Browsing by Subject "Political Studies"
Now showing 1 - 20 of 129
Results Per Page
Sort Options
- ItemOpen AccessActivist memorialization : bearing witness at St. George's Cathedral(2011) Van Mill, Sarah; Field, SeanThe purpose of this thesis is to address the question: how can memorialization contribute to social transformation? Specifically, in what ways is memorialization activist? To answer this question I worked with St. George’s Cathedral’s Crypt Memory and Witness Centre on their Bearing Witness exhibit, conducted primary and secondary literature surveys (namely academic articles and books, and periodicals from 1980-1986), story-telling focus groups and individual interviews. The exhibit group consisted of 17 former South African squatters who fasted at St. George’s Cathedral in 1982, demanding rights to live and work in Cape Town. Of the group of 17, I conducted personal interviews with seven women and three men.
- ItemOpen AccessAdvocacy-orientated, advocacy-related and scholarly literature on the Rwandan genocide of 1994 : assessing whether the main points of concern, criticism or dispute about the literature arise from the basic facts and empirical evidence presented or from the interpretive frameworks employed to analyse them(2011) Motlafi, Nompumelelo; Simons, Mary; Du Toit, AndréThis literature review is written as a response to Timothy Longman's general suggestion that much of the literature on the "Rwandan genocide of 1994" was based on empirically poor secondary analyses instead of "rigorous" original empirical research. The study was further alerted by Longman's indication that there had been "myths and inaccuracies" circulating in the literature.
- ItemOpen AccessAfrican legislatures active in the budget process?! Emerging trends and consequences for legislative identity(2019) Heim, Kristen; Mattes, BobLegislatures in the Southern Africa have made recent signals that they are becoming active in the budget process through the establishment of Budget Committees, Parliamentary Budget Offices, and Constituency Development Funds. These developments are surprising given the Westminster heritage of these institutions and periods of executive dominance that precluded such involvement from independence. If these legislatures are, indeed, modifying their involvement in budgetary matters, this could pointto a fundamental shiftin their overall function and identity. This study thus asks: Are changes really unfolding? And, if so, why? The research employs data collected on the basis of extensive fieldwork in five parliaments in Southern Africa with similar historical attributes. This includes semi-structured interviews with over 160 MPs and staff, focus group discussions, and archival analysis in the Parliaments of Namibia, Lesotho, Malawi, Zimbabwe, and Zambia. The results of the study find support for the initial hypothesis: public signals are, indeed, indicative of more extensive changes in legislative budgetary engagement, though to varying degrees within each. Formal legal authority was found to be a poor predictor of legislative change, as were emerging technical abilities. A final congruence test found that a combination of external donor influence and regional peer-to peer legislative exchange are best able to account for the developments underway. The results of this exploratory study serve as an orientation for parliaments presently undergoing institutional change in budgetary matters as well as a basis for further research.
- ItemMetadata onlyAnalyzing Thabo Mbeki's policy of 'quiet diplomacy' in the Zimbabwean crisis(2010) Malimela, Langelihle Phakama; Akokpari, JohnThis thesis discusses the approach taken by the South African government in response to the political and economic crisis that has gripped neighbouring Zimbabwe since the year 2000. Its aim is to explain why South Africa, under the leadership of Thabo Mbeki, adopted the controversial policy widely referred to as 'Quiet Diplomacy'. It uses a Structuralist approach to international relations, and in particular Immanuel Wallerstein's World Systems Theory to characterise South Africa as a prototypical semi-peripheral state, with a dual-contradictory role in international relations. It argues that post- apartheid South Africa's failure to make genuine progress in terms primarily of economic transformation at home, has significantly constrained her ability to adopt more conventional diplomatic methods in dealing with the political and economic crisis in Zimbabwe.
- ItemOpen AccessAssessing investment rationale : the case of Anglo American Corporation in Latin America(2007) White, Lyal; Schrire, RobertThis thesis assesses the investment decisions and investment behaviour of the Anglo American Corporation in Latin America and Africa. It focuses on the question of ‘why’ Anglo chose to invest in Latin America and how it went about choosing one country over another. It is an historical, ideographic study that explores the role of personalities, institutional, political and corporate culture and wider national and regional political criteria in Anglo’s investment decision process.
- ItemOpen AccessAn assessment of public participation in selected ward committees in the City of Cape Town(2012) Smith, Cheryl-Anne; Naidoo, VinothanThis study investigates public participation at local government level in South Africa, namely, the ward committee system. It will look at the extent to which ward committees, as instruments of public participation, can be said to empower citizen involvement in local government decision-making. Therefore the research question is what do the processes of public participation reveal about public empowerment at municipal government level? To realise the objectives of this study, Fung and Wrights Empowered Participatory Governance (EPG) model is applied to five ward committees in diverse-socio-economic areas in the southern suburbs in the city of Cape Town. It should be noted that EPG is a possible model that can be used to enhance participation and facilitate empowerment at municipal government level.
- ItemOpen AccessBeyond guns or butter : towards a multi-level analysis of South Africa's strategic defence procurement(2003) Kaufman, Gerry PBy 1998, after a full decade of declining defense budgets spanning both the late apartheid regime and the new democratic order, South Africa had fully halved military expenditure, in real terms, from its 1989 level. Through the process of negotiated transition to democracy in the early J 990s, it appeared as though advocates of demilitarization had taken the upper hand in setting the African National Congress (ANC) government's defense policy agenda. However, the government changed course drastically in 1998, initiating a massive arms acquisition program comprising submarines, frigate-class ""corvette"" patrol vessels, fighter jets and trainers, and helicopters, at a projected cost of nearly ZAR30 billion. This decision, consequently, has plagued the government with continued controversy since its implementation. What brought about this apparent defense policy reversal? Citing the lack of any significant external military threat to South Africa, dovish elements of civil society frame this controversial arms acquisition policy, entitled the Strategic Defence Procurement (SOP) program, as a classic ""guns or butter"" issue. The government, on the other hand, defends its decision by maintaining that the military procurements are vital to both the national security imperatives and economic growth of South Africa. In this vein, defense industrialists argue that weapons procurement deals containing counter-trade provisions help to stimulate the local economy-particularly the arms industry, transferring valuable technology and resources to one of South Africa's strategically-vital export industries which had suffered under the defense cutbacks in recent years-as well as foreign investment and job growth in civilian industrial sectors. This study addresses the complexities of the SOP-the ""arms deal"", in common parlance-through a systematic analysis that utilizes two distinct theoretical approaches to investigate the policy action from multiple perspectives, in order to illuminate issues that might otherwise remain buried in a single-level, single-approach analysis. The fundamental assumptions and concepts of the two theoretical approaches, the rational actor approach and the bureaucratic politics approach, focus on various issues embedded in the arms deal at discrete levels of analysis-the international systemic level. the state (organizational or bureaucratic) level, and the individual level-to generate a rough-cut account of the arms deal at each. The characteristic assumptions of both theoretical paradigms are applied to the South African case in order to generate an account of the arms deal at each level of analysis. This is done using empirical evidence gathered from primary sources such as government publications, policy reviews and other public documents, as well as from printed news media sources. The study's two fundamental objectives are to facilitate a better understanding of South Africa's arms acquisition decision and how it came about, and to provide a structured analytical framework for subsequent, comprehensive investigation of these issues by other students and analysts of South African politics and security. The scope of this study is necessarily limited to a primary focus on developing a structured framework and two-theory approach for multi-level analysis of the SDP, rather than on generating the exhaustive explanation that the framework potentially makes possible.
- ItemOpen AccessBeyond party politics : to what extent, if any, are there unexpected democracy deepening consequences of one-party dominance in South Africa?(2003) Matisonn, HeidiThe degree of centralisation and monopolisation of power by the African National Congress (ANC) is raising concerns about the long-term prospects for democracy in South Africa. Conventional party politics cannot at present provide the mechanism to check tendencies towards authoritarian domination: loyalty to the ruling party, lack of credible opposition parties and the electoral system itself are all factors contributing to the entrenchment of the status quo.
- ItemOpen AccessBoko Haram : an African insurgency(2016) Kristensen, Klaus Stig; Seegers, AnnetteBoko Haram emerged as an independent group in Nigeria in the early 2000s and has since begun an insurgency, primarily operating in the northeastern region of Nigeria and increasingly further south and across the country's borders. Researchers have conducted numerous studies analyzing the causes of the insurgency. However few have compared it to other insurgencies in Nigeria or Africa. This thesis analyzes the causes behind Boko Haram's operations by drawing on the main debates within the literature on causes of insurgency in Africa. This analysis demonstrates how the academic literature on insurgency in Africa highlights important causes of Boko Haram's insurgency, but it also identifies gaps in the literature. One of the most important findings of the thesis is that religion can be a dominate cause of conflict. I argue that one of the main causes of Boko Haram's insurgency is the political competition over various issues between Nigerian Islamic organizations and political organizations. The most recent examples are the implementation of Sharia law across many of the states in northern Nigeria coupled with elite mobilization of youth groups affiliated with mosques. The role of religion as a cause of Boko Haram´s insurgency should not however be exaggerated as specific state weaknesses, especially a weak security apparatus, caused by democratization have also been one of the significant causes.
- ItemOpen AccessA 'Brazilian way'?: characteristics and challenges of Brazil's development assistance in Africa(2016) Rasconi, Davide; Smith, KarenBrazil development cooperation in Africa has been increasing significantly since the beginning of the new millennium. This paper examines both characteristics and challenges of such cooperation, with regards to the centuries-old linkages that tie the two shores of the Atlantic and the historical impact that Africa has had on Brazil. The main focus is on development cooperation in the continent after Lula's election in 2003, highlighting both domestic and international factors that allowed this cooperation to rapidly increase, while analysing the ongoing Brazilian crisis undermining it. The final consideration is that Brazil's development cooperation is characterized by the duality of national interests on one side, where it is seen as an important tool of foreign policy, and its humanitarian aspect together with the empowerment of local populations on the other. This paper concludes by arguing that a 'Brazilian way', indeed, exists.
- ItemOpen AccessBridging the gap : the role of the private sector in track-two diplomacy and South Africa's political transition(2012) Mitchell, Shannon KateThis dissertation explores the important contributions that unofficial negotiation processes can and do make to conflict resolution and political transitions. The theories regarding unofficial negotiations are explored in the context of a South African case study and will look at the ways in which the efforts made by members of the private sector during the last five years of apartheid, from September 1985 to February 1990, contributed to the start of official negotiations and a peace agreement, ending decades of racial prejudice and violence. What is so interesting about the South African case study is not only the success of the unofficial negotiation processes, but the specific roles played by members of big business, both as participants and as third-party mediators.
- ItemOpen AccessBudget and policy planning in devolved Kenya: a case study of citizen participation in Nairobi county(2018) Mukorombindo, Yeukai Chido; Naidoo, VinothanThe new Constitution of Kenya has devolved a significant portion of public finances, powers and responsibilities to a new sub national level of government. Kenya now has 47 Counties, each with a County assembly, an elected Governor and an administration in charge of managing public resources and providing social services. Kenyan legal frameworks such as the Public Finance Management (PFM) Act and the County Government Act (CGA) as well as specific County government participation legislation obligate County governments to facilitate and promote citizen participation in the development of County plans, budgets and policies. This thesis shall show that despite legislative efforts furthering devolution and citizen participation, the law is not always implemented and does not always function well in some instances. There appears to be little improvement in overcoming challenges faced in citizen participation of previous decentralised funds through the Local Authority Service Delivery Action Plan (LASDAP). Elite capture, resource and capacity constraints, poor bureaucratic coordination, communication as well as a limited understanding by both local officials and citizens regarding the new roles and mechanisms for participation have not resulted in simplistic 'magic bullet’ reforms. This is further compounded by a lack of information, feedback on citizen inputs and poor implementation of public participation meetings and service delivery projects. A serious limitation in terms of access, meaningfulness and inclusiveness has resulted in citizens not making use of or taking up participation opportunities. Citizens are thus opting for alternative and more effective strategies of engaging and influencing local government processes. The thesis will also show that although legislation acknowledges and provides a role for civil society to partner with government in jointly facilitating effective citizen participation in public policy; the partnership between local government and civil society does not automatically translate into effective partnerships because of poor civic capacity, unequal power dynamics, and unclear and insufficient guidelines with regards to representation.
- ItemOpen AccessButhelezi's emergence as a key national politician in Apartheid South Africa and his decline in status thus far, in the country's democratic context(2009) Vickerman, Rosemary; Birt, Roger; Lyons, CampbellThis thesis examines Mangosuthu Buthelezi's emergence as a national leader during the Apartheid era in South Africa and his subsequent decline in status thus far in the country's democratic context. Much of the literature written on Buthelezi's ascent to power focuses on his engagement with the process of ethnic mobilization and on his dispensing of patronage to those who were residing in the homeland and KwaZulu. Whilst attention is given to Buthelezi's involvement with ethnic mobilization and with patronage, the focal point of this study is that of the plausibility of categorizing him as a charismatic leader.
- ItemOpen AccessCan foreign donors build social capital? : civil society assistance and civic participation sub-Saharan Africa(2016) Kim, Sohhyeon; Mattes, KimDonors have been using various strategies to promote democracy in developing countries. One of the strategies is to support civil society organisations to foster vibrant civil society that can hold government responsive and accountable. Sub-Saharan Africa is no exception, in that all sub-Saharan countries except for the Seychelles were the recipient countries of civil society assistance. This research tests whether donors' civil society assistance is related to the changes in the level of civic participation in the 18 sub-Saharan countries. Firstly, I measure civil society assistance between 2005 and 2009 employing OECD aid statistics, and measure the subsequent change in the level of civic participation by comparing the civic participation level in 2005/6 and 2011/3 using Afrobarometer survey Round Three and Round Five. Then, I investigate whether there is a positive correlation between the two variables. The findings show that the level of civic participation did not change significantly over time. However, further analyses indicate that there is a partially positive correlation between civil society assistance and the change of civic participation. Also, the positive correlation between the assistance and the specific type of civic participation, communing activities, is sustained even when an endogenous factor, the political environment of the countries is hold constant.
- ItemOpen AccessCapitalism and nature in South Africa: racial dispossession, liberation ideology and ecological crisis(2018) Andrews, Donna; Nash, AndrewThis dissertation is an historical examination of policy and discourse as it impacts on ecological questions in South Africa, with a focus on land, mining and fishing. It shows how ecological issues are embedded in relations of class, race and gender. It argues that relation of nature and society and social relations form each other historically. Specifically, it makes visible how apparently progressive ideas to overcome the legacy of apartheid have served to perpetuate the ecological crisis after the end of apartheid. That is, although liberation ideology aims to overcome irrational and harmful forms of domination, current strategies of overcoming racial dispossession on the basis of capitalism rely on increasing and unbridled exploitation of natural resources. The dissertation concludes with a consideration of political perspectives and agency responding to the ecological crisis in South Africa today. It provides a survey of government, activist and community initiatives and assesses their capacity to help create a new relationship of nature and society, as the basis for a new society.
- ItemOpen AccessA case study in the use of beadwork as a model for successful development practice in South Africa(2003) Lidsky, Robyn; Simons, MaryBibliography: leaves 103-110.
- ItemOpen AccessCaught in the web : an analysis of South Africa's response to the emerging global information policy regime(2008) Ranchod, Yudhvir; Naidoo, GThis study provides a descriptive analysis of South Africa's response to the emerging global information policy regime. Compelled by a combination of hegemonic influences and its own self interest, this study argues that South Africa accepted the liberalising commitments of the emerging global information policy regime vis-a-vis the World Trade Organization Agreement on Basic Telecommunications. As a contribution to understanding inter-state cooperation in international relations, regime theory is utilised as the theoretical framework. The regime framework is used to explain the motivations behind South Africa's intention to liberalise its telecommunications sector as a result of power dynamics in the international system. The findings from the qualitative analysis note that South Africa's response is motivated by systemic and domestic factors. A willingness to enter the information economy and fulfil domestic social development means that South Africa has to balance its obligations to the WTO with the commitments to improve its domestic accessibility concerns. As a developing country with inadequate conditions for liberalisation, South Africa was unable to stop the strategic equity partners from capitalising on the poorly regulated telecommunications environment. The unfavourable result of high tariff charges and low fixed-line connectivity can be attributed to privatisation initiatives and lack of political will to promote competition. South Africa is in the midst of dramatic change in its telecommunications sector which is aided by technological convergence, further privatisation of the incumbent and the introduction of the Second Network Operator. The international scope of this study means that liberalisation is part of South Africa's broader commitments to the emerging global information policy regime. Entering the information economy is conditional on the successful implementation of international liberalisation policies so that the required investment and skills can assist in providing universal service to the majority of South Africa citizens. However, implementation requires a fair market structure, independent regulation and low interconnection charges. Without these important structures in place, this study notes that the goal of participation in the information economy and economic growth as a result of effective telecommunication utilisation is a distant reality.
- ItemOpen AccessA changing global south? The emergence of the BASIC grouping(2014) Kotze, Christoff Gideon; Smith, DerekThe rapid economic advancement of emerging economies in the South has come to effect a change within the nature of the global South and within the traditional North-South relationship more broadly. One development representative of a change within the global South as a unit has been the emergence of smaller, ad hoc, issue specific South-South groupings comprising the exclusive membership of emerging economies. While rooted in a common historic agenda of enabling a more equitable distribution of power for the South with the North, such new groupings have been increasingly independent and detached from the rest of the developing world. As such, they represent the ambitions of its members to garner more economic and political power within international politics. The BASIC grouping consisting of Brazil, South Africa, India and China represents an example, formed at the 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen as a bloc opposition against the suggested implementation of binding emissions reduction obligations for emerging economies as part of the global South. BASIC argued that this was primarily an issue of equity, departing from the “Common but Differentiated Responsibilities” between developed and developing states as agreed under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in 1992. While ostensibly arguing on behalf of the broader South, the formation of the BASIC grouping represents a detachment from the rest of the developing world, inspired in large by the growing economic and political ambitions of emerging economies. Inspired by the vestiges of a North - South relationship rooted in inequity and marginalisation, the formation of BASIC signifies a new direction of multilateralism that has come to define the changing nature of the global South, enabled by its increasingly powerful members.
- ItemOpen AccessChildren's political rights: participation in legislative processes in the South African Parliament(2012) Jamieson, Lucy; Mattes, RobertThe aim of my study was to measure the extent of children's participation in legislative processes that affect them and examine the factors that facilitate or inhibit such participation.
- ItemOpen AccessCivilian control of the military in Kenya, 1963-1995(1999) Mulli, Lucy; Temu, ArnoldThis thesis set to find out how the Kenyan government has maintained control over the military. The research was based on existing secondary data not primary sources. In chapter one, the problem being investigated was outlined as well as a literature review. This chapter is important in that it exposes to the reader the literature in the field and shows the niche that this thesis fills. The second chapter, looks at the means used by the Kenyan government in controlling its military. The significance of this chapter is that it highlights the civil -military relationship tracing this relationship back to the colonial era. Outlining the theoretical background, the chapter shows the various methods used by the Kenyan government to maintain control. Chapter three is an assessment of the social-political arena in Kenya. This chapter is important in that it shows how the socio-political background plays an important part in this control. In the last chapter we took at the prospects for continued civilian control in Kenya. This chapter raises important issues to be considered as we took at civilian control of the military in Kenya.