The African State in Transition

The African State in Transition
Author: Zaki Ergas
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 348
Release: 1987-10-20
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1349188867

In the first twenty-five years of African independence the behaviour of the African state elites has not been, with a few notable exceptions, conducive to self-sustained development. What are the reasons for this sorry state of affairs? What can be done to reverse that unfortunate trend? These are the two overarching questions with which this book attempts to grapple.

State Legitimacy and Development in Africa

State Legitimacy and Development in Africa
Author: Pierre Englebert
Publisher: Lynne Rienner Publishers
Total Pages: 260
Release: 2000
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9781588261311

Englebert argues that differences in economic performance both within Africa and across the developing world can be linked to differences in historical state legitimacy.

South Africa in Transition

South Africa in Transition
Author: Aletta J. Norval
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 237
Release: 2016-07-27
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1349268011

South Africa in Transition utilises new theoretical perspectives to describe and explain central dimensions of the democratic transition in South Africa during the late 1980s and early 1990s, covering changes in the politics of gender and education, the political discourses of the ANC, NP and the white right, constructions of identity in South Africa's black townships and rural areas, the role of political violence in the transition, and accounts of the democratization process itself.

Political and Institutional Transition in North Africa

Political and Institutional Transition in North Africa
Author: Silvia Colombo
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 204
Release: 2018-06-13
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1351169785

The year 2011 will go down in history as a turning point for the Arab world. The popular unrest that swept across the region and led to the toppling of the Ben Ali, Mubarak, and Qaddhafi regimes in Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya has fundamentally altered the social, economic, and political outlooks of these countries and the region as a whole. This book assesses the transition processes unleashed by the uprisings that took place in Egypt and Tunisia in 2011. The wave of unrest and popular mobilisation that swept through these countries is treated as the point of departure of long and complex processes of change, manipulation, restructuring, and entrenchment of the institutional structures and logics that defined politics. The book explores the constitutive elements of institutional development, namely processes of constitution making, electoral politics, the changing status and power of the judiciary, and the interplay between the civilian and the military apparatuses in Egypt and Tunisia. It also considers the extent to which these two countries have become more democratic, as a result of their institutions being more legitimate, accountable, and responsive, at the beginning of 2014 and from a comparative perspective. The impact of temporal factors in shaping transition paths is highlighted throughout the book. The book provides a comprehensive assessment of political and institutional transition processes in two key countries in North Africa and its conclusions shed light on similar processes that have taken place throughout the region since 2011. It will be a valuable resource for anyone studying Middle Eastern and North African politics, area studies, comparative institutional development and democratisation.

The State of Africa

The State of Africa
Author: Martin Meredith
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 1082
Release: 2011-09-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 0857203894

'Meredith has given a spectacularly clear view of the African political jungle' – Spectator 'This book is hard to beat... Elegantly written as well as unerringly accurate' – Financial Times The fortunes of Africa have changed dramatically since the independence era began in 1957. As Europe’s colonial powers withdrew, dozens of new states were born. Africa was a continent rich in mineral resources and its economic potential was immense. Yet, it soon struggled with corruption, violence and warfare, with few states managing to escape the downward spiral. So what went wrong? In this riveting and authoritative account, Martin Meredith examines the myriad problems that Africa has faced, focusing upon key personalities, events and themes of the independence era. He brings his compelling analysis into the modern day, exploring Africa’s enduring struggles for democracy and the rising influence of China. It is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the continent’s plight and its hopes for a brighter future.

Sex in Transition

Sex in Transition
Author: Amanda Lock Swarr
Publisher: State University of New York Press
Total Pages: 342
Release: 2012-12-06
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1438444087

Honorable Mention, 2013 Ruth Benedict Book Prize presented by the Association for Queer Anthropology Honorable Mention, 2014 Distinguished Book Award presented by the Section on Sexualities of the American Sociological Association Winner of the 2013 Sylvia Rivera Award in Transgender Studies presented by the Center for Gay and Lesbian Studies Sex in Transition explores the lives of those who undermine the man/woman binary, exposing the gendered contradictions of apartheid and the transition to democracy in South Africa. In this context, gender liminality—a way to describe spaces between common conceptions of "man" and "woman"—is expressed by South Africans who identify as transgender, transsexual, transvestite, intersex, lesbian, gay, and/or eschew these categories altogether. This book is the first academic exploration of challenges to the man/woman binary on the African continent and brings together gender, queer, and postcolonial studies to question the stability of sex. It examines issues including why transsexuals' sex transitions were encouraged under apartheid and illegal during the political transition to democracy and how butch lesbians and drag queens in urban townships reshape race and gender. Sex in Transition challenges the dominance of theoretical frameworks based in the global North, drawing on fifteen years of research in South Africa to define the parameters of a new transnational transgender and sexuality studies.

Warlord Politics and African States

Warlord Politics and African States
Author: William Reno
Publisher: Lynne Rienner Publishers
Total Pages: 274
Release: 1998
Genre: History
ISBN: 9781555878832

Reno (political science, Florida International U.) examines alternative, usually clandestine, economic systems, arguing that such phenomena as tax evasion, illicit production, smuggling, and protection rackets have become widespread and integral to building political authority in parts of Africa. He also clarifies the limitations of the liberalizing reforms of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) by detailing how weak- state and warlord political economies restrict and manipulate bank and IMF prescriptions. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

The State of Peacebuilding in Africa

The State of Peacebuilding in Africa
Author: Terence McNamee
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 433
Release: 2020-11-02
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 3030466361

This open access book on the state of peacebuilding in Africa brings together the work of distinguished scholars, practitioners, and decision makers to reflect on key experiences and lessons learned in peacebuilding in Africa over the past half century. The core themes addressed by the contributors include conflict prevention, mediation, and management; post-conflict reconstruction, justice and Disarmament Demobilization and Reintegration; the role of women, religion, humanitarianism, grassroots organizations, and early warning systems; and the impact of global, regional, and continental bodies. The book's thematic chapters are complemented by six country/region case studies: The Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Sudan/South Sudan, Mozambique and the Sahel/Mali. Each chapter concludes with a set of key lessons learned that could be used to inform the building of a more sustainable peace in Africa. The State of Peacebuilding in Africa was born out of the activities of the Southern Voices Network for Peacebuilding (SVNP), a Carnegie-funded, continent-wide network of African organizations that works with the Wilson Center to bring African knowledge and perspectives to U.S., African, and international policy on peacebuilding in Africa. The research for this book was made possible by a grant from Carnegie Corporation of New York.

The Continuing Epidemiological Transition in Sub-Saharan Africa

The Continuing Epidemiological Transition in Sub-Saharan Africa
Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 47
Release: 2012-10-01
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0309266513

Among the poorest and least developed regions in the world, sub-Saharan Africa has long faced a heavy burden of disease, with malaria, tuberculosis, and, more recently, HIV being among the most prominent contributors to that burden. Yet in most parts of Africa-and especially in those areas with the greatest health care needs-the data available to health planners to better understand and address these problems are extremely limited. The vast majority of Africans are born and will die without being recorded in any document or spearing in official statistics. With few exceptions, African countries have no civil registration systems in place and hence are unable to continuously generate vital statistics or to provide systematic information on patterns of cause of death, relying instead on periodic household-level surveys or intense and continuous monitoring of small demographic surveillance sites to provide a partial epidemiological and demographic profile of the population. In 1991 the Committee on Population of the National Academy of Sciences organized a workshop on the epidemiological transition in developing countries. The workshop brought together medical experts, epidemiologists, demographers, and other social scientists involved in research on the epidemiological transition in developing countries to discuss the nature of the ongoing transition, identify the most important contributors to the overall burden of disease, and discuss how such information could be used to assist policy makers in those countries to establish priorities with respect to the prevention and management of the main causes of ill health. This report summarizes the presentations and discussions from a workshop convened in October 2011 that featured invited speakers on the topic of epidemiological transition in sub-Saharan Africa. The workshop was organized by a National Research Council panel of experts in various aspects of the study of epidemiological transition and of sub-Saharan data sources. The Continuing Epidemiological Transition in Sub-Saharan Africa serves as a factual summary of what occurred at the workshop in October 2011.

South Africa’s Energy Transition

South Africa’s Energy Transition
Author: Andrew Lawrence
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 184
Release: 2019-08-30
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 3030189031

This book provides a succinct overview of the evolution of policies addressing energy and climate justice in South Africa. Drawing on a range of analytical perspectives, including socio-technical studies, just transitions, and critical political economy, it explains why South Africa’s energy transition from a coal-dependent, centralised power generation and distribution system has been so slow, and reveals the types of socio-political inequalities that persist across regimes and energy sources. Topics explored include critical approaches to the South African state and its state-owned energy provider, Eskom; the political ecologies of coal and water; the politics of non-renewable energy alternatives; as well as the trajectory and fate of the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producers Procurement Programme (REIPPPP), the country’s major renewable energy policy. The book concludes with reflections on alternative, neglected energy and development paths, suggesting how the political economy of South Africa’s energy system could be further transformed for the better.