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"This book provides a comprehensive assessment of African economic integration through the lens of International Economic Law. The analysis is contextualized within the prevailing regional economic integrations, the WTO and the peculiarity of AfCFTA. Through legal analysis, bolstered by economic and political dimensions of AfCFTA, the book illustrates the complex interplay of diverse factors that shape AfCFTA. Each chapter presents a separate element of economic integration within the principles of international economic law, with an interdisciplinary approach encompassing legal, economic and political perspectives. Covering topics such as economic integration and multilateralism, market access, exceptions, trade facilitation, rules of origin, non-tariff barriers, the book also discusses trade remedies, dispute settlement, investment, intellectual property, and completion policy. Additionally, human rights, corporate social responsibility, and sustainable development principles are discussed, alongside small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), digital trade and gender in economic integration. The book will be of interest to students, instructors, practitioners and non-practitioners in this area of international economic law"--

The UN SDG 13 recommends that effective climate action is imperative for attaining target climate change reduction. Similarly, effective investment in renewable energy is a vital strategy for curbing climate change. This paper evaluates the effect of climate action on renewable energy stock price. It adopts a short review and brief quantitative approach. Data on climate action index and renewable energy stock price were retrieved from the MSCI and Fusion Media respectively. The simple OLS results indicate that the climate action index has a negative effect on the renewable energy stock (within the ambits of this study). The paper offers some implication for clean energy stock investors who may want to sell short or long during the time of reduced prices and to make a hedging profit when the prices rise. The findings provide an agenda for further research to expand future research data to other climate action indexes and renewable energy stocks.

Abstract
This research examines the differential effect of research-writing teaching innovation on proposal and dissertation completion rates at the Turfloop Graduate School of Leadership (TGSL). The method combined a review with a longitudinal quantitative secondary data design. The data on proposal and dissertation completion rates were compared using a t-test statistics. Findings show that at an alpha level of 0.05, a significant difference (at P<0.05) exists in the proposal and dissertation completion rates between the pre-innovation teaching period and within the innovation teaching period – with improved completion rate occurring during the teaching innovation period. Results also depict a mean difference in research methodology pass marks (albeit insignificance). Based on the findings, the paper contributes by developing an agency-based inclusive framework for teaching dissertation research writing. This framework provides an agenda for further research on teacher and student agency, and hence inclusive teaching of academic writing.

This paper examines the possible influence of violent protests on the effectiveness of governance in South Africa. South Africa continues to experience huge number of labour as well as popular municipal service delivery protests. The popular social view with ensuing protests has often pointed at governance inefficiency as the cause of violent protests. This paper adopts a slightly different view in its analysis of violent protests and instead looks at possible influence of violence as possible instigator of ineffective governance. The paper is conceptually rooted in reviews ? combined with simple regression test of possible relationship between violent protest and governance effectiveness. The authors also present an examination of probable relationship between violent protests and governance effectiveness using observation of macro-economic data trends from the World Bank. The findings reveal a probable weakening in governance effectiveness or its perception thereof as a result of violent protests. Amongst others, violent protests produces a psyche of perpetual victimhood that leads to further violence resulting in less value attached to lives, destruction of economic property, increases pollution, production stoppages for goods and services and in turn depletes government revenue generation and frustrates international investors. We postulate that under condition explained above, government effectiveness in managing public resources becomes weakened and may lead to wastage and inefficiency as the resources and revenues employed in controlling violent protests are unplanned and do not often lead to constructive and sustainable public policy. We suggest that this condition therefore may result in reduction in economic growth which in turn perpetuates the same weaknesses that led to society protests and violence.

THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO IS BACK, BY POPULAR DEMAND. THIS ARTICLE EXPLORES THE FOLOWING QUESTIONS: HOW RAPIDLY CAN KABILA AND THE ADFL-DOMINATED GOVERNMENT HE NOW HEADS, RECONSTRUCT EX-ZAIRE'S TATTERED ECONOMY AND IMPROVE THE LIVES OF THE CONGOLESE PEOPLE? HOW REPRESENTATIVE AND ACCOUNTABLE WILL IT BE? HOW INCLUSIVE OF OTHER LONG-TIME BUT NON-VIOLENT OPPONENTS OF MOBUTU AND OF CIVIL SOCIETY? HOW TOLERANT OF DISSENT? AND, HOW WILL IT TREAT FOREIGN CAPITAL AND FOREIGN DONORS?

The public sector in Latin America has been characterized by the proliferation of national semi-autonomous bodies known as "decentralized agencies". This article focuses on such agencies in Colombia from the 1960s onwards, particularly in the fields of water and sanitation. The growth of "decentralized agencies" has been associated with problems of inefficiency, administrative confusion and problems of social and political unrest. Indeed, such contradictions have resulted in the issue of decentralization being placed on the political agenda

In 2015, South Africa experienced one of the worst (El Niño-induced) droughts in 35 years. This affected economic activities, individual and community livelihoods and wellbeing especially in rural communities in northern KwaZulu-Natal. Drought's direct and indirect impacts on public health require urgent institutional responses, especially in South Africa's stride to eliminate HIV as a public health threat by 2030 in line with the UNAIDS goals. This paper draws on qualitative data from interviews and policy documents to discuss how the devastating effect of the 2015 drought experience in the rural Hlabisa sub-district of uMkhanyakude, a high HIV prevalence area, imposes an imperative for more proactive institutional responses to drought and other climate-related events capable of derailing progress made in South Africa's HIV/AIDS response. We found that drought had a negative impact on individual and community livelihoods and made it more difficult for people living with HIV to consistently engage with care due to economic losses from deaths of livestock, crop failure, food insecurity, time spent in search of appropriate water sources and forced relocations. It also affected government institutions and their interventions. Interviewed participants' reflections on drought-related challenges, especially those related to institutional and coordination challenges, showed that although current policy frameworks are robust, their implementation has been stalled due to complex reporting systems, and inadequate interdepartmental collaboration and information sharing. We thus argue that to address the gaps in the institutional responses, there is a need for more inclusive systems of drought-relief implementation, in which government departments, especially at the provincial and district levels, work with national institutions to better share data/information about drought-risks in order to improve preparedness and implementation of effective mitigation measures

In 2015, South Africa experienced one of the worst (El Niño-induced) droughts in 35 years. This affected economic activities, individual and community livelihoods and wellbeing especially in rural communities in northern KwaZulu-Natal. Drought's direct and indirect impacts on public health require urgent institutional responses, especially in South Africa's stride to eliminate HIV as a public health threat by 2030 in line with the UNAIDS goals. This paper draws on qualitative data from interviews and policy documents to discuss how the devastating effect of the 2015 drought experience in the rural Hlabisa sub-district of uMkhanyakude, a high HIV prevalence area, imposes an imperative for more proactive institutional responses to drought and other climate-related events capable of derailing progress made in South Africa's HIV/AIDS response. We found that drought had a negative impact on individual and community livelihoods and made it more difficult for people living with HIV to consistently engage with care due to economic losses from deaths of livestock, crop failure, food insecurity, time spent in search of appropriate water sources and forced relocations. It also affected government institutions and their interventions. Interviewed participants' reflections on drought-related challenges, especially those related to institutional and coordination challenges, showed that although current policy frameworks are robust, their implementation has been stalled due to complex reporting systems, and inadequate interdepartmental collaboration and information sharing. We thus argue that to address the gaps in the institutional responses, there is a need for more inclusive systems of drought-relief implementation, in which government departments, especially at the provincial and district levels, work with national institutions to better share data/information about drought-risks in order to improve preparedness and implementation of effective mitigation measures.

In 2015, South Africa experienced one of the worst (El Niño-induced) droughts in 35 years. This affected economic activities, individual and community livelihoods and wellbeing especially in rural communities in northern KwaZulu-Natal. Drought's direct and indirect impacts on public health require urgent institutional responses, especially in South Africa's stride to eliminate HIV as a public health threat by 2030 in line with the UNAIDS goals. This paper draws on qualitative data from interviews and policy documents to discuss how the devastating effect of the 2015 drought experience in the rural Hlabisa sub-district of uMkhanyakude, a high HIV prevalence area, imposes an imperative for more proactive institutional responses to drought and other climate-related events capable of derailing progress made in South Africa's HIV/AIDS response. We found that drought had a negative impact on individual and community livelihoods and made it more difficult for people living with HIV to consistently engage with care due to economic losses from deaths of livestock, crop failure, food insecurity, time spent in search of appropriate water sources and forced relocations. It also affected government institutions and their interventions. Interviewed participants' reflections on drought-related challenges, especially those related to institutional and coordination challenges, showed that although current policy frameworks are robust, their implementation has been stalled due to complex reporting systems, and inadequate interdepartmental collaboration and information sharing. We thus argue that to address the gaps in the institutional responses, there is a need for more inclusive systems of drought-relief implementation, in which government departments, especially at the provincial and district levels, work with national institutions to better share data/information about drought-risks in order to improve preparedness and implementation of effective mitigation measures.

This paper explored the relationship between external pressure and social disclosure in South African banks. The South African Kings III guideline on corporate governance highlighted the importance of inclusion of social disclosure in the integrated reports of banks; however, little prior research has focussed on external pressure and social disclosure within the South African banking sector. Hence, this paper adds a nuance to this branch of literature within the South African context. It used a sample of banks within the JSE SRI Index and applied the content analysis in data collection on external pressure and bank's social disclosure. It then applied the panel data multiple regression statistics. Results showed that profit motive, government pressure and customer pressure proved positively and significantly related to banks' social disclosure at a P value of 0.05. The paper offers practical and policy implication for sustainability advocacy groups and regulators and for academics for research and academic studies. It recommends further expanded research with many years and more financial institutions aside of banks to research on likely strategic reasons behind banks' social disclosure.