Constructions of Moral Values in Reader Comments of the Samantha Sex Robot Discourse in East African Newspapers

Although artificial intelligence (ai) has been touted as revolutionary, this technology has sparked ethical concerns, with man accused of attempting to create a ‘play God’ with it. While creators of sex robots have been hailed for reigniting sexual relationships, they have received flack in equal measure for their apparent moral absurdity. From a Christian values perspective, this study interrogates how the Samantha sex robot invention was framed in 129 online reader comments in two East African newspapers – The Standard and The Daily Monitor. Findings showed that comments fell under the value themes of ‘family bond’, ‘compromised conscience’, and ‘apocalypse’. While a few positioned sex robots as a panacea to domestic instability, the majority opinion viewed the robots as ‘destroyers’ of the God-ordained family unit and tools of dehumanizing women, and thus morally contradictory to Christian teachings. Justifying sex robots was considered to be ‘negotiating’ or ‘rationalizing’ with established Christian values and therefore ‘rebelling against God’. Man’s extremity with the creation and use of sex robots sparked predictions of a self-fulfilling prophecy of his extermination for inciting the wrath of God. The preservation of culture also underpinned the ethical evaluations of robots by some commenters.

Realizing the Horn of Africa in a New Context: Challenges and Opportunities for Peace in Somalia

In 1991 growing political pressure and infighting led to the collapse of the Somalia government. Key institutions of governance disintegrated, and public services could no longer be provided. The Somali National Army was amongst the key institutions that collapsed and, in its place, warlords and clan militias emerged to fill the gap. Henceforth for over two decades, these non-state actors competed over control of both political and economic power while other radical organizations such as Al-Shaabab emerged with an objective to establish an Islamic state. This instability thus led to displacement of populations, insecurity both at the domestic and regional level. This thesis seeks to examine how the collapse of Somali impacted the military and why moving forward in the transitional period, reforming the military is vital to the future of Somalia and geopolitical and economic stability. The thesis adopts state building and realism as it theoretical frameworks and argues for the need of military reforms within the conceptual frameworks of security reforms. Specifically, the thesis reiterated that if the Horn of Africa and the greater Eastern Africa region is to experience geopolitical and economic stability, then the SNA should undertake key reforms in order to reinforce its capacity to resolve domestic instability in Somalia which is the causal factor in geopolitical and economic instability caused by threats such as terrorism, piracy, and bilateral tensions between regional states. The study suggests that reforms in the military such institutional capacity building, coordination of security assistance, and establishing civilian oversight over military is critical in reviving the capacity of SNA and with it, the first step towards restoring regional stability.

Circumstances of accession to the throne of Philip II of Macedon: problems and discussions

The persona of the Macedonian King Philip II continues to stir controversy among researchers. The goal of this article is lies in examination of the problems and contradictions associated with the circumstances of accession to the throne of Philip II of Macedon (360/359-336 BC). Separate attention is given to the discussions on his captivity in Thebes and Illyria, as well as their impact upon Philip's future policy. The author considers the problem of regency and interrelated system of Macedonian succession to the throne. The scientific novelty lies in comprehensive analysis of the sources that describe the initial period of the reign of Philip II of Macedon. The conclusion is made that in his youth years, Philip was being held in captive not only in Thebes, but in Illyria as well. The authors believe that the beginning of the reign of Philip II of Macedon, which is traditionally considered in historiography as 359 BC, should be replaced with 360 BC. Moreover, the complicated international situation alongside domestic instability should have influenced the proclamation of Philip II as king without a regency period.

British Partner

Washington was largely a bystander during the transfer of power in Nigeria. Yet London and Lagos saw a postcolonial role for the United States in Nigeria as a provider of development aid, and the Americans increasingly identified Nigeria as a key state in Africa. After independence, this led to an Anglo-American ‘burden-sharing’ in Nigeria, wherein London was responsible for defence and military assistance and Washington became the main provider of development aid. But following the abrogation of the Anglo-Nigerian defence agreement, and in search of alternative sources of military assistance, the Nigerians began to approach Washington with requests for military assistance. The Americans, who wanted to focus on development aid, were hesitant. But eventually, increasing domestic instability, regional tensions, and what was perceived as a communist offensive in West Africa convinced Washington to militarize its aid policy in close consultation with the British.

GLOBALIZATION AND SOCIAL INEQUALITY IN NIGERIA

Globalization creates social inequality and instability, it poses threat to sovereignty and territorial integrity not just in the post-colonial countries of Asia and Afrika, but also in the current Westphalia state system. Globalization often tacitly embolden demands for new states. Meanwhile, neo-liberalism that works in the well-established market economies in the West has failed to meet the target in the emerging markets of the developing economies. Although globalization comes with both enriching and impoverishing impacts, yet the impacts are known to be disruptive and contribute to domestic instability.

Prospects for the Balkans in 2020

Subject Prospects for the Balkans in 2020. Significance Political malaise in South-eastern Europe will continue next year as EU enlargement (the West’s plan for stabilising the troubled Western Balkans) becomes an ever more remote prospect and the United States and Russia continue their ‘new Cold War’ in the region. These overarching developments will coincide with, and contribute to, a deepening domestic instability in much of the region.

Spain’s Socialists will struggle to revive stability

Subject Spain outlook. Significance Following its general election victory for the first time since 2008, Spain’s Socialist Party (PSOE) must negotiate with centre-right opposition or regional Basque or Catalan parties to form a government. An agreement with the centre-right Ciudadanos would likely provide more domestic stability and would be the preferred option in Brussels and for investors, but Ciudadanos has ruled this out, while the PSOE leadership is under internal pressure to avoid negotiations with right-wing parties. Impacts Vox will target working-class PSOE voters who may become disillusioned if Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez fails to instigate economic reforms. Ciudadanos would rather stay in opposition and aim to become Spain’s largest right-wing party, overtaking the People’s Party. Domestic instability will reduce Spain's capacity to enhance its post-Brexit policy influence in Brussels.

Revolutionary Homophobia: Explaining State Repression against Sexual Minorities

Why do unthreatening social groups become targets of state repression? Repression of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people is especially puzzling since sexual minorities, unlike many ethnic minorities, pose no credible violent challenge to the state. This article contends that revolutionary governments are disproportionately oppressive toward sexual minorities for strategic and ideological reasons. Since revolutions create domestic instability, revolutionaries face unique strategic incentives to target ‘unreliable’ groups and to demonstrate an ability to selectively punish potential dissidents by identifying and punishing ‘invisible’ groups. Moreover, revolutionary governments are frequently helmed by elites with exclusionary ideologies – such as communism, fascism and Islamism – which represent collectivities rather than individuals. Elites adhering to these views are thus likely to perceive sexual minorities as liberal, individualistic threats to their collectivist projects. Statistical analysis using original data on homophobic repression demonstrates that revolutionary governments are more likely to target LGBT individuals, and that this effect is driven by exclusionary ideologues. Case study evidence from Cuba further indicates that the posited strategic and ideological mechanisms mediate the relationship between revolutionary government and homophobic repression.