities and contestations affecting the legitimacy of government institutions in mediating conflict over the distribution of scarce resources. Using Tanzania as a case study, this article examines the relevance of multi-culturalism as a solution to the contest between sub-national identities mobilized by the current economic and political reforms.
- Date Issued:
- 2001-06-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- African Journal of Political Science
- Description:
- This contribution seeks to explain the ruling ZANU (PF) party's electoral hegemony by outlining and analysing Zimbabwe's five general elections since 1979 and the two presidential elections since 1990. In this regard, the paper argues that the ruling party is experiencing a gradual decline in elite cohesion which is manifested in the electoral challenge of independent candidates coming from the ruling party itself. This phenomenon of independent candidates could have far-reaching consequences in overcoming the present state of weak political opposition in Zimbabwe. The paper therefore suggests a scenario in which a viable opposition could come from a splinter group inside the ruling ZANU (PF) itself not unlike the major ZAPU/ZANU split of 1963.
- Date Issued:
- 1997-06-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- African Journal of Political Science
- Description:
- The purpose of this essay is to suggest an empirically based model to be used as a framework for analysis in studying contemporary political transitions in Africa. The discussion is founded on the leading assumption that the factors which catalyse regime transformation are fundamentally the same irrespective of the direction of change: social crisis intersects with structural conditions and particular patterns of human relationships resulting in a type of change which is conditioned by political culture and the weight of history. Democratisation is only one form of regime change. The paper concludes that while there may be ample evidence that significant political liberalisation has taken place, it is not appropriate to celebrate the "flowering of democracy" per se for the process is often in the direction of "pacted democracy" as opposed to "liberal democracy".
- Date Issued:
- 1996-12-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- African Journal of Political Science
- Description:
- This article examines the role of the US in post-cold war West African security issues. It analyses the impact of the ACRI and the reactions from the continent—from the OAU, ECOWAS and influential countries like Nigeria—given the efforts being made by African governments to grapple with their own security concerns. It concludes with a tentative assessment of the possibilities for ACRI's effectiveness and its prospects for achieving credibility among African governments and civil society.
- Date Issued:
- 2001-06-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- African Journal of Political Science
- Description:
- Civil society comprises various interest groups such as human rights groups, co-operatives, trade unions and the church through which individuals collectively carry out their social enterprises. The rise of the centrality of civil society in much of Africa, in both development discourse and the democratization process, has been in response to state weakness. As a result it has become the cutting edge of the effort to build a viable democratic order. This paper contends that the success of civil society in forcing political concessions in Africa relates to the availability of opportunity to mobilize, agitate and bargain with the state from a position of strength. However, the notion that ageneric civil society is uniformly progressive in challenging the African authoritarian state and advancing democratization may not be accurate. This comparative study attempts to bring out the underlying similarities and differences in the contribution of the Christian church and NGOs as civil society organizations to the democratization process in Kenya and Uganda.
- Date Issued:
- 2002-12-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- African Journal of Political Science
- Description:
- Following independence a number of African states were content to seek protection under the security umbrella of an external power. The end of the cold war has called this clientelism sharply into question, facilitating a variety of challenges to the political hegemony of the state and the emergence at the same time of new and diffuse forms of force, wielded by private as well as official entrepreneurs of violence. Liberalisation and state weakness have encouraged a growing private market in security, making possible novel ways of articulating political, commercial, and military agendas. The resulting "crisis of security" is forcing both state and non-state, domestic and external actors to rethink security concepts and architectures, in cooperation as well as competition with each other.
- Date Issued:
- 1998-06-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- African Journal of Political Science
- Date Issued:
- 1998-12-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- African Journal of Political Science
- Date Issued:
- 2000-06-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- African Journal of Political Science
- Description:
- This paper examines the relationship between the processes of globalisation, mineral/resource extraction in Africa, and the deepening of environmental conflicton the continent since the late 1970s, and especially with the onset of structural adjustment which imposed the hegemony of the free market on the African ecology.
- Date Issued:
- 1999-06-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- African Journal of Political Science
- Date Issued:
- 1999-12-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- African Journal of Political Science
- Date Issued:
- 2000-12-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- African Journal of Political Science
- Description:
- The arms trade is a symptom, not the cause of conflict. Yet a strong case can be made for the argument that stemming the flow of weapons to an area of armed conflict can have a positive, albeit limited, impact. A continuous flow of arms provides protagonists with the material and psychological means to sustain a conflict. This means that a ban on further shipment of arms to one or all sides to an armed conflict could advance the cause of peace. This paper attempts to offer a perspective on the nature of the arms trade as it affects Africa, list the supply-side measures (like an international code of conduct) that are currently making some headway, and propose a number of mechanisms that governments and nongovernmental organisations in Africa can activate in order to curb the inflow of weapons.
- Date Issued:
- 1998-06-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- African Journal of Political Science