scholarly journals Could traditional dispute resolution mechanisms be the solution to reducing the volume of litigation in post-colonial developing countries – particularly in Africa?

Author(s):  
David McQuoid-Mason

This paper deals with the possible role that traditional dispute resolution mechanisms can play in reducing the burden of too much litigation in post-colonial countries – particularly in Africa. The importance of such mechanisms has been recognized by the United Nations and by the constitutions and laws of many African countries. The paper addresses the issue of the effect a paucity of lawyers in African countries might have on the litigation in such countries. The approach and methods of traditional dispute resolution in Africa are discussed and the question raised whether such traditional dispute resolution mechanisms can be integrated into the Western approach to dispute resolution in order to reduce litigation. The challenges facing such integration are also addressed. The article concludes that traditional methods of dispute resolution are already reducing the burden of too much litigation, but further research using statistical and empirical data should be undertaken to substantiate this. El presente artículo se ocupa del posible papel que pueden desempeñar los mecanismos tradicionales de resolución de conflictos para reducir la carga del exceso de demandas en países poscoloniales, sobre todo de África. La importancia de dichos mecanismos ha sido reconocida por Naciones Unidas y por constituciones y leyes de muchos países africanos. El artículo trata del efecto que la escasez de abogados en países africanos puede producir en los litigios de esos países. Se someten a debate el enfoque y los métodos de la resolución tradicional de conflictos en África, y se plantea la cuestión de si esos mecanismos pueden ser integrados en el enfoque occidental de resolución de conflictos, a fin de reducir los litigios. También se abordan los desafíos de esa integración. La conclusión a la que se llega es que los métodos tradicionales ya están reduciendo la carga de litigios, pero que ello debería ser respaldado con más investigaciones que utilicen datos estadísticos y empíricos.

1964 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 440-442
Author(s):  
Ronald Robinson

At the fourth Cambridge conference on development problems, the role of industry was discussed by ministers, senior officials, economic advisers, and business executives, from 22 African, Asian, and Caribbean countries, the United Nations, and the World Bank. Have some, if not all, of Africa's new nations now reached the stage when it would pay them to put their biggest bets on quick industrialisation? Or must they go on putting most of their money and brains into bringing about an agricultural revolution first, before striving for industrial take-off? These questions started the conference off on one of its big themes.


2001 ◽  
Vol 33 (4) ◽  
pp. 663-665 ◽  
Author(s):  
Asim Erdilek

The surge in foreign direct investment (FDI)—investment with managerial control by the foreign investor, usually a multinational corporation—has been the major driver of globalization in the past two decades and the accelerator of economic development in many developing countries. It has, however, bypassed Turkey. By all relevant relative measures found in the United Nations' annual World Investment Report, Turkey has failed to attract much FDI.


1975 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 47-47
Author(s):  
Richard L. Sklar ◽  
Michael F. Lofchie

Twenty-eight African states, over sixty percent of the African group at the United Nations, have voted to condemn Zionism as “a form of racism.” Five African countries opposed the resolution and twelve abstained. People of good will do disagree about the merits of particular Israeli policies. The meaning of Zionism is also a matter of serious debate in Jewish and intercultural circles. But to identify Zionism with racism is nothing less than an act of hostility toward the Jewish people. Sadly, the African states contributed as much as any other regional bloc to the perpetration of this act.


Author(s):  
Samrita Sinha ◽  

According to John Quintero, “The decolonisation agenda championed by the United Nations is not based exclusively on independence. It is the exercise of the human right of self-determination, rather than independence per se, that the United Nations has continued to push for.” Situated within ontologies of the human right of self-determination, this paper will focus on an analysis of The Legends of Pensam by Mamang Dai, a writer hailing from the Adi tribe of Arunachal Pradesh, to explore the strategies of decolonisation by which she revitalizes her tribe’s cultural enunciations. The project of decolonisation is predicated on the understanding that colonialism has not only displaced communities but also brought about an erasure of their epistemologies. Consequently, one of its major agenda is to recuperate displaced epistemic positions of such communities. In the context of Northeast India, the history of colonial rule and governance has had long lasting political repercussions which has resulted not only in a culture of impunity and secessionist violence but has also led to the reductive homogeneous construction of the Northeast as conflict ridden. In the contemporary context, the polyethnic, socio-cultural fabric of the Northeast borderlands foregrounds it as an evolving post-colonial geopolitical imaginary. In the light of this, the objective of this paper is to arrive at the ramifications of employing autoethnography as a narrative regime by which Mamang Dai reaffirms the Adi community’s epistemic agency and reclaims the human right towards a cultural self-determination.


Author(s):  
William Wresch ◽  
Simon Fraser

Studies summarized by the United Nations Commission on Trade and Development show that companies in developing countries face problems executing e-commerce strategies. To determine which barriers might be transitional and which might be persistent, a longitudinal study was conducted of companies in five Caribbean countries. Interviews were conducted with 23 companies in 2004. Interviews were repeated in 2008 with those companies that were still in operation. Some improvements were found in general telecommunications support, but persistent barriers were found in logistics services, and new problems were identified in increased competition and increased shipping costs. As a result of these changes, the general focus of managers shifted from establishing web sites and making them visible to more general managerial tasks connected to finding a place in an increasingly competitive environment. The results of this study suggest improved strategies for companies in developing countries seeking to use e-commerce to expand their markets.


Author(s):  
Branislav Simonović ◽  

International anti-corruption conventions are of great importance for building universal standards aimed at combating corruption. Despite the fact that most countries have ratified regional anti-corruption conventions and the universal - UN Convention against Corruption, the implementation of conventions in developing countries is not at a satisfactory level. One of the biggest challenges is the lack of political will to fight corruption. This paper analyzes some systemic weaknesses of the United Nations Convention against Corruption regarding ambiguity, vagueness and optionality in the application of some norms of the convention, as well as weaknesses in the system of monitoring the implementation of the convention, which do not contribute to improving political will to fight corruption.


2021 ◽  
pp. 86-110
Author(s):  
Dawn Chatty

This chapter talks about refugees crossing the borders into neighboring countries, which reveals a discrepancy between the reality on the ground and the standardized approaches taken by humanitarian actors. It cites Turkey as the country where the humanitarian presence was limited, and the Turkish state and civil society took the lead without the support of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in responding to refugee needs. It also argues that the refugee response in Turkey was provided without undermining refugee agency and dignity. The chapter emphasizes that global templates for humanitarian assistance built from experiences in very different contexts and among populations of significantly different makeup are not easily integrated into Middle Eastern concepts of refuge, hospitality, and charity. It criticizes the architecture of assistance that was built upon templates developed largely among agrarian and poor developing countries.


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