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In the modern global economy, transnational corporations have become important sources of technology, market access and capital – all of which states seek in propelling economic growth. States themselves provide territory, and establish the 'rules of the game' by which corporations may operate within that territory. However, with the commodification and commercialisation of indigenous cultural and intellectual property, states are bypassed and negotiations emerge between corporations and sub-state actors who claim to represent population segments. May the bypassing of the state further weaken national or state identity among indigenous groups? Such is the case that may be emerging in Africa with groups who claim profits derived from the development and marketing of indigenous cultural and intellectual property. This paper explores the possibility that profit-sharing agreements between transnational corporations and sub-state groups may contribute to the widening of ethnic cleavages in African states by promoting inequalities between groups.

Based on data from 18 Central & East European countries collected between 1991 & 1996, this article tests informational assumptions underlying strategic interaction & collective action models of government repression & dissent. Specifically, we investigate whether citizens' perceptions of human rights conditions in a country are systematically related to that country's actual conditions of government repression. The analysis suggests that there is a significant relationship between evaluations of human rights conditions & levels of government repression. Moreover, it shows that other political & economic conditions affect human rights evaluations, but that these relations do not lead to a weakening in the relationship between repressive conditions & public perceptions of human rights. 2 Tables, 1 Appendix, 46 References. Adapted from the source document.