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Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, Conflict, Displacement and Transformation

South African female peacekeepers on mission in Africa : Progress, challenges and policy options for increased participation

Upphovsperson: Schoeman, Maxi
Utgivare: Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, Conflict, Displacement and Transformation | Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År: 2010
Ämnesord: South Africa, South Africa National Defence Force, Peace corps, Peacekeeping, women's participation, Women's rights, gender equality, Women's role, women's status, Peace and conflict research, Freds- och konfliktforskning
South Africa’s contribution of troops to peace missions is the 13th largest in the world, and the country has the largest women’s contingent deployed in Peace Support Operations (PSOs). Although, South Africa is one of only a handful of countries incorporating women in combat positions and PSOs, on average the picture of female participation remains less rosy.On the policy level, South Africa has committed itself to gender mainstreaming in the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) in line with UN Security Council Resolution 1325 (2000). The UN Resolution on Women, Peace and Security calls for, among other things, full inclusion of women in all aspects of peace-related activities, including peacekeeping. On 31 October2010, the world will mark the 10th anniversary of Resolution 1325, just as in 2009 South Africa celebrated ten years of participation in international peacekeeping operations. This is a pertinent time to take stock of South Africa’s progress in improving the gender balance in its military, specifically in its contribution to PSOs, and the opportunities and obstacles that exist in this process.This Policy Note is based on information collected from questionnaires, interviews and reports, along with insights gleaned from discussion groups at the 2007 SANDF Women’s Day Conference to identify the progress of, and challenges to the SANDF in improving the gender balance in its peacekeeping activities. These initial research findings form part of a larger project on South African involvement in peacekeeping, focusing in particular on the status, position and role of women decision-makers and peacekeepers. Problems encountered by women peacekeepers and the challenges faced by the SANDF are not unique and the recommendations may therefore be of relevance beyond South Africa, particularly to those African countries across the continent attempting to attract more women into, and mainstream gender in the military and PSOs.

The Politics of Language in Eritrea : Equality of languages vs. bilingual official language policy

Upphovsperson: Bereketeab, Redie
Utgivare: Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, Conflict, Displacement and Transformation | The Netherlands, Brill
År: 2010
Ämnesord: SOCIAL SCIENCES, SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP
The article analyzes the discourse of politics of language in Eritrea. It argues that the language debate in Eritrea over equality of languages and bilingual official langauge policy is more about power relations than about language per se. It relates to politics of identity that derives from the construction of two identity formations as understood by political elites. Equality of languages is based on ethnic identity, whereas official language is based on the construction of supra-ethnic civic identity. According to the constructivist bilingual official language Arabic and Tigrinya are supposed to represent two different socio-cultural identity formation, notably, Islam-Arabic  and Christian-Tigrinya. Consequently, the official language policy debate could be construed to derive from politics of power relation where two groups of elites supposedly representing the two identity formations are engaged in power competition reflecting real or imaginary socio-cultural cleavage of respective identity. In this sense the bilingual official language is designed to create social equilibrium wherein it is supposed that power would equitably distributed between two rival elite groups.

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