You are here
Search results
(1 - 20 of 790)
Pages
- Title
- Institutions, ideology and power : social change in the Eastern Townships of Quebec
- Creator
- Handrick, Philip James
- Date
- 1981
- Collection
- Electronic Theses & Dissertations
- Title
- States of affect : trauma in partition/post-partition south Asia
- Creator
- Mitra, Rituparna
- Date
- 2015
- Collection
- Electronic Theses & Dissertations
- Description
-
The Partition of the Indian subcontinent – into India and Pakistan in 1947 – was one of the crucial moments marking the break between the colonial and postcolonial era. My project is invested in exploring the Partition not merely in terms of the events of August 1947, but as an ongoing process that continues to splinter political, cultural, emotional and sexual life-worlds in South Asia. My dissertation seeks to map analytical pathways to locate the Partition and the attendant formations of...
Show moreThe Partition of the Indian subcontinent – into India and Pakistan in 1947 – was one of the crucial moments marking the break between the colonial and postcolonial era. My project is invested in exploring the Partition not merely in terms of the events of August 1947, but as an ongoing process that continues to splinter political, cultural, emotional and sexual life-worlds in South Asia. My dissertation seeks to map analytical pathways to locate the Partition and the attendant formations of minoritization and sectarian violence as continuing, unfolding processes that constitute postcolonial nation-building. It examines the far-reaching presence of these formations in current configurations of politics, culture and subjectivity by mobilizing the interdisciplinary scope of affect-mediated Trauma and Memory Studies and Postcolonial Studies, in conjunction with literary analysis. My project draws on a wide range of cultural artifacts such as poetry, cantillatory performance, mourning rituals, testimonials, archaeological ruins, short stories and novels to develop a heuristic and affective re-organization of post-Partition South Asia. It seeks to illuminate through frameworks of memory, melancholia, trauma, affect and postcoloniality how the ongoing effects of the past shape the present, which in turn, offers us ways to reimagine the future.This dissertation reaches out to recent work developing a vernacular framework to analyze violence, trauma and loss in South Asia. Critics of trauma theory argue that clinical approaches developed in specific Euro-American socio-cultural contexts often write over postcolonial systems of knowledge-making, mourning, and recovery. Ananya Kabir, Kumkum Sangari, and other postcolonial critics are seeking to develop a vernacularized framework to view violence, trauma and loss in South Asia. It is at this challenging threshold of affect-mediated postcoloniality and trauma studies that my work asks to be located.
Show less
- Title
- Chipolopolo : a political and social history of football (soccer) in Zambia, 1940s-1994
- Creator
- Chipande, Decius
- Date
- 2015
- Collection
- Electronic Theses & Dissertations
- Description
-
This dissertation explores the complex relationships between football, culture, and politics in Zambia, from the Second World War through the aftermath of the first multiparty elections of the postcolonial era. It reconstructs the rise and development of African football clubs, competitions, players, and personalities, and connects the everyday lives of ordinary people to broader shifts in colonial and postcolonial political history. The main primary sources for this study are Zambian...
Show moreThis dissertation explores the complex relationships between football, culture, and politics in Zambia, from the Second World War through the aftermath of the first multiparty elections of the postcolonial era. It reconstructs the rise and development of African football clubs, competitions, players, and personalities, and connects the everyday lives of ordinary people to broader shifts in colonial and postcolonial political history. The main primary sources for this study are Zambian government records, local newspapers and magazines, and dozens of oral interviews and informal conversations I recorded in Zambia with former players, administrators, journalists, and fans. The research reveals how football was used as a tool for social control and propaganda. As the economic heartland of Zambia, the Copperbelt looms large throughout this story. Beginning in the late colonial period, football boomed in this industrial region as miners and other African wage-earning workers quickly made the British game their own. They did so not only by acquiring sporting skills, but also by forging new loyalties and identities that nurtured, directly and indirectly, the broader anti-colonial struggle for self-determination.Football took on a nation-building function after independence in 1964. Under President Kenneth Kaunda, a former player and referee, and his UNIP ruling party, the government invested considerable economic and political capital into the Football Association of Zambia, school sport, domestic clubs, and the national team. Kaunda’s one-party state embraced football as a means to create consent and support for its ideology of “African humanism,” to consolidate power and authority, and gain international visibility and prestige. Following the nationalization of the mines and other sectors of the economy, in the 1970s and 1980s parastatal companies and the armed forces played a vital role in growing the game despite a worsening economic crisis. The government’s gradual withdrawal from sport after the implementation of Structural Adjustment Programs brought the domestic game to its knees, and may have contributed to the Gabon air disaster of April 1993 in which the entire national team perished.This dissertation takes the cultural agency of Zambians seriously. It explores the impact of radio and the press, fan groups, and the inclusion of spiritual beliefs and practices, such as magic and sorcery. In so doing, this study also sheds light on the tensions produced by fierce rivalries between different clubs and competing notions of masculinity among miners, bakaboyi (domestic workers), and civil servants in urban communities. The gendered dynamics of sport meant that women fans struggled for inclusion in an overwhelmingly male domain; but female fans were neither unusual nor passive and some channeled their passion for football into founding the first women’s clubs and leagues.As the first scholarly history of association football in Zambia, this work makes at least three contributions to national and African historiography. First, it expands on the new revisionist history concerned with moving beyond UNIP- and Kaunda-centered nationalist readings of the past. Second, it demonstrates the value of seeing football as a cultural space in which power is contested and where individual, community, and institutional identities come to life. Finally, this study uncovers new documentary and oral evidence that deepen our understanding of sport’s capacity to both shape and symbolize social change in an African nation’s colonial and postcolonial past.
Show less
- Title
- The role of political participation, mass media and empathy in moderization : a case study of Uttar Pradesh (India)
- Creator
- Vajpeyi, Dhirendra K.
- Date
- 1971
- Collection
- Electronic Theses & Dissertations
- Title
- The impacts of party cohesion on democratic accountability
- Creator
- Huang, Shih-hao
- Date
- 2014
- Collection
- Electronic Theses & Dissertations
- Description
-
This dissertation features party cohesion as a factor influencing how voters hold ruling elites accountable. It consists of three essays that dissect the impacts of party cohesion on democratic accountability in the United States. In a nutshell, this dissertation finds that when party cohesion increases, the focus of politics is shifted toward partisan rivalries, and hence the ruling elites may not be held accountable to the public as they pursue partisan goals. The first chapter is an essay...
Show moreThis dissertation features party cohesion as a factor influencing how voters hold ruling elites accountable. It consists of three essays that dissect the impacts of party cohesion on democratic accountability in the United States. In a nutshell, this dissertation finds that when party cohesion increases, the focus of politics is shifted toward partisan rivalries, and hence the ruling elites may not be held accountable to the public as they pursue partisan goals. The first chapter is an essay titled Income Inequality and Electoral Costs of Party Loyalty in the United States, 1976-2008. The United States features a political system where party loyalty has been traditionally seen as electorally costly to individual legislators. However, if being loyal to the party is costly, why did legislators in the U.S. increase their party loyalty to a high level during the past decades? I argue that the electoral cost of party loyalty could be reduced, and I suggest that such a reduction of electoral cost was resulted from the increases in income inequality. The evidence from the U.S. House elections between 1976 and 2008 indicates that party loyalty becomes less costly when income inequality increases. This finding may not only complement the existing theories of party government, but also shatter the conventional wisdom on the role of the party in personal-vote systems. The second essay is titled Clarity of Responsibility and Clarity of Party Line: The Impacts of Party Cohesion on Economic Voting in the United States, 1980-2008. Powell and Whitten (1993) maintain that governing party cohesion is a stable feature of political systems that enhances clarity of responsibility and economic voting. However, party cohesion is not stable, and there are ebbs and flows in party cohesion. Further, research finds that at the micro level, voters respond to partisan cues and become more partisan when the elites from each party stand with their in-party members and that economic conditions matter less when there are more partisan voters. With data from the American National Election Studies (ANES) between 1980 and 2008, this essay demonstrates that party cohesion is a double-edged sword. As party cohesion increases from a low to mid level, it may strengthen economic voting by enhancing clarity of responsibility. When it is at a high level and party line becomes clear, it may hinder economic voting. Finally, the essay, Resisting Being Held Accountable: The Impact of Party Cohesion on Concentration of Votes in the United States, 1992-2012, is the third chapter. Party cohesion has been seen as a constraint on particularistic exchanges between politicians and voters. However, using the concentration of votes as an indicator of particularistic exchanges between parties and voters, I find that party cohesion has a positive impact on the concentration of votes in presidential elections between 1992 and 2012. This finding suggests that a smaller range of the electorate is served by the incumbent party when the party is more cohesive. Further, I demonstrate that the concentration of votes received by an incumbent party positively affects the vote share of the party. Hence, a higher level of party cohesion does not improve accountability. Instead, it contributes to the ability of a party to resist being held accountable to the interest of the public. The three essays show how accountability may vary with the changes in party cohesion. The evidence presented suggests that party cohesion may not improve accountability as what political scientists have wished for. Rather, high levels of party cohesion may hinder voters from holding ruling elites accountable for the public interest.
Show less
- Title
- Last card : can Nigeria survive another political transition?
- Creator
- Obi, Cyril
- Date
- 2000-12
- 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...
Show moreThis 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.
Show less
- Title
- Guest editor's note
- Creator
- Olukoshi, Adebayo O.
- Date
- 2000-12
- Collection
- African Journal of Political Science
- Title
- Economy and politics in the Nigerian transition
- Creator
- Olukoshi, Adebayo O.
- Date
- 2000-12
- Collection
- African Journal of Political Science
- Description
-
This essay is an attempt to offer a general overview of the range of political and economic problems that served as the context for the transition to elected forms of governance in Nigeria after some sixteen years of military rule. These problems, even where they did not originate in military rule, were exacerbated by the years of political exclusion, chicanery, and repression as well as the continuing decline in the national economy and deep-seated corruption associated with prolonged...
Show moreThis essay is an attempt to offer a general overview of the range of political and economic problems that served as the context for the transition to elected forms of governance in Nigeria after some sixteen years of military rule. These problems, even where they did not originate in military rule, were exacerbated by the years of political exclusion, chicanery, and repression as well as the continuing decline in the national economy and deep-seated corruption associated with prolonged military rule. It is suggested that a serious-minded effort at tackling these problems and the kinds of success recorded will be central to the viability of the Fourth Republic and the restoration of the confidence of the populace in public office holders. Several of the problems that need redressing are of a "nuts and bolts" kind and the fact that they arose at all is indicative of the depth to which Nigeria sank during the military years; others are far more profound and challenge the very basis on which state-society relations as well as nation-territorial administration are presently constituted. Whether basic or profound, they will tax all the commitment and leadership qualities of the elected politicians of the Fourth Republic.
Show less
- Title
- Samora Machel -- Aluta Continua!
- Date
- 1986
- Collection
- African Journal of Political Economy
- Description
-
As this issue was going to press, the founding President of the People's Republic of Mozambique, Samora Machel, was killedin an air crash on South African territory with 32 other comrades. Hundreds of thousands ofMozambicans assembled at Maputo City Hall and the Heroes' Monument in the midst of dignitaries of 69 countries to pay homage to their fallen hero. From Maputo, AJOPE reflects on the causes and consequences for Southern Africa.
- Title
- The contribution of the social sciences to the crisis in Africa
- Creator
- Nabudere, D. Wadada
- Date
- 1988
- Collection
- African Journal of Political Economy
- Title
- Ethnic federalism, fiscal reform, development and democracy in Ethiopia
- Creator
- Keller, Edmond J. (Edmond Joseph), 1942-
- Date
- 2002-06
- Collection
- African Journal of Political Science
- Description
-
Ethiopia has embarked upon what it claims to be a novel experiment in "ethnic federalism". The ruling Ethiopian Peoples' Revolutionary Democratic Front has asserted that it is intent on forthrightly addressing the claims of ethnic groups in the country of historic discrimination and inequality, and to build a multi-ethnic democracy. The essay critically assesses this effort, concentrating on the emerging relations between the federal and regional state governments. Particular attentionis...
Show moreEthiopia has embarked upon what it claims to be a novel experiment in "ethnic federalism". The ruling Ethiopian Peoples' Revolutionary Democratic Front has asserted that it is intent on forthrightly addressing the claims of ethnic groups in the country of historic discrimination and inequality, and to build a multi-ethnic democracy. The essay critically assesses this effort, concentrating on the emerging relations between the federal and regional state governments. Particular attentionis given to the strategy of revenue sharing as a mechanism for addressing regional inequities. Where appropriate, comparisons are made with the federal system in Nigeria, Africa's most well-known federal system. The article concludes that, while there may be federal features and institutions normally found in democracies, Ethiopia has not constructed a system of democratic federalism. Moreover, rather than empowering citizens at the grassroots level, Ethiopia tightly controls development and politics through regional state governments, with very little popular decision making in the development process.
Show less
- Title
- Does Pan-Africanism have a future in Africa? In search of the ideational basis of Afro-pessimism
- Creator
- Momoh, Abubakar
- Date
- 2003-06
- Collection
- African Journal of Political Science
- Title
- Political culture and democratic governance in Southern Africa
- Creator
- Matlosa, K. T.
- Date
- 2003-06
- Collection
- African Journal of Political Science
- Description
-
The interface of political culture and democratic governance has not been thoroughly explored and problematised in the democracy debate in Southern Africa today. The current debate has tended to focus more on elections and electoral systems and, by default, leaving out culture in the discourse. This article is, thus, an attempt to bring political culture back in. This is extremely crucial for democratic practice and is also highly dependent upon a particular political culture prevailing in a...
Show moreThe interface of political culture and democratic governance has not been thoroughly explored and problematised in the democracy debate in Southern Africa today. The current debate has tended to focus more on elections and electoral systems and, by default, leaving out culture in the discourse. This article is, thus, an attempt to bring political culture back in. This is extremely crucial for democratic practice and is also highly dependent upon a particular political culture prevailing in a given country or region. The main thrust of the paper is that a culture of political violence and instability in the region is explicable in terms of the structural make-up of the region's political economy (a la structuralist theorists) and not so much by the level of institutionalization of governance itself as some modernization (read institutional-functionalist) theorists would like us to believe. Although elections and electoral systems do, to some degree, have a bearing on stability or lack of it, political culture does play a role in regime legitimacy or lack thereof. Political violence and multivariate conflicts that have marked the region's political landscape and prompted by resource distribution, ideological contestation, social differentiation along class, gender, ethnic and racial cleavage, clearly have an enormous impact on the prospects for nurturing and consolidation of democratic governance in Southern Africa.
Show less
- Title
- Public service accountability and governance in Kenya since independence
- Creator
- Odhiambo-Mbai, C.
- Date
- 2003-06
- 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...
Show moreBad 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.
Show less
- Title
- Towards understanding new forms of state rule in [Southern] Africa in the era of globalization
- Creator
- Neocosmos, M.
- Date
- 2001-12
- Collection
- African Journal of Political Science
- Description
-
In the recent process of transition in Africa since the 1980s, the form of state rule has been changing in many important ways as have the relations between the state and (civil) society. One of the changes in this process concerns the demise of development as a national state project through which state rule was reproduced and legitimized (culturally and politically) up to the 1980s. While the collapse of this form of rule of the developmental state is now apparent, a clear alternative has...
Show moreIn the recent process of transition in Africa since the 1980s, the form of state rule has been changing in many important ways as have the relations between the state and (civil) society. One of the changes in this process concerns the demise of development as a national state project through which state rule was reproduced and legitimized (culturally and politically) up to the 1980s. While the collapse of this form of rule of the developmental state is now apparent, a clear alternative has yet to become evident in Africa. Often formal multi-partyism and elections have been introduced, while at the same time a single-party predominant system has been prevalent to the extent that the earlier ruling parties often continue to control state institutions. In this context, relations between state and civil society may not always exhibit the same kind of obviously repressive characteristics as before, and various alternative forms of legitimation are being experimented with (e.g., rights discourse, national "visions", reconciliation, neo-liberal multi-partyism, new forms of corporatism, etc.). This paper addresses several theoretical problems surrounding the analysis of new forms of state rule in Southern Africa in particular. These seem congruent with the current phase of globalization. It seeks to elucidate the workings of developing alternative modes of rule, one based on the plunder of national mineral assets by members of the ruling elite, another legitimized through a state constructed consensus. It debates the various components of the consensual state in South Africa in particular and assesses the extent to which these have been achieved.
Show less
- Title
- African renaissance : the politics of return
- Creator
- More, Mabogo Percy, 1946-
- Date
- 2002-12
- 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...
Show moreOn 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.
Show less
- Title
- The multiparty reform process in Tanzania : the dominance of the ruling party
- Creator
- Nyirabu, Mohabe
- Date
- 2002-12
- 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...
Show moreThe 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.
Show less
- Title
- Popular struggles in Nigeria 1960-1982
- Creator
- Momoh, Abubakar
- Date
- 1996-12
- Collection
- African Journal of Political Science
- Description
-
This paper examines some of the dominant social movements in Nigerian politics since independence; the causes and character of the struggles waged by them - students, workers, peasants and the Nigerian Left. It argues that these struggles constitute the mainstream of the struggles of the popular masses and achieved significant political, social and economic results. They were however limited in their overall impact on the Nigerian political economy because they lacked unity and political...
Show moreThis paper examines some of the dominant social movements in Nigerian politics since independence; the causes and character of the struggles waged by them - students, workers, peasants and the Nigerian Left. It argues that these struggles constitute the mainstream of the struggles of the popular masses and achieved significant political, social and economic results. They were however limited in their overall impact on the Nigerian political economy because they lacked unity and political largely as a result of the weakness of the Nigerian Left.
Show less
- Title
- Transitions from democracy in Nigeria : toward a pre-emptive analysis
- Creator
- Ifidon, Ehimika A.
- Date
- 2002-06
- Collection
- African Journal of Political Science
- Description
-
Two "fully fledged" democratic administrations in Nigeria have been terminated by military coups d'etat since independence in 1960. Having, in addition ruled for about 30 out of over 40 years of sovereign existence, the military has been described as the obstacle to the consolidation of democracy. But what a critical reading of Nigeria's political history would reveal is that the elected governments were in the throes of death almost from their inauguration, while the state had virtually...
Show moreTwo "fully fledged" democratic administrations in Nigeria have been terminated by military coups d'etat since independence in 1960. Having, in addition ruled for about 30 out of over 40 years of sovereign existence, the military has been described as the obstacle to the consolidation of democracy. But what a critical reading of Nigeria's political history would reveal is that the elected governments were in the throes of death almost from their inauguration, while the state had virtually collapsed by general election time. The military coup, thus, became a kind of euthanasia. In both cases of breakdown, there was a repeated pattern of transition from democracy marked by depluralization, state appropriation, delegitimation of regimes, inter-hegemonic conflict and, finally, military coup. These are argued as consequences of the peculiar political and inter-group environment of Nigeria and character of the state. Therefore, every future democratic administration is susceptible to the same trajectory. Yet, the progressively degrading tenor of life under military rule has highlighted the intrinsic value of democracy. This article, therefore, attempts to create, from a genetic analysis of the collapse of democracy in Nigeria, the groundwork for a pre-emptive analysis.
Show less
- Title
- Politics in Central Africa : a reflective introduction to the experience of states and region
- Creator
- Sindjoun, Luc
- Date
- 1999-12
- Collection
- African Journal of Political Science