Marginality

Movement for the emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) : political marginalization, repression and petro-insurgency in the Niger Delta

Upphovsperson:	Courson, Elias
Utgivare:	Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, Conflict, Displacement and Transformation | Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År:	2009
Ämnesord:	Energy resources, Petroleum industry, Transnational corporations, Macroeconomics, Geopolitics, conflicts, violence, Marginality, Protest movements, Nigeria, Niger Delta, Political science, Statsvetenskap

This Discussion paper addresses the linkages between the political economy of oil and violent conflict in Nigeria’s main oil and gas producing region, the Niger Delta. It is based on a case study of the insurgent Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), which has targeted and attacked the interests of international oil companies and the federal government in the oil-rich, but impoverished, Niger Delta region of Nigeria, in its professed campaign for the control of the oil wealth of the region for the benefit of local people. Through this study of MEND, fresh perspectives are brought to bear on the causes and ramifications of the oil conflict in the region, and the role of various actors at the local, national and international levels. This is important in grasping the nature of the violence in the Niger Delta and Nigeria and the enormity of the task of resolving the complex conflict in which the region is immersed. It is a challenge, which as the author argues, transcends the resort to the militarized or securitized solutions that often fail to adequately address the roots of conflict.

Globalization and restructuring of African commodity flows

Medarbetare:	Fold, Niels | Nylandsted Larsen, Marianne
Utgivare:	Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År:	2008
Ämnesord:	Economic performance, international trade, Commodities, Commodity markets, Capital movements, Marginality, Globalization, Economic analysis, case studies, Africa, Business and economics, Ekonomi

African countries have been incorporated into present processes of economic globalization in a more nuanced way than is usually claimed. Obviously, structural changes and economic growth have not been on the scale seen in other developing country regions, Southeast Asia in particular. However, the increasing global interaction between functionally integrated foci of production and services has also affected Africa in ways that are changing the material foundations of economic and social life on the continent. These processes are not uniform throughout Africa, but affect local, national and regional actors and institutions in diverse and complex ways. In short, globalization in Africa is an uneven process, integrating or re-integrating some localities and communities in global flows of goods, finance and information, while marginalizing or excluding others. The aim of this book is to grasp the diversity of these globalization processes in a systematic way by adopting a common analytical framework, the Global Value Chain approach. Commodity-specific data in two or more countries are taken as a point of departure and the variations and similarities in linkages between local, national, regional and global chain segments are examined. The book is based on original quantitative and qualitative data, collected during fieldwork by the authors.

Begging and almsgiving in Ghana : Muslim positions towards poverty and distress

Upphovsperson:	Weiss, Holger
Utgivare:	Nordiska Afrikainstitutet | Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År:	2007
Ämnesord:	Muslims, Islam, Economic conditions, Marginality, Poverty alleviation, Social welfare, Social security, Political islam, Ghana, SOCIAL SCIENCES, SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP

The vast majority of Muslims in Africa generally do not 'objectify' concepts such as poverty and religion in discussion. Poverty is a situation for 'ordinary' poor people in rural or urban poor areas where people seek to make marginal gains in income to avoid ever-threatening destitution and social disintegration. Most of these 'ordinary' poor people, especially poor and illiterate women, do not really believe that things can change. There exists, however, in all Muslim societies and communities in Africa a minority that criticize social and political conditions in society with the stated aim of striving for an Islamic solution to poverty and injustice. The common denominator for this group is that they are urban educated Muslims, having both a traditional educational background and, usually but not always, a modern, secular one, too. For them, the concept of poverty more readily forms part of a religious discourse involving feasible strategies for change. Their basic idea is to highlight the possibilities of generating new forms of financial resources by combining Islamic ethics and norms with a modern development-oriented outlook. Their vision is the usability of obligatory almsgiving in a modern context, namely that, instead of the traditional individual-centred 'person-to-person' charities, zakāt or obligatory almsgiving should be directed to become the source of communal and collective societal improvement. This study focuses on the conditions of poverty and the debate among Muslims in Ghana, a West African country with a substantial but largely economically and politically marginalized Muslim population.