scholarly journals Education and Politics in Africa

2020 ◽  
pp. 71-81
Author(s):  
Valentina Gribanova

The article is devoted to the characterization of the models and the stages of formation of education systems in African countries and of their current status. The aim of the work was to analyze the impact of various factors on the development of education in Africa. In particular, the impact of military conflicts and the activities of terrorist organizations on the field of education were investigated. It also analyzes the increasing role of the world community in the development of education in African countries in recent decades. The main examples are the aspects of the activities of the terrorist organization Boko Haram, aimed at destabilizing and directly destroying the education system of Nigeria, and the impact of the Mali conflict of 2012-2013 on education. The activities of Boko Haram are widely covered in the scientific literature, but the article focuses on its aspects that are connected precisely with the negative impact on the educational system in Nigeria. The work broadens the perception of the challenges currently facing educational systems in Africa.

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (8) ◽  
pp. 4513
Author(s):  
Summaira Malik ◽  
Muhammad Taqi ◽  
José Moleiro Martins ◽  
Mário Nuno Mata ◽  
João Manuel Pereira ◽  
...  

The success of a construction project is a widely discussed topic, even today, and there exists a difference of opinion. The impact of communication and conflict on project success is an important, but least addressed, issue in literature, especially in the case of underdeveloped countries. Miscommunication and conflict not only hinder the success of a project but also may lead to conflicts. The focus of this paper was to examine the impact of communication on project success with the mediating role of conflict. By using SPSS, demographics, descriptive statistics and correlation were determined. Smart PLS version 3.0 was used for confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), internal accuracy and validity estimates, hypothesis checking and mediation testing. The results showed that formal communication has a negative impact on the success of a construction project, resulting in conflicts among project team members, whereas informal communication and communication willingness have a positive impact on project success because people tend to know each other, and trust is developed. Task, process and relationship conflicts were used as mediating variables. It was found that task conflict effects the relations positively because project team members suggest different ways to do a certain task, and, hence, project success is achieved. On the contrary, process conflict and relationship conflict have a negative impact on communication and project success. Both of these conflicts lead to miscommunication, and project success is compromised. Hence, it is the responsibility of the project manager to enhance communication among project team members and to reduce the detrimental effects of process and relationship conflict on project success.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
Davide Vittori

Abstract Scholars have long debated whether populism harms or improves the quality of democracy. This article contributes to this debate by focusing on the impact of populist parties in government. In particular, it inquires: (1) whether populists in government are more likely than non-populists to negatively affect the quality of democracies; (2) whether the role of populists in government matters; and (3) which type of populism is expected to negatively affect the quality of liberal-democratic regimes. The results find strong evidence that the role of populists in government affects several qualities of democracy. While robust, the findings related to (2) are less clear-cut than those pertaining to (1). Finally, regardless of their role in government, different types of populism have different impacts on the qualities of democracy. The results show that exclusionary populist parties in government tend to have more of a negative impact than other forms of populism.


Author(s):  
Rade M. Ciric ◽  
Sasa N. Mandic

AbstractThe Republic of Serbia must make significant efforts to promote and exploit renewable energy sources and increase energy efficiency in all energy sectors to ensure energy security and economic competitiveness, reduce the negative impact on the environment from energy production and use, and contribute to global efforts to reduce greenhouse gases. Within the paper several issues of integration of recently realized CHP plant are introduced and discussed. Firstly, the legal and energy policy issues in the Republic of Serbia regarding connecting CHP to the grid are presented. The challenges and technical solutions for CHP connection to the grid, as well as power quality issues and the role of the CHP plant during the restoration of power supply during the maintenance of the substation and unplanned loss of high voltage supply, are presented and discussed. Finally, the impact of prospective massive integration of CHP on the energy balance and CO2 emission reduction in the province of Vojvodina in Serbia is investigated and discussed. Since it is the first CHP plant realized in Serbia, it is crucial that experience be shared to all potential stakeholders in the future energy efficiency projects.


2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Rachida Khaled ◽  
Lamine Hammas

The diffusion of the technological innovation can affect the agricultural sector in the three-sided (social, economic and environmental), a hand, it can contribute to solve problems of the agricultural sector: the effects of the climatic changes, the farming exodus and the migration and the problems of poverty and it can improve the agricultural productivity. But on the other hand, he can lead to new problems, such as depletion of energy resources caused by excessive use of energizing technologies, pollution of air and water and the destruction of soil by industrial waste. This paper aims to theoretically and empirically analyze the role of technological innovation in improving agricultural sustainability through the impact of mechanization on agricultural productivity, energy production and net income per capita for a panel of three Maghreb countries (Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia) during the period 1997-2012. By using simultaneous equations, the authors' finding that technological innovation cannot achieve the purpose of sustainable development in the agriculture sector in the Maghreb countries through the negative impact of mechanization and research and development on agricultural productivity.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 6294
Author(s):  
Peiqing Zhu ◽  
Jianbo Song

Internal control plays a role in risk prevention for firms when dealing with serious emergencies, which ensures the sustainable development of firms during a crisis. Based on the rapid outbreak of COVID-19 in China, this paper empirically tests whether internal control alleviates the negative impact of the pandemic on firm performance. Using a sample of Chinese listed firms from the first quarter of 2019 to the third quarter of 2020 and employing the difference-in-difference (DID) method, we find that the firms with a higher quality of internal control achieve better financial performance during the pandemic period; the more serious the pandemic is, the more obvious effect internal control plays. Furthermore, we consider the industry heterogeneity and firm heterogeneity of the risk resistance effect of internal control. In the manufacturing industry, which is a “disaster zone” of the pandemic, and the non-high-tech industry with a low degree of digitization, internal control can play a more important role in firms’ performance. Moreover, for state-owned enterprises, and firms with strong financing constraints, the role of internal control is more prominent. The above results provide empirical evidence for the risk prevention function of internal control and shed new light on the measures for firms to resist emergencies in the future.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 1046
Author(s):  
Nicola Francesconi ◽  
Fleur Wouterse ◽  
Dorothy Birungi Namuyiga

While the health impact of COVID-19 in most African countries appears modest, the impact of social distancing measures, closing of markets and reduced mobility is felt across the board. Domestic, labor-intensive and traditional food value chains and the smallholders they serve appear to be particularly affected. During a systemic shock where idiosyncratic risk coping strategies fail, collective or organizational resilience becomes of the essence to protect the livelihoods of smallholders. In this study, we have used pre- and during-shock data on agricultural cooperatives from Southeast Africa to understand how resilient these smallholder-owned organizations are. We find that many organizations could not countervail market-disruptions and fell into a state of dormancy during the pandemic. One reason for this is that collective decision-making was heavily affected by the banning of gatherings. Only a few organizations devised innovative solutions to maintain the market linkages of rural smallholders. The lack of resilience demonstrated by most cooperatives appears to be associated with organizational immaturity, large membership size, elite capture and limited business-orientation, which underscore a general lack of managerial capital.


Author(s):  
Sophie Collingwood ◽  
Laura McKenzie-Smith

Background: Uniform has traditionally been worn in psychiatric inpatient and other mental health settings, but there has been a move to non-uniform in recent years. Some services have made the change back to uniform, raising questionsabout the potential impact on patients and staff.Aim: To review the impact of uniform within a psychiatric inpatient or mental health setting.Method: Databases were searched for articles exploring the impact of uniform use using specified search terms. Articles were assessed for suitability with inclusion and exclusion criteria, critically appraised, then analysed for themes using thematic analysis.Results: 17 papers were included in the review. Thematic analysis identified five main themes and 29 subthemes. Main themes were Attitudes and interactions, A freer environment, Are you both nurses?, The ‘ideal self’ and There are more important things. A critical appraisal of the articles suggested issues with validityand reliability, which are discussed.Discussion: Studies identified that wearing non-uniform facilitated positive changes in both patients and staff. This raises the potential negative impact of uniform on both patients and staff, and the role of power imbalance in these settings is discussed. Further themes around identification of staff out of uniform were considered.Implications for practice: The use of uniform in mental health and psychiatric inpatient settings should be considered carefully, due to the potential negative impact, whilst also recognising the importance of staff identification and supporting professional identity.


Author(s):  
Bronwyn Jaques

In recent years, Canadian peacekeeping and UN involvement has assumed a place of high regard, reverence, and veneration, often at the expense of Canada’s military past. While its glorification is in many ways justified, the mythology surrounding Canada’s peacekeeping role has compelled many Canadians to view Canada solely as a peacekeeping nation. As a result, peacekeeping has become the “touchstone of our identity.” This mythology distorts the reality of Canadian military action to the point where Canadian veterans of NATO conflicts are often forgotten and it ignores the fact that many of the first peacekeepers left Canada “virtually unnoticed,” without the recognition and support of their nation. The mythology of peacekeeping misrepresents Canadian military conflicts and ignores that, in spite of the characterization of peacekeepers as nonviolent and unbiased actors, the majority of them were first and foremost Canadian soldiers, many of whom veterans of World War II. For the soldiers who came of age on the battlefields of Europe, the role of peacekeeping was a frustrating and politically charged experience, whereby they held no power and they felt they made very little positive impact. Despite the virtually universal glorification and celebration of peacekeepers in recent years, investigation of the “Cold War Home Front” demonstrates the difficulties faced by Canadian NATO soldiers, U.N. peacekeepers and their families in a society that wanted to move beyond the years of struggle, pain and sacrifice in war time and had little sympathy for the men and women who ‘chose’ to leave their families to serve in wars their nation was not fighting.


2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 131
Author(s):  
Bader Mustafa Al-Sharif

This study aimed to identify the role of Islamic banks in the development of the Jordanian economy. The study population consisted of public administration and branches of the Arab Islamic Bank. The study sample consisted of (85) customer relationship officers and (30) corporate service officers with a total (115) questionnaires distributed on all respondents. Descriptive approach of means and standard deviation was used; also Simple Regression was used to measure the impact of the role of Islamic banks in the development of the Jordanian economy.Among the most important findings of the study that Islamic banks have a medium level role in the development of the Jordanian economy and the development of the industrial sector, and it was clear that at Islamic banks have low level role with negative impact on the development of agricultural sector. The findings have also revealed that Islamic banks develop the construction sector at a high level.The study recommended the need to overcome the problems faced by agricultural and industrial entrepreneurs by Islamic banks in order to get farmers and manufacturers to get the funds necessary for them as this raises the level of development of the Jordanian economy.


Author(s):  
Jens Seeberg

Jens Seeberg: Stigma Statistics: Agendas in the Making in Danish AIDS Policy This article explores a number of paradoxes and assumptions in the public debate on AIDS in Denmark. They form part of a recurrent attack on the Danish ‘soft line’ AIDS policy that maintains anonymity and voluntary HIV-testing. One central issue in recent years has been obligatory testing of asylum seekers from high risk areas as a precondition for considering the asylum request. Especially asylum seekers from African countries are pointed out as constituting a major threat to the native Danish population in terms of spread of HIV. This is shown to rest on a misreading of the official statistics, repeated as often as the statistics themselves. The assumption that there is a basic clash between the human rights of the HIV-infected person and the population in general is discussed. This conceived clash rests on the assumption that restrictions of the human rights of the HIV-infected person will provide efficient protection for the noninfected majority. The potential counterproductive effects of this line of thought are discussed. Contact tracing is sometimes considered as an effective preventive measure. Part of the critique of the present AIDS policy States that contact tracing is virtually non-existing and that this has a major negative impact on the preventive efforts. It is argued that while the impact of contact tracing in itself may be rather limited, the lack of contact tracing may be seen as a symptom of insufficient counselling. While obligatory HIV testing may never be practiced in Denmark, its recurrent appearance on the agenda serves to provoke a defensive stand among AIDS policy makers. It is argued that this debate has hitherto had the effect of keeping the needs of HIV-infected people - and especially HIV-infected immigrants — away from public debate and serious concern.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document