This research explores the portrayals of perpetrators in television broadcast coverage of truth commissions within politically transitioning societies, particularly how these discourses may influence the perceptions and experience of transition out of conflict. It focuses on the narratives constructed around apartheid-era perpetrators who participated in the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) as shown by the South African Broadcasting Corporation's (SABC) weekly broadcast, Truth Commission Special Report. It also considers how this informs perpetrators in speaking about their own histories. The SABC broadcasts aired between the 21st of April 1996 and the 29th of March 1998. It acted as a key news source on the workings of the TRC for a large group of citizens. An average of 1.1 to 1.3 million people tuned in each week for the first year, and an average of 510,000 people tuning in during its second year on air.1 The TRC hearings were recorded and filmed, and parts of these recordings were included in the SABC programme, along with further research by Special Report journalists. This included stories from the apartheid era that were not told through the TRC, further interviews with perpetrators, victims, bystanders, and communities, as well as reference to news and legal documents. As SABC describes it, the Truth Commission Special Report series "contributed to the TRC's pursuit of revealing the truth about, and engendering a deeper engagement with, South Africa's past conflicts."2 The series was hosted and produced by well-known anti-apartheid journalist and Afrikaner Max du Preez, whose own identity became central to the narrative put forth. His team of journalists and producers included other Afrikaners such as his long-time colleague Jacques Pauw, and the young Anneliese Burgess. Otherwise, "his team of journalists varied over the twenty-three months of the series, generally including five and seven people who were racially, ethnically, and linguistically diverse."3 As South Africa transitioned out of the apartheid state, transparency of the transitional mechanisms taking place was essential for the transformation of governance and the appearance of accountability.4 This demand acted as one of the driving forces for the intense media involvement in the country's chief transitional process, namely the TRC. This research hinges on the hypothesis that the media's involvement in the South African transitional process went beyond the provision of transparency and may have influenced people's perceptions and experience within the transition per assertions by scholars such as Parver and Wolf, Fischer, Kent, and Mihr, 5 among others. It uses this as a starting point to then investigate the series' narrative as a source of these perceptions and the subsequent experiences of the subjects. This points not only to outcomes, but also their influencing factors with the intent to suggest recommendations for more intentional media coverage of political transitions, with perpetrators being one facet of such.
The focal narrative in the literature on government and politics in Africa is sheathed with the credence that the region has been governed by tyrants, despotic regimes and political intrigues, abetting political transitions in belligerent awareness as a result. This paper attempts to make a significant departure from this account by Interrogating the emerging political orders that deconstruct this primordial discourse on the African socio-political landscape. It argues that the locus of political transition has shifted from a long established political culture to a more mature democratic orientation. It demonstrates that some African nations have evolved from political pettiness to political adolescence. It concludes that the recent political transitions that took place in some African nations represent a different type of regime change that marks a momentous departure from the unwavering political culture previously present in Africa.
The relation between intergroup perceptions and peoples implicit theories of the malleability of human attributes or character was examined. We predicted that people who believe that human attributes are fixed (entity theorists) may also view a group as an entity and thus would rely on trait-based dimensions in social comparison to achieve group distinctiveness. By contrast, people who believe that human attributes are malleable (incremental theorists) may focus on the dynamic aspects of social groups (e.g., group goals) and thus would be less likely to rely on trait-based dimensions in social comparison. Moreover, such differential tendency was expected to become more salient as the day of the handover approached. These predictions were tested in a longitudinal study conducted in Hong Kong during the 1997 political transition. Implicit theories, social identities and group categorization strategies of 242 university students were assessed first in March, 1996, and then in September, 1996 and March, 1997. The findings supported our predictions and were discussed in terms of their implications for intergroup relations.
This paper analyses the survival of four different growth regimes conditional on political regime transitions that occurred during the first or prior year of the economic regime. The results suggest that in countries with no history of military dictatorship (MD), the episodes of fast-growing regimes initiated by political democratisation have an approximately 40% lower hazard of termination than the miracle growth episodes that were not started by political transitions. This finding does not hold in countries in which the consolidation of democracy is complicated by the historical role played by the army in the governing process. Additional analyses are carried out for the effect of political transitions on the duration of ongoing economic regimes. The data does not support the argument that "order" and the "rule of law" promote economic growth under more authoritarian regimes, which commonly feature authoritarian leaders during times of economic crisis. Political transitions of both directions under an economic crisis render the ongoing economic regime more durable. In contrast political transitions (of both directions) seem to be economically more efficient under the regime of stagnation.
The question of how to balance environmental protection with economic growth is at the forefront of policy agendas around the world. For Peru, environmental issues have opened new perspectives on how to manage natural resources while combating poverty and pursuing economic growth. A way of responding to the political and economic crisis of the eighties was the process of stabilisation, structural reform, and reform of the state that took place in Peru starting from 1991. The implementation of reforms, at the national level, implied the adoption of a new institutional and regulatory framework. Those reforms included market liberalisation, privatisation of state-owned enterprises and trade liberalisation. Environmental institutions and regulations have found a place in that framework. The reform process in the Peruvian case refers to a paradigm change from an attempt to emulate the economic and political systems of European welfare states (prevalent in the sixties and seventies) to a liberal political and economic system following the path inspired by the Chicago School of Economics in the eighties. In Peru, the failure in the implementation of successful economic policies targeting the poor ended undermining the system that sustained the political parties, aiding to its atomisation and eventual demise. Thus, in the political realm, Peru is a democracy in transition that still needs to strength the pillars of the democratic institutions that embody the political system. In Peru, the introduction of sustainable development issues took place first at the level of institutions and regulations. One of the sectors that had to adapt the most to the introduction of environmental issues was mining. Peru possess 16 percent of the world reserves of silver, 15 percent of reserves of copper, 7 percent of the world reserves of zinc, and important volumes of reserves on other strategic minerals. Mining is a capital-intensive activity and usually has had an important toll in the regions in which has been carried on. The reforms prompted during the nineties had as aim to open mining resources to foreign and national private investors that, in exchange of favourable tax and revenue conditions, would invest the amounts necessary to develop a sector which was languishing after ten years of internal war. The copper and gold mining sectors have been the busiest during the last decade and represented the most important part of Peruvian mining exports as well. In terms of gold mining production, Peru is consistently the largest producer in Latin America and the eight largest worldwide. Environmental policies in the mining sector were regarded with distrust by the economic actors. The main argument was that environmental conditions would be an additional obstacle to investment, putting the country in disadvantage in relation to others when attracting foreign capital. The approach favoured was to have as few regulations as possible. Mining operators were not motivated to undertake costly industrial renewal and re-engineering techniques. At the same time, environmental NGOs and CBOs were actively advocating for a sound environmental policy framework for the mining sector. Meanwhile, the government was mainly interested in achieving economic growth, with environmental liabilities as a second priority. The approach taken was to facilitate large project investment on natural resources extraction in Peru, particularly in the mining, gas and oil sectors. The subject matter of this research is to study environmental policies in the context of political transition in the mining sector in Peru. This research is set up in the fields of political sciences and public policy. The research focuses on the institutions and actors interacting in the context of public policies for the environment in the mining sector in Peru, taking as case study the conflicts emerged through gold exploration in Northern Peru (Yanacocha, Cajamarca) during the period 1999-2004. Significantly, the research has as background the political struggles emerged during the same period, due to the transition from an authoritarian to a democratic government in the country. The overall objective is to contribute to a better understanding of the role of institutions and actors in the design and implementation of environmental policies through an analysis of the institutional and regulatory framework underlying such policies. The aim of this research is to contribute filling the gap in the academic research on how the implementation of environmental policy at the national level takes place, in the context of political change. This research will provide insight on in how far environmental problems are rooted in the overall development problems the country faces. The research shall contribute to the discussion on environmental policy in unstable political settings, adding inputs into the debate on the process of reform of the state, as proposed in Peru in the last years. The final aim is to contribute to an improved policy making process in the environmental field, taking into account the case of countries like Peru, subject to political instability and dependant on natural resources extraction for economic growth. The case study of this research is gold mining extraction in the Peruvian Northern Andes (Cajamarca) carried out by Minera Yanacocha S.R.L., a joint venture of Newmont Mining Co. (U.S.A.), Compañía de Minas Buenaventura S.A. (Peru), and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) of The World Bank Group. Yanacocha is the second biggest goldmine in the world. The Yanacocha case brings together issues of interaction between government agencies at the national and at the regional and local levels, public participation and grievances, interaction of power and lobby groups, environmental damages with international repercussions, environmental issues as trigger for political claims, foreign investment involvement added to international financial institutions backing, among the most important. MYSRL is now the largest Latin American gold producer, while Cajamarca from being the fourth poorest department in Peru has gone to become the second poorest. The Peruvian case is worth studying, as environmental institutions and regulations have been set up in the context of a state under reform and political instability. Mining in Peru is an economic sector in strong conflict with environmental interests. To study the case of the Peruvian gold mining can give us important lessons to draw on for the design and implementation of environmental policy and law in the context of political change processes. For that reason, it is an ideal ground for exploring in how far successful environmental policies are possible to achieve under reform and transition conditions. Because of the economic importance of mining in the Peruvian context and the different interests at stake, a case study for the analysis of the institutional and regulatory framework for the environment in Peru is relevant as it helps analyse the links between political and economic issues and environmental problems. Furthermore, the mining sector reflects almost accurately the balance of interests, power and decision making processes (relating to public policy and environment) in Peru. Chapter 2 presents an analysis of the theoretical building blocks that inform the concept of "environmental policy." In Chapter 3, a historical perspective is taken to analyse the introduction of environmental issues in the Latin American context. In Chapter 4, after an introduction to the political system of Peru, the political and economic background of the country is discussed, in the light of the process of reform of the state that took place during the nineties, parallel to the introduction of environmental policies in Peru. In Chapter 5, the Peruvian institutional and regulatory framework for the environment is analysed. Further, Chapter 5 analyses the environmental policies introduced in the country as part of the process of reform of the state during the nineties. Chapter 6 presents the mining sector and the environment in Peru. In Chapter 7, the case of gold exploration in the Northern Peruvian Andes by Minera Yanacocha Sociedad de Responsabilidad Limitada is analysed. This is an example of the problems stemming from large-scale mining projects. In the light of the conflicts of Cajamarca, environmental, mining and public policies need to be reassessed to attain a logical framework that can effectively serve to promote private investment, while, at the same time, strengthening human rights. The inclusion of participation, empowerment, good governance, and accountability in the Peruvian political system is a duty to allow democracy to take root in the context of a society that still has very much to overcome and achieve to deliver effectively the promise of development to its citizens. ; Umweltpolitik im politischen Übergangsprozess - Der peruanische Bergbausektor und der Yanacocha Goldbergbau Die Frage, wie Umweltschutz mit wirtschaftlichem Wachstum in ein Gleichgewicht gebracht werden kann, ist Gegenstand politischer Programme auf der ganzen Welt. Für Länder wie Peru haben Umweltfragestellungen neue Perspektiven eröffnet, insbesondere wie natürliche Ressourcen gemanagt werden können, während zugleich die Armut bekämpft und wirtschaftliches Wachstum erreicht wird. Wege, um den politischen und wirtschaftlichen Krisen in den achtziger Jahren zu begegnen, waren ein Prozess der wirtschaftliche Stabilisierung, strukturelle Reformen und die Reform des Staates, welche in Peru seit 1991 unternommen werden. Die Implementierung der Reformen auf der nationalen Ebene implizierte die Annahme eines neuen institutionellen und rechtlichen Rahmens. Diese Reformen umfassten die Liberalisierung des Marktes, die Privatisierung von staatseigenen Unternehmen und die Liberalisierung des Handels. Umwelt Institutionen Umweltrecht haben einen Platz in diesem Rahmen gefunden. Der Transformationsprozess beruht auf einem Paradigmenwechsel ausgehend von dem Versuch, den wirtschaftlichen und politischen Systemen der europäischen Wohlfahrtsstaaten nachzueifern (weit verbreitet in den sechziger und siebziger Jahren) hin zu einem liberalen politischen und wirtschaftlichen System, das den von der Chicago School of Economics in den achtziger Jahren empfohlenen Weg verfolgte. Im Falle Perus bewirkte das Scheitern des Versuchs einer erfolgreichen, auf die Bekämpfung der Armut abzielenden Wirtschaftspolitik, eine Schwächung jenes Systems, das die politischen Parteien aufrecht hielt und führte zu seiner Atomisierung und endgültigen Auflösung. Auf der anderen Seite ist Peru im politischen Bereich eine Demokratie in Übergang, die Säulen des politischen Systems und die demokratischen Institutionen, die es verkörpern, weiter stärken muss. In Peru wurden Fragestellungen einer nachhaltigen Entwicklung zuerst auf der Ebene der Institutionen und der gesetzlichen Bestimmungen behandelt. Einer der Sektoren, der sich am meisten auf die Einführung von Umweltregelungen anpassen musste, war der Bergbau. Peru besitzt 16 Prozent der Weltreserven an Silber, 15 Prozent der Reserven an Kupfer und 7 Prozent der Weltreserven an Zink, sowie wichtige Anteile an den Reserven anderer strategischer Mineralien. Bergbau ist ein kapitalintensives Betätigungsfeld und für gewöhnlich hat er in den Regionen, in denen er sich entwickelte, bedeutende Auswirkungen entfaltet. Die in den neunziger Jahren veranlassten Reformen hatten zum Ziel, die Ressourcen innerhalb des Bergbaus ausländischen und nationalen privaten Investoren zu öffnen, die im Austausch mit günstigen Steuerbedingungen und Gewinnmöglichkeiten die notwendigen immensen Beträge investieren würden, um einen Sektor zu entwickeln, der nach zehn Jahren Bürgerkrieg stagnierte. Der Kupferbergbau und der Goldbergbau waren in der vergangenen Dekade am größten und stellten zugleich den wichtigsten Teil der peruanischen Exporte aus dem Bergbausektor. Im Hinblick auf die Produktion von Gold im Bergbau ist Peru der größte Produzent in Lateinamerika und der achtgrößte weltweit. Umweltpolitik im Bergbausektor wurde mit Zweifel betrachtet. Das Hauptargument lag darin, dass Umweltkonditionen zusätzliche Hindernisse darstellen, die das Land gegenüber anderen im Hinblick auf die Gewinnung von ausländischen Investitionen benachteiligt. Der bevorzugte Ansatz war, so wenig gesetzliche Bestimmungen wie möglich zu haben. Im Bergbau aktive Konzerne besaßen keine Motivation, kostspielige industrielle Erneuerungen auf sich zu nehmen und neue Techniken einzuführen. Nichtregierungsorganisationen (NGOs) im Bereich der Umwelt und in den Gemeindeverwurzelte Organisationen (CBOs) traten aktiv für einen soliden (rechtlichen) Rahmen zur Umweltpolitik im Bergbausektor ein. Das Interesse der Regierung galt indessen nur dem wirtschaftlichen Wachstum, sogar auf Kosten von Belastungen für die Umwelt. Ihr Ansatz war, jedes größere Investitionsprojekt bezüglich des Abbaus von natürlichen Ressourcen in Peru zu fördern, im Besonderen im Bergbau und in den Sektoren Gas und Öl. Das Thema dieser Arbeit ist die Untersuchung der Umweltpolitik im Bergbausektor im Kontext des politischen Übergangs in Peru. Diese Forschungsarbeit ist den Bereichen der Politikwissenschaft und der öffentlichen Politik zuzuordnen. Sie legt einen Fokus auf die Institutionen und Akteure, welche im Kontext der Umweltpolitik im Bergbausektor in Peru interagieren. Als Fallbeispiele werden die Konflikte gewählt, welche aufgrund des Goldabbaus im Norden Perus (Yanacocha, Cajamarca) im Zeitraum 1999-2004 aufkamen. Bedeutungsvoll ist, dass die politischen Auseinandersetzungen, die im gleichen Zeitraum angesichts des Übergangs von einer autoritären zu einer demokratischen Regierungsform im Land stattfanden, den Hintergrund der Untersuchung bilden. Die allgemeine Zielsetzung besteht darin, einen Beitrag zu einem besseren Verständnis der Rolle von Institutionen und Akteuren hinsichtlich der Gestaltung und Implementierung von Umweltpolitik, durch eine Analyse des dieser zugrunde liegenden institutionellen und rechtlichen Rahmens, zu leisten. Ziel dieser Arbeit ist es, dazu beizutragen, die Lücke in der wissenschaftlichen Forschung hinsichtlich der Frage zu schließen, wie sich die Implementierung von Umweltpolitik auf der nationalen Ebene im Kontext eines politischen Wandels vollzieht. Diese Arbeit wird in ein Thema Einblick gewähren: Inwieweit sind Umweltprobleme in den allgemeinen Entwicklungsproblemen verwurzelt, mit denen das Land konfrontiert wird? Die Untersuchung soll einen Beitrag zur Diskussion über Umweltpolitik in einer unsicheren politischen Umgebung leisten und der Debatte über einen Reformprozess eines Staates – wie der Reformprozess, der in Peru in den letzten Jahren stattfand – Impulse gab. Letztendlich ist das Ziel, zu einem verbesserten Prozess der Politikgestaltung im Umweltbereich für Länder wie Peru beizutragen, die politische Instabilität unterworfen sind und für wirtschaftliches Wachstum vom Abbau natürlicher Ressourcen abhängig sind. Das Fallbeispiel dieser Dissertation ist der Abbau von Gold in den nördlichen peruanischen Anden (Cajamarca), die von "Minera Yanacocha S.R.L." vorgenommen wird, einem Gemeinschaftsunternehmen der "Newmont Mining Co." (Colorado, U.S.A.), der "Compañía de Minas Buenaventura S.A." (Lima, Peru) und der "International Finance Corporation" (IFC) der Weltbankgruppe. Yanacocha ist die zweitgrößte Goldmine der Welt. Der Fall Yanacocha vereint unter anderem Fragen des Zusammenspiels zwischen Behörden auf der nationalen sowie der regionalen und lokalen Ebene, öffentliche Partizipation und Beschwerden, das Zusammenspiel von Macht und Lobbygruppen, Umweltschäden mit internationalen Auswirkungen, Umweltfragestellungen als Auslöser für politische Ansprüche, die Beteiligung ausländischer Investoren, die von internationalen Finanzinstitutionen unterstützt werden. MSRL ist mittlerweile der größte Goldproduzent Lateinamerikas, während Cajamarca vom viert ärmsten Department in Peru zum zweit ärmsten geworden ist. Eine Untersuchung von Peru lohnt sich, da die Institutionen und gesetzlichen Bestimmungen bezüglich der Umwelt im Kontext eines reformierenden Staates und politischer Instabilität festgelegt wurden. Peru hat mit dem Bergbausektor einen wirtschaftlichen Bereich, der Umweltinteressen konfliktreich gegenüber steht. Im Rahmen der Untersuchung des peruanischen Goldabbaus können wichtige Schlussfolgerungen in Bezug auf die Ausgestaltung und Implementierung vom Umweltpolitik und Umweltrecht im Kontext von politischen Veränderungsprozessen gezogen werden. Aus diesem Grunde ist das Fallbeispiel ideal, um zu ergründen, inwieweit die Realisierung einer erfolgreichen Umweltpolitik unter Reform- und Transformationsprozessen möglich ist. Aufgrund der wirtschaftlichen Bedeutung des Bergbaus in Peru und wegen der verschiedenen und oft konträren Interessen, die auf dem Spiel stehen, ist eine Fallstudie für die Analyse der institutionellen und rechtlichen Rahmenbedingungen für die Umwelt in Peru relevant, da sie die Verbindungen zwischen politischen und wirtschaftlichen Fragestellungen sowie Umweltproblemen veranschaulicht und wichtigen Schlussfolgerungen für die Zukunft ermöglicht. Der Bergbausektor zeigt zudem unterschiedliche Interessen sowie die Macht- und Entscheidungsprozesse (bezüglich Politik und Umwelt), auf da für gewöhnlich die Entscheidungen hinsichtlich des Bergbausektors aufgrund der bereits erwähnten wirtschaftlichen Bedeutung auf der höchsten Ebene getroffen werden. Kapitel 2 bietet eine Analyse der Bausteine des theoretischen Gerüstes, das das Konzept der "Umweltpolitik" behandelt. In Kapitel 3 wird eine historische Perspektive vorgenommen, um die Einbringung von Umweltfragestellungen im lateinamerikanischen Kontext zu analysieren. In Kapitel 4 wird nach einer Einführung in das politische System Perus der politische und wirtschaftliche Hintergrund Perus im Lichte des Reformprozesses des Staates diskutiert, der in den neunziger Jahren parallel zur Einführung einer an der Umwelt orientierten Politik eingeleitet wurde. In Kapitel 5 wird der institutionelle und rechtliche Rahmen bezüglich der Umwelt des Landes analysiert. Weiter, Kapitel 5 analysiert weiter die Umweltpolitik, die als Teil des Reformprozesses des Staates in den neunziger Jahren im Land eingeführt wurde. Kapitel 6 stellt den Bergbausektor und die Umwelt in Peru vor. In Kapitel 7 wird das Fallbeispiel des Goldabbaus durch die Minera Yanacocha Sociedad de Responsabilidad Limitada (MYSRL) in den peruanischen nördlichen Anden analysiert. Im Lichte der Konflikte in Cajamarca müssen die Umweltpolitik, die Politik hinsichtlich des Bergbaus und die öffentliche Politik überdacht werden, um schlüssige Rahmenbedingungen zu schaffen, mit denen wirksam für private Investitionen geworben werden kann, und die zugleich nicht die Bürger gegenüber den privaten Investoren ungeschützt lassen. Die Einbeziehung von Partizipation, empowerment, good governance und Verantwortlichkeit in das politische System Perus ist eine Pflicht, damit die Demokratie in einer Gesellschaft Wurzeln schlagen kann, die noch immer viel überwinden und erreichen muss, um wirkungsvoll das seinen Bürgern gegebene Versprechen auf Entwicklung einzulösen.
Después de la muerte de Franco el número de filósofos españoles dedicados a la Estética aumentó considerablemente, aunque todavía hoy el grado de internacionalización de la disciplina no sea el adecuado. El artículo pretende describir la escena pluralista de la Estética española. Para ello, el autor diferencia tres áreas de trabajo mayoritarias entre los estetas españoles: en primer lugar la de los problemas clásicos de la estética, como la belleza, la representación o la emoción estética, en segundo lugar, sobre la filosofía del arte en general y el contemporáneo en particular, y en tercer lugar, el análisis teórico y la explicación crítica de las nuevas corrientes del arte actual. ; After Franco's death the number of Spanish philosophers specialized in aesthetics has significantly increased. However Spanish aesthetics has not yet achieved an adequate level of internalization. The article aims to describe the pluralistic scene of Aesthetics in Spain. In order to do so the author differentiates three main areas of work among Spanish aestheticians: first, on classical philosophical topics, such as representation, beauty or aesthetic emotion, second, on the philosophy of art in general and modern art in particular, and third, on the theoretical analysis and critical explanation of new trends in contemporary art.
The sweeping political transition from the Soviet Union to independence in Tajikistan was accompanied by a devastating civil war. Social, economic, and demographic change followed. This research examines a critical indicator of human welfare and stability at the micro- and macro-levels: educational attainment and mobility. Using the 2007 Tajik Living Standards Survey, I compare cohorts educated before, during, and after the civil war. I examine the impact of the war and the political transition on educational attainment and mobility. The findings suggest that the consequences of civil war and political transition in Tajikistan were gendered: boys' attainment was disrupted when they lived in a conflict-affected area and were 16-to-17 years old when the war began; girls' attainment decline was more widespread. This research contributes to our understanding of the long-term consequences of political events on human capital accumulation over the life course.
Conventional policy and academic discourses have generally held illicit drug economies in Latin America to be synergistic with violence and instability. The case of post-transition Bolivia (1982–1993) confounds such assumptions. Applying a political economy approach, this article moves beyond mainstream analyses to examine how the Bolivian drug trade became interwoven with informal forms of governance, order and political transition. I argue that state–narco networks – a hangover from Bolivia's authoritarian era – played an important role in these complex processes. In tracing the evolution of these interactions, the article advances a more nuanced theorisation of the relationship between the state and the drug trade in an understudied case.
This paper analyses the experience of 83 countries from the period of 1950 - 2004 and addresses the following question: when do democratic transitions produce (good) bad economic outcomes. Following the theoretical papers of Acemoglu et al . (2004, 2008(a)), an attempt is made to control for both de jure and de facto sides of political power. In addition, the countries with and without the experience of Military Dictatorship ( MD ) are analysed separately. The results imply that concentration of economic power per se produces bad economic outcomes. Besides, the data seem to contain an indication that democratisation induces additional socially wasteful investments into de facto political power. In addition, the analyses suggest that, when the army assumes political leadership, countries with low concentration of economic power demonstrate better economic performance. In terms of Acemoglu et al. (2007), this may support the idea that the institutional environment switches from a "weak" to a "strong" one. Finally, the potential trade - off between democratisation and political stability seems to be mainly relevant to the degree of severity of reoccurring economic crises in countries with MD experience.
The Arab Spring that began in Tunisia and spread throughout the Middle East shook the region. These populous movements unseated authoritarian rulers whose power and position were well entrenched, potentially setting numerous countries on a path towards democratization. This project seeks to explain why the democratic transitions within the countries of Egypt, Tunisia, and Yemen have been largely unsuccessful. The large amounts of literature that flooded the academic forums through articles and books are analyzed, providing numerous explanations as to why these transitions have been unsuccessful such as polarization, deadlock, sectarianism, violence, and institutional conflict. This literature focuses on either one or several of the above-mentioned explanations while not pinning down a central cause for these phenomena, since they are all present in all three cases. This paper asserts that the cause of this hindered transition is the emphasis that these States placed upon electoral democracy. An emphasis placed on elections during transition highlighted and exacerbated factors (polarization, deadlock, sectarianism, violence, and institutional conflict) already present in these societies but kept dormant under authoritarian rule. To illustrate this the initial transitional government, representative body elected, and executive is analyzed to show how each governing unit stressed elections before a constitution. The identification of an overarching cause for the lack of fruitful transition like this project seeks to accomplish is of great importance, filling a much needed gap in the literature of comparative Middle Eastern revolutionary studies; along with providing foreign policy makers a tool to craft more impactful policy. ; 2014-05-01 ; B.A. ; Sciences, Dept. of Political Science ; Bachelors ; This record was generated from author submitted information.
Taiwan in the late 80s and Spain in the second half of the 70s are two examples of gradual drive from an authoritarian regime to a democratic system. In both cases, political transition was the long-term result of high economic growth and rapid social change achieved in the previous decades. Another analogy is that the trend toward democracy was initiated and stimulated from within the authoritarian regime, with no major break in the statu quo.
Over the past two decades, African countries have experienced major political transitions that seemed to have checkmated the excesses of governments with authoritarian tendencies leading to aggravated security and development challenges. What has been the impact of democratic governance on socio-economic development and security in Africa, past and present? To what extent has the opening up of the political space impacted on the peoples' living standards in Africa during the same period? Understanding the impact of democratic administrations on the provisions of social and economic needs of the citizens will provide real insights into the roots of insecurity in Africa's quest for national stability and protection of their citizens. The perspective of this paper is that one of the causes of escalating trends of insecurity and obstacles to the achievement of human security as well as guarantee of national stability is heavily, if not fundamentally, bad governance. We identify and interrogate substantive issues involved in governance styles which create the current socio-economic challenges, and serves as the source of human insecurity, in Africa. The paper identified good governance approach in tackling the raging menace of insecurity in the continent. Finally, the paper concluded that one important missing link in the current democratization as well as guarantee of security in Africa is the challenge of flawed democracy.
Caught between pressure from dominant global economic actors (such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank (WB), and certain states) to implement painful socio-economic reform measures, and pressure from significant numbers of their own peoples to reject these IMF/WB-style prescriptions, formally democratic "third world" governments often yield to the demands of the former to push through such reforms, sometimes at great social cost. This article utilizes a contemporary Nigerian case study to illustrate this point and to show how the curtailment of labour rights and the weakening of labour movements have formed an important part of the economic strategy of many such governments. This anti-labour rights/movements strategy is an attempt by governments to deal with the human rights contradictions that are often generated when third world countries attempt dual political and economic transitions. The article argues that the deployment of an anti-labour strategy is grounded in a new kind of "full belly thesis" that prioritizes a particular IMF/WB-friendly vision of economic development over certain kinds of political (especially labour) rights. The powerful global economic actors, who would otherwise advocate the observance of all human rights, have nevertheless found this thesis more acceptable than its earlier iteration, which was grounded in a far less IMF/WB-friendly economic vision.
This study sought to examine bilateral aid agency actors and their aid policies as they might be affected by political changes in Cambodia as a recipient country to examine processes of globalization in terms of policy convergence or divergence in relation to the two dominant sociological theories in the field of comparative education: Neo-Institutional Theory and Systems Theory. Policy documents, aid agency press releases, and wider media coverage were analyzed to test these two theories. It was found that Asian aid agencies did not converge in aid policy with Western aid agencies which have sought to reduce aid and limit trade with Cambodia as a result of the 2017 changes in the Cambodian political system. The Asian aid agencies do not display isomorphic convergence as predicted by Neo-Institutional Theory, and conversely prioritized their own geopolitical context in formulating aid policy with economic and political dimensions which reflected broader international relations considerations as predicted by Systems Theory. Further research will be required as these aid directives are translated into actual policy and project implementation to examine these theories in the next stage of this research project.
