The Imperfect Democratic Transition in Somalia

The purpose of this paper is to examine the factors undermining the democratic transition in Somalia. During the first decade of independence, Somalia attempted to institutionalize a multiparty democracy. However, several factors, such as the lack of a clear political ideology, authoritarianism, and the formation of clan-based political parties, led to the decline of democratic practices, followed by a military coup and a protracted civil war. That had a devastating impact on the short and long-term democratic efforts in the country. Thirty years after the collapse of the central government, the country is embroiled in protracted political instability that continues to undermine efforts to establish formal democratic institutions and mechanisms. Apart from the political cleavage among political actors, this paper examines other factors undermining the successful transition to democracy in Somalia. It identifies factors such as the practice of clannism or a clan-based political system, rampant electoral corruption, and the inconsistent role of the international community in supporting the democratization process in Somalia. The paper argues that continuing the indirect elections has blocked the attaining successful democratic transition and stalled the adoption of procedural democracy. In addition, susceptible public institutions and instability have negatively impacted a prolonged transition in Somalia.

Responding to Climate Change and the Role of Environmental law

Climate change has been putting humankind at risk with a host of challenges regarding the aspects of environment and development. More specifically, it requires excessive effort from all countries, in which recognizing the importance of environmental law system plays an indispensable role. Therefore, in this article, the role of environmental law in tackling climate change will be analyzed and, based on the provided analysis, solutions on building and improving the environmental law for more efficient implementation will be laid out to lessen the adverse effects of climate change.

FISCAL POLICY TRANSMISSION CHANNELS AND MACROECONOMIC VARIABLES PERFORMANCE IN NIGERIA

The paper investigates the impact of fiscal policy channels on selected macroeconomic variables in Nigeria over the period of 1970-2018. The study employed the Bayesian approach of the Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium Model, after examining the prior and posterior mean values on the models specified. The paper established that channels of transmission from fiscal policy affected the performance of macroeconomic variables in the country that is, the instability on macroeconomic variables performances in Nigeria are highly influenced by the fiscal policy transmission channels. The study concluded that credit to the private sector, exchange rate, government spending and oil revenue were significant variables in Nigeria that need good policy measure for their performances. The paper recommends that there is a need for a sustained reduction in the fiscal policy channels as this helps in achieving sustainable development and improves variables performance. Also, since credit shock is the most active shock through which Fiscal policy channels transmitted to the economy, effort should be made to encourage banks to create more money in the economy to the private sector. And Central Bank of Nigeria should also pursue the government in financing credit availability in the country.

Microfinance Banks, Small and Medium Scale Enterprises and COVID-19 Pandemic in Nigeria

Corona virus otherwise known as COVID-19 has left indelible marks on both human beings and businesses globally. When the virus emerged in Wuhan, China in late 2019, it was viewed as China`s problem. Nobody ever envisioned that the novel virus could spread and result into global pandemic within few months. Meanwhile, the aftermath effects of COVID-19 on various socio-economic activities might not be different from global financial crisis of 2008, which left no economy unaffected. Against this backdrop this study was carried out with a view to investigating the impact of microfinance credit on entrepreneurship development amidst COVID-19 pandemic using some selected small and medium enterprises engaging in essentials such as food and consumables, oil and gas and pharmaceuticals in Sango-Ota industrial estate of Ogun state, Nigeria. Primary data were collected with the aid of well-structured set of questionnaire from 100 SMEs which was done purposively. After subjecting the collected data to a rigorous analysis, it was discovered that over 90% of enterprises under investigation used microfinance credit for their businesses during COVID-19 pandemic. Similarly, the study submitted that micro credit increased the stock of goods of the selected and at same time orchestrated a moderate rise in profit for the majority of the SMEs selected for the survey. Consequently, the important findings that originated from this study brought the following recommendations for the policy makers, financial institution and all the stakeholders engaging in SMEs in Nigeria that credit from micro finance has the capacity to facilitate the development of entrepreneurship through expansion of outputs and profitability of SMEs in Nigeria. And as such, the policymakers in Nigeria should create an enabling environment that will facilitate microfinance institution to provide better credit and other financial facilities to SMEs in the country.

The Legal Aspects of Social Safety of Senior Citizens in Bangladesh

This paper explores the vulnerability and sufferings of the old-age people of Bangladesh in respect to health care, economic, and social protections. The article presents an analytical and conceptual approach to the socio-economic status of old-aged people in Bangladesh while focusing on the global context. The numbers of old-aged persons are increasing in the last years due to decreasing mortality rate and increasing life expectancy of the people as a result of improvement of the health sector in Bangladesh. Older persons need food with nutrient, proper and regular healthcare, adequate and comfortable living place, access to law, if necessary, proper recreation and more significantly the company of others which is very crucial in old age. Development of the so-called nucleus family in today‟s modern society, which means a family staying away from their parents, put the aged persons in very miserable conditions in our society. The right to enjoyment of the basic rights by the elderly people is recognized by the Constitution of the People‟s Republic of Bangladesh. This paper focuses on analyzing the National Policy and legal framework for upholding and protecting the rights, socio-economic development, and welfare concerns of elderly people in Bangladesh. There is an endeavor to explore the challenges which are standing as obstacles in ensuring the protection of the rights of old-age people and the development of their socio-economic condition in Bangladesh. Research methods used in this paper are documentation, analytical, comparative, and logical method. Authors tried to show that senior citizen of the society should get legal and moral protection from the family, society, and the state.

Linguistic Movements in Hong Kong: Linguistic Nationalism and Cultural Hegemony

This paper focuses on exploring the Hong Kong‟s Linguistic Nationalism and localist linguistics movements, including First „Chinese‟ Movement from 1967 to 1970, Second „Chinese‟ Movement in 1978 in Hong Kong British- Colonial Governance and Anti-Putonghua, and Pro-Cantonese Movement from 2008 in HKSAR governance.