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For more content, see Journal of Asian and African Studies.
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Middle Class Married Women’s Income in Bangladesh: Who Controls it and How?
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The general perception in Bangladesh is that women’s participation in paid employment will reduce patriarchy. But what does actually happen in Bangladesh when women start to work? In this paper, I find that patriarchy works in a different form when women start to earn money. Most women in Bangladesh cannot control their money. My study shows that middle class married women’s income in Bangladesh is controlled by husbands and, in some cases, by mothers-in-law. In general, men think that their wives are their properties and so they have every right to appropriate their income. Husbands consider their wives’ income as ‘a source of wealth accumulation’ that strengthens patriarchy.
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An examination of ‘Participation’ and ‘Sustainability’ in a Food Security Project among the Rural Poor in Northwestern Tanzania
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Using a case study of a community development project in northwestern Tanzania, this paper examines how the language of participation and sustainability in development policies at the international and government level affects the selection of, and levels of participation by, people in agricultural food security projects within the varying socioeconomic sectors of the rural poor. It explores whether it is possible to balance the goal of project sustainability with reaching out to the most vulnerable groups in rural communities, particularly the poorest people with limited resources. The paper is based on data collected through a short questionnaire, semi-structured interviews, participant observation and a number of Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) techniques that included wealth ranking, among others. The paper concludes that there is a growing segment of the poor who face too many constraints to participate, become “empowered”, as well as advance the well-intentioned goals of sustainability of community development projects. The result, the paper argues, is that the poor can remain on the margins of projects that were meant to get people out of poverty. Thus there is a need in development projects to match the language of “participation”, “empowerment” and “sustainability” with a healthy bias towards poor people.
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Restructuring the Public Sphere for Social Order in the Niger Delta through Polycentric Planning: What Lessons for Africa?
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The increasing deprivation, neglect and orchestrated politics of exclusion by the Nigerian-state against the people of the Niger Delta can be traced to the structurally-defective and centralized governance arrangements in the Niger Delta. The consequent stiff resistance, violent reactions, militancy and hostage taking triggered by this politics of exclusion in the region have confirmed that people matter in politics. This paper argues that in some ways, the weakness of centralized and structurally-defective governance in the Niger Delta provides an opportunity for community self-governing institutions to play the role that governments and their agencies have abandoned. Using the Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) framework, this paper engages in problem solving and solution seeking strategies that could help restructure the public sphere in the Niger Delta. This paper demonstrates principles and practices needed to make polycentric planning, self-governance and adaptive development strategies resolve socio-economic and political crisis. It is in light of this exigency that this paper develops an African Public Sphere Restructuring Model (APSRM) that derives inspirations and workability mechanisms from twelve (12) African development models that cut across several sectors of the economy in the Niger Delta.
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The Changing Roles of Civil Society in Democratization: Evidence from South Africa (1990-2009) and South Korea (1987-2009)
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According to most theorists of democratization, civil society is an important force in bringing about political change. But does the advent of a democratic regime also affect the role of civil society during the consolidation of democracy? If so, what are the most relevant transformations? In order to address such research questions, this article analyses the case of South Africa and South Korea with a specific focus on how civil society has reshaped itself during the phase of democratic consolidation. A particular emphasis is put on the changing relationship with the new democratic governments since the early 1990s until now. The comparative analysis reveals common trends (e.g. risks of cooptation, changing forms of mobilization and new socio-political strategies), while it also singles out the most significant differences (e.g. the constitution of a strong middle-class civil society in South Korea vis-à-vis the crisis and resurgence of civic activism across local communities in South Africa) against the backdrop of two rather different socioeconomic contexts.
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Mugabe’s 2008 Reelection Victory: Issues and Debate
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The 2008 presidential and parliamentary elections in Zimbabwe and their attendant violence and disorder fitted the image some governments and groups have had about that country as one whose politics has resisted change. There was another side to the elections that observers failed to recognize, however, and it was about the important issues for which voters were seeking answers. As flawed as the electoral process in Zimbabwe seemed, it was not different from elections which governments in other parts of Africa have organized. It was also perplexing that observers of Zimbabwe’s politics barely acknowledged that the equitable allotment of land between blacks and whites was at the core of the electoral debate. This study shows that elections in Zimbabwe are more nuanced than the graphic images of violence that television cameras portrayed. Zimbabwe’s political history is unique among African countries because of the biracial makeup of its society and repressive laws have helped to create a horrendous gap in wealth between whites and blacks. It is also a country where blacks won independence through war. It has been customary for observers and aid donors to blame President Mugabe for the missteps in his decisions, but have had little sympathy trying to understand the protracted issues of wealth, power, and privilege.
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African Migration as the Search for a Wonderful World: An Emerging Trans-global Security Threat?
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This article critically analyses the framing of African migration in hegemonic global security discourses as a source of transnational threats to developed and stable parts of the world. Such concerns have increased since 9/11 and the inception of the Global War on Terror, and are likely to grow in the wake of the global financial meltdown. It explores the globalization-migration-development nexus as it relates to how Africa has become an object of securitization based more on the manipulation of fear, than on reality. This underscores the point that the perception of “illegal” African migration as a threat to Europe’s southern borders is constructed and deliberately exaggerated for political ends. Thus, the article argues that the barriers designed to reduce or prevent African migration in a ‘borderless world’, have more to do with hegemonic politics, and less to do with any real danger. It also discusses the ramifications of the securitization of Africa is relation to the ways it is feeding into international support for the military and policing capacity of African states. This, in some regards, is taking place at the immense social cost of popularly-rooted democratization, social development and sustainable peace in the continent ‐ thereby increasing the threats facing African people.
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The Politics of Language in Eritrea: Equality of Languages Vs. Bilingual Official Language Policy
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The article analyzes the discourse of politics of language in Eritrea. It argues that the language debate in Eritrea over equality of languages and bilingual official language policy is more about power relations than about language per se. It relates to politics of identity that derive from the construction of two identity formations as understood by political elites. Equality of languages is based on ethnic identity, whereas official language is based on the construction of supra-ethnic civic identity. According to the constructivist bilingual official language Arabic and Tigrinya are supposed to represent two different socio-cultural identity formations, notably, Islamic-Arabic and Christian-Tigrinya. Consequently, the official language policy debate could be construed to derive from politics of power relation where two groups of elites supposedly representing the two identity formations are engaged in power competition reflecting real or imaginary socio-cultural cleavage of respective identity. In this sense the bilingual official language is designed to create social equilibrium wherein it is supposed that power would equitably be distributed between two rival elite groups.
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