THE POLITICAL ECOLOGY OF THE COPAL TRADE IN THE TANZANIAN COASTAL HINTERLAND, c. 1820–1905

2007 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 201-220 ◽  
Author(s):  
THADDEUS SUNSERI
Keyword(s):  
New England ◽  
Political Ecology ◽  
The Political ◽  
Coastal Forests ◽  
East African ◽  
The West ◽  
German Colonialism ◽  
Global Demand ◽  
The World ◽  
Lowland Forests

ABSTRACTBetween 1830 and 1880 copal was the major trade commodity from mainland Tanzania apart from ivory. Unlike ivory, copal was a product of a distinct environment, the lowland forests of the East African coastal hinterland. This region's copal was the best in the world for making high-value carriage varnish. It therefore found a ready market in the West, especially New England, whose traders brought cotton textiles to trade with East Africans for copal. The monopolization by hinterland polities of the copal–cloth trade nexus enabled them to consolidate politically as a sub-entrepôt of the Zanzibar commercial state. After 1880 a global demand for wild rubber, a product of far more diverse landscapes, posed a threat to the copal economy, and in part ushered in German colonialism. New colonial tax, labor and conservationist policies spelled the decline of the copal economy and its communities as they lost access to the coastal forests.

Disturbing the Peace: African Warfare, Political Inversion and the Universality of the Democratic Peace Thesis

2009 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-58 ◽  
Author(s):  
Errol A. Henderson
Keyword(s):  
International Conflict ◽  
Democratic Peace ◽  
The Political ◽  
International Peace ◽  
The West ◽  
The World ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Empirical Analyses

This article tests the applicability of the democratic peace thesis to sub-Saharan African states by examining a ‘political inversion’ thesis. This suggests that the domestic political framework of African states compels their leaders to engage in international conflict, contrary to what the democratic peace thesiests: namely, politically open African states are more likely to fight each other. This conclusion raises the issue of the universality of the democratic peace thesis; therefore, the extent to which the democratic peace is evident across other regions of the world is examined. Empirical analyses of state dyads 1950–2001 demonstrate that politically open African states are more likely to fight each other and, moreover, the democratic peace does not hold in any region outside the West. These findings support the political inversion thesis of African conflicts and challenge the suggestion that the spread of democracy will occasion international peace throughout the world.

scholarly journals Origins, Benefits and the Political Basis of Agroecology

2020 ◽  
pp. 11-28
Author(s):  
Colin Ray Anderson ◽  
Janneke Bruil ◽  
M. Jahi Chappell ◽  
Csilla Kiss ◽  
Michel Patrick Pimbert
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Political Ecology ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
The Political ◽  
Traditional Practice ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of ◽  
Human Systems

AbstractIn this chapter, we introduce the origins and history of agroecology, outlining its emergence as a science and its longstanding history as a traditional practice throughout the world. We provide a brief review of the evidence of the benefits of agroecology in relation to productivity, livelihoods, biodiversity, nutrition, climate change and enhancing social relations. We then outline our approach to agroecology which is rooted in the tradition of political ecology that posits power and governance have always been the decisive factors in shaping agricultural and other ‘human’ systems.

scholarly journals Dancing to China's Tune: Understanding the Impacts of a Rising China through the Political-Ecology Framework

2017 ◽  
Vol 46 (3) ◽  
pp. 3-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
May Tan-Mullins
Keyword(s):  
Political Ecology ◽  
Great Power ◽  
The Political ◽  
Xi Jinping ◽  
The World ◽  
Rising China

China has become a great power and it is time for us to take centre stage in the world. (President Xi Jinping, 18 October 2017)

scholarly journals Re-thinking River Diversion Projects- A Political Ecology Perspective

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (2.24) ◽  
pp. 341 ◽  
Author(s):  
Neha Singh ◽  
Neeraj Mishra ◽  
Vignesh Murugesan
Keyword(s):  
Political Ecology ◽  
Government Policies ◽  
The Political ◽  
Short Term ◽  
River Diversion ◽  
Surrounding Environment ◽  
Economic Forces ◽  
The World ◽  
Environment And Development ◽  
Material Conditions

The usage of pipelines to make water available to people has been widely discussed phenomenon throughout the world. Less argued are the projects which divert tributaries from larger rivers via small diversion channels for the sake of short-term goals that work around natural waterscape. River Khan is one such smaller stream which accumulates the entire waste of Indore city and has been diverted from its larger stream River Kshipra in the wake of KumbhMela 2016, to keep the larger stream clean. In this context, the paper investigates the discrepancies of this project and identifies the political and economic forces involved in the formation of such projects during events like KumbhMela. Using the theory of political ecology, the paper attempts to understand the complexities surrounding environment and development. Through government policies and influence of material conditions on culture, the paper also explores the unfair relations amid societies that influence the natural environment. 

scholarly journals Strategic Hypocrisy: The British Imperial Scripting of Tibet's Geopolitical Identity

2009 ◽  
Vol 68 (1) ◽  
pp. 227-252 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dibyesh Anand
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
The Political ◽  
British Imperialism ◽  
The West ◽  
Significant Aspect ◽  
Western Idea ◽  
The World ◽  
The Status ◽  
British Imperialist

The protests in and around Tibet in 2008 show that Tibet's status within China remains unsettled. The West is not an outsider to the Tibet question, which is defined primarily in terms of the debate over the status of Tibet vis-à-vis China. Tibet's modern geopolitical identity has been scripted by British imperialism. The changing dynamics of British imperial interests in India affected the emergence of Tibet as a (non)modern geopolitical entity. The most significant aspect of the British imperialist policy practiced in the first half of the twentieth century was the formula of “Chinese suzerainty/Tibetan autonomy.” This strategic hypocrisy, while nurturing an ambiguity in Tibet's status, culminated in the victory of a Western idea of sovereignty. It was China, not Tibet, that found the sovereignty talk most useful. The paper emphasizes the world-constructing role of contesting representations and challenges the divide between the political and the cultural, the imperial and the imaginative.

Negative Discourse Analysis and utopias of the political

2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 323-345 ◽  
Author(s):  
Phil Graham
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Political Discourse ◽  
The Political ◽  
Human Language ◽  
The West ◽  
Religious Texts ◽  
The World ◽  
Normative Discourse ◽  
Utopian Thought

Abstract This paper puts forward an argument about the relation between utopian thought and political discourse. It demonstrates how utopias frame normative discourse in general and political discourse in particular. The argument is informed by Kenneth Burke’s theory of the negative command and its place at the basis of all human language. I argue that utopias are necessarily based in the hortatory negative and are, in literary terms, like religious texts in general being ‘words about words’ designed to coordinate “the tribe”. Burke calls such texts ‘logological’. The argument I put forward here points to a rapidly crumbling utopia that has beset much of the world and all of the West since at least the Reagan-Thatcher era in which a new corporatist political economy was given global impetus.

The Place of Islam in the Foundation of Modern Social Theory

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lutfi Sunar
Keyword(s):  
Social Theory ◽  
Central Place ◽  
Modern World ◽  
The Political ◽  
The West ◽  
The World ◽  
Considerable Resistance ◽  
Political Economic ◽  
Western Hegemony ◽  
The 19Th Century

The relation between Islam and the West has a long history full of confrontation. Islam always represents the closest “other” for the West, and being otherized by it is not only a cultural but also a strategic matter. Controlling and shaping the perceptions of Islam is essential for continuing the political hegemony of the West. On this basis, the 19th century witnessed the spread of Western hegemony throughout the world, including the Middle East. In this period, although Western expansion faced considerable resistance in Muslim societies, the political, economic, military, scientific, intellectual, and cultural influence of modernity spread all over the world. The encounter between Muslim societies and the West went beyond the sheer geographical dimension. The Western vision, founded and reinforced by orientalism, considers Islam as a suppressed enemy who may make a comeback. This chapter will question the place of Islam in modern social theory. The central thesis is on Islam being not only the other of the modern Western identity but also a founder of the modern world. By discussing the central place of Islam in the debates of social theory’s founders such as Tocqueville, Marx, and Weber, Islam as part and parcel of the modern world will become apparent.

Chapter II. The World Economy

1990 ◽  
Vol 132 ◽  
pp. 25-47 ◽  
Author(s):  
R.J. Barrell ◽  
Andrew Gurney ◽  
Stephen Dulake
Keyword(s):  
Monetary Union ◽  
European Monetary Union ◽  
World Economy ◽  
Political Agenda ◽  
The Political ◽  
European Monetary ◽  
The West ◽  
The World ◽  
Economic Developments

In the last six months political and economic developments in Europe have moved very rapidly. The democratisation of the East has been quite remarkable, and much heralded, but the change in the political agenda in the West has been almost as important, although much quieter. The drive toward European Monetary Union seems to have speeded up, although there are many important issues still to be settled.

The impacts of foreign direct investment and globalisation on economic growth in West Africa: examining the role of political governance

2020 ◽  
Vol 47 (7) ◽  
pp. 1733-1755
Author(s):  
Waliu Olawale Shittu ◽  
Hammed Agboola Yusuf ◽  
Abdallah El Moctar El Houssein ◽  
Sallahuddin Hassan
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
World Bank ◽  
Unit Root ◽  
West African ◽  
The Political ◽  
The West ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The World Bank ◽  
The World ◽  
Political Governance

PurposeThis paper measures the impacts of foreign direct investment (FDI), globalisation and political governance on economic growth in West Africa. The empirical analysis also includes the interaction effect of political governance and FDI on the growth of the sub-region, over the period of 1996–2016.Design/methodology/approachThe study employs the autoregressive distributed lag technique on data obtained from the World Bank and the KOF institute.FindingsThe study findings suggest a positive relationship between globalisation and political governance on economic growth. Even though there have been inconclusive results on the FDI–growth nexus, the authors found that FDI stimulates the growth of the sub-region, while political governance enhances the positive impact of FDI on economic growth. The other factors of growth included are labour, capital and government size, whose effects on growth are, respectively, negative, negative and positive.Practical implicationsThe governments of the West African countries promote policies that attract FDI into the sub-region, so that economic performances may be enhanced. In addition, the governments of the West African sub-region should work to reap the benefits of globalisation, by promoting the competitiveness of their local economies in order to keep pace with the global markets. Finally, the political-governance infrastructures should be overhauled; the culture of accountability and transparency should be promoted, while all efforts should be made to improve stability in the political environment in order to increase investors' confidence in the West African economy.Originality/valueThis study is the first to single out the impacts of political governance, as categorised by the World Bank, through both direct and interactive measures. This is necessary in view of the assertion that political governance largely accounts for improved economic performance in an economy. The use of the Pesaran (2007) technique of unit root is also a deviation from existing studies. This is in view of the fact that it tests variable unit root in the presence of cross-sectional dependence; thus, controlling for contemporaneous correlation which was not considered in the first-generation tests.

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