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Towards Information society in Africa: obstacles and prospects (summary) One of the main strategic goals for every country in Information age, or probably the main – is building Information society, as achievements in this area are the main, which separate one state from another. Depending on it, all states are divided as most developed, developing and least developed. Therefore underlying goal for every state is not only to catch developing speed, but more – to seek for its own contribution in the work of creating new value society. Recently, Global community initiated building "Information society for all". It means, for all states, regions and individuals. These goals invite to eliminate Digital Divide, helping "information poor" to take advantages of "Digital opportunity". Main purpose of this work is to look at the situation of "information poor" in Africa continent as building of Information society is seen as opportunity to foster their development. Work theme is "Towards Information society in Africa countries: obstacles and prospects". Main goal is to highlight obstacles and prospects of building Information Society in Africa. Tasks: to highlight definition, development trends and priorities of Global Information society; to present Information society building origins and initiatives of Africa countries; to measure present status of Information society in Africa regarding complex Information society concept; to carry a comparative research of Africa Information societies. Hypothesis – Building of Information society will lead to evolution if Africa countries achieve Millennium Development Goals or if start working efficiently in achieving its. Concept of Information society is complex as it integrates democracy principles, human resources and ICT availability with usage status in every country. If one of these parts is missing, Information society will not succeed. Comparative research has shown that some Africa countries are missing one, two or even all of these parts. These finding shows a shortage of harmonic development. The main obstacle to reach harmony is local wars and conflicts. Countries which have experienced local conflicts are least developed in the world. As a result they lack infrastructure, citizens are illiterate, poor, life expectancy is very short (Chad case). Libya case is a bit different. Country is also ruled by autocratic regime, but it has quite high potential of Human resources, in spite of it, country can not become integrated Information society as it falls in guarantying of Human rights. The most harmonized is situation of South Africa, as Human rights are respected in country, but it lacks behind in the development of Human recourses, as life expectancy in country is short. Its situation recently is sharpened by AIDS epidemic. From one point of view, building of Information society in every country depends on local factors, which creates local obstacles and prospects, but, on the other hand, much will depend on the global development perspective: will every country manage to transform "Digital Divide" to "Digital opportunity". This Master work will be useful for researches of society, as it strives to highlight complexity of Information society concept and for researches of Africa countries, as it shows the status of Africa continent in the context of Global Information society, presenting obstacles and prospects for further development.

Towards Information society in Africa: obstacles and prospects (summary) One of the main strategic goals for every country in Information age, or probably the main – is building Information society, as achievements in this area are the main, which separate one state from another. Depending on it, all states are divided as most developed, developing and least developed. Therefore underlying goal for every state is not only to catch developing speed, but more – to seek for its own contribution in the work of creating new value society. Recently, Global community initiated building "Information society for all". It means, for all states, regions and individuals. These goals invite to eliminate Digital Divide, helping "information poor" to take advantages of "Digital opportunity". Main purpose of this work is to look at the situation of "information poor" in Africa continent as building of Information society is seen as opportunity to foster their development. Work theme is "Towards Information society in Africa countries: obstacles and prospects". Main goal is to highlight obstacles and prospects of building Information Society in Africa. Tasks: to highlight definition, development trends and priorities of Global Information society; to present Information society building origins and initiatives of Africa countries; to measure present status of Information society in Africa regarding complex Information society concept; to carry a comparative research of Africa Information societies. Hypothesis – Building of Information society will lead to evolution if Africa countries achieve Millennium Development Goals or if start working efficiently in achieving its. Concept of Information society is complex as it integrates democracy principles, human resources and ICT availability with usage status in every country. If one of these parts is missing, Information society will not succeed. Comparative research has shown that some Africa countries are missing one, two or even all of these parts. These finding shows a shortage of harmonic development. The main obstacle to reach harmony is local wars and conflicts. Countries which have experienced local conflicts are least developed in the world. As a result they lack infrastructure, citizens are illiterate, poor, life expectancy is very short (Chad case). Libya case is a bit different. Country is also ruled by autocratic regime, but it has quite high potential of Human resources, in spite of it, country can not become integrated Information society as it falls in guarantying of Human rights. The most harmonized is situation of South Africa, as Human rights are respected in country, but it lacks behind in the development of Human recourses, as life expectancy in country is short. Its situation recently is sharpened by AIDS epidemic. From one point of view, building of Information society in every country depends on local factors, which creates local obstacles and prospects, but, on the other hand, much will depend on the global development perspective: will every country manage to transform "Digital Divide" to "Digital opportunity". This Master work will be useful for researches of society, as it strives to highlight complexity of Information society concept and for researches of Africa countries, as it shows the status of Africa continent in the context of Global Information society, presenting obstacles and prospects for further development.

The article discusses China's policies in and towards the Arctic and Africa within a comparative perspective. To what extent is China's policy adaptable to different conditions? What does this adaptability tell us about China's ascendant great-power role in the world in general? What is the message to the Arctic and Africa respectively? The article concludes that China's regional strategies aptly reflect the overall grand strategy of a country that is slowly but surely aiming at taking on the role of leading global superpower. In doing so, Chinese foreign policy has demonstrated flexibility and adaptive tactics, through a careful tailoring of its so-called core interests and foreign policy principles, and even identity politics, to regional conditions. This implies that regions seeking autonomy in the context of great power activism and contestation should develop their own strategies not only for benefiting from Chinese investment but also in terms of managing dependency on China and in relation to China and great power competition.

Although most of the newly established democratic regimes in Africa did not have prerequisites for survival, Freedom House counts several long-lasting democracies in this region. Different theoretical approaches emphasize different reasons for the survival of democracy. The requirements most often applied in the context of fully established democratic regimes consist of the following elements of consolidated democracy: free and lively civil society, relatively autonomous political society, the rule of law, the existence of state bureaucracy, institutionalized economic society. However the survival of democracy does not necessarily require all the elements of consolidated democracy, although it may require some other than these conditions being present. Therefore a question can be raised about the reasons (or a set of them) guaranteeing the survival and consolidation of democracy in African countries. This thesis analyzes and compares the existing democratic practice in African countries and attempts to identify factors that guarantee the survival of democracy. The following tasks were implemented in order to achieve this goal. First, different theories highlighting factors influencing democratic consolidation were analyzed. Then several variables related to politics, economy, culture, external factors and regime support were measured and compared using the Boolean algebra method. The results obtained show the following important implications and let us make the following considerations about the democratic regimes in Sub-Saharan Africa. First of all, the results of the Boolean comparative analysis show that, for democracy to survive in the countries examined, a set of two favorable factors is necessary. There must be favorable political and economical conditions for democracy to persist. The political factors include first of all the strength of the state (or stateness). Other political factors examined, that is, parliamentarism and the British colonial legacy, are not necessary for democracy to survive. The strength of the state must include accountability and political stability with an absence of violence. Accountability must be present for democracy to persist in any case. However if the second condition – political stability – has a lower level, the democracy might still exist if supported by a set of other necessary conditions. In this case, all the other elements of stateness must be present, as well as some conditions of a different base, such as economic factors. The economic conditions necessary for democracy include high GDP per person and high literacy level. In case these are absent, low Gini index in combination with conditions of a different type might be sufficient for a democratic regime to survive. Last but not least, a democratic regime must be supported by an absolute majority of society, otherwise there should be Christianity and democratic neighbours present. This consideration however still needs to be verified by additional research. The results obtained give important considerations allowing to make forecasts about newly established democracies in Africa. They let us draw a conclusion that the only newly established democracy which should continue to follow the democratic road is Ghana. The other two – Lesotho and Senegal – are somewhat in an uncertain position. The results also show the importance of complex and multi-dimensional research in attempts to find the reasons for the survival of democracy in Africa. It is obvious that the reasons for a long-lasting democracy in Africa are interrelated.

Although most of the newly established democratic regimes in Africa did not have prerequisites for survival, Freedom House counts several long-lasting democracies in this region. Different theoretical approaches emphasize different reasons for the survival of democracy. The requirements most often applied in the context of fully established democratic regimes consist of the following elements of consolidated democracy: free and lively civil society, relatively autonomous political society, the rule of law, the existence of state bureaucracy, institutionalized economic society. However the survival of democracy does not necessarily require all the elements of consolidated democracy, although it may require some other than these conditions being present. Therefore a question can be raised about the reasons (or a set of them) guaranteeing the survival and consolidation of democracy in African countries. This thesis analyzes and compares the existing democratic practice in African countries and attempts to identify factors that guarantee the survival of democracy. The following tasks were implemented in order to achieve this goal. First, different theories highlighting factors influencing democratic consolidation were analyzed. Then several variables related to politics, economy, culture, external factors and regime support were measured and compared using the Boolean algebra method. The results obtained show the following important implications and let us make the following considerations about the democratic regimes in Sub-Saharan Africa. First of all, the results of the Boolean comparative analysis show that, for democracy to survive in the countries examined, a set of two favorable factors is necessary. There must be favorable political and economical conditions for democracy to persist. The political factors include first of all the strength of the state (or stateness). Other political factors examined, that is, parliamentarism and the British colonial legacy, are not necessary for democracy to survive. The strength of the state must include accountability and political stability with an absence of violence. Accountability must be present for democracy to persist in any case. However if the second condition – political stability – has a lower level, the democracy might still exist if supported by a set of other necessary conditions. In this case, all the other elements of stateness must be present, as well as some conditions of a different base, such as economic factors. The economic conditions necessary for democracy include high GDP per person and high literacy level. In case these are absent, low Gini index in combination with conditions of a different type might be sufficient for a democratic regime to survive. Last but not least, a democratic regime must be supported by an absolute majority of society, otherwise there should be Christianity and democratic neighbours present. This consideration however still needs to be verified by additional research. The results obtained give important considerations allowing to make forecasts about newly established democracies in Africa. They let us draw a conclusion that the only newly established democracy which should continue to follow the democratic road is Ghana. The other two – Lesotho and Senegal – are somewhat in an uncertain position. The results also show the importance of complex and multi-dimensional research in attempts to find the reasons for the survival of democracy in Africa. It is obvious that the reasons for a long-lasting democracy in Africa are interrelated.

Since the mid-nineteenth century the political, economic and cultural influence of France on the development of Algeria was especially significant. The University of Algiers became a regional centre for French science and culture, where the research on law and political history was influenced by the official policy of Paris. That tendency is also reflected in the dissertation of J. Le Bideau. He viewed the problem of Lithuanian historical capital's belonging through the prism of demographics and the native language of the local inhabitants. The dissertation refers to the authoritative French scholars of the time. However, even during the 1930s part of French political elite and intellectuals were still sceptical towards the restoration of Lithuania's independence. In dealing with the question of inhabitants' mother tongue, J. Le Biddeau expresses quite strong opinion that Polish language was the most widespread in the territory in question, and that the city of Vilnius, which had been Lithuania's capital earlier, now became one of Poland's major university towns. He completely agreed with the content of the Ambassador Conference's (March 15, 1923) verdict "Concerning the eastern borders of Poland" and even maintained that the breach of the Suwalki treaty and the aggression of L. Zeligowski was the optimal solution to the stalemate in the conflict between the two neighbouring countries. However, in the end of the 19th century the people of Polish nationality did not constitute the majority of inhabitants neither in the Vilnius county, nor in the Trakai or Švenčionys counties. Thus, it may be assumed that after the military invasion of L. Zeligowski, local Belarusians and Russians might have changed their nationality for various reasons. The major towns of Lithuania at the end of 19th century were linguistically more Jewish than Polish. However, language alone could not determine a person's ethnic belonging. [.]

Since the mid-nineteenth century the political, economic and cultural influence of France on the development of Algeria was especially significant. The University of Algiers became a regional centre for French science and culture, where the research on law and political history was influenced by the official policy of Paris. That tendency is also reflected in the dissertation of J. Le Bideau. He viewed the problem of Lithuanian historical capital's belonging through the prism of demographics and the native language of the local inhabitants. The dissertation refers to the authoritative French scholars of the time. However, even during the 1930s part of French political elite and intellectuals were still sceptical towards the restoration of Lithuania's independence. In dealing with the question of inhabitants' mother tongue, J. Le Biddeau expresses quite strong opinion that Polish language was the most widespread in the territory in question, and that the city of Vilnius, which had been Lithuania's capital earlier, now became one of Poland's major university towns. He completely agreed with the content of the Ambassador Conference's (March 15, 1923) verdict "Concerning the eastern borders of Poland" and even maintained that the breach of the Suwalki treaty and the aggression of L. Zeligowski was the optimal solution to the stalemate in the conflict between the two neighbouring countries. However, in the end of the 19th century the people of Polish nationality did not constitute the majority of inhabitants neither in the Vilnius county, nor in the Trakai or Švenčionys counties. Thus, it may be assumed that after the military invasion of L. Zeligowski, local Belarusians and Russians might have changed their nationality for various reasons. The major towns of Lithuania at the end of 19th century were linguistically more Jewish than Polish. However, language alone could not determine a person's ethnic belonging. [.]

The article presents & analyses continuity & changes in France's politics in Africa during the past 15 years. Practical political decisions are discussed in relation to central French strategies towards Africa & to speeches by elite politicians. French Africa policy during Sarkozy's first two years as president is examined in greater detail. The article concludes that important changes in French policy towards Africa are taking place, but that Francafrique will continue as long as the key figures in this policy are still alive. Adapted from the source document.

West Africa has been an unstable region until the early 21st century, when the conflict levels reduced and democratic elections were held. The region is very resource rich and delivers up to 1/4 of United State's oil imports, making the region a good investment for Norwegian oil producing companies. Based on prior experience, Norway has built up a West African strategy that focuses on stability and development. L. Pitkaniemi