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| 1 |
ID:
121836
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2013.
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| Summary/Abstract |
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in Taiwan increased its vote share in each legislative election from 2001 to 2008. Nevertheless, the 2004 and 2008 elections were widely viewed as major defeats for the party. Through an analysis of the DPP's performance in these elections, this article considers the effects of electoral rules on election outcomes and the perception of those outcomes. In Taiwan, under both the previous single non-transferable vote (SNTV) and the current mixed member majoritarian (MMM) systems, the mechanical effect of how electoral rules translate votes into seats and the psychological impact this has on voter and party behavior have influenced party electoral performance, and the perception of it, by causing vote and seat shares to diverge. In addition, this article analyzes whether recent redistricting in Taiwan structurally disadvantages the DPP.
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| 2 |
ID:
121834
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2013.
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| Summary/Abstract |
Accepting that the Land Question was only limited to former settler colonies in Africa such as Kenya and Zimbabwe, dominant opinion in the literature has tended to trivialize the bitter struggles for land, many of which began during the colonial dispensation in many African nations. With globalization, democratization, structural adjustment and intensification of identity politics, many of these land conflicts have lingered. Yet studies of the conflicts, as in the case of Aguleri/Umuleri, have been scanty and almost ignore their historical and colonial roots. This paper explores colonial foundations of Aguleri/Umuleri conflicts, colonial policies designed to manage them and why they failed.
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| 3 |
ID:
121837
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2013.
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| Summary/Abstract |
Bridegroom price is extracting a heavy toll on the poor in rural Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, India. Poor households are becoming indebted and losing assets to pay the increasing amounts demanded by grooms at the time of their daughters' weddings. Bridegroom price is a relatively recent phenomenon in the area, first practiced amongst scheduled and backward caste groups less than two decades ago. This article draws upon practice theory and cultural neo-institutionalism to offer an alternative explanation for the emergence and persistence of bridegroom price as a time, space and socially specific institution. Using empirical material from in-depth qualitative interviews in two villages in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh in 2010, it suggests that bridegroom price emerged as a result of shifts in the subjectivities of low-caste men, and in particular the evaluation of the self in relation to the social whole. The article seeks to contribute to existing explanations for bridegroom price and dowry, while also arguing that theoretically informed approaches are necessary in order to develop effective measures to combat these institutions.
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| 4 |
ID:
121842
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2013.
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| Summary/Abstract |
Twenty-three years have passed since the Soviet Union withdrew its forces from Afghanistan and, after 11 years of the United States' (US) military involvement in that country, the war between Afghan insurgent groups and the US-led coalition forces is raging with no side winning. More than 11 years later, Afghanistan remains divided and ethnic tensions are worsening. If the ongoing military, political and economic policies in Afghanistan continue and Pakistan remains a safe haven for Al-Qaeda and the Taliban, the future may soon drastically tilt against the ineffective and corrupt Afghan government and its foreign supporters. This study is mainly based upon 33 years of observations, in-depth interviews with Afghans in their local languages and an extensive study of recent developments inside Afghanistan and its neighboring countries, especially Pakistan and Iran.
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| 5 |
ID:
121840
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2013.
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| Summary/Abstract |
This paper seeks to examine the ideology and theology of the Ananda Marga (Path of Bliss), a new radical Hindu sect of postcolonial India, by comparing its odyssey with an almost radical Christian sect of Reformation Europe, the Anabaptists. Like the Anabaptists, the Ananda Marga began as a movement of the common man. Both were also millennial movements with lay leadership arising as responses to the social, cultural, and economic crises of their respective historical times. Both sought to recover the pristine and authentic ethos of their respective religious traditions and thus antagonized their respective governments. Consequently, both endured persecution but both survived their ordeal by re-forming their ideology and theology under competent leadership to emerge as peaceful, fruitful, and resourceful members of their societies.
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| 6 |
ID:
121841
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| Publication |
2013.
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| Summary/Abstract |
The British government's recent threat to withhold aid from African governments that do not reform legislation banning homosexuality has generated a lot of resentment from African countries where homosexuality is still illegal. With supposedly different social norms and values, Africa's anti-gay stance is largely seen as being precipitated by its cultural values. Whilst Britain and, more recently, the US and Canada, have all determined that the issue of homosexuality lies at the heart of human rights, many African countries have stressed that it boils down to cultural values and social norms, a notion which many Africans believe Western governments have failed to appreciate.
The purpose of this paper is to provide an insight into this issue. It examines whether patterns of particular culture are really incompatible with admitted standards of human rights. The paper also dwells on the debate raging over universal human rights and cultural differences. It concludes that the culture of transnational modernity, one that specifies procedures for collaborative decision-making, conceptions of global social justice, and definitions of gender and sexual roles, stands at risk if it fails to take into account cultural specificity in some regions.
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| 7 |
ID:
121839
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2013.
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| Summary/Abstract |
The study explores the response of rural primary school children to road safety education programmes. In this qualitative research project, we employed an interpretivist paradigm to investigate and understand children's responses to road safety education in one school in the Moloto Village, Mpumalanga Province, South Africa. Drawing on various participatory activities done by the child participants, as well as non-participant observation by the researchers through 'photo voice', the researchers posit their findings. The key finding is that the children theoretically know what to do when using the road as pedestrians but that they do not apply road safety rules as the community's unsafe road use behaviour undermines all road safety skills the children have learnt at school. The paradox between what the literature on road safety education prescribes and what the national curriculum of South Africa promotes regarding road safety, and what the children apply in their daily lives, is apparent and noteworthy.
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| 8 |
ID:
121838
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2013.
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| Summary/Abstract |
Since the end of the Cold War, the Nile co-basin states have been moving towards constructing a regional water governance regime. The focus has been on how to promote cooperative harmonization of the water needs and growth priorities of all basin countries. Unfortunately, the effort appears to have come to a screeching halt, resuscitating old fears of potential inter-riparian conflicts. This paper examines the evolution of contentious politics of hydrology in the Nile basin in light of the regional and international approaches that have hitherto been employed to bring the co-basin states together on the importance of peaceful utilization of Nile waters.
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| 9 |
ID:
121835
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| Publication |
2013.
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| Summary/Abstract |
The following paper uses the case-study of Cameroon to examine how critical donors can shield their close allies from pressure to pursue political liberalization. As the wave of democratic reform swept through Africa in the early 1990s, similar to that going through North Africa and the Middle East today, domestic opposition pushed the ruling clique in Cameroon towards pluralism. However, in this case, instead of encouraging democracy, France helped President Paul Biya to maintain his grip on power. As will be demonstrated, massive amounts of French aid helped the regime survive both internal and external pressure for change. Under a political conditionality approach other secondary donors tried to use their foreign assistance to help push for liberal-democratic reforms in Cameroon. However, such efforts are frequently undermined by what the donor perceives as its self-interest. This research attempts to illustrate this general point by examining the relationship between Cameroon and France and the maintenance of authoritarianism in the defense of common interests.
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