AN APPRAISAL OF THE DILEMMA OF POLITICAL PARTIES IN SUSTAINING DEMOCRACY IN NIGERIA

For any Democracy to thrive, the onus lies significantly on the activities and strength of political parties. It is framework as per- analyzing the efficacy and efficiency of democracy in both the developed and developing countries. However, it is a different kettle of fish in Nigeria as our political parties are characterized by primordial and gender chauvinistic tendencies, inadequate ideology, inadequate mechanism and ethnic sentiments. Information is mainly sourced from existing literature and among other sources. This paper adopts the structural functionalist theory as a method of analyzing the political system in the country. Modern challenges of democracy in the country were highlighted, such as: ethnicism, inadequate political institution, poor internal democratic culture, electoral misconduct (vote buying, etc.), gender inequality, religious diversity, among others. Measures on how best to sustain the country’s democracy are strengthening democratic institutions, shunning: ethno-religious sentiment; electoral misconduct of any magnitude; among others.

Politicians Gone Wild: A Comparative Analysis of Political Scandals in New Zealand, The United States and France

<p>The place of political scandals in the academic literature is contentious; scandals are commonly dismissed as distractions from the ‘real issues’ in a society. This thesis challenges that notion, instead arguing that political scandals are an important phenomenon in functioning democracies. Through a comparative lens, political transgressions since the year 2000 that have occurred in three liberal democracies, New Zealand, the United States and France, have been analysed. Transgressions by political actors in these jurisdictions of a sexual, financial and power nature have been applied to previously established frameworks. Observations about the political culture of these countries have been made as a result of this analysis. Four existing theories on the significance of political scandal – the functionalist theory of scandal, the no consequence theory, the trivialisation theory and social theory – were also tested. The social theory of scandal is concluded to be the most applicable to the case studies assessed. The social theory of scandal argues that political scandals can foster cultures of debate and criticism which is important to functioning democracies; however, political scandals of a large magnitude or high frequency can damage the public’s perception of political actors and institutions. This analysis therefore serves as evidence that political scandals are not frivolous occurrences but instead are important indicators of societal values and can have important and lasting consequences. This thesis also considers political scandals in broader historical and cultural contexts, drawing attention to the pervasiveness of scandal as a topic of academic and public interest.</p>

Politicians Gone Wild: A Comparative Analysis of Political Scandals in New Zealand, The United States and France

<p>The place of political scandals in the academic literature is contentious; scandals are commonly dismissed as distractions from the ‘real issues’ in a society. This thesis challenges that notion, instead arguing that political scandals are an important phenomenon in functioning democracies. Through a comparative lens, political transgressions since the year 2000 that have occurred in three liberal democracies, New Zealand, the United States and France, have been analysed. Transgressions by political actors in these jurisdictions of a sexual, financial and power nature have been applied to previously established frameworks. Observations about the political culture of these countries have been made as a result of this analysis. Four existing theories on the significance of political scandal – the functionalist theory of scandal, the no consequence theory, the trivialisation theory and social theory – were also tested. The social theory of scandal is concluded to be the most applicable to the case studies assessed. The social theory of scandal argues that political scandals can foster cultures of debate and criticism which is important to functioning democracies; however, political scandals of a large magnitude or high frequency can damage the public’s perception of political actors and institutions. This analysis therefore serves as evidence that political scandals are not frivolous occurrences but instead are important indicators of societal values and can have important and lasting consequences. This thesis also considers political scandals in broader historical and cultural contexts, drawing attention to the pervasiveness of scandal as a topic of academic and public interest.</p>

A Formal Analysis of the Concept of Behavioral Individuation of Mental States in the Functionalist Framework

The functionalist theory of mind proposes to analyze mental states in terms of internal states of Turing machine, and states of the machine’s tape and head. In the paper, I perform a formal analysis of this approach. I define the concepts of behavioral equivalence of Turing machines, and of behavioral individuation of internal states. I prove a theorem saying that for every Turing machine T there exists a Turing machine T’ which is behaviorally equivalent to T, and all of whose internal states of T’ can be behaviorally individuated. Finally, I discuss some applications of this theorem to computational theories of mind.

Causation and mnemonic roles: on Fernández’s Functionalism

Debates about causation have dominated recent philosophy of memory. While causal theorists have argued that an appropriate causal connection to a past experience is necessary for remembering, their opponents have argued that this necessity condition needs to be relaxed. Recently, Jordi Fernández (2018; 2019) has attempted to provide such a relaxation. On his functionalist theory of remembering, a given state need not be caused by a past experience to qualify as a memory; it only has to realize the relevant functional role in the subject’s mental economy. In this comment, I argue that Fernández’s theory doesn’t advance the debate about memory causation. I propose that this debate is best understood as being about the existence of systems, which support kinds of interactions that map onto the relations dictated by (causal) theories. Since Fernández’s functionalism tells us very little about this empirical question, the theoretical gains from endorsing it are minimal.

Rethinking Social Roles: Conflict and Modern Life

Does sociology have anything to gain by returning to the concept of social role? Has this concept been irretrievably damaged by its significance in functionalist theory? This article aims to recover the role concept through a consideration of alternative perspectives on normativity, illustrated through research on motherhood. A pragmatist re-conception of role is defended as a way of focusing on those aspects of social structures which exert normative authority over agents, while remaining open to some degree of interpretation. This perspective treats roles not as fixed mechanisms of functional coordination or social reproduction, but instead as variable sites of mutual accountability. The article argues that a pragmatist version of the role concept supports explanation of non-determined agency and complex, uncertain and conflictual forms of normative authority. Treated in these terms, the role concept offers a valuable route to understanding the creative quality of agency and normativity.

What Sort of Imagining Might Remembering Be?

This essay unites current philosophical thinking on imagination with a burgeoning debate in the philosophy of memory over whether episodic remembering is simply a kind of imagining. So far, this debate has been hampered by a lack of clarity in the notion of imagining at issue. Several options are considered and constructive imagining is identified as the relevant kind. Next, a functionalist account of episodic remembering is defended as a means to establishing two key points: first, one need not defend a factive (or causalist) view of remembering in order to hold that causal connections to past experiences are essential to how rememberings are typed; and, second, current theories that equate remembering with imagining are in fact consistent with a functionalist theory that includes causal connections in its account of what it is to remember. This suggests that remembering is not a kind of imagining and clarifies what it would take to establish the contrary.

African Economic Integration Development in Technological Transformation: Accessing the Importance of Ethical Leadership for Policy Implementation in SADC

Most African states have suffered from severe macroeconomic disequilibria, foreign debt service burdens, and over-valued currencies. The lack of ethical leadership on policy implementation has led most Africa countries to linger highly behind in terms of development. Many countries are reliant on agriculture and yet suffer from high levels of unemployment and food insecurity on the continent. In these situations, it is logical for one to expect the full integration of Africa in terms of trade and migration, using the Southern African sub-regional integration as a case study. This study looks at the Southern African economic integration development and the importance of having ethical leadership for policy implementation. Qualitatively, this paper collected data and analysis them based on content, using secondary sources from different domains. The neo-Functionalist theory was applied and findings show that there is a failure to meet set targets in the SADC plan which has established a bad precedent for the sub-regions for African development, the failure is seen as lacking ethical leadership. It recommends that there is a need for African states to improve its infrastructure, recognise the capacity of the private sector to generate wealth and induce development, with open economies to member’s states.

CRECIMIENTO URBANO EN LA PRODUCCIÓN DE VIVIENDA FORMAL DEL SIGLO XX

El presente artículo reúne los diferentes enfoques modernos y posmodernos sobre las formas de crecimiento urbano a partir de la producción de vivienda formal. De esta manera, se aborda un estudio de la ciudad según la mirada funcionalista (CIAM) que vincula a la ciudad como una máquina y una producción en serie. Además, se continúa reflexionando sobre la mirada humanista con la aparición de la escuela italiana, que reconoce a la ciudad como romántica, y más adelante, como desarrollo de estas dos primeras. Estos fundamentos teóricos del siglo XX posibilitan una reflexión crítica acerca de los aspectos urbanos más relevantes a la hora de producir ciudad en la actualidad.Palabras clave: Crecimiento urbano, teoría funcionalista, teoría humanista, producción de vivienda. AbstractThis article brings together the different modern and postmodern approaches to the forms of urban growth based on the production of formal housing. In this way, the study of the city is approached according to the functionalist perspective (CIAM) that links the city as a machine and a serial production. In addition, it continues reflecting on the humanist stance with the appearance of the Italian school, which recognizes the city as romantic, and later, as a development of the first two. These theoretical foundations of the twentieth century allow a critical reflection on the most relevant urban aspects when producing the city today.Keywords; Urban growth, functionalist theory, humanist theory, housing production.

A supposed fifth wave of Latin American regionalism and human needs

This article analyzes the evolution, between 2010 and 2020, of the organizations created during the Latin American post–liberal regionalism wave. It describes their rise and decline and includes recent public opinion data to claim that there is no demand or supply for an eventual fifth wave of regionalism that would replicate the previous models. Considering the failure of national governments in fulfilling basic human needs, it nonetheless claims that the deepening of the critical social and economic conditions, especially in the COVID-19 pandemic context, could lead to a fifth wave of regionalism in Latin America. Nevertheless, to succeed, such a wave could be inspired by international and regional technical organizations in a way that would recall the principles of David Mitrany’s functionalist theory.Resumen: Este artículo analiza la evolución de las organizaciones creadas durante la ola de regionalismo post-liberal en América Latina entre 2010 y 2020. Describe su auge y caída e incluye datos recientes de opinión pública para plantear que no existe una demanda ni una oferta para una quinta ola de regionalismo similar a las olas anteriores. Sin embargo, el fracaso de los Estados en asegurar las necesidades sociales básicas y la degradación de las condiciones socioeconómicas, particularmente en el contexto de la pandemia COVID-19, podrían llevar a una quinta ola de regionalismo latinoamericano. Para que dicha ola pudiese tener éxito, podría inspirarse en las acciones de organizaciones técnicas internacionales y regionales, de una manera que recuerda los principios de la teoría funcionalista de David Mitrany.Résumé: Cet article analyse l’évolution, entre 2010 et 2020, des organisations créées durant la vague de régionalisme postlibéral en Amérique latine. Il décrit leur montée et leur déclin et inclut des données récentes d’opinion publique afin de soutenir l’argument selon lequel il n’y a actuellement ni demande, ni offre d’une cinquième vague de régionalisme latino-américain semblable aux vagues précédentes. Cependant, l’échec des États à assurer les besoins humains fondamentaux et la dégradation des conditions sociales et économiques, notamment dans le contexte de la pandémie de Covid-19, pourraient mener à une cinquième vague de régionalisme dans la région. Pour donner des résultats concrets, celle-ci pourrait être inspirée par l’action des organisations techniques internationales et régionales d’une façon rappelant les principes de la théorie fonctionnaliste de David Mitrany.