Department of Political Science
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- ItemThe 2007 African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance : trying to make sense of the late ratification of the African Charter and non-implementation of its compliance mechanism(Sage, 2019) Engel, UlfIn principle, the 2007 African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance (ACDEG) could be a powerful instrument to bring the African Governance Architecture to life and to help ensure that its universal values, including respect for human rights and the rule of law, are implemented across all African Union member states. Yet how serious in reality are the latter on this question? Ratification of the African Charter has taken five years and, as of late 2019, the implementation of its compliance mechanism is still pending. This article asks how these empirical puzzles can be best addressed. In the absence of robust data on member states’ preferences and with a view to developing hypotheses for further research, this article inductively interrogates how data on the various regimes’ political liberties may or may not relate to the ratification of the African Charter and the implementation of the ACDEG compliance mechanism.
- ItemAfrica's game changers and the catalysts of social and system innovation(Resilience Alliance, 2016) Swilling, MarkIt is widely recognized that many African economies are being transformed by rapid economic growth driven largely by rising demand for the abundant natural resources scattered across the African continent. I critically review the mainstream game-changing dynamics driving this process, with special reference to a set of influential policy-oriented documents. This is followed by an analysis of less-recognized game-changing dynamics that have, in turn, been affected by the mainstream game-changing dynamics. These less-recognized game-changing dynamics include energy infrastructure challenges in a context of climate change, securing access to water, access to arable soils, slum urbanism, and food security responses. These mainstream and less-recognized game-changing dynamics provide the context for analyzing a range of African actor networks engaged in social and system innovations. I use a transdisciplinary framework to discuss these actor networks and how they construct their understanding of the game changers affecting their programs and actions. Based on a case study of the iShack initiative in Stellenbosch, South Africa, I conclude that social and system innovations will need to be driven by transformation knowledge co-produced by researchers and social actors who can actively link game-changing dynamics that operate at multiple scales with local-level innovations with potential societal impacts.
- ItemChristian ethics in South Africa : liberal values among the public and elites(Stellenbosch University, Faculty of Theology, 2018) Kotze, Hennie; Loubser, ReinetThis article uses statistical data from the World Values Survey (WVS) and the South African Opinion Leader Survey to examine liberal values and attitudes among the following samples of South Africans: Afrikaans, English, isiXhosa and isiZulu speaking Protestants, Catholics, African Independent Church (AIC) members and non-religious people (public and parliamentarians). We find that South Africans have softened in their traditionally conservative attitudes toward homosexuality, prostitution, abortion and euthanasia (but not the death penalty). We conclude that the South African public has gradually become more accepting of the liberal values of the constitution (the product of elite-driven transition to liberal democracy). That being said, South Africans have not become liberals as such and many mainline Protestants and members of the AICs (in particular) have remained fairly con-servative in their views. Additionally, elites (parliamentarians) continue to outpace the public with regards to the acceptance of liberal values and practices.
- ItemChristian ethics in South Africa : liberal values among the public and elites(Department of Old and New Testament - Stellenbosch University, 2018) Kotze, Hennie; Loubser, ReinetThis article uses statistical data from the World Values Survey (WVS) and the South African Opinion Leader Survey to examine liberal values and attitudes among the following samples of South Africans: Afrikaans, English, isiXhosa and isiZulu speaking Protestants, Catholics, African Independent Church (AIC) members and non-religious people (public and parliamentarians). We find that South Africans have softened in their traditionally conservative attitudes toward homosexuality, prostitution, abortion and euthanasia (but not the death penalty). We conclude that the South African public has gradually become more accepting of the liberal values of the constitution (the product of elite-driven transition to liberal democracy). That being said, South Africans have not become liberals as such and many mainline Protestants and members of the AICs (in particular) have remained fairly con-servative in their views. Additionally, elites (parliamentarians) continue to outpace the public with regards to the acceptance of liberal values and practices.
- ItemKenya’s New Lunatic Express: The Standard Gauge Railway(2020-10) Taylor, IanAbstract: The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) aims to integrate Africa into an ambitious Chinese-constructed infrastructure network that seeks to link the economies of participating countries to that of China’s. However, serious concerns about its cost for the host countries, the legacy and sustainability—alongside the social and environmental costs—of its projects have raised questions as to its value and long-term future. The Standard Gauge Railway (SGR), linking Mombasa to Nairobi and beyond has been portrayed as a centre piece of the BRI in East Africa. Both the Chinese and Kenyan governments have represented the SGR as an example par excellence of Sino- African cooperation and the ubiquitous “win-win” partnerships that this is said to engender. However, serious issues with the SGR in terms of its cost, viability and practicality has meant that it is increasingly being seen within Kenya as an expensive white elephant beset with numerous intractable problems.
- ItemThe liberal peace security regimen : a gramscian critique of its application in Africa(Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa, 2018) Taylor, IanCurrent security regimens are grounded in the advancement of liberal peace. All inter-governmental organizations, most states and most donor agencies more or less accept as common sense the self-evident virtuosity and truth of the liberal peace project. However, there is a profound contradiction within this project in Africa in that while this security regimen might reflect the impulses of a neoliberal hegemony, the very basic foundations of a domestic hegemonic project are in the main wholly absent. Equally, the nature of underdevelopment and dependency in the continent continues to undermine even basic autonomous state formation. These disjunctures mean that there is a distinct contradiction in promoting the current dominant security regimen in post-conflict scenarios in Africa. Instead, the liberal peace needs to be understood as a transnational project aimed at opening up African spaces for continued foreign penetration and exploitation.
- ItemThe limits of the EU as a peace and security actor in the Democratic Republic of the Congo(Hamburg University Press, 2011) Froitzheim, Meike; Soderbaum, Fredrik; Taylor, IanThe European Union (EU) is increasingly aspiring to be a global peace and security actor. Using the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) as a test case to analyse such ambitions, this article reveals that the EU's attempts to build peace and security are severely compromised by its bureaucratic and organizational complexity as well as by its ineffective policies. In fact, the EU's state-centred approach in the DRC has resulted in the EU's inability to deal with 1) the realities of governance in the DRC and 2) the strong trans-border dimensions of the conflict. As a result, the EU continues to lack a coherent strategy for the DRC, despite a large budget. The analysis concludes that the EU is more concerned with establishing a symbolic presence and a form of representation than with achieving specific goals.
- ItemPower and integrated health care : shifting from governance to governmentality(Ubiquity Press, 2016) Van Rensburg, Andre Janse; Rau, Asta; Fourie, Pieter; Bracke, PietIntegrated care occurs within micro, meso and macro levels of governance structures, which are shaped by complex power dynamics. Yet theoretically-led notions of power, and scrutiny of its meanings and its functioning, are neglected in the literature on integrated care. We explore an alternative approach. Following a discussion on governance, two streams of theorising power are presented: mainstream and second-stream. Mainstream concepts are based on the notion of power-as-capacity, of one agent having the capacity to influence another—so the overall idea is ‘power over ’. Studies on integrated care typically employ mainstream ideas, which yield rather limited analyses. Second-stream concepts focus on strategies and relations of power—how it is channelled, negotiated and (re)produced. These notions align well with the contemporary shift away from the idea that power is centralised, towards more fluid ideas of power as dispersed and (re)negotiated throughout a range of societal structures, networks and actors. Accompanying this shift, the notion of governance is slowly being eclipsed by that of governmentality. We propose governmentality as a valuable perspective for analysing and understanding power in integrated care. Our contribution aims to address the need for more finely tuned theoretical frameworks that can be used to guide empirical work.
- ItemA profile of socio-political attitudes and values prevalent under religiously active mainstream Afrikaner elites(Stellenbosch University, Faculty of Theology, 1993) Kinghorn, Johann; Kotze, HennieThere is little doubt that South Africa is one of the world’s social test tubes. In many ways it is a microcosm of macro-global issues. This applies equally to an area which is not being studies as much as it should be: the interface of religion with socio-political processes. There can be very few countries where this interface plays in and of itself as significant a role in the general flow of history as in South Africa. Religion – and indeed a very complicated configuration at that – is a social force knowledge without which no adequate understanding of the South African dynamic can be attained. Of course this is a statement often made. However, little empirical evidence and theoretical analysis to support it exists. The purpose of this paper then is to contribute in this area by abstracting one section of the South African configuration – the mainstream Afrikaners. It is to be shown how an entry into this group’s dynamic through a religious filter will allow us not only to understand the interface between religion and society better but will also shed light on the actual political processes.
- ItemReligiosity in south Africa : trends among the public and elites(Stellenbosch University, Faculty of Theology, 2017) Kotze, Hennie; Loubser, ReinetThis article uses statistical data from the World Values Survey (WVS) and the South African Opinion Leader Survey to examine religiosity among the following samples of South Africans: Afrikaans, English, isiXhosa and isiZulu speaking Protestants, Catholics, African Independent Church (AIC) members and non-religious people (public and parliamentarians). We find that mainline Protestant churches have suffered a loss of members, thus changing the denominational face of the country. Additionally, although South Africans remain very religious, the importance of God in their lives has declined. For many people God is now less important although not unimportant. Parliamentarians appear unaffected by these changes: God is still highly important to members of parliament who profess Christianity (the majority). However, the small number of parliamentarians who are not religious now think God is unimportant.
- ItemReturn of the city state? an assessment of city international relations(University of Southern California, 2017) Beukman, Eduard FrancoisCities have ever been part of the international relations system but have not been adequately examined by international relations theory as a subnational actor that can act independently of the nation-state. It has allowed for the creation of sister city partnerships, regional bodies and global networks. This paper will specifically look at the extensive policies created through these networks. These organisations allow for successful cooperation and collaboration within the international system between member cities despite the high levels of competition that exist for investment and human resources. The case studies of Cape Town and Tokyo are important to understand the various stages of these cities and how Cape Town punches above its weight internationally while Tokyo is finding its feet despite their respective disparities. This is vital to understand the role that cities play in the world and will continue to play.
- ItemSocial-ecological resilience and biosphere-based sustainability science(Resilience Alliance, 2016) Folke, Carl; Biggs, Reinette, 1979-; Norstrom, Albert V.; Reyers, Belinda; Rockstrom, JohanHumanity has emerged as a major force in the operation of the biosphere. The focus is shifting from the environment as externality to the biosphere as precondition for social justice, economic development, and sustainability. In this article, we exemplify the intertwined nature of social-ecological systems and emphasize that they operate within, and as embedded parts of the biosphere and as such coevolve with and depend on it. We regard social-ecological systems as complex adaptive systems and use a social-ecological resilience approach as a lens to address and understand their dynamics. We raise the challenge of stewardship of development in concert with the biosphere for people in diverse contexts and places as critical for long-term sustainability and dignity in human relations. Biosphere stewardship is essential, in the globalized world of interactions with the Earth system, to sustain and enhance our life-supporting environment for human well-being and future human development on Earth, hence, the need to reconnect development to the biosphere foundation and the need for a biosphere-based sustainability science.
- ItemTurning dread into capital : South Africa's AIDS diplomacy(BioMed Central, 2013-03) Fourie, PieterSummary: The article first describes the emergence and contemporary practice of health diplomacy; this is followed by a discussion of niche diplomacy, in particular as it applies to the foreign policy agendas of emerging middle powers. It then reviews South African foreign policy and diplomacy, before situating these policies within the context of emerging mechanisms of south-south multilateralism. The article concludes by synthesizing these elements and advocating for a South African AIDS diplomacy, emphasizing its potential to galvanize a global project of emancipation.