Sökformulär

politics

Musical Violence : Gangsta Rap and Politics in Sierra Leone

Upphovsperson: Tucker, Boima
Utgivare: Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, Conflict, Displacement and Transformation |
År: 2013
Ämnesord: Sierra Leone, youth, Popular music, politics, Social change, cultural identity
Hip Hop has become a global force in recent years. However, when taken up by youth outside its American birthplace, it is often dismissed as a shallow adaptation or imitation of American popular culture. However, its global popularity cannot be questioned, and its proliferation is aided by its adaptability to local contexts. It has become associated with an emergent youth political identity in many parts of the world, a result of its ability to embody rebellious youth energy. Hip Hop is a new global lingua franca for youth rebellion that exists beyond the boundaries of the state, and is aided by the emergence of the internet and accompanying communications technologies. Analysis of the political ramifications of Hip Hop in West African societies is vital to gaining a true sense of what democracy means in the local context. This paper focuses on the West African country of Sierra Leone, and explores how youth participation in Hip Hop there is a radical political project.

Zimbabwe's fast-track land reform

Upphovsperson: Matondi, Prosper B.
Utgivare: Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, Agrarian Change, Property and Resources | London, England : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet; Zed Books
År: 2012
Ämnesord: Africa, Africa Now, Agriculture, development, International relations, politics, SOCIAL SCIENCES, SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP
The Fast-Track Land Reform Programme in Zimbabwe has emerged as a highly contested reform process both nationally and internationally. The image of it has all too often been that of the widespread displacement and subsequent replacement of various people, agricultural-related production systems, facets and processes. The reality, however, is altogether more complex. Providing new, in-depth and much-needed empirical research, and based on a broader geographical scope than any previous study carried out on the subject, Zimbabwe’s Fast-Track Land Reform examines how processes such as land acquisition, allocation, transitional production outcomes, social life, gender and tenure, have influenced and been influenced by the forces driving the programme. It also explores the ways in which the land-reform programme has created a new agrarian structure based on small- to medium-scale farmers. In attempting to resolve the problematic issues the reforms have raised, the authors argue that it is this new agrarian formation which provides the greatest scope for improving Zimbabwe’s agriculture and development. A landmark work on a subject of considerable controversy.

Understanding Fast Track Land Reforms in Zimbabwe

Upphovsperson: Matondi, Prosper B.
Utgivare: Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, Agrarian Change, Property and Resources | Nordiska Afrikainstitutet; Zed Books
År: 2012
Ämnesord: Africa Now, Africa, Agriculture, development, International relations, politics
The Fast-Track Land Reform Programme in Zimbabwe has emerged as a highly contested reform process both nationally and internationally. The image of it has all too often been that of the widespread displacement and subsequent replacement of various people, agricultural-related production systems, facets and processes. The reality, however, is altogether more complex. Providing new, in-depth and much-needed empirical research, and based on a broader geographical scope than any previous study carried out on the subject, Zimbabwe’s Fast-Track Land Reform examines how processes such as land acquisition, allocation, transitional production outcomes, social life, gender and tenure, have influenced and been influenced by the forces driving the programme. It also explores the ways in which the land-reform programme has created a new agrarian structure based on small- to medium-scale farmers. In attempting to resolve the problematic issues the reforms have raised, the authors argue that it is this new agrarian formation which provides the greatest scope for improving Zimbabwe’s agriculture and development. A landmark work on a subject of considerable controversy.

Endangered democracy? : The struggle over secularism and its implications for politics and democracy in Nigeria

Upphovspersoner: Tar, Usman A. | Shettima, Abba Gana
Utgivare: Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, Conflict, Displacement and Transformation | Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År: 2010
Ämnesord: politics, Religion, Secularism, State, Political power, democracy, Islam, Christianity, Cultural pluralism, Religious groups, Political conflicts, Nigeria, Political science, Statsvetenskap
This Discussion Paper critically examines the pivotal role religion plays in Nigerian politics, particularly as it relates to the ways Islamic and Christian identities have been manipulated by competing political elites in their struggle for power. It provides a concise but well-informed history of the evolution of the religious factor in politics and its adverse implications for Nigeria’s democracy. Its point of departure is a critique of the notion of a secular Nigerian state (as prescribed by the constitution), which shows how governments and politicians have taken advantage of constitutional loop holes and used state resources to foster the politicisation of religion, with serious consequences for society at large. Some of the adverse consequences identified include religious conflict, political instability, insecurity and the undermining of the country’s democracy and development. The study carefully peels away the outward display of religious piety by political elites and leaders to reveal some of the underlying personal and narrow calculations. Over time, these calculations have eroded the social elements binding relations in a multi ethnic, multi-religious setting such as Nigeria, and there have been periodic explosions of sectarian and communal violence in various parts of the country. The authors show how the politicisation and ethnicisation of religious differences have further fuelled conflict between competing groups and geopolitical interests in Nigeria and raised serious questions for Nigeria’s democracy, development and the nation-state project. While noting that religion cannot be completely de-linked from politics, the study proffers some suggestions to begin to address and reverse the adverse effects of the intrusion of religion into democratic politics in Nigeria, Africa’s largest country and leading oil producer.

The security-development nexus : expressions of sovereignty and securitization in Southern Africa

Medarbetare: Buur, Lars | Jensen, Steffen | Stepputat, Finn
Utgivare: Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet; HSRC Press
År: 2007
Ämnesord: violence, Crime, Economic and social development, politics, Government policy, State, International relations, Peaceful coexistence, Citizenship, Human security, Regional security, South Africa, Mozambique, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Political science, Statsvetenskap
The link between security and development has been rediscovered after 9/11 by a broad range of scholars. Focusing on Southern Africa, the Security-Development Nexus shows that the much debated linkage is by no means a recent invention. Rather, the security/development linkage has been an important element of the state policies of colonial as well as post-colonial regimes during the Cold War, and it seems to be prospering in new configurations under the present wave of democratic transitions. Contributors focus on a variety of contexts from South Africa, Mozambique and Namibia, to Zimbabwe and Democratic Congo; they explore the nexus and our understanding of security and development through the prism of peace-keeping interventions, community policing, human rights, gender, land contests, squatters, nation and state-building, social movements, DDR programmes and the different trajectories democratization has taken in different parts of the region.

From Zaire to the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Upphovsperson: Nzongola-Ntalaja, Georges
Utgivare: Nordiska Afrikainstitutet | Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År: 2004
Ämnesord: DRC, Authoritarianism, Democratisation, legitimacy, politics, Political science, Statsvetenskap
This paper examines the political and social situation in the DRC since May 1997, together with the prospects for a successful political and social transition. Consistent with the deepest aspirations of the Congolese population, such a transition will succeed if it involves an irreversible development towards multiparty democracy and the full utilisation of the country’s immense resources for economic and social development. In other words, a successful transition is one in which basic freedoms and liberties will be guaranteed through democratic governance and the rule of law, with tangible improvements in living conditions.

Sidor