scholarly journals Authoritarian Emigration States: Soft Power and Cross-Border Mobility in the Middle East

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerasimos Tsourapas

Can labor emigration form part of a state’s foreign policy goals? The relevant literature links emigration to states’ developmental needs, which does not explain why some states choose to economically subsidize their citizens’ emigration. This article explores for the first time the soft power importance of high-skilled emigration from authoritarian emigration states. It finds that the Egyptian state under Gamal Abdel Nasser employed labor emigration for two distinct purposes linked to broader soft power interests: first, as an instrument of cultural diplomacy to spread revolutionary ideals of Arab unity and anti-imperialism across the Middle East; second, as a tool for disseminating development aid, particularly in Yemen and sub-Saharan Africa. Drawing on Arabic and non-Arabic primary sources, the article identifies the interplay between foreign policy and cross-border mobility, while also sketching an evolving research agenda on authoritarian emigration states’ policy-making.

2018 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 400-416 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerasimos Tsourapas

Can labor emigration form part of a state’s foreign policy goals? The relevant literature links emigration to states’ developmental needs, which does not explain why some states choose to economically subsidize their citizens’ emigration. This article explores for the first time the soft power importance of high-skilled emigration from authoritarian emigration states. It finds that the Egyptian state under Gamal Abdel Nasser employed labor emigration for two distinct purposes linked to broader soft power interests: first, as an instrument of cultural diplomacy to spread revolutionary ideals of Arab unity and anti-imperialism across the Middle East; second, as a tool for disseminating development aid, particularly in Yemen and sub-Saharan Africa. Drawing on Arabic and non-Arabic primary sources, the article identifies the interplay between foreign policy and cross-border mobility, while also sketching an evolving research agenda on authoritarian emigration states’ policy-making.


1999 ◽  
Vol 37 (4) ◽  
pp. 621-641 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ellen Hauser

Aid donors' support for democratisation in sub-Saharan Africa in the 1990s has been tempered by their desire to achieve other objectives. In Uganda, a high level of donor support for the Museveni government has been compatible with the Ugandan government's reluctance to introduce multiparty democracy. Donors have opted for ‘dialogue’ rather than coercive methods. This may be ascribed to a number of factors, including the destruction from which Uganda was recovering, the need to present Uganda as a success story for economic liberalisation, and donors' need to maintain good relations with Uganda in order to pursue their foreign policy goals. The resulting donor–recipient relationship has however created dangers for the maintenance of long-term sustainable democracy in Uganda, by condoning divisive policies, and neglecting the need for coalition-building and conflict resolution.


Author(s):  
Tamás Dudlák

This article discusses the relations of Turkey with Sub-Saharan Africa from political, economic and cultural points of view. The focus is laid on the performance of Turkish institutions on African ground, assessing not only governmental, but also humanitarian and civil initiatives. The nongovernmental factors are especially important with regard to Turkish African policy: the so-called Anatolian tigers and their associations both within the Justice and Development Party (from 2002onwards) and outside the scope of traditional state diplomacy exerted their influence on the political activity of Turkey in general and in “newly discovered” territories such as Africa, in particular. This new, globalized middle class formed the most important social and economic motivations behind the Turkish opening to Africa creating space for public diplomacy and thus contributing to the democratization of Turkish foreign policy.With regard to Africa, Turkey is the most active donor of the world proportionately to its economic performance. Several Turkish organizations (TİKA, İHH, Diyanet Vakfı, TUSKON, MÜSİAD, Kızılay, Hizmet) work in the fields of humanitarian assistance and development aid. They try to make benefit from cultural and religious proximity thus relying on direct connections with the locals and convey services of Western standard without Western attitude.


Author(s):  
Mamadou Sanogo

Ivorian-Moroccan relations are not new because the diplomatic relations between the two countries have been established since August 16, 1962, but the interest of Morocco for Côte d'Ivoire has considerably strengthened during the royal visit of 19-21 March 2013 in Côte d'Ivoire, the first, since the beginning of his reign in 1999. Morocco is now refocusing its foreign policy on sub-Saharan Africa after the failure of Maghreb integration. This rapprochement resulted in Morocco's return to the African Union and its accession to ECOWAS.


Wetlands ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan Dixon ◽  
Adrian Wood ◽  
Afework Hailu

AbstractThroughout sub-Saharan Africa wetlands provide ecosystem services that are critical to the development needs of many people. Local wetland use, however, is often at odds with broader national policy goals in which narratives of conservation and protection dominate, hence a recurring challenge is how to reconcile these tensions through the development of policies and field practice that deliver sustainable development. In this paper we examine the extent to which this challenge has been achieved in Ethiopia, charting the changes in wetlands policy and discourse over the last twenty years while reviewing the contribution of the multidisciplinary Ethiopian Wetlands Research Programme (EWRP) (1997–2000). Our analysis suggests that despite EWRP having a significant legacy in developing national interest in wetlands among research, government and non-governmental organisations, its more holistic social-ecological interpretation of wetland management remains neglected within a policy arena dominated by specific sectoral interests and little recognition of the needs of local people. In exploring the impacts at the local level, recent investigations with communities in Ilu Aba Bora Zone highlight adjustments in wetland use that famers attribute to environmental, economic and social change, but which also evidence the adaptive nature of wetland-based livelihoods.


2021 ◽  
pp. 048661342110039
Author(s):  
Gönenç Uysal

The growing economic and political roles of the so-called emerging powers in sub-Saharan Africa have attracted particular attention following the apparent decline of Western powers in the face of the global economic crisis of 2007–2008. The AKP’s “proactive” foreign policy has manifested Turkey’s burgeoning role in the region. This paper draws upon Marxism to explore the diffusion of Turkish capital and the enhancement of military relations in the region in harmony and in contradistinction with Western and Gulf countries. It discusses the AKP’s proactive foreign policy vis-à-vis sub-Saharan Africa as a particular sociohistorical form of sub-imperialism that is characterized by and reproduces economic and geopolitical rivalries and alliances among Turkey and Western and Gulf countries. JEL Classification: F5, P1, O1


2013 ◽  
Vol 49 ◽  
pp. 121-156 ◽  
Author(s):  
Volkan İpek ◽  
Gonca Biltekin

Turkey's activism in Africa has been extensively noted. It has been argued that non-state actors like business and civil society organizations take part in Turkeys Africa initiative. Nevertheless, state/non-state interaction in Turkey's foreign policy implementation has not been accounted for in theoretical terms in Turkish foreign policy literature. This paper combines post-international theory and foreign policy implementation in looking at Turkey's foreign policy towards sub-Saharan Africa. We argue that adapting to the multi-centric world, the Turkish government has moved beyond conventional state-to-state dealings in implementing its foreign policy and increasingly relies on the cooperation of non-state actors.


1990 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 255-279 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick Manning

If the best-known aspects of African slavery remain the horrors of the middle passage and the travail of plantation life in the Americas, recent work has nonetheless provided some important reminders of the Old World ramifications of slavery (Miller 1988; Meillassoux 1986; Miers and Roberts 1988; Manning in press-a). Millions of slaves were sent from sub-Saharan Africa to serve in households and plantations in North Africa and the Middle East and suffered heavy casualties on their difficult journey. Millions more, captured in the same net as those sent abroad, were condemned to slavery on the African continent. The mortality of captives in Africa, therefore, included not only losses among those headed for export at the Atlantic coast but the additional losses among those destined for export to the Orient and among those captured and transported to serve African masters.


2016 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 20-40
Author(s):  
Akem Forkusam

Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has become the top priority for international funders and they are now increasing their cross-border funding to microfinance institutions (MFIs) in the region. This foreign funding is considered an additional source of capital for MFIs in the region who are facing difficulties in meeting the demand of the poor. However, these funds are provided by public and private funders who each have different motives. The paper examines the impact of these different sources of funding on microfinance performance and mission drift in SSA, which is the world’s poorest region. The study utilizes data from 212 MFIs in 30 SSA countries accessed over a three-year period (i.e. 2007, 2009, and 2011). The findings show that cross-border funding does not affect either the social or financial performance of MFIs when time and country effects are accounted for.


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