political opposition

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.

Political opposition in African countries : the cases of Kenya, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe

Upphovspersoner:	Hulterström, Karolina | Kamete, Amin Y. | Melber, Henning
Utgivare:	Nordiska Afrikainstitutet | Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År:	2007
Ämnesord:	political opposition, politics, Democratization, Ethnicity, Local government, political parties, SWAPO, case studies, Kenya, Namibia, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Political science, Statsvetenskap

This Discussion Paper is another result of the project “Liberation and Democracy in Southern Africa” (LiDeSA), which was coordinated at the Institute between 2001 and 2006. The papers are revised versions of presentations to a Session of the Research Committee “Comparative Sociology” at the XVI World Congress of Sociology held at the end of July 2006 in Durban. They explore the role of opposition parties under different aspects in several East and Southern African countries, which differ according to the socio-political determinants.