scholarly journals Covid-19 in Africa and Its Impact on African Migrants

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 145-152
Author(s):  
Mahamat Mougadam Mougadam

The author focuses on the impact of Covid-19 on migration in African regions, as well as the effectiveness of mobility and the effective response of African political leadership. The article was prepared as a part of the Covid-19-Migrations news feed initiative, dedicated to issues, which the whole world and the African continent are facing.

2019 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
David Matheakuena Mohale

The 2016–17 Audit Report by the Auditor General points to the deterioration in audit results of South African municipalities. This deterioration confirms the perennial dysfunctionality of municipalities, at least from the governance perspective. Corporate governance is a function of leadership. Municipal councils are, therefore, responsible for the overall performance of municipalities they lead. Sound regulatory framework, good plans, clear strategies, policies, and systems are inadequate if not supported by highly gifted and ethical leadership. The Auditor General’s Audit Report suggests that local government struggles the most in the area of ethics. The Principal-Agent Theory argues that appointed officials are more likely to subvert the interests of an organisation. However, this article argues that the primary source of problems in municipalities is a combination of ineptitude and unethical political leadership taking root. This conclusion is based on the empirical comparative cases of eight municipalities in the Free State Province.  The conduct of councillors makes it difficult to attract and retain professionals in municipalities, resulting in notable deficiencies in the delivery of services. Essentially, councillors are the root cause for governance failure in municipalities arising from a number of factors. Findings in this study contribute towards the understanding of the impact of leadership in the failure of municipalities to meet good governance and developmental objectives. Further, they deepen the theoretical understanding of the political-administrative interface.


Author(s):  
Joanie Bouchard

Abstract Research into the impact of a politician's sociodemographic profile on vote choice in Westminster-style systems has been hindered by the relative sociodemographic homogeneity of party leaders. Past research has focused mainly on the evaluation of local candidates in the American context, but given that elections in plurality systems are far less candidate-oriented , the evaluation of local candidates tells us little about the prevalence of affinity or discrimination in other contexts. This article investigates the effect of political leaders' ethnicity on political behavior by looking at the case of Jagmeet Singh in Canada, the first federal party leader of color in the country's history. While the literature has shown that the gender of leaders in Canada can matter, little is known about the attitudes of Canadians toward party leaders of color specifically. We are interested in the evaluations of Singh and his party, as well as the shifts in voting intentions between elections in 2015 and 2019. We uncover affinity-based behaviors from individuals who identify as Sikh, as well as a negative reception of Singh's candidacy in Quebec.


2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 338-353
Author(s):  
Nadia Sa’d Al-Deen

Emboldened by American partiality for the Israeli occupation and the feeble Arab-Islamic support for the Palestinian cause, Israel has been taking advantage, over the last five years, of the current events and changing conditions prevailing in the regional Arab system. The Israeli occupation authority employs the two contingent devices of education and the economy in occupied Jerusalem as a base for counter-action in its desperate effort to hit the collective political consciousness that demands terminating occupation, liberation and self-determination. The occupation authority in occupied Jerusalem has employed a systematic scheme to isolate the city from the rest of the West Bank territories. Their aim is to destroy its trade movement in order to tighten the loop of hegemony around the vital economic and social sectors, and to deprive the Palestinian Authority from returns of tourism. Life for the residents of the city has become complicated in every possible way, prompting them to abandon their city. All this would be a part of a ‘voluntary immigration’ policy as a prelude to Judaizing the city, evacuating its residents, replacing them with settlers and, ultimately, dropping the city off the partition claims. The measures adopted by the occupation authorities take advantage of the educational and economic dimensions and employ them as leverage for penetrating the articulating points of the resisting Jerusalemite society. This goal is being achieved by shaking the foundations of the educational system and by obstructing endeavours seeking to improve and propagate it. The occupation authority continued to perpetrate its scheme of ‘displacement/settlement’ when it recently expelled 100,000 Jerusalemites from their city. In light of the aforesaid, this research examines, as its main theme, the impact of putting the educational and economic dimensions to use in the Israeli project against occupied Jerusalem, on the fate of the city, and on the equation of the Arab–Israeli conflict. The paper also argues that it would be natural that a popular youth movement emerging in the face of Israel’s intransigence will nominate its own political leadership, dissociated from the political leadership of the Palestinian factions, so that insurrection can continue.


2021 ◽  
pp. 002190962110462
Author(s):  
Nikolay A Medushevskiy ◽  
Alisa R Shishkina

This article focuses on the policy of France’s Fifth Republic on the African continent, primarily in the area of historical French influence formed during the colonial period. We analyze the conditions, prerequisites, and mechanisms for the development of cooperation between France and the African states, with reference to the implementation of France’s national interests. In this study, we aim to identify and generalize the models and methods of pursuing French national interests on the African continent, including in connection with the development of individual African states, as well as the impact of globalization.


2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Evangelos Vasileiou

This note shows that the effective response of a country in its battle against COVID-19 influences the exchange rate of its currency. Particularly, we examine the GBPUSD, AUDUSD and AUDGBP pairs of currency during the COVID-19 outbreak and the results show that the domestic currency of the country which documents more COVID-19 cases in each pair is depreciated against the foreign one. Therefore, a country which cannot effectively mitigate the impact of COVID-19 and whose currency is depreciated may present further economic consequences in the future. Such consequences extend beyond economic recession and may include sovereign and interest rate risk. These findings may be useful for policy makers in order to estimate the cost of the pandemic.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jihee Choi ◽  
Soobin Seo

Purpose This paper aims to investigate consumer responses to brand rumors and corporate rumor response strategies in the restaurant industry. Design/methodology/approach A scenario-based experimental design was used to examine changes in consumers’ brand evaluation depending on level of brand equity and corporate choice of response strategy. Findings It was found that the impact of brand rumors on consumer responses is more negative when the restaurant’s brand equity is low compared to when it is high. It was also found that a company's use of active response strategies is more effective in combating brand rumor than a strategy of simple denial. Practical implications The findings have significant implications for both academics and practitioners in terms of developing effective response strategies for counteracting brand rumors. Originality/value Given the frequency of brand rumors in the restaurant industry and their serious negative impacts, this study extends the existing brand crisis communication literature by demonstrating how consumers respond to a rumor and the effectiveness of different corporate rumor response strategies.


Author(s):  
Niayesh Afshordi ◽  
Benjamin Holder ◽  
Mohammad Bahrami ◽  
Daniel Lichtblau

The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has caused significant mortality and morbidity worldwide, sparing almost no community. As the disease will likely remain a threat for years to come, an understanding of the precise influences of human demographics and settlement, as well as the dynamic factors of climate, susceptible depletion, and intervention, on the spread of localized epidemics will be vital for mounting an effective response. We consider the entire set of local epidemics in the United States; a broad selection of demographic, population density, and climate factors; and local mobility data, tracking social distancing interventions, to determine the key factors driving the spread and containment of the virus. Assuming first a linear model for the rate of exponential growth (or decay) in cases/mortality, we find that population-weighted density, humidity, and median age dominate the dynamics of growth and decline, once interventions are accounted for. A focus on distinct metropolitan areas suggests that some locales benefited from the timing of a nearly simultaneous nationwide shutdown, and/or the regional climate conditions in mid-March; while others suffered significant outbreaks prior to intervention. Using a first-principles model of the infection spread, we then develop predictions for the impact of the relaxation of social distancing and local climate conditions. A few regions, where a significant fraction of the population was infected, show evidence that the epidemic has partially resolved via depletion of the susceptible population (i.e., “herd immunity”), while most regions in the United States remain overwhelmingly susceptible. These results will be important for optimal management of intervention strategies, which can be facilitated using our online dashboard.


Author(s):  
Iryna ROZINA

The relevance of the research is related to the need for studying the character of psychosomatic disorders in adolescence, which is insufficiently investigated and requires more in-depth research, in particular designing a comprehensive program that includes a system of training exercises to overcome psychosomatic disorders. The problem of studying psychosomatic relationships is one of the most difficult problems of modern psychology and medicine, despite the fact that the close connection between mental and somatic has been studied for several centuries. Mental trauma is a leading cause of neuroses formation and progress, its pathogenic significance is determined by the complex interaction with many other factors being a result of an individual’s life, formation of his body and personality, especially in adolescence. The subject of the research is to study special features of psychosomatic disorders, as well as to design a program for adolescents with signs of neurotic disorders. The subject matter of the research is the peculiarities of psychosomatic disorders manifestation and neurotic signs in adolescence. The article presents a theoretical analysis of modern approaches in psychology to the study of psychosomatic disorders peculiarities, their classification, considering the signs of neurotic disorders in adolescence. The work analyzes age characteristics of psychosomatic disorders in adolescence. Modern adolescents are exposed to various stressors, to the impact of audiovisual information, school overload, extra classes, exams, and a special problem that is a change in quality of life and prevalence of alcoholism, smoking, drug addiction, especially drug addiction among adolescents. The complex of these factors has negative consequences both on a psychological and physical level. Most authors who study the causes of psychosomatic illnesses recognize the important role of parents in the development of mentally and physically healthy children. Many studies highlight the role of early mother-child relationships in the formation of psychosomatic pathology. Various violations of this relationship usually lead to abnormalities in a child’s development. (M. Mahler, E. T. Eidemiller, Yustitskis, D. Winnicott, M. Klein). The results of an empirical study aimed at identifying signs of psychosomatic disorders are considered. The following methods were used: observation, questionnaires, and such methods as diagnosis of neurotic disorders in adolescence (DND), diagnosis of the level of school anxiety by Phillips, “Non-existent animal” by M.Z. Drukarevich. The peculiarities of designing and testing the correction program, which is aimed at reducing the signs of neurotic manifestations in adolescence, are revealed. Objectives of the correction program are: searching for interaction of adolescents with society, finding and testing skills of effective response to external stimuli; increasing the level of self-esteem; removal of emotional tension; reducing anxiety. The results confirm the possibility of reducing the signs of neurotic manifestations of adolescents and help to delay or completely stop a possible personality disorder.


Daedalus ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 150 (4) ◽  
pp. 7-26
Author(s):  
Allen Isaacman ◽  
Muchaparara Musemwa

Abstract This essay explores the multiple ways in which the nexuses between water scarcity and climate change are socially and historically grounded in ordinary people's lived experiences and are embedded in specific fields of power. Here we specifically delineate four critical dimensions in which the water crises confronting the African continent in an age of climate change are clearly expressed: the increasing scarcity, privatization, and commodification of water in urban centers; the impact of large dams on the countryside; the health consequences of water shortages and how they, in turn, affect other aspects of people's experiences, sociopolitical dynamics, and well-being, broadly conceived; and water governance and the politics of water at the local, national, and transnational levels. These overarching themes form the collective basis for the host of essays in this volume that provide rich accounts of conflicts and struggles over water use and how these tensions have been mitigated.


2015 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 430-446 ◽  
Author(s):  
Busaya Virakul

Purpose – This paper aims to propose an effective response by business organizations to the impact of global challenges and sustainable development (SD). It also presents an overview model of organizational performance employing such an approach. Design/methodology/approach – This paper is a conceptual work based upon a review of theories, research findings and reports gathered from relevant literature. The review yielded the following research framework: many countries are facing global challenges; these global challenges are affecting business organizations as external factors; SD is a concept employed to address these challenges; SD can be applied in business organizations through corporate social responsibility (CSR), corporate governance (CG) and sustainability policy and practices; and embedding CSR, CG and sustainability concepts at a strategic level is an effective response to global challenges. Findings – Global challenges are impacting on business organizations and will continue to do so into the future. CSR, CG and sustainability concepts are increasingly being adopted by leading business organizations throughout the world. Embedding CSR, CG and sustainability concepts at a strategic level can sustain long-term organizational performance, as they help businesses face global challenges in a positive manner and maintain their position in societies on good terms with all stakeholders. Research limitations/implications – Different cultural or socio-economic environments may limit the interpretation and application of the findings or propositions in this research. Practical implications – How CSR, CG and sustainability concepts can be holistically implemented in business practices. Social implications – The role of business in lessening the effect of global challenges and supporting SD is illustrated in the proposed model. Originality/value – This paper demonstrates connections among the following critical influences on organizational performance: global challenges; SD; and CSR, CG and sustainability.


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