"A FESTIVAL OF BRIGANDS": IN SEARCH OF DEMOCRACY AND POLITICAL LEGITIMACY IN MALI

2020 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruce Whitehouse
Keyword(s):  
Political Legitimacy ◽  
Warning Signs ◽  
Democratic Transitions ◽  
Weak State ◽  
Coup D'etat ◽  
State Institutions ◽  
System A ◽  
The Government ◽  
Systemic Corruption ◽  
Made In

Mali's coup d'état in March 2012 and the subsequent occupation of northern Mali by Islamist and separatist rebels took many observers by surprise. How could an erstwhile model of peaceful democratic transition collapse so swiftly? Why did so few ordinary Malians stand up in defence of their 20-year-old democracy? Combining accounts from Malian and foreign journalists with observations made in Bamako leading up to and during the dramatic events of early 2012, this article assesses the failures of Mali's pre-coup political system. A combination of the tenuous rule of law, weak state institutions, and perceptions of systemic corruption deeply eroded Malians' faith in their democracy. The junta that ousted Mali's elected president in March 2012, despite its international isolation, skillfully manipulated public frustrations with the government as well as local symbols and discourses pertaining to heroic leaders to gain support and legitimacy at home. The crisis in Mali was preceded by certain warning signs, some of which might be applied to gauge the health of democratic transitions elsewhere in Africa.

scholarly journals Political legitimacy in Japan: a Luhmannian perspective

2016 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Mitchell
Keyword(s):  
Democratic Party ◽  
Political System ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
Political Legitimacy ◽  
Liberal Democratic Party ◽  
Electoral Success ◽  
Liberal Democratic ◽  
System A ◽  
Electoral Reforms ◽  
The Government

Despite widespread public opinion against many of his policies, Abe Shinzo’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) is not only maintaining its electoral success but expanding on it. Furthermore the LDP has been in almost continual power since 1955, making Japan in the eyes of some a de facto one-party state. This paper will explore the question of legitimacy in Japan’s political system, especially the ones raised by Karel van Wolferen the 1980s, and whether the current power structure can be considered to hold it. Through using Niklas Luhmann’s social systems theory, in particular his concept of political legitimacy, it will be shown that while electoral reforms in 1994 addressed most of the systemic legitimacy issues in Japan’s political system, a potential deficit in the government/opposition coding remains.

Police in Africa

2017 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Sierra Leone ◽  
Police Officers ◽  
Political Systems ◽  
Democratic Transitions ◽  
State Institutions ◽  
Security Issues ◽  
Self Perceptions ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Everyday Practices ◽  
Police Forces

State police forces in Africa are a curiously neglected subject of study, even within the framework of security issues and African states. This book brings together criminologists, anthropologists, sociologists, historians, political scientists and others who have engaged with police forces across the continent and the publics with whom they interact to provide street-level perspectives from below and inside Africa’s police forces. The contributors consider historical trajectories and particular configurations of police power within wider political systems, then examine the ‘inside view’ of police forces as state institutions – the challenges, preoccupations, professional ethics and self-perceptions of police officers – and finally look at how African police officers go about their work in terms of everyday practices and engagements with the public.The studies span the continent, from South Africa to Sierra Leone, and illustrate similarities and differences in Anglophone, Francophone and Lusophone states, post-socialist, post-military and post-conflict contexts, and amid both centralizsation and devolution of policing powers, democratic transitions and new illiberal regimes, all the while keeping a strong ethnographic focus on police officers and their work.

Hail Columbia!

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Lohman
Keyword(s):  
Political Development ◽  
Political Legitimacy ◽  
War Of 1812 ◽  
Early American Republic ◽  
Revolutionary Era ◽  
Early American ◽  
Political Beliefs ◽  
Political Debates ◽  
Political Dominance ◽  
The Government

This book examines music as political expression in the early American republic from the post-revolutionary era through the aftermath of the War of 1812. Americans used music as a discursive tool during every major political development. The nation’s leaders faced challenges ranging from threats to the structure of the government to impressment, all amid the nearly constant threat of embroilment in European war and insecurity about the republic’s viability. Americans responded by using music to protest, stifle protest, propagandize, and vie for political dominance. Through music they persuaded, intimidated, lauded, legitimated, and demonized their fellow Americans based on their political beliefs and actions. In music they debated crucial questions about the roles and rights of citizens, the structure of government, and the pursuit of peace and prosperity. They used music to construct powerful narratives about the nation’s history, values, and institutions; to celebrate the accomplishments of country, community, and individual; and to reinforce a sense of identity in national and partisan terms. Organized chronologically, chapters address musical forms of propaganda during ratification of the Constitution, musical expression of transnational revolutionary aspirations, Federalist and Republican narratives of political legitimacy in music, political debates in music during the embargo years, and musical myth-making during the War of 1812. The conclusion summarizes this music’s reception through the remainder of the nineteenth century.

scholarly journals Study and Analysis of Interference Signals of the LTE System of the GNSS Receiver

Sensors ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (14) ◽  
pp. 4901
Author(s):  
Lucjan Setlak ◽  
Rafał Kowalik
Keyword(s):  
End User ◽  
Current Time ◽  
Gnss Receiver ◽  
System A ◽  
Telecommunication Systems ◽  
Depth Analysis ◽  
Gnss Receivers ◽  
Interference Signals ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Made In

Sometimes, it is impossible to conduct tests with the use of the GNSS system, or the obtained results of the measurements made differ significantly from the predicted accuracy. The most common cause of the problems (external factors, faulty results) are interference disturbances from other radio telecommunication systems. The subject of this paper is to conduct research, the essence of which is an in-depth analysis in the field of elimination of LTE interference signals of the GNSS receiver, that is based on the developed effective methods on counteracting the phenomenon of interference signals coming from this system and transmitted on the same frequency. Interference signals are signals transmitted in the GNSS operating band, and unwanted signals may cause incorrect processing of the information provided to the end-user about his position, speed, and current time. This article presents methods of identifying and detecting interference signals, with particular emphasis on methods based on spatial processing of signals transmitted by the LTE system. A comparative analysis of the methods of detecting an unwanted signal was made in terms of their effectiveness and complexity of their implementation. Moreover, the concept of a new comprehensive anti-interference solution was proposed. It includes, among others, information on the various stages of GNSS signal processing in the proposed system, in relation to the algorithms used in traditional GNSS receivers. The final part of the article presents the obtained research results and the resulting significant observations and practical conclusions.

scholarly journals Micro grid for All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Madurai

Clean Energy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 254-272
Author(s):  
C Palanichamy ◽  
P Naveen
Keyword(s):  
Tamil Nadu ◽  
Storage System ◽  
Healthcare Facility ◽  
Photovoltaic System ◽  
India Institute ◽  
Diesel Generator ◽  
Medical Sciences ◽  
System A ◽  
Utility Grid ◽  
The Government

Abstract In 2018, the Government of India approved the establishment of the New All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Thoppur, Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India. As the most important amenity for continuing primary care and rescue response is a healthcare facility, a secure electricity supply becomes an imperative necessity. Hence, as the energy supplier for the new AIIMS, Madurai, this paper proposes a microgrid combined with the utility grid. The microgrid consists of a 4-MW photovoltaic system, a 1.8-MW wind-turbine energy-conversion system, a backup diesel generator capable of meeting the forecasted maximum demand and a 1-MW battery energy-storage system. The AIIMS Microgrid will have a service providing a capacity of 20 MVA following integration with the utility grid. The proposed microgrid would be the first attempt at healthcare facilities in India since its first day of work to ensure the availability of electricity. It would have a 9.8% return on investment, a 13.6% internal rate of return and a payback period of 6.75 years once it is operational, as well as an attractive levelized cost of energy (LCOE) of USD 0.07547/kWh. It would provide an environmentally friendly atmosphere by avoiding an annual emission of 6 261 132 kg of carbon dioxide, 27 362 kg of sulphur dioxide and 12 838 kg of nitrogen oxides as compared to power supplied entirely from the utility grid.

Weak State, Strong Networks: The Institutional Dynamics of Foreign Direct Investment in China. By Hongying Wang. [Hong Kong: Oxford University Press, 2001. xiii+211 pp. HK$150.00. ISBN 019-590631-4.]

2002 ◽  
Vol 172 ◽  
pp. 1065-1103
Author(s):  
Qi Luo
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Direct Investment ◽  
Direct Investment ◽  
Institutional Economics ◽  
New Institutional Economics ◽  
Regime Theory ◽  
Weak State ◽  
Institutional Dynamics ◽  
State Institutions ◽  
Oxford University ◽  
Investment In China

This is a competent work that challenges the claim of new institutional economics and international regime theory that effective state institutions in the host country are vital to the inflow, and indeed growth, of foreign direct investment (FDI). It argues that the large amount of FDI China has attracted so far has been facilitated more by the informal societal institutions represented by strong personal networks operating in the country than by the formal state institutions manifested by the weak legal system. The author validates her arguments with a large number of anecdotes based on over 100 interviews she conducted in China.

Reversal of Fortunes: Transformations in State-NGO Relations in Bangladesh

2016 ◽  
Vol 44 (4-5) ◽  
pp. 579-594 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lamia Karim
Keyword(s):  
The State ◽  
Present Condition ◽  
Nobel Peace Prize ◽  
Grameen Bank ◽  
Authoritarian Rule ◽  
Weak State ◽  
The Government ◽  
Relationship Of

In 2011, the government of Bangladesh began an investigation into the financial dealings of the Grameen Bank that won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006. This disciplining of a world-renowned institution and its founder by the state reconfigures the altered relationship between the state and NGOs in Bangladesh. This article investigates this about-face between the state and NGOs from the 1990s, when their relationship was characterized as ‘partners in development’, to the late 2000s when the state saw the leading NGOs and their leaders as potential political adversaries. In Bangladesh, the former relationship of a weak state vis-à-vis the powerful, western-funded NGO has been recalibrated. Under the present condition of authoritarian rule, the state is willing to accept the role of the NGO as a development actor but not as a political contender. This article examines this shifting relationship between the state and NGOs.

scholarly journals State-Mediated Globalization Processes and the Adoption of Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting in China

2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 167-191 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Marquis ◽  
Juelin Yin ◽  
Dongning Yang
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Social Responsibility ◽  
Social Responsibility ◽  
Political Legitimacy ◽  
Chinese Government ◽  
Political Processes ◽  
Csr Reporting ◽  
Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting ◽  
Global Norms ◽  
The Government ◽  
Corporate Social

ABSTRACTDespite the prevalence of global diffusion, little is known about the processes by which international practices are adopted and adapted within organizations around the world. Through our qualitative research on the introduction of corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting at two leading Chinese companies, we identify a unique set of political mechanisms that we labelstate-mediated globalization, whereby powerful nation-state actors influence the ways in which corporations adopt and adapt global norms and practices. We find that businesses’ needs for political legitimacy from a key stakeholder, in this case the government, leads them to deviate systematically from the global practice in bothformandcontent. These intentional practice adaptations are then legitimized by the government to createinternationalization toolsandlocalized standardsto aid adoption by other organizations. Our findings illustrate previously unidentified mechanisms by which powerful stakeholders such as the Chinese government may mediate, and thereby direct, the ways in which corporations adopt and adapt global CSR practices. Contributions to understanding the political processes of institutional translation in the context of globalization are discussed.

The Myth of Middle Class Moderation: African Lessons for South Africa

1988 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 45-48
Author(s):  
Pauline H. Baker
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
South Africa ◽  
Middle Class ◽  
Empirical Research ◽  
Political Behavior ◽  
Economic Performance ◽  
Political Stability ◽  
Underlying Assumption ◽  
Coup D'etat ◽  
The Government

An underlying assumption that ocurs in both conventional wisdom and in many academic analyses of political behavior is the notion that a critical linkage exists between political change and economic performance. The assumption is that economic growth is either a precondition or a correlate of democracy and political stability. Little empirical research has been done to test the validity of this widely held assumption as it applies to multicultural societies. Moreover, in the African environment, the assumption seems to operate only in selected cases or in ways that defy categorization. Jerry Rawlings, for example, said he led his first coup d’etat in Ghana because the government was going to devalue the currency; he led his second coup, in part, because the next government was going to devalue; and, during his own tenure in office, he has presided over a 1000 percent devaluation.

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