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902. The Future of Peacekeeping in Africa and the Normative Role of the African Union
- Author:
- Charles Riziki Majinge
- Publication Date:
- 08-2010
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- The Goettingen Journal of International Law
- Institution:
- The Goettingen Journal of International Law
- Abstract:
- While it has been the responsibility of the United Nations to conduct peacekeeping operations on the continent, the trend is gradually changing. African Union and its regional organizations (RECs) are increasingly assuming responsibility of securing peace and stability on the continent. Many reasons militate in favour of this trend. Chiefly the unwillingness of the United Nations Security Council and of the developed countries to intervene timely and adequately to avert humanitarian catastrophes as happened in Rwanda, Southern Sudan and Angola. Furthermore, the desire of Africa to take steps to address its own problems without heavily relying on assistance from the international community whose availability is neither assured nor sufficient. This contribution argues that Africa can no longer expect the international community to shoulder the burden of peacekeeping in some of the most intractable conflicts on the continent without taking steps to participate actively in the process itself. While Africa has expressed its desire to address its own problems through the vision of “African solutions for African Problems”, African leaders must show greater willingness to fund and strengthen institutions they establish to carry out this vision. Lastly, the paper contends that the international community, especially the developed states, should take genuine and adequate measures to assist Africa realize its vision. A strong African Union capable of securing peace and stability on the continent is in the best interests not only of Africa but also of the international community as a whole.
- Political Geography:
- Africa, Sudan, Rwanda, and Angola
903. Kampala June 2010 – A First Review of the ICC Review Conference
- Author:
- Hans-Peter Kaul
- Publication Date:
- 08-2010
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- The Goettingen Journal of International Law
- Institution:
- The Goettingen Journal of International Law
- Abstract:
- In the years and months before the ICC Review Conference, which took place in Kampala, Uganda from 31 May to 11 June 2010, there were, from the perspective of the International Criminal Court (ICC), quite a number of important if not crucial questions: What would be the course and what would be the outcome of the Review Conference? How would it affect the Review Conference that it would be held not only in Africa, but in an African situation country? Would there be only a narrow, maybe inappropriately narrow, examination of the institution of the Court? Or would there be a review of the entire ICC system as established by the Rome Statute? What about the stocktaking with regard to the four critical themes chosen for this Review Conference, namely cooperation, complementarity, impact on victims and affected communities, and the important question of the relationship between peace and justice? Which amendments to the Statute would be considered or adopted? Above all, would there be any progress or maybe even a breakthrough with regard to the very difficult, unresolved issues concerning the crime of aggression as referred to in Article 5(1)(d) of the Statute? It is against this background of questions, hopes and expectations that this contribution tries to briefly assess the Review Conference. The first part of this introductory comment (A) reflects the author's hopes and expectations prior to the Review Conference. It is based on a speech delivered by the author in May 2010.1 The second part of this comment (B), is a first analysis and review of the course and outcome of the Review Conference. The author hopes that this comparative approach may be an informative and interesting manner to provide in this Article a first summary of what was expected, what happened and what was actually achieved in Kampala. A.
- Political Geography:
- Uganda, Africa, and Kampala
904. Chinese Aid to Africa: Filling the gaps that others left
- Author:
- Max Rebol
- Publication Date:
- 06-2010
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Alternatives: Turkish Journal of International Relations
- Institution:
- Center for International Conflict Resolution at Yalova University
- Abstract:
- Western observers sometimes shockingly reduce Chinese Aid to Africa to a way of securing access to natural resources. A closer look does not only reveal that China's disbursement of Aid to the continent is relatively unrelated to natural resources, but also that it fills exactly the areas that Western aid has increasingly neglected: Infrastructure, industrialization and manufacturing. Chinese and Western aid work but in many ways can be seen as complementing rather than competing. Western aid since the 1980s focuses almost exclusively on basic social needs, while China's Aid to Africa is more based on industrial cooperation. The tools, such as preferential loans, that China uses hereby are often similar to what has been successful when China was in the role of the Aid recipient. Aid should therefore not be seen as a philanthropic one way transfer, but part of a mutually beneficial strategy that uses policy to channel investment into areas in which they are needed most. There is a fine line between aid and business, but in its relations with Africa today, China is well aware that at home it was not aid that lifted 200 million people out of poverty.
- Political Geography:
- Africa and China
905. Briefly Noted
- Publication Date:
- 03-2010
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Abstract:
- This section contains a round-up of recent notable books in the field of international affairs.
- Topic:
- Security and Development
- Political Geography:
- Africa, New York, and Europe
906. The Co-Evolution of the Washington Consensus and the Economic Development Discourse
- Author:
- Ravi Kanbur
- Publication Date:
- 08-2010
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Macalester International
- Institution:
- Macalester College
- Abstract:
- The 1980s were a hell of a decade. They began with the reverberations of the second OPEC oil shock and ended with the fall of the Berlin Wall. In between, we had the Reagan-Thatcher-Kohl economic policy era in North America and Europe, the Volcker interest rate shock, the Latin American debt crisis, economic collapse in Africa, the start of rapid growth in China and India, and on and on. Oh, and by the way, in 1989 John Williamson coined the term “Washington Consensus.”
- Political Geography:
- Africa, China, Europe, Washington, India, Latin America, and North America
907. Response to Watts - 2
- Author:
- William G. Moseley
- Publication Date:
- 08-2010
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Macalester International
- Institution:
- Macalester College
- Abstract:
- Let me start by noting what a pleasure and inspiring opportunity it is to be commenting on the scholarship of Michael Watts. When I embarked on my field research for my master's thesis in the West African nation of Mali in 1991, I carried three texts with me into the field. These books were Paul Richards' Indigenous Agricultural Revolution (1985), Piers Blaikie's Political Economy of Soil Erosion in Developing Countries (1985), and Michael Watts' Silent Violence: Food, Famine and Peasantry in Northern Nigeria (1983). While the books by Richards and Blaikie were fairly compact, Michael Watts' tome added considerable heft to my baggage (so I showed real commitment in lugging it along). At the time I was not familiar with geography as a field of study, but rather was a student of natural resources management. It was Richards, Blaikie, and Watts who brought me to geography, and in particular to an interdisciplinary subfield known as political ecology. Only later would I learn in my Ph.D. studies what a pivotal figure Michael Watts had been in my chosen discipline and subfield.
- Political Geography:
- Africa and Nigeria
908. There Are No Quick Fixes
- Author:
- Dr. Sam Zaramba
- Publication Date:
- 06-2010
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- World Policy Journal
- Institution:
- World Policy Institute
- Abstract:
- WORLD POLICY JOURNAL: You have an interesting take on international health, both from a global and African point of view. From this perspective, I'd like to hear your thoughts on the primary health emergencies facing the world today.
- Topic:
- Health
- Political Geography:
- Africa
909. The Filmmaker
- Author:
- Franco Sacchi
- Publication Date:
- 09-2010
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- World Policy Journal
- Institution:
- World Policy Institute
- Abstract:
- The 18 year-old, $250 million Nigerian film industry produces some 2,000 movies a year—a number that puts Lagos in a league with Mumbai and Los Angeles. But in Nollywood, unlike Bollywood or Hollywood, movies can cost as little as $10,000 to make and take barely a week to shoot. The films are straight-to-VCR, VCD or DVD and cost around $1.60 a piece, though they can be rented for a fifth of that price and are also shown on satellite television. While their quality of acting and production may appear lacking when compared to the products of other film industries, Nollywood movies are avidly consumed throughout Nigeria, across Africa and beyond.
- Political Geography:
- Africa, Nigeria, and Mumbai
910. Deadly Gold
- Author:
- Thomas Lee
- Publication Date:
- 09-2010
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- World Policy Journal
- Institution:
- World Policy Institute
- Abstract:
- Dunkwa-on-offin, Ghana—An illegal gold mine collapsed in these remote jungles on June 27, 2010, after heavy rains hit central Ghana. At least 100 people were buried, but that's just an estimate. The owner had no idea how many of his 136 hires were working at the time of his arrest, and the dozen illegal miners who survived kept their mouths shut, fearing prosecution. This is hardly a rare incident, but it provides a vivid snapshot of the deeply rooted abuses in Ghana's ancient and ever more profitable gold complex.
- Political Geography:
- Africa and Ghana
911. Ingenuity, Peanut Butter, and a Little Green Leaf
- Author:
- J.T. Simms
- Publication Date:
- 09-2010
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- World Policy Journal
- Institution:
- World Policy Institute
- Abstract:
- I first learned of moringa early in my service. It's a small, thin tree, with medallionshaped leaves resembling cooked spinach. Each serving contains more vitamins and nutrients than any other food in West Africa, and maybe the world. Native to India but found throughout the tropics, it contains, gram for gram, more vitamin A than carrots, more vitamin C than oranges, more potassium than bananas, more iron than spinach, and, astonishingly, more protein and calcium than milk. And, as a tree, it's a permanent fixture that, once matured, is capable of being harvested every few weeks.
- Political Geography:
- Africa
912. China in Africa
- Author:
- Dane Erickson
- Publication Date:
- 05-2010
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Journal of Public and International Affairs (JPIA)
- Institution:
- School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA), Princeton University
- Abstract:
- In the past decade, the People's Republic of China has made dramatic inroads on the African continent. Many believe China's recent activities in Africa to be the most significant dynamic in international affairs on the continent since the end of the Cold War. Although China has a centuries long history of ties with Africa, in the decades immediately following the founding of the People's Republic in 1949 these ties were largely motivated by ideology as China moved to support African anti-colonial liberation movements and leaders. In contrast, today's re-emergence of Chinese activities in Africa is driven by economic and political interests.
- Topic:
- Cold War and International Affairs
- Political Geography:
- Africa and China
913. The Fertile Continent
- Author:
- Roger Thurow
- Publication Date:
- 11-2010
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Foreign Affairs
- Institution:
- Council on Foreign Relations
- Abstract:
- With one billion people already going hungry and the world's population rising, global food production must urgently be increased. The countries that managed such surges in the past -- Brazil, China, India, the United States -- cannot do so again. But Africa can -- if it finally uses the seeds, fertilizers, and irrigation methods common everywhere else.
- Topic:
- Agriculture
- Political Geography:
- Africa, United States, China, India, and Brazil
914. Manufacturing Insecurity
- Author:
- William Pfaff
- Publication Date:
- 11-2010
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Foreign Affairs
- Institution:
- Council on Foreign Relations
- Abstract:
- The United States has built a worldwide system of more than 1,000 military bases, stations, and outposts -- a system designed to enhance U.S. national security. It has actually done the opposite, provoking conflict and creating insecurity.
- Topic:
- Cold War
- Political Geography:
- Africa, United States, and Iraq
915. The End of the African Renaissance
- Author:
- Bruce Gilley
- Publication Date:
- 10-2010
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- The Washington Quarterly
- Institution:
- Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)
- Abstract:
- Twenty years ago, African leaders and intellectuals proclaimed an African renaissance. The grim days of postcolonial Africa, they said, were over. The end of the Cold War and the growing popular disgust with misrule had created an opportunity for lasting change. In its place would come democracy, development, and peace. ''Africa cries out for a new birth. We must, in action, say that there is no obstacle big enough to stop us from bringing about a new African renaissance,'' President Nelson Mandela of South Africa told a meeting of regional leaders in 1994.
- Topic:
- Cold War
- Political Geography:
- Africa and South Africa
916. Contemporary Threats to Canada and the Canadian Forces
- Author:
- Scott Fitzsimmons
- Publication Date:
- 05-2010
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Journal of Military and Strategic Studies
- Institution:
- Centre for Military, Security and Strategic Studies
- Abstract:
- Over and above the widely acknowledged threats of international terrorism and the Afghan insurgency, Canada and the Canadian Forces face a number of pressing threats from state and non-state actors, which range from the physical to the fiscal. This paper highlights threats posed by private security contractors in Afghanistan, pirates off the Horn of Africa, foreign states in disputed areas of the Arctic, and the current economic downturn within Canada. Each section of the paper highlights one or more specific threats posed to Canada and/or the Canadian Forces and discusses existing and proposed attempts to address these threats.
- Topic:
- Government
- Political Geography:
- Afghanistan, Africa, and Canada
917. Reflections on the Military Armoury Disaster In Mozambique, March 2007
- Author:
- Dr. Adewale Banjo
- Publication Date:
- 01-2010
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Journal of Military and Strategic Studies
- Institution:
- Centre for Military, Security and Strategic Studies
- Abstract:
- By definition, an armoury is a building used primarily for storing arms and military equipment, especially one which serves as headquarters for military personnel. Thus, an armoury is a military structure or facility where weapons and equipments for the use of the armed forces are stored. It is also a complex constructed for repairing, receiving, storing and issuing of weapons and ammunition. Ammunition is a generic military term meaning an assembly of a projectile and its propellant. If a disaster is broadly defined as an unexpected, low-probability, high-impact event that threatens the viability of an organisation or community and characterized by ambiguity of cause, effect and means of resolution, then an armoury disaster can be defined as an unexpected, high-impact rapidly disruptive event caused by the detonation of high caliber, sensitive, stored military weapons, which are neither risk-free nor immune from unintended consequences. Furthermore, an armoury disaster can also mean sudden widespread or localized military weapon/arsenal or ammunition-related occurrences or accidents.
- Political Geography:
- Africa
918. Public Perceptions and Reactions : Gauging African Views of China in Africa
- Author:
- Max Rebol
- Publication Date:
- 11-2010
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Alternatives: Turkish Journal of International Relations
- Institution:
- Center for International Conflict Resolution at Yalova University
- Abstract:
- While economic and political ties between China and Africa have grown substantially in the last years, our understanding of African perceptions of China is still limited. Those pieces of cross country survey data which are available draw a positive picture of African perceptions of China but surveys are not comprehensive and only consider various African countries as a whole. Starting from here, this paper looks into how opinions on China form in different parts of African society, using case studies from unions, political elites and civil society. It comes to the conclusion that trade has an overall bigger impact on popular perceptions of China than FDI, which has been the focus of much literature. While a rising trade deficit has an overall negative impact on perceptions of China, increased Chinese trade is perceived positive by consumers that get more competitive prices and small scale vendors. Civil society organizations in Africa sometimes show critical opinions but are also increasingly engaged by China. Western Media generally tends to portrait China's relations with Africa in a more negative way, than it is perceived by most Africans. Several studies confirm that Africa is the continent that on average holds the most positive views on China.
- Topic:
- Civil Society and Public Opinion
- Political Geography:
- Africa and China
919. Cooperative Migration Policy, Uncooperative Reality: The E.U.'s Impossible "Management" of West African Migration.
- Author:
- Sarah M. Rich
- Publication Date:
- 05-2010
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Journal of Public and International Affairs (JPIA)
- Institution:
- School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA), Princeton University
- Abstract:
- This paper examines the Center for Migration Information and Management (CIGEM), which the European Union opened in Mali in 2008 to dissuade Malians and other West Africans from attempting to migrate to the E.U., among other objectives. After briefly discussing migration theory, this paper examines the current status of Mali-E.U. migration. It proceeds to assess CIGEM's goals and its strategies to dissuade unauthorized migration. The paper argues that CIGEM will fail to affect the flows of migrants from Mali to the E.U. because the center does not address the structural reasons for migration in today's globalized world. The paper ends with a call for a more honest discussion of labor migration realities and recommends that the E.U. develop a circular, temporary labor migration policy.
- Political Geography:
- Africa, West Africa, and Mali
920. Lessons from Liberia's Success: Thoughts on Leadership, the Process of Peace, Security, and Justice
- Author:
- John Blaney
- Publication Date:
- 03-2010
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- PRISM
- Institution:
- Institute for National Strategic Studies (INSS), National Defense University
- Abstract:
- The ending in 2003 of the 14-year civil war in Liberia and the subsequent progress made there is a 21st-century success story not only for Liberians, but also for Africa, the United Nations (UN), the United States, and many others. Over 50,000 people lost their lives during this struggle, with great suffering endured elsewhere in West Africa as well. economically and socially, the country of Liberia, historically long renowned as sub-Saharan Africa's shining example, was decimated by this conflict and by rampant mismanagement and corruption. Today, Liberia still has serious problems, but under the leadership of President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, impressive progress continues. There is stability, basic living standards are up, children go to school, development assistance projects blossom from many quarters, new Liberian security institutions are matriculating, and even private sector investment is responding with additional badly needed jobs. How was Liberia afforded the priceless opportunity of becoming one of the greatest turnaround stories of the 21st century?
- Topic:
- Security and Peace Studies
- Political Geography:
- Africa, United Nations, and Liberia