Theoretical and Conceptual Issues on Covid-19 Pandemic

The study set out to evaluate the theoretical, empirical and conceptual issues on COVID-19 Pandemic. It stated that the American system is described as a liberal capitalist system, which theoretically operates upon private ownership of the means of production, pursues profit in business trading as the motivation and production are for the markets. In this system, price mechanism determines demand and supply. China on the hand, had started reforms where they transited from Communism to Socialist market economy with strong State –Owned- Enterprises driving the economy. They have acquired the capitalist ethics of profit and competition hence aiming at profit in the global market place. In the course of this, they obtained favorable balance of trade with the U.S. The former U.S. president was desirous to change the situation, and started a trade-war with China which negotiations failed. In the midst of this came COVID-19,which this study termed the third World War given the fact that the number of nations and casualties caused by COVID-19, is greater than both the first and second World Wars. The study applied the descriptive research technique and deployed the Elite theory and the political economy perspective of analysis. It alluded to the logic of competition in capitalism which operates in both systems as accounting for the COVID-19 as ammunition to outwit one another. It outlined the manifest and latent manifest outcomes of the COVID-19, showing the various military ships in which their occupants were infected by COVID-19 after participating in the 7th CISM world Military games in Wuhan,-China. It also listed a number of Cruise-Liners which were docked because the occupants were infected by the virus. It concluded that just as global alliance helped to resolve the World wars and previous pandemic, global solidarity in finding out where and how the virus started and conduct research to find potent vaccine to end the pandemic is the solution to covid-19, else mankind would live with it.

‘Disfigurations’ of Democracy? Pareto, Mosca and the Challenge of ‘Elite Theory’

Considering recent re-assessments of Pareto and Mosca, I discuss whether these thinkers’ socio-political orientations contribute to the ‘disfiguration’ of democracy (in: Urbinati, Democracy disfigured: opinion, truth, and the people, Harvard, Cambridge, MA, 2014) or provide a resource for the renewal of democratic institutions. Femia (Pareto and political theory, Routledge, Abingdon, 2006) presents Pareto as being in the “Machiavellian tradition of sceptical liberalism,” revealing the liberal potential of Pareto’s realist political theory. Finocchiaro (Beyond right and left, Yale, New Haven, London, 1999) ameliorates the conservative consequences of Mosca’s thought by reinterpreting him as a ‘democratic elitist,’ who holds a conception of political liberty “as a relationship such that authority flows from the masses to the elites.” Highlighting the significance of internal tensions within each thinker’s work foregrounded by these readings, between the causal primacy of psychic states and the ‘mutual dependence’ of social factors (Pareto), and between the elite principle and ‘balanced pluralism’ (Mosca), I ask whether the ‘sceptical liberal’ Pareto or the ‘democratic elitist’ Mosca elude Urbinati’s unpolitical, populist and plebiscitarian ‘disfigurations’ of democracy.

Charisma and Democracy: Max Weber on the Riddle of Political Change in Modern Societies

The elite theory of Max Weber has recently been rediscovered by political scientists and political theorists who have sought to explore both the heuristic and the normative potential of plebiscitary leader democracy. Notwithstanding the merits of this wave of studies, this paper argues that attention should be shifted from Weber's context-specific defence of plebiscitary leadership in post-WWI Germany to his broader conception of charisma as an attempt to grasp the enigma of significant social and political change. Contemporary democratic theory, this paper contends, can fruitfully draw on Weber to sink into the antinomies and ambiguities of a transformative democratic politics.

Examining the interface between bureaucratic conflict and public interest in Africa

Background: In every human organisation, there is bound to be conflict of ideas because everyone wants his or her viewpoint to take precedent over others. There are those who want to be on top of every situation irrespective of those involved or the issue at stake. However, a proactive bureaucratic leadership should be able to find a way out of these quagmires.Aim: Within the framework of the strategic elite theory, this article examines the nexus between bureaucratic conflict and public interest in Africa, as well as challenges confronting bureaucracy in the pursuit of public interest with specific reference to Nigeria.Method: This article adopts a qualitative approach and is descriptive in nature, with the researcher setting out to illustrate the association that exists between the dependent and independent variables. Authoritative scholarly sources were reviewed during a desktop study. The purpose was to identify the relevant publications and apply them in the research.Results: This article argues that whilst conflict generally is an inevitable outcome of human interactions. However, conflict is more common in a bureaucratic organisation where issues of power and influence are always a source of contention amongst the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs). Therefore, resolving the basis for the existence of the MDAs that will ultimately inculcate in the bureaucrats a new worldview.Conclusion: It therefore, concludes that there should be countervailing forces to put the bureaucracy on check. This includes: strengthening interest groups, the pursuit of institutionalism, ethical reorientation in the public service, amongst other measures. However, to achieve this, requires a critical mass of men and women of integrity, doggedly and ruggedly committed to Africa’s project and ready to subsume their personal interests under that of the national interests.

POLITICAL ELITE AS A SCIENTIFIC PROBLEM

The article deals with the problems like capability and experience of development of political elite theory, the notion of political elite specialized in ruling a country and other problems in this sphere. The author of the article throws light on the activity of political elite members, groups of people who are occupied at ruling the government, state, political parties and other political institutions. Main factors which indicate tendencies and mechanisms of state development are also discussed in the article. The author of the article suggests that political elite is a ruling layer of a society and functions in the sphere of state administration. The author of the article approaches theoretically to the notions of political elite, which in most cases, consists of professional politicians, who had professional training on working out program and strategies of state administration.Key words: state administration, strategy, program, politician, political institution, analysis of problems, activity of groups

Political Regimes, Contentious National Identity Question, and Nation-Building in African Countries: The Kenyan Case (1963 – 2020)

Kenya’s successive political regimes’ contentiousness, like elsewhere in Africa, breeds the dearth of national identity, notwithstanding national identity’s relevance in characterising countries’ politico-economic and socio-cultural landscapes. National identity accelerates nation-building, hence, its inevitability for African countries; given their irrefutable need for statehoods. Arguably, the dearth of national identity constructs gratuitous upheavals as illustrated by post-election violence and contestations, in Kenya 2007, Ivory Coast 2010-2011, Cameroon 2018-2019, Nigeria 2018, Guinea Bissau 2020, etcetera. While seeking to divulge how Kenya’s national identity could emerge with its 4th President in 2017; this paper argues that, in African countries, the dearth of national identities propels political and economic failures, destroys citizens’ senses of belonging, undermines nation-building and enhances national disunity. Irked by these peccadilloes, fashioned by African leaders’ self-centredness; this work grounds on the elite theory to conclude that, leaders of African political regimes generate national identities’ dearth and their countries’ disunity and underdevelopment.

"The Actor Is Policy": Application of Elite Theory to Explore Actors’ Interests and Power Underlying Maternal Health Policies in Uganda, 2000-2015

Background: The persistence of high maternal mortality and consistent failure in low- and middle-income countries to achieve global targets such as Millennium Development Goal five (MDG 5) is usually explained from epidemiological, interventional and health systems perspectives. The role of policy elites and their interests remains inadequately explored in this debate. This study examined elites and how their interests drove maternal health policies and actions in ways that could explain policy failure for MDG 5 in Uganda. Methods: We conducted a retrospective qualitative study of Uganda’s maternal health policies from 2000 to 2015 (MDG period). Thirty key informant interviews and 2 focus group discussions (FGDs) were conducted with national policy-makers, who directly participated in the formulation of Uganda’s maternal health policies during the MDG period. We reviewed 9 National Maternal Health Policy documents. Data were analysed inductively using elite theory. Results: Maternal health policies were mainly driven by a small elite group comprised of Senior Ministry of Health (MoH) officials, some members of cabinet and health development partners (HDPs) who wielded more power than other actors. The resulting policies often appeared to be skewed towards elites’ personal political and economic interests, rather than maternal mortality reduction. For a few, however, interests aligned with reducing maternal mortality. Since complying with the government policy-making processes would have exposed elites’ personal interests, they mainly drafted policies as service standards and programme documents to bypass the formal policy process. Conclusion: Uganda’s maternal health policies were mainly influenced by the elites’ personal interests rather than by the goal of reducing maternal mortality. This was enabled by the formal guidance for policy-making which gives elites control over the policy process. Accelerating maternal mortality reduction will require re-engineering the policy process to prevent public officials from infusing policies with their interests, and enable percolation of ideas from the public and frontline.

POLITICAL ECONOMY OF FUEL CRISES IN NIGERIA: A CASE STUDY OF THE FEDERAL CAPITAL TERRITORY (F.C.T.) 2007-2017

The economy of Nigeria today runs and survives on oil revenues. Certainly, any crisis in the oil sector, particularly the most commonly experienced i.e. fuel crisis is consequently a crisis of the Nigerian economy. Therefore, a study on the political economy of fuel crisis is integral and significant to the political economy development of Nigeria. The central objective of this study was to examine how manipulation of a few and their quest to control and organise the factors of production and the economy has resulted in the pervasive fuel crises situation and the bearing this has on the economy of Nigeria and on Nigerians. The Elite Theory was employed as a framework of analysis. The primary and secondary methods of data collection were used. Using tables and the Chi square formula, data were presented and hypotheses tested. The research found out that the activities of the elites and oil cabal contribute to the fuel crisis situation and this has resulted in economic hardship in the FCT. It was recommended that federal government must revisit and regulate the processes of issuing licenses to actors in the oil sector and legalise, encourage, standardise modular refineries in Nigeria.