scholarly journals Africa and The Decline of The Democracy Debate

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 5-15
Author(s):  
Mohamed Salih
Keyword(s):  
Civic Engagement ◽  
Complete Picture ◽  
Current Debate ◽  
Human History ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Conflict And Cooperation ◽  
Institutional Politics ◽  
Keynote Speech ◽  
Democratic Spaces ◽  
Second World

The debate on the decline of democracy is not new. It can be traced to the period between the First and Second World Wars, and it resurfaced during the 1970s, followed by the most spectacular dem- ocratic resurgence in human history. This lecture focuses on the current debate on the decline of democracy and downward trends in major democracy assessment indices. Africa is among the three least democratic world regions, with 42% of African countries cur- rently designated as not free. Measuring the decline or rise of democracy only by the perfor- mance of institutional politics does not provide a complete picture of the issue. Institutional politics does not account for the resil- ience and thriving new spaces where democratic vibrancy and civic engagement prevail. Examples from African countries demonstrate that democracy indices based on institutional politics alone do not account for alternative democratic spaces and practices. This paper is the edited version of the keynote speech delivered by the author at the 6th Pécs African Studies Conference under the theme “African Realities: Conflict and Cooperation”, September 23-24, 2021 – University of Pécs, Hungary.

scholarly journals European influence in ITU-R: the end of an era of dominance?

Info ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 1-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohamed Ali El-Moghazi ◽  
Jason Whalley ◽  
James Irvine
Keyword(s):  
European Countries ◽  
Current Debate ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Allocation Mechanism ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Key Stakeholders ◽  
The World ◽  
Spectrum Policy

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of the European countries in Region 1 of the Radio Sector of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU-R). More specifically, the focus is on the World Radiocommunication Conference 2012 meeting to explore whether European influence is in decline. Design/methodology/approach – This article adopts in-depth case study of the 700-MHz issue. Qualitative data are drawn from semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders who participated at the World Radiocommunication Conference 2012 meeting. Findings – This article concludes that the influence of European countries in the ITU-R in Region 1 has changed. The influence of Arab and African countries has increased, with that of European countries declining. However, European countries remain more influential than their African and Arab counterparts. Research limitations/implications – This article sheds light on an often overlooked but pivotal element of the international spectrum allocation mechanism. Originality/value – This article sheds light on important developments in the international spectrum policy that are largely overlooked in the current debate.

scholarly journals The Fascist-Anti-Fascist Struggle in the Order Sons of Italy of Ontario, 1915-1946

2018 ◽  
Vol 106 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-33
Author(s):  
Angelo Principe
Keyword(s):  
Supreme Court ◽  
Second World War ◽  
World War ◽  
The Supreme Court ◽  
Keynote Speech ◽  
Second World

This article examines the struggle between fascists and anti-fascists in the Order Sons of Italy of Ontario, a struggle that began with the keynote speech delivered at the order’s founding convention in 1924, and was followed by the election of a fascist as Grand Venerable ten years later, a legal confrontation between the Grand Consul of the Order and the Ontario Lodge of Toronto (that involved the entire membership and, eventually, the Supreme Court of Ontario) and anti-Semitic legislation in the homeland. Italy’s loss in the Second World War finally brought the order’s flirtation with fascism to an end in 1946.

scholarly journals “Quando o fascismo se tornava cada vez mais forte”: Direito e emancipação em Franz Neumann e Boaventura de Sousa Santos

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 63
Author(s):  
Pedro Bigolin Neto ◽  
Jose Rodrigo Rodriguez
Keyword(s):  
Current Debate ◽  
State Law ◽  
Human History ◽  
En Bloc ◽  
Historical Aspects ◽  
Franz Neumann

<p><strong>RESUMO:</strong></p><p>Este trabalho tem por objetivo trazer as contribuições teóricas de Franz Neumann e Boaventura de Sousa Santos no que tange ao direito e à emancipação. Primeiro são resgatados aspectos históricos das relações entre Estado, Direito e capitalismo. Em seguida são traçadas algumas características das perspectivas dos pensadores, que são posteriormente analisadas em conjunto. Com formações e vivências diversas, os dois autores contribuem para se pensar formas de emancipação social a partir do Direito, ambos polissêmicos. Constata-se semelhanças e divergências entre suas propostas, as últimas notadamente na visão a respeito do direito, que enriquecem o debate atual. Enquanto aquele trabalha primordialmente numa concepção estatal, este transita do local ao global. Ambos enxergam no capitalismo uma barreira para a emancipação e consideram imprescindível transformar os campos estatais, sociais e jurídicos nas páginas da história humana. As próximas, em branco, estão em disputa. A pesquisa é de cunho bibliográfico.</p><p> <strong>ABSTRACT:</strong></p><p>This paper aims to bring theoretical contributions from Franz Neumann and Boaventura de Sousa Santos regarding to law and emancipation. Firstly, historical aspects of relations between State, Law and capitalism are retrieved. Hereupon, some characteristics concerning the two thinkers’ perspectives are outlined and then analyzed en bloc. Having distinct formations and experiences, the two authors contribute to think forms of social emancipation through law, both polissemic terms. Similarities and divergences between their propositions are evidenced, namely in their visions concerning law, which enriches the current debate. While Neumann works mainly in a stateview, Santos transits from local to global. Both see in capitalism a hurdle to emancipation and consider vital to transform state, social and juridical fields in the pages of human history. The next ones, in blank, are in dispute. The research is bibliographical.</p>

scholarly journals On Defining the Participatory Museum: The Case of the Museum of the Second World War in Gdansk

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 41-55
Author(s):  
Ewa Manikowska ◽  
Andrzej Jakubowski
Keyword(s):  
Community Involvement ◽  
Second World War ◽  
General Assembly ◽  
Current Debate ◽  
World War ◽  
The Core ◽  
Core Elements ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Second World

This article seeks to contribute to the current debate on the new definition of the “museum” – a debate which led to turmoil at the 2019 ICOM General Assembly in Kyoto. With reference to the case study of the Museum of the Second World War in Gdansk (MSWW), it analyses the new and very successful genre of the narrative museum, a genre which arguably fulfils the core elements of the definition currently being discussed by ICOM. In this regard, it brings into focus the paramount importance of community involvement in creating and managing narrative museums – an aspect that has been virtually absent in the academic and media debates over the nature of the MSWW and its programme. By pointing out the fragility of the foundations for such participation, based solely on trust between communities, the museum, and state authorities, this article calls for and provides guidance for an academic and institutional redefinition of the narrative museum and the institution of a museum in general.

scholarly journals Post-independent mainline churches in Africa (1975-2000)

2004 ◽  
Vol 60 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
J.W. Hofmeyr
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Southern Hemisphere ◽  
Political Development ◽  
Second World War ◽  
World War ◽  
African Countries ◽  
The World ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
British Commonwealth ◽  
Second World

The Second World War was in many ways a watershed in African social and political development. Drafted by their colonial rulers into fighting for world democracy and freedom, Africans were inspired with determination to achieve this same goal for them. The ensuing struggle against colonialism eventually led to the independence of most sub-Saharan African countries in the 1960’s. Following on the heels of the Second World War came the collapse of the whole colonial system. The only remaining factor in the liberation process was South Africa, which withdrew from the British Commonwealth in 1961 because of criticism of its apartheid policy and only became a full democracy in 1994. Because of the fact that the former colonial world was located in the southern hemisphere, the confrontation took on a north-south character. Mainline churches in post independent Africa responded in different ways to this changing configuration of the world, and in spite of secularizing trends and the resurgence of rival religions they remained as major players in the world stage.

“Facilis descensus averni est”: The Allied Bombing of Germany and the Issue of German Suffering

2005 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 75-105 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Childers
Keyword(s):  
The United States ◽  
Second World War ◽  
Tidal Wave ◽  
Human Suffering ◽  
Human History ◽  
World War ◽  
Major Powers ◽  
Left Behind ◽  
Destructive Conflict ◽  
Second World

Contemplating with dread the slide toward war between Japan and the United States in the autumn of 1941, Joseph Grew, the American ambassador to Tokyo, noted gloomily in his diary: “Facilis descensus averni est”—the descent into Hell is easy. Events in Europe and China had already given eloquent testimony to that grim axiom, confirming all too clearly that among the first casualties of war are peacetime notions of morality. Grew's foreboding was more than justified. Before the Second World War would come to a close in the summer of 1945, it had become the most destructive conflict in human history, with fifty-five million dead, millions more broken, either physically or psychologically, thirty million refugees, and still millions more who had simply vanished. Continents had been ravaged, great cities laid waste, and a tidal wave of destruction left behind a landscape of unparalleled human suffering. A war that began with the major powers pledging to refrain from “the bombardment from the air of civilian populations or unfortified cities”—Hitler piously committed Germany to conduct the war “in a chivalrous and humane manner”—ended with a mushroom cloud over Nagasaki.

Policy Conflict and the Structure of Interest Communities

2000 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 309-327 ◽  
Author(s):  
ANTHONY J. NOWNES
Keyword(s):  
Federal Government ◽  
Current Debate ◽  
State Governments ◽  
Niche Theory ◽  
Policy Conflict ◽  
Intergroup Interaction ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Conflict And Cooperation ◽  
Interest Organizations

Drawing on data from a survey of 595 state interest representatives this article asks: Is policy conflict widespread in state interest communities or is it rare due to the isolation of interest organizations in relatively placid niches? Two contending perspectives frame the current debate on this issue. Whereas Browne maintains that balkanization characterizes interest communities, Salisbury and his colleagues suggest that many policy domains feature substantial intergroup interaction, conflict, and cooperation. In all, the data witness relatively high levels of conflict among groups and between groups and other political actors and thus confound the expectations of Browne's niche theory. Nevertheless, the data do not invalidate niche theory. Rather, they suggest that some policy domains are more likely to be characterized by niche politics than others and that the federal government provides more incentives than state governments for groups to seek niches.

scholarly journals The Revenge of Defaulters

2021 ◽  
pp. 165-186
Author(s):  
Juan Flores Zendejas ◽  
Pierre Pénet ◽  
Christian Suter
Keyword(s):  
Sovereign Debt ◽  
Dispute Settlement ◽  
Active Role ◽  
Second World War ◽  
Current Debate ◽  
Private Debt ◽  
High Profile ◽  
Post War ◽  
Second World

This chapter examines important changes in the way debtors and creditors settled sovereign debt disputes in the turmoil of the post–Second World War context. Post-war debt settlements represented an enormous task not only because of the sheer amount of debt in default but also because old methods of settlement no longer applied. Faced with the declining significance of bondholder committees, creditors increasingly sought the mediation of their governments. After 1945, the enforcement of sovereign debt claims was effectively transferred from creditor committees to creditor states. Drawing on archival data collected on several high-profile cases of debt restructuring, this chapter revisits the meaning of sovereign debt disputes in the age of interstate negotiations. First, we show that debt acquired a broader public and diplomatic meaning as states became the contractual enforcers of private debt claims. Second, we show that private creditors benefited from the active role of their states, but problems arose, notably in relation to equality of treatment between creditors. Third, we emphasize several cases of creditors attempting to elevate debt disputes to international legal forums. Although such attempts failed, they are nonetheless significant because they foreshadow many aspects and problems in the current debate on legal tools of debt dispute settlement. Section 4 assesses the efficiency of pre-1914, interwar, and post-war methods of debt settlements against several metrics of performance. Section 5 concludes.

The European Alternatives International Commodity Policy: EEC Policies and Options

1978 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-20
Author(s):  
Geoffrey L. Goodwin ◽  
James B. Mayall
Keyword(s):  
Raw Materials ◽  
Second World War ◽  
Current Debate ◽  
World War ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Commodity Trade ◽  
International Commodity ◽  
International Commitments ◽  
Second World

HOW IS THE EEC TO REACT TO THE UNCTAD DEMAND FOR AN INTEGRATED commodity programme? In this paper we attempt to sketch the background to this question and to identify some of the major options available to the Community. At the outset, however, one point deserves emphasis: over the past fifty years there have been many attempts to manage international commodity trade. Their success or failure has invariably depended more on political than purely technical considerations. Where national security or alliance needs ‘demanded’ coordination, as with the combined Raw Materials Board during the Second World War, any technical difficulties were overcome; on the other hand the inter-war rubber, wheat and coffee agreements were unable to withstand the onslaught of the depression, the retreat to economic nationalism, and the readiness of many members to put short-term domestic considerations before long-term international commitments. In the current debate the political context has, of course, changed, but the relevance of these political considerations has not.

Nigeria’s Border and Its Effect on the Economic and Security Development: A Case of Northern Borders in Nigeria

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 50-61
Author(s):  
Hamza Shehu Mohammed
Keyword(s):  
Food Security ◽  
Nation Building ◽  
Free Access ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Problematic Situation ◽  
Northern Area ◽  
The North ◽  
Qualitative Technique ◽  
Second World

Generally speaking, the borders in most of the African countries were among the upshot of the colonial ruling in those countries. Such demarcations were mostly created in a kind of problematic situation thereby causing serious misunderstanding among neighboring countries. It is also an imperative to know that these creations were actually perpetrated intentionally by the imperialist to serve so many purposes which includes among others the continuation of exploitation, free access to their colonies and coming back as aids providers. Moreover, such demarcations are being constructed on the papers without visiting those countries during the berlin conference in 1885 with the aid of complimenting the countries that were affected by the second world to revive them. Nevertheless, Nigeria without an exception has also faced with so many challenges in its borders especially the northern area. Therefore, this paper tries to examine why despite so many consideration by different governments and administrations yet border issues continue to be the most challenging factor in this prevailing situation in the country. Furthermore, the borders in the north were so porous to the extent that the issue of proliferation of weapons and food security were very obvious thereby challenging the security and economic wellbeing which in turn affect the nation building in the country.Based on the above, thisresearch concentrates on the qualitative technique on the area of economy and security as the drivers that highly contributed to this menaces and also measures to address it.

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