Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet

Zimbabwe - the political economy of decline

Upphovspersoner:	Dansereau, Suzanne | Zamponi, Mario | Melber, Henning
Utgivare:	Nordiska Afrikainstitutet | Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År:	2005
Ämnesord:	Zimbabwe, political development, Economic and social development, economic aspects, social aspects, cultural aspects., SOCIAL SCIENCES, SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP

The two articles are revised versions of papers presented at the end of May 2004 to a Zimbabwe Conference at the Nordic Africa Institute, which was co-organised by the project "Liberation and Democracy in Southern Africa" (LiDeSA). They highlight current socio-economic aspects of Zimbabwean society. By doing so, they raise relevant issues, yet ones that have tended to be neglected given the almost exclusive concentration on political events. While this is understandable, the articles fill the gap in our knowledge and add insights into important sectors of society. These include information on the Zimbabwean economy and the present constraints of the decline, which together help us to understand the structural legacy that any future government will have to deal with. What is more, the elections in Zimbabwe in 2005 provide an ideal moment to discuss such matters. This Discussion Paper will thereby make a substantive contribution to the analysis of the overall picture in Zimbabwe. CONTENT Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Zimbabwe's Development Impasse. Suzanne Dansereau From Social Justice, to Neo-liberalism, to Authoritarian Nationalism - Where is the Zimbabwean State going? Mario Zamponi

Africa in the new millenium

Upphovspersoner:	Nzongola-Ntalaja, Georges | Suttner, Raymond
Utgivare:	Nordiska Afrikainstitutet | Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År:	2001
Ämnesord:	political reform, Globalisation, SOCIAL SCIENCES, SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP

The contributions to this Discussion Paper were prepared for a workshop on "Africa in the new millennium" held in Stockholm in May 2001. The idea of the workshop was not to counter "negative" perceptions of Africa with "positive" ones. Nor was it to arrive at finalised ideas or prescriptions for governments or the continent as a whole. The aim was to raise important questions, which may help contextualise and deal with the problems facing the continent. It was an attempt to go below the surface of immediate crises and open up a debate around Africa and its international relations. It is hoped that publication of these papers will encourage further debate, and contribute towards realising the goal of African recovery.

Cross-border trade and the parallel currency market - trade and finance in the context of structural adjustment : a case study from Kano, Nigeria

Upphovspersoner:	Hashim, Yahaya | Meagher, Kate
Utgivare:	Nordiska Afrikainstitutet | Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År:	1999
Ämnesord:	Nigeria, West Africa, International Trade, Trade liberalization, Currencies, Exchange Rate, French Franc area, Structural Adjustment, SOCIAL SCIENCES, SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP

A "new regionalism" is gathering pace in West Africa, underpinned by the growing activities of informal cross-border traders. The authors of this study challenge the assumptions of the World Bank that the expansion in informal cross-border trade is a vindication of the market liberalising thrust of structural adjustment, and that adjustment policies have, in an organic manner, improved the effectiveness of an "independent" bourgeoisie that is emerging out of this trade as an agent of regional integration. Instead, they make the case for the adoption of what they call a "development approach" for tapping the benefits of the informal currency markets, as an alternative to the "market coercion" of structural adjustment.

Repressive state and resurgent media under Nigeris's military dictatorship, 1988-98

Upphovsperson:	Olukotun, Ayo
Utgivare:	Nordiska Afrikainstitutet | Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År:	2004
Ämnesord:	Nigeria, media, Press, military government, censorship, political opposition, Democratization

This study documents a crucial dimension of the resistance of Nigerian civil society to a repressive and monumentally corrupt military state in the late 1980s and 1990s in Nigeria. Employing a neo-Gramscian theoretical framework, the study relates how a section of the media defied censorship laws, outright bans, incarceration and the assassination of opposition figures, to prosecute the struggle for democracy. It captures the tensions and contradictions between a pliant section of the media, which sought to legitimise the state and a critical section of the same media, which in alliance with radical civil society, invented rebellious outlets to carry on the struggle against dictatorship.The study seeks to make fresh departures by documenting not only the role of the national media in the throes of democratic struggle, but that of the international media whose role was influential in the years studied.Finally the report offers empirical proof of the mechanisms by which a vibrant civil society can curb the ravages of a predatory state in an African country.

Music as instrument of diversity and unity : notes on a Namibian landscape

Upphovsperson:	Mans, Minette
Utgivare:	Nordiska Afrikainstitutet | Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År:	2003
Ämnesord:	Namibia, music, cultural identity, Nation-building, SOCIAL SCIENCES, SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP

This report explores the interface between recent socio-political changes in Namibia, and the way they are reflected in emergent musical practices and identities within the country. The potential tension between unity and diversity is investigated within musical landscapes in traditional and contemporary frames. Sadly, diversity is often seen to be the precursor of divisiveness rather than a product of human creativity and ingenuity. Based on a decade of field research undertaken mainly in the north and central areas of Namibia since 1993, this report poses questions about fundamental purposes of music-making, and the conscious response of people to the contemporary Namibian socio-political situation. It provides a broad overview of music emanating from different cultural practices in Namibia, and relates this to the State's political strategies for ensuring unity and nation-building through policy-making, education and broadcast media. The changes that occur in musical practices are seen as strategic cultural choices and ongoing identity-formation.

Same and other : negotiating African identity in cultural production

Upphovspersoner:	Palmberg, Mai | Eriksson Baaz, Maria
Utgivare:	Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, Cultural Images and Expressions | Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År:	2001
Ämnesord:	development, Culture, SOCIAL SCIENCES, SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP

The idea of African Otherness has occupied a central role in discourses on cultural production in Africa, whether film, literature, music or the arts. These claims, articulated both by 'Western' and 'African' critics and consumers, means that particular criteria and standards are adopted in relation to cultural production in Africa. The claim to African Otherness is gaining new strength in the wake of globalisation, but it is also increasingly challenged by a number of contemporary artists. This book deals with the question of relevance and meaning of the signifier in various fields of contemporary cultural production in Africa: literature, film, sculpture, music, popular drama.

Umleavyo : the dilemma of parenting

Medarbetare:	Ntukula, Mary | Liljeström, Rita
Utgivare:	Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År:	2004
Ämnesord:	Tanzania, parents, gender, generations, children, adolescents, sexuality, initiation, education, marriage, rites and ceremonies, customary law, modernization, child rearing, Sociology, Sociologi

Societies and families are changing all over the world. Less of what the older generations transmit of their experiences can be replicated by the younger generations in their own lives. What we are witnessing is a type of cultural delinking from past generations. Parents despair when their good intentions fail to have an effect and feel overwhelmed by circumstances they cannot control.The Reproductive Health Study Group linked to the University of Dar es Salaam published the first set of studies, Chelewa, Chelewa: The Dilemma of Teenage Girls, in 1994. The focus was on the teenage girl and the various reactions of the adult world to teenage out-of-wedlock pregnancies. The next set of studies, Haraka, Haraka: Look Before you Leap, appeared in 1998 and looked at the erosion of the customs that had regulated marriage, parenthood, and intergenerational obligations.This third and final report, Umleavyo: The Dilemma of Parenting, comprises studies on the generation gap and the ways in which this gap has widened over the past century. In these studies, the past serves as the seemingly stable background on which to project currently fluid and ambiguous parent-child relationships. The main focus of the studies is the different methods of, and goals for, bringing up the next generation. These include physical punishment; achieving compliance through fear and reference to supernatural forces; initiation ceremonies that provide multiple precautions and timely instruction on marriage and procreation; emphasis on relations between people as the most crucial experiences; and encouraging a sense of personal responsibility.The volume is based on the narratives of the grandparents, parents, and youths in the villages of the Pare people in the north and of the initiation leaders in Songea in the south, and on a comparison of the opinions of Nyakyusa elders and youths on gender issues. The central questions raised in the book are: How should one-support youths for whom there is no clear passage to full adulthood? And, how can one forge links between the plight of families and issues of citizenship and public action?

Nile Basin cooperation : a review of the literature

Upphovsperson:	Mohamoda, Dahilon Yassin
Utgivare:	Nordiska Afrikainstitutet | Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År:	2003
Ämnesord:	Nile river, Water resources, Regional cooperation, Literature surveys, SOCIAL SCIENCES, SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP

Two interrelated developments can be identified in the Nile basin, during the last decade: an emphasis on potential conflict over the Nile waters on the one hand, and an evolving process of basin-wide cooperation on the other. The history of the Nile basin is dominated by tensions and conflicts. Relationships between major Nile basin countries are usually described in terms of mutual distrust and confrontation. The Nile basin, moreover, has frequently been referred to by many observers and analysts as an example where conflict over water resources as a result of water scarcity will lead to armed confrontation. Recent years, on the other hand, have witnessed a growing cooperation among the basin countries. The Nile Basin Initiative (NBI) is a case in point. All the ten countries that share the Nile waters agreed, for the first time, to cooperate on development of the Nile basin. This is a significant step, although a number of serious problems and challenges remain. Many donors have made formal pledges to support the initiative. This paper reviews literature on the Nile basin cooperation and issues related to this process, focusing on more recent publications. The literature on utilization and management of the Nile waters related to basin-wide cooperation efforts has been growing fast during the last decade. At least seven books have been published on the subject between the years 2000 to 2002, while the number of papers presented at conferences and articles in various journals and on the Internet is enormous. This review discusses and covers a wide range of issues, which include: debate on water scarcity and its potential consequences in general, and its implications for the Nile basin countries in particular; legal aspects of utilization of the Nile waters focusing on the UN Watercourse Convention of 1997; conflicts and major attempts at cooperation; divergent views and interests of the basin countries; and challenges and prospects of the recent basin-wide cooperation.

State recognition of traditional authority in Mozambique : the nexus of community representation and state assistance

Upphovspersoner:	Buur, Lars | Kyed, Helene Maria
Utgivare:	Nordiska Afrikainstitutet | Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År:	2005
Ämnesord:	Local government, Traditional authority, Traditional leaders, political participation, Government Mozambique, Political science, Statsvetenskap

How should the Mozambican traditional leaders' double role as community representatives and state assistants be captured? This discussion paper addresses some fundamental questions pertaining to the 2002 official recognition of traditional leaders as community authorities. After a brief history of the changing role of, and faith in, traditional authorities as a basis for understanding the importance of their recent official recognition, the paper outlines the key objectives of the Decree 15/2000 that officially recognises community authorities. Some of the key concepts underpinning the Decree are then critically assessed. It is argued that the double role that community authorities are expected to fulfil as both community-representatives and state-assistants is not equally balanced in the Decree: the scale tips heavily towards the state-assistance aspect. The reasons for this are explored in the context of a set of reified notions underpinning the Decree, such as its understanding of 'traditional rules' and the concept of 'community'. The paper concludes by pointing out some unintended con-sequences of these reified notions for kin-based forms of community authority and especially for the ideal of community participation.

Common security and civil society in Africa

Medarbetare:	Wohlgemuth, Lennart
Utgivare:	Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År:	1999
Ämnesord:	Africa, Civil Society, Conflicts, International security, Regional security, Partnership, SOCIAL SCIENCES, SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP

This book is the outcome of a conference on Common Security and Civil Society in Africa, held in 1997, and organised jointly by the Nordic Africa Institute and the Common Security Forum, based at the Centre for History and Economics, King's College and the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies. The idea that security is to be achieved by cooperation more than by confrontation, and that it is an economic and social as well as a military condition, has been a commonplace of international politics for some 20 years. The geometry of common or extended security is complex. But it usually involves an extension of the domain of security, of the sources of security, and of the characteristics of security. Among these diverse kinds of security, it is political security which has come into particular prominence at the end of the 1990s, most strikingly in Africa. Political security, in the sense of legal and political institutions such that individuals feel secure both in their individual rights and in the development of political culture, has come to be seen as the foundation of all other kinds of security. The papers presented in this volume seek to go 'beyond the war of images', to imagine a different and more secure future, and they are concerned with five major themes: economic and social change; the prevention of violent conflict; the causes of conflict; political security; the international politics of development partnership.

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