scholarly journals Magic and Witchcraft Implications for Democratization and Poverty-Alleviating Aid in Africa

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dirk Kohnert
Keyword(s):  
Social Stress ◽  
Political System ◽  
Balance Of Power ◽  
Development Cooperation ◽  
Stress And Strain ◽  
Development Projects ◽  
The Poor ◽  
The People ◽  
Power And Control ◽  
And Control

ABSTRACT & RÉSUMÉ & ZUSAMMENFASSUNG: The belief in occult forces is still deeply rooted in many African societies, regardless of education, religion, and social class of the people concerned. According to many Africans its incidence is even increasing due to social stress and strain caused (among others) by the process of modernization. Most often magic and witchcraft accusations work to the disadvantage of the poor and deprived, but under particular circumstances they become a means of the poor in the struggle against oppression by establishing "cults of counterviolence." Magic and witchcraft beliefs have increasingly been instrumentalized for political purposes. Apparently they can be used to support any kind of political system, whether despotic or democratic. The belief in occult forces has serious implications for development cooperation. Development projects, which constitute arenas of strategic groups in their struggle for power and control over project resources, are likely to add further social stress to an already endangered precarious balance of power, causing witchcraft accusations to flourish. In addition, witchcraft accusations may serve as indicators of hidden social conflicts which are difficult to detect by other methods. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- RÉSUMÉ : [ La magie et la sorcellerie : conséquences pour la démocratisation et l'aide à la réduction de la pauvreté en Afrique ] - La croyance en forces occultes est encore profondément enracinée dans des nombreuses sociétés africaines, indépendamment de l'éducation, de la religion et de la classe sociale des personnes concernées. Selon des nombreux Africains, son incidence augmente encore en raison du stress social et de la tension causée (entre autres) par le processus de modernisation. Le plus souvent, les accusations de magie et de sorcellerie font mal aux pauvres et aux personnes défavorisées, mais dans des circonstances particulières, elles deviennent un moyen pour les pauvres dans la lutte contre l'oppression en établissant des « cultes de contre-violence ». Les croyances magiques et sorcelleries ont de plus en plus été instrumentées à des fins politiques. Apparemment, ils peuvent être utilisés pour soutenir tout type de système politique, qu'il soit despotique ou démocratique. La croyance en forces occultes a de sérieuses implications pour la coopération au développement. Les projets de développement, qui constituent des arènes de groupes stratégiques dans leur lutte pour le pouvoir et le contrôle sur les ressources du projet, sont susceptibles d'ajouter un stress social supplémentaire à un équilibre de pouvoir précaire déjà menacé, ce qui entraînera des accusations de sorcellerie. En outre, les accusations de sorcellerie peuvent servir d'indicateur de conflits sociaux cachés qui sont difficiles à détecter par d'autres méthodes. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ZUSAMMENFASSUNG: [Magie und Hexerei: Implikationen für Demokratisierung und armuts-lindernde Entwicklungshilfe in Afrika] - Der Glaube an okkulte Mächte ist immer noch fest verankert in vielen afrikanischen Gesellschaften, unabhängig von Ausbildung, Religion und sozialer Klasse der betroffenen Menschen. Viele Afrikaner glauben sogar, dass Hexerei weiter zunimmt durch die wachsenden gesellschaftlichen Gegensätze im Rahmen der Modernisierung. In der Regel wirken Hexenanschuldigungen zum Nachteil der Armen und Entrechteten. Aber unter bestimmten Umständen können sie durch die Etablierung von ‚Kulten der Gegengewalt‘ auch zum Mittel der Armen in ihrem Kampf gegen Unterdrückung werden. Der Glaube an Magie und Hexerei wird in Afrika zunehmend für politische Zwecke instrumentalisiert. Augenscheinlich kann er zur Unterstützung jeglicher politischer Systeme, ob despotisch oder demokratisch, genutzt werden. Aus dem Glauben an okkulte Mächte ergeben sich gravierende Implikationen für die Entwicklungszusammenarbeit. Entwicklungsprojekt, die auf lokaler Ebene Schauplatz strategischer Gruppen in ihrer Auseinandersetzung um Macht und Kontrolle über Projektmittel bilden, sind dazu angetan, weiteren sozialen Stress zum ohnehin schon prekären Machtgleichgewicht hinzuzufügen, und heizen Hexenanschuldigungen damit an. Davon abgesehen, können Hexenanschuldigungen als Indikator für versteckte soziale Konflikte dienen, die durch andere Methoden der Entwicklungszusammenarbeit kaum aufzudecken sind.

scholarly journals Duality of roles and corporate governance in Greece

2009 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-21 ◽  
Author(s):  
Themistokles Lazarides
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Governance ◽  
Good Practice ◽  
Balance Of Power ◽  
Ownership Concentration ◽  
Probit Regression ◽  
Power And Control ◽  
Organizational Stability ◽  
The Board Of Directors ◽  
And Control

Duality of the role of President of the Board of Directors (BoD) and CEO has been regarded as a good practice of corporate governance. These two roles are the ones with the most power an authority within the corporation. The paper depicts the formulating factors of duality of roles in Greece. Literature has linked duality with performance, organizational stability, ownership concentration and balance of power and control within the firm. The paper, using a Probit regression analysis, examines whether these relationships are valid in Greece. Statistical – econometric analysis has shown that financial performance is not related with concentration of power and control. The same conclusion is can be drawn for ownership concentration. There is a trend of change but this trend hasn’t the same dynamic or driving factors as the ones that are reported by Kirkbride and Letza (2002) and Muth and Donaldson (1998). The hypothesis posed by Heracleous (2001) and Baliga, 6oyer and Rao (1996) are more likely to be true in the case of Greece. Overall, duality in Greece is affected by the historical development of the firm, its organizational scheme and even more by the balance of power and control within the firm.

scholarly journals Purge and Politics in the Periphery: Birobidzhan in 1937

Slavic Review ◽  
1993 ◽  
Vol 52 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-27 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Weinberg
Keyword(s):  
Political System ◽  
Partial Product ◽  
Party Organizations ◽  
Recent Scholarship ◽  
Power And Control ◽  
National Leadership ◽  
And Control

Recent scholarship on the purges and Great Terror has contributed immensely to our understanding of the Stalinist political system that emerged in the mid-1980s. Research by J. Arch Getty and Gabor Rittersporn, among others, has challenged the totalitarian perspective that views the Terror as part of a grand scheme designed by Stalin to silence his opponents in the Party and government, establish his personal dictatorship and coerce society into unquestioning submission.1 Instead, these historians emphasize the limits of power and control wielded by the national leadership which found itself at times frustrated in its efforts to impose its will on both society and regional party organizations. They conclude that the "cleansing" of the Party and government was the partial product of a conflict between national and subnational officials, with initiative from below sometimes playing as important a role as central directives in fueling the purges.

It was people that brought down the Berlin Wall – not process

2015 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jim Thomas
Keyword(s):  
Service Integration ◽  
Support Needs ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The People ◽  
Power And Control ◽  
Care And Support ◽  
Independent Life ◽  
Work Integration ◽  
Workforce Integration ◽  
And Control

Purpose – Integrating services does not necessarily lead to improved outcomes for people with care and support needs and fails to address the need for workforce integration. Workforce integration requires different professional groups to give up personal power, put the people they are supporting ahead of entrenched professional rivalries and be versatile not flexible in how they work. Integration is not important to people with care and support needs, unless it makes a difference to their ability to lead an independent life. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – A personal opinion piece based on learning from the development of principles for workforce integration with social care and health employers. Findings – Integration takes time and there is no quick fix or magic solution, but it can happen. People's behaviour and motivations are complex, confusing and often inconsistent, and mandating service integration will not change the way workers behave. Perhaps it is now time to stop using service integration as a way of avoiding making tough decisions about the more challenging issue of workforce integration and what this means for those with power and control over people's lives. Originality/value – The paper separates integration into service and workforce integration and argues that too much focus is given to the former rather the latter.

scholarly journals The world's view of the Corona pandemic and the way to deal with it: نظرة العالم إلى جائحة كورونا وأسلوب التّعامل معها

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Amara Saad Chandoul, Widad Ali Zughir
Keyword(s):  
Political System ◽  
World Health ◽  
The Third ◽  
The Poor ◽  
The People ◽  
Short Period ◽  
The World ◽  
Descriptive Approach ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
Insight Into

In this paper, the researcher stresses that the crisis of Corona, which the world has gone through and is still primarily a crisis of awareness in providing priorities. This predicts the emergence of serious economic and social problems that may afflict existing societies and systems, or arrange them in a worse way, as the foundations of justice in the world are broken. The researcher notes that the world around the pandemic is divided into three parts : The first part, whoever claims to be a true pandemic is a caution, and they are in two directions : The first one is for whoever thinks that the pandemic is natural and requires cooperation in finding a solution and complying with the provisions of the World Health Organization. The second concern whoever goes on to say that the pandemic is an effective act, and he has all the information about it and has to disclose and stop spreading it to protect humanity. The second part cover people who deny the seriousness of the pandemic and that it is just a conspiracy in preparation for the adoption of a new political system that rules the world, increases the servitude of the people and oppresses the poor, and they are in two directions: The first one, concern people who deny the existence of such a virus in the first place. The second, includes who acknowledges his existence and excludes his danger. The third part, is the part of persons holding that the existence of a pandemic or does not matter as much as it matters how to deal with it and with similar counterparts that are not literally dangerous to it, and the originality of their duty is to seek the assistance of the qualified and specialized, to provide the most important on the important and to present alternatives that prove sustainability as possible and possible. This is because the boasting of building hospitals in a short period was not accompanied by building laboratories to eradicate such a scourge and others that we live in and may be experienced by humanity in the future. The research concluded that it is necessary to not look into the existence or absence of the pandemic, but rather to look at how to deal with it and overcome it and its counterparts, without stopping people's lives or political exploitation of the crisis. It deals also to be careful in order that fear does not dominate us at the point of illusion, and to look with insight into what can carry conspiracy. The researcher adopted the inductive approach, by tracking people's opinions about COVID-19. The research also dealt with the descriptive approach, in presenting these opinions, in analyzing and clarifying their evidence, clarifying what is in, and discussing it.

scholarly journals Artificial Intelligence Vs Emotional Intelligence

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (11) ◽  
pp. 11
Author(s):  
Varanasi Satyavan ◽  
University of Jeddah India
Keyword(s):  
Artificial Intelligence ◽  
Emotional Intelligence ◽  
Hong Kong ◽  
Cell Phone ◽  
Contemporary World ◽  
Human Power ◽  
The People ◽  
Power And Control ◽  
And Control ◽  
The Universe

In the present age, the development of PC innovation is arriving at an unconceivable stature. Imperatively it involves the lives of individuals so as to draw in and make them feel insane. Bit by bit, Individuals chooses to remain inactive and begin to rely upon the advantages of innovation. Computerized reasoning, one of the developing advancements, in day today life utilized for the creation of hard product, for example, Cell phone, PCs that comprises of simple to utilize applications, for example, Facebook, errand person and email includes different misleadingly canny highlights which lessens the anxiety of the customer hood and causes them interface, convey and associate at an a lot quicker pace. Oh dear, this assistant has gradually driven the clients into the universe of dependence loaded up with a string of mental and mental obliges. People are the unrivaled predominant formation of the nature which can't be Substituted or imitated. In the contemporary world innovation is in the dismal of its progressions to supplant the humanity. The principal Man-made reasoning humanoid Sophia, made on February 14, 2016 by the Hong Kong based organization Hanson Mechanical autonomy in a turned way could be seen as an up and coming risk to the very presence of humankind. All the invented components are carried to reality with the assistance of the present innovation. Cyberpunk Sci-fi conjectures the advancement of Man-made brainpower to the most extreme level. At one Point it started to overwhelm the people by taking the power and control in its grasp. This Exploration Paper basically examinations the Limit and Intensity of Man-made brainpower over human power and its outcomes.

scholarly journals Followers in leadership theory: Fiction, fantasy and illusion

Leadership ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jackie Ford ◽  
Nancy Harding
Keyword(s):  
Leadership Theory ◽  
Critical Approach ◽  
The People ◽  
Power And Control ◽  
Critical Account ◽  
Leadership Research ◽  
And Control

This article introduces a critical approach to follower/ship studies through exploring the unarticulated but highly influential implicit academic theory of follower/ship that informs dominant paradigms of leadership. Research into follower/ship is developing apace but the field lacks a critical account. Such an absence of critical voice renders researchers unaware of the performative effect of their studies, that is, how their studies actively constitute that of which they speak. So, do studies of followers (and leaders, it follows) constitute that very actuality they are studying? Analysis of seminal papers in three major categories of leadership, leader-centric, multiple leadership and leader-centred, shows that leadership theory is underpinned by the desire for power and control over the potentially dangerous masses, now labelled ‘followers’. The etiolated perspective of the people called ‘followers’ undermines leadership theory, and we recommend the wisdom of leaving follower/ship unexplored.

Engendering Community Rights

2001 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 223-246
Author(s):  
Chhaya Datar ◽  
Aseem Prakash
Keyword(s):  
Food Security ◽  
Market Economy ◽  
Environmental Degradation ◽  
Social Hierarchy ◽  
Community Rights ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Power And Control ◽  
Democratic Polity ◽  
And Control ◽  
National Food Security

The paper is deeply concerned with the various alternatives for overcoming subordination of women's labour and its further vulnerability to environmental degradation. It explores the pos sibility of overcoming the inherent tension between the forces unleashed by the market economy and institutions governed by growing democratic consciousness. Thus, through detailed field documentation an alternative institution is suggested for reconciling the macro agenda of eco nomic growth, environmental regeneration and national food security with local food security and livelihood needs of the poor and marginalised, while addressing strategic gender needs. It attempts to reconcile the rigid social hierarchy with democratic polity, that is, empowering the disadvantaged sections of society through providing entitlement to productive tangible (re sources and stores) and intangible assets (control and access; and power and control over socio economic institutions that enhance their livelihood capabilities.

scholarly journals Hegemonic Struggles of the African National Congress: From Cacophony of Morbid Symptoms to Strained Renewal

2018 ◽  
Vol 53 (2) ◽  
pp. 5-35 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Booysen
Keyword(s):  
The State ◽  
African National Congress ◽  
New Order ◽  
The People ◽  
Power And Control ◽  
Public Resources ◽  
The Status ◽  
National Congress ◽  
And Control

The contemporary condition of the African National Congress (ANC) of South Africa, viewed through the lens of hegemony and by means of four sets of correlates of decline and potential renewal, reveals an organisation that has turned away from lethal decline, yet by 2018 was battling to reconstitute a powerful, united historical bloc to underpin a new hegemony. The assessment is executed across the outward fronts of the ANC in relation to the people, the state, and elections, and on the inward side, the ANC organisationally. The ANC, up to late 2017, had undergone a process of hegemonic decline that appeared irreversible. Manifold morbid symptoms of hegemonic decline were evident. In late 2017 the ANC secured a leadership change that held the potential to reverse the decline and reinvigorate the ANC's prospects for hegemonic hold, even if at best it would be a long-term, incremental process. Yet, at the centre, the organisation remained riven with factionalism that pivoted around power and control over public resources; those entrenched in the status quo ante were fighting back, and the new order was struggling to emerge. By drawing together these symptoms (correlates) of decline and possible reversals, the article synthesises the state of ANC hegemony as the movement approaches 25 years in political power.

scholarly journals Ein feministischer Blick auf Wasser

1997 ◽  
Vol 27 (108) ◽  
pp. 369-389
Author(s):  
Vathsala Aithal
Keyword(s):  
Colonial Period ◽  
Indian Society ◽  
Gender Justice ◽  
Development Projects ◽  
Structural Element ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
The People ◽  
The Commons ◽  
And Gender ◽  
And Control

Water is a structural element of Indian society. Colonial interventions not only destroyed the ecosystems but also disappropriated the rights of the people to use and control the commons. With no changes in the post-colonial period women in their productive and reproductive mies are the most affected by the consequences of waterscarcity and drought. Many development projects not only failed to address the longterm strategic gender needs but also failed to meet even the practical need of providing water. Initiatives of women's groups however do combine their struggle for water with issues of equity and gender justice.

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