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African Migrants and the Refugee Crisis
by Olayiwola Abegunrin Sabella O. AbiddeThis book discusses African migration and the refugee crisis. Economic, political and social tension in the Middle East and in many parts of the Global South has induced historic mass migration across national and international borders. The situation is especially dire in Africa, where a sizable number of Africans have chosen or have been forced to leave their countries of origin for Europe and North America. Written by an international team of scholars, this edited book traces the refugee crisis around the world, telling the necessary story of forced migration, intentional exclusion, and human insecurity from an Afrocentric lens. The volume is divided into three sections. Section I places African migration within the broader contexts of international history, law, economics, and policy. Section II discusses cases of African migration to Europe, Latin America, and the Mediterranean. Section III considers negative consequences of mass African migration, including the restriction and criminalization of migration, post-traumatic stress disorder, and gender-based violence. A compelling account of risk, resilience, and global power dynamics, this volume will be useful to students and researchers interested in African studies, migration, peace and conflict studies, and policy as well as professionals, practitioners, NGOs, IGOs, governmental and humanitarian organizations.
African Migration to Thailand: Race, Mobility, and Integration (Routledge Series on Asian Migration)
by Elżbieta M. Goździak and Supang ChantavanichThis book, based on exploratory ethnographic research, analyzes the experiences of African migrants in Thailand. Thailand has always been a regional migration hub with Africans being the most recent. Sitting at the intersection of race and migration studies, this book focuses on the challenges Black and labor migrants face trying to integrate into a society that has had very limited contact with and knowledge about Black Africans. Bringing together research from African, Thai, and European scholars, this volume focuses on forced migrants, such as Somali asylum seekers, and labor migrants, largely African men seeking better livelihoods in niche economies such as gem trading, garment wholesale, and football playing and coaching. The book also includes theoretical contributions to the understanding of precarity and human security, the concept of in/visibility to analyze the challenges African migrants face in Thailand as well as the concept of othering to understand discrimination against Africans. The book also analyzes the Thai migration policy context and the challenges facing Thai policy-makers, law enforcement representatives, and the migrants themselves. While not comparative in nature, this volume directly connects with studies of Africans in other parts of Asia, especially China. Addressing an important gap in migration research, this book will be of interest to researchers across the fields of migration and mobility studies, African Studies, and Asian Studies.
African Migrations: Patterns And Perspectives
by Todd H. Leedy Abdoulaye KaneSpurred by major changes in the world economy and in local ecology, the contemporary migration of Africans, both within the continent and to various destinations in Europe and North America, has seriously affected thousands of lives and livelihoods. The contributors to this volume, reflecting a variety of disciplinary perspectives, examine the causes and consequences of this new migration. The essays cover topics such as rural-urban migration into African cities, transnational migration, and the experience of immigrants abroad, as well as the issues surrounding migrant identity and how Africans re-create community and strive to maintain ethnic, gender, national, and religious ties to their former homes.
The African National Congress and Participatory Democracy: From People's Power to Public Policy (The Theories, Concepts and Practices of Democracy)
by Heidi BrooksThis book examines the development of democratic thought in the African National Congress (ANC) of South Africa, with a focus on the movement’s ideas about participatory democracy. It makes particular reference to two key periods: the 1980s ‘people’s power’ movement and the subsequent years of policy formulation from 1990 when the ANC began to design and implement a system of participatory democracy alongside a representative government. Through the examination of historic documents and in-depth interviews with former ANC activists, government officials and those involved in policy development, the author explores the inspiration for the party’s commitment to establishing participatory democracy. The book combines democratic theory and political and intellectual history to look at the role of popular participation as part of a broader trajectory of the ANC’s democratic thought. It critically engages with concepts used in the party’s participatory discourse with a view to deepening our understanding of how ideas have shaped the construction of South Africa’s democracy.
African National Congress and the Regeneration of Political Power
by Susan BooysenThe African National Congress is light years beyond the liberation movement of old. It remains a juggernaut, but its control and dominance are no longer watertight. The ANC lives the contradictions of weaknesses, cracks and factions while retaining its colossal status. As a party-movement it draws on its liberation credentials, and extracts immense power from its deep anchorage in South Africa?s people. It is immersed in electoral politics that marks the state of its overwhelming power cyclically. As government the ANC is the object of protest, but not protest designed to bring the ruling party to its knees. The ANC is in command of the state, yet fails to definitively counter the deficits that make South Africa?s democracy seem so diluted. Its incredulous and thus far trusting supporters condemn but only rarely punish deployees who do not ?pass through the eye of the needle?. The ANC and the Regeneration of Political Power unpacks these contradictions. It focuses on four faces of the ANC?s political power _ the organisation, the people, political parties and elections, and policy and government _ and explores how the ANC has acted since 1994 to continuously regenerate its power. By 2011-12 the power configurations around the ANC were converging to a conjuncture holding vexing uncertainties. This book presents insights into how South African politics _ in many ways synonymous with the politics of the ANC _ is likely to unfold in years and possibly decades to come.
African Nationalism (Routledge Studies in Nationalism and Ethnicity)
by Benyamin NeubergerAfrican Nationalism offers an innovative perspective on the creation of nations and nationalism, and the role of race in nationalism overall, by bringing together a compilation of debates on African nationalism, from Pan-Africanism up to the present day. The book examines African nationalism in comparative perspective, mainly with the UK, France, and the US: the birthplaces of modern nationalism. The author suggests that the origins of African nationalism lay outside the continent and demonstrates the similarities that abound between African nationalisms across a diverse range of countries. This volume is important reading for students and scholars of nationalism, history, political science, and African studies.
African Nationalism and Revolution (Colonialism And Nationalism In Africa Ser. #Vol. 4)
by Gregory MaddoxThe study o f African history as an academic discipline is a rather new field and one that still has its detractors both w ithin and outside academics. This collection o f articles highlights for students and scholars the modern era in African history. It brings together published research on the colonial era in Africa, an era relatively brief but one that sawdramatic change in African societies.
African Navies: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives (Cass Series: Naval Policy and History)
by Timothy StapletonThis edited volume focuses on aspects of the understudied theme of African sea-power, including African navies and the engagement of non-African navies with the continent. Africa possesses 48,000 kilometers of coastline, comprising 38 out of 54 of the continent’s states and several strategic choke points for international shipping, such as the Suez Canal, the Gulf of Aden and the Cape of Good Hope. Nevertheless, post-colonial Africa’s small navies and their relations with the navies of external powers have not received much scholarly attention. Focusing on Sub-Saharan Africa, this collection attempts to address this neglect and stimulate further research by offering original chapters related to historical and contemporary themes around Africa’s navies. The historical chapters cover the origin of the Tanzanian, Ethiopian, Nigerian and Ghana navies during the era of decolonization and the Cold War, the asymmetrical naval campaign fought during the Nigerian Civil War (1967-70), and the activities of the Soviet Navy in supporting African states and movements fighting lingering colonialism and white supremacy during the 1970s and 1980s. Focusing on the contemporary situation, other chapters discuss the engagement of the Indian Navy with Africa, the potential role of the Angolan and Mozambican navies in the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the transformation and development of the post-apartheid South African Navy, and the challenges and capabilities of African navies in the early twenty-first century. The book concludes by discussing the question of whether African coastal countries need navies. This book will be of much interest to students of naval power, strategic studies, African politics and International Relations.
African Parliamentary Reform (Routledge Research in Comparative Politics)
by Alexander Hamilton Rick Stapenhurst Rasheed Draman Andrew Imlach Cindy KroonSome of the most far-reaching and innovative parliamentary reform is occurring in Africa. While these reforms are not yet widespread across the continent, parliaments in some African countries are asserting their independence as policymakers, as overseers of government and as the guardian of citizens’ rights and needs. This book presents recent reforms in selected African parliaments – Ghana, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Benin, Zambia, Ethiopia, Liberia and Nigeria. It also presents cross-cutting innovations by African parliaments – in fighting corruption, in providing development to constituents and in combatting climate change. Many of the chapters are authored by African MPs themselves, making this a book ‘by MPs for MPs’, as well as being of interest to students and scholars of African Politics, and to those international institutions that support parliamentary development. African Parliamentary Reform is a joint initiative by the World Bank Institute, the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association and the Parliamentary Centre (Africa).
An African Path to Disability Justice: Community, Relationships and Obligations (Ius Gentium: Comparative Perspectives on Law and Justice #78)
by Oche OnaziHow should disability justice be conceptualised, not by orthodox human rights or capabilities approaches, but by a legal philosophy that mirrors an African relational community ideal? This book develops the first comprehensive answer to this question through the contemporary literature on African philosophy, which is relied upon to construct a legal philosophy of disability justice comprising of ethical ideals of community, human relationships and obligations. From these ideals, an African legal philosophy of disability justice is offered as a criterion for critically evaluating existing laws, legal and political institutions, as well as providing an ethical basis for creating new ones to ensure that they are inclusive to people with disabilities. In taking an alternative perspective on the subject, the book outlines and emphasises the need for a new public culture of obligations owed to people with disabilities, highlighting both the prospects and difficulties of achieving the ideal of disability justice that continues to elude the lived experiences of millions of Africans today. Oche Onazi's An African Path to Disability Justice is the first book-length exploration of disability in the light of African ethics, as contrasted with the human rights and capabilities frameworks. Of particular interest are Onazi's thoughtful reflections on how various conceptions of community salient in African moral philosophy––including group-based, reciprocal and relational––bear on what we owe to the disabled. --Thaddeus Metz, Distinguished Professor, University of Johannesburg
African Peace Militaries: War, Peace and Democratic Governance (Routledge Studies in Peace and Conflict Resolution)
by Edited by David J. FrancisThis book provides a critical understanding of the emerging role of African militaries in peacetime democratic Africa. This book departs from the dominant perspective which simply presents the military as an ‘enemy’ of democracy because of the history and legacy of unending military coup d’états and interventions in civilian politics. In the context of Africa, the military has been blamed or largely held responsible for instigating wars, armed conflicts, political violence, poverty and underdevelopment due to bad governance and mismanagement of the state. Drawing from diverse case studies across Africa, including Nigeria, Rwanda, Uganda, Ethiopia and Egypt, this volume presents the argument that though the military has played a negative, and sometimes, destructive role in undermining constitutional rule and the overthrow of democratic civilian governments, the same military, now operating in a changed global environment, is making effort to support the development of democracy and democratic consolidation as well as remain subjected to civilian democratic oversight and control. Notwithstanding, the real challenge for this emerging trend of African peace militaries is the extent to which they are able to fulfil, on a predictable and consistent basis, their constitutional mandate to defend the people against ‘elected autocrats’ in Africa who try to use the military to perpetuate themselves in power. This work fills a critical gap in the literature and will be of much interest to students of African security and politics, peace and conflict studies, security studies and IR in general.
African Peacekeeping (New Approaches to African History #17)
by Jonathan Fisher Nina WilénExploring the story of Africa's contemporary history and politics through the lens of peacekeeping, this concise and accessible book, based on over a decade of research across ten countries, focuses not on peacekeeping in Africa but, rather, peacekeeping by Africans. Going beyond the question of why post-conflict states contribute troops to peacekeeping efforts, Jonathan Fisher and Nina Wilén demonstrate how peacekeeping is – and has been – weaved into Africa's national, regional and international politics more broadly, as well as what implications this has for how we should understand the continent, its history and its politics. In doing so, and drawing on fieldwork undertaken in every region of the continent, Fisher and Wilén explain how profoundly this involvement in peacekeeping has shaped contemporary Africa.
African Peacekeeping Training Centres: Socialisation as a Tool for Peace? (Routledge Studies in African Development)
by Anne FlaspölerPeacekeeping training centres play a crucial role in preparing peacekeepers for their deployment. However, despite their popularity within the international community as a tool for achieving international security, development, and state-building objectives, they have not received a great deal of analysis or academic attention. This book provides an in-depth analysis of peacekeeping training in Africa, tracing how centres have adapted to the operational and normative changes of peace operations over time and raising questions about the expectations attached to these training efforts and their impact. The book examines training content and methods in detail, exploring the potential of peacekeeping training centres as sites for socialisation and diffusing international norms in an effort to change and shape peacekeepers' behaviour. The analysis is based on two contrasting case studies, selected to show the spectrum of training centres operating in Africa, namely the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC) in Accra, Ghana, and the African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes (ACCORD) in Durban, South Africa. At a time when impact is being determined by the number of course attendees, this book provides an important critical assessment of training efforts and what they are supposed to achieve. It will be of interest to scholars and practitioners within the fields of international security, peacekeeping, and African development.
African Perspectives on Colonialism (The Johns Hopkins Symposia in Comparative History #15)
by A. Adu BoahenThis history deals with the twenty-year period between 1880 and 1900, when virtually all of Africa was seized and occupied by the Imperial Powers of Europe. Eurocentric points of view have dominated the study of this era, but in this book, one of Africa's leading historians reinterprets the colonial experiences from the perspective of the colonized. The Johns Hopkins Symposia in Comparative History are occasional volumes sponsored by the Department of History at the Johns Hopkins University and the Johns Hopkins University Press comprising original essays by leading scholars in the United States and other countries. Each volume considers, from a comparative perspective, an important topic of current historical interest. The present volume is the fifteenth. Its preparation has been assisted by the James S. Schouler Lecture Fund.
African Perspectives on Poverty, Indigenous Knowledge Systems, and Innovation
by Oliver MtapuriThis book examines the connections between poverty and innovation in Africa. Through case studies and theorizations from a distinctly African perspective, it stands in contrast to current theoretical works in the field, which remain very much rooted in Western-orientated thinking. The book investigates the application of methodologies which explain numerous African contexts in connection with issues of poverty and inequality. It reflects on comparative practices and praxes on the African continent, including commonplace traditions and practices in alleviating poverty, taken against a background of the failure of current prescriptions for poverty alleviation, such as the Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAPs) and the Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSP). There is a dire need for new practical perspectives which move Africa forward using its indigenous knowledge. Owing to a general lack of recorded African theories and methodologies on poverty, inequality and innovation, this book represents a pioneering corpus of African knowledge addressing poverty and inequality through local innovations. Adopting a transdisciplinary approach, it is relevant to students and scholars in development studies and economics, African studies, social studies, political history and political economy, climate studies, anthropology and geography.
African Perspectives on South–South Migration (Routledge Studies on African and Black Diaspora)
by Lahra SmithThis book investigates the diverse and dynamic forms of migration within Africa. It will be crucial reading for researchers, students, and policy makers with a focus on South-South Migration, Migration and Inequalities, Migration and Development, and Refugee and Humanitarian Studies.
African Political Economy: Contemporary Issues in Development
by Kempe Ronald Sr.This is a multidisciplinary book that analyses the problems and issues of development in Africa along with the attempts at, and outcomes of, policy reform measures that have been implemented to surmount those problems. Topics covered include the economic crisis in Africa, urbanisation and urban management, uneven development, the socio-economic context of AIDS, bureaucratic corruption and reform, and proposed development solutions.
African Political Systems Revisited: Changing Perspectives on Statehood and Power (Integration and Conflict Studies #26)
by Aleksandar Bošković Günther SchleeReexamining a classical work of social anthropology, African Political Systems (1940), edited by Fortes and Evans-Pritchard, this book looks at the colonial and academic context from which the work arose, as well as its reception and its subject matter, and looks at how the work can help with analysis of current politics in Africa. This book critically reflects upon the history of anthropology. It also contributes to a political anthropology which is aware of its antecedents, self-reflexive as a discipline, conscious of pitfalls and biases, and able to locate itself in its academic, social and political environment.
African Political Thought
by Guy MartinFocusing on individual political thinkers and beginning with indigenous African political thought, the book successively examines African nationalism, African socialism, populism and Marxism, Africanism and pan-Africanism, concluding with contemporary perspectives on democracy, development and the African state.
African Politics and Ethics: Exploring New Dimensions
by Munyaradzi Felix MuroveIn this book, Munyaradzi Felix Murove explores African traditional ethical resources for African politics. Arguing that African ethics is integral to African post-colonial political contentious discourse, Murove invites the reader to reflect on various problematic political issues in post-colonial Africa and how African ethics has been applied in these situations. Starting with a succinct discussion of the scope of African ethics, he discusses how African ethical values have been applied by post-colonial politicians in the reconstruction of their societies. Further, Murove looks critically at the issue of African poverty and how the ethic of regional integration and economic cooperation among post-colonial African nation-states has been instrumental to efforts aimed at overcoming the scourge of poverty. The main question this book seeks to answer is: Are African traditional ethical values a panacea to modern African political problems?
African Politics in Comparative Perspective
by Goran HydenThis revised and expanded second edition of African Politics in Comparative Perspective reviews fifty years of research on politics in Africa and addresses some issues in a new light, keeping in mind the changes in Africa since the first edition was written in 2004. The book synthesizes insights from different scholarly approaches and offers an original interpretation of the knowledge accumulated in the field. Goran Hyden discusses how research on African politics relates to the study of politics in other regions and mainstream theories in comparative politics. He focuses on such key issues as why politics trumps economics, rule is personal, state is weak and policies are made with a communal rather than an individual lens. The book also discusses why in the light of these conditions agriculture is problematic, gender contested, ethnicity manipulated and relations with Western powers a matter of defiance.
African Population And Capitalism: Historical Perspectives
by Dennis D. CordellThis is a synthesis of case studies and theory which takes issue with established African demographic theory, emphasising that demography is an historical process, a permanent and varied adaptation to social and economic change. The book covers 20 African societies in the sub-Saharan region, examining not the effects of slavery, colonialism and capitalism on each, but also the resistance and resilience of indigenous African institutions and individuals.
African Postcolonial Modernity: Informal Subjectivities And The Democratic Consensus (African Histories and Modernities)
by Sanya OshaAfrican cultures and politics remain significantly affected by precolonial and postcolonial configurations of modernity, as well as hegemonic global systems. This project explores Africa's conversation with itself and the rest of the world, critiquing universalist notions of democratization.
African Presidential Republics (African Governance)
by Jean BlondelThis book provides a systematic assessment of the behaviour of some relatively successful presidents in African presidential republics, examining the part played by presidents in the development of their countries. Using two groups of case studies, African Presidential Republics examines the variations between presidential republics within Africa since decolonisation. Jean Blondel divides the ten countries studied into those in which presidents had always been elected regularly, namely Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia, Senegal and Tanzania, and those in which there was irregularity in the appointment of presidents, namely Benin, Uganda, Ghana, Liberia and Nigeria. The case studies analyse the manner in which presidential republics have manifested themselves in Africa, exploring the argument that the presidential republic is one of the key institutional arrangements likely to lead societies towards development. African Presidential Republics will be of interest to students and scholars of African politics, comparative politics and political leadership.
African Refugees: Development Aid And Repatriation
by Howard Adelman; John SorensonOf the world's refugees, more than a third live in Africa, displaced from their homelands by war, poverty, famine and political persecution. In this book, contributors explore key issues related to these refugee populations. The first section looks at the legal framework for defining and assisting refugees, and the second deals with the issue of relief by considering specific cases, the general problems faced and particular relief efforts. Subsequent chapters examine forced migration, resettlement and repatriation, conflict with local populations, integration of refugees, and sustainable development.