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Full-Text Articles in International Relations

Success And Shortcomings: Disarmament, Demobilization, And Reintegration In Eastern And Central Africa, Grace Marshall Jan 2020

Success And Shortcomings: Disarmament, Demobilization, And Reintegration In Eastern And Central Africa, Grace Marshall

Honors Program Theses

In post-conflict transitions, disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration have played a crucial role in the treatment of former combatants and the advancement of peacebuilding. This peacebuilding process, known as DDR, has experienced successes and failures throughout its implementation across the globe. Specifically, as conflict erupted across many nations in Central and Eastern Africa, the disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration programs that were implemented during different nations’ peacebuilding transition towards at the turn of the twenty first century experienced variations among their success at reducing or halting conflict. This investigation analyzes the factors that contribute to the ability for disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration …


Making African Civil Society Work: Assessing Conditions For Democratic State-Society Relations In Rwanda, Fiacre Bienvenu Apr 2018

Making African Civil Society Work: Assessing Conditions For Democratic State-Society Relations In Rwanda, Fiacre Bienvenu

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation offers a single case in-depth analysis of factors precluding civil society from democratizing African polities. Synthesizing existing literature on Rwanda, I first undertake an historical search to trace the origins and qualities of civil society in the colonial era. This effort shows, however, that the central authority—commencing before the inception of the Republic in 1962—consistently organized civil society to buttress its activities, not to challenge them. Next, using ethnographic research, I challenge conventional economic and institutional accounts of civil society’s role in democratization. I show that institutional change and the economic clout of organized groups are marginal and …


Strategic Culture In Sub-Saharan Africa: The Divergent Paths Of Uganda And Tanzania, Kevin Frank Dec 2017

Strategic Culture In Sub-Saharan Africa: The Divergent Paths Of Uganda And Tanzania, Kevin Frank

Dissertations

Strategic culture is a concept accepted by scholars and practitioners, but with problematic applicability to states newly independent or emerging from conflict. The elements that comprise strategic culture in the developed world are not always present in emerging states. This research addresses the pertinency of strategic culture in Uganda and Tanzania, and then tests the operationalization of the concept using the case of participation in the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM). The African Union and the international community expected Uganda and Tanzania to contribute troops to AMISON in 2007. In the event, Uganda did and Tanzania chose another path. …


Evaluating The “Success” Of Disarmament, Demobilization, And Reintegration Programs: The Case Of Congo-Brazzaville, Zachary Karazsia Jan 2015

Evaluating The “Success” Of Disarmament, Demobilization, And Reintegration Programs: The Case Of Congo-Brazzaville, Zachary Karazsia

Journal of Interdisciplinary Conflict Science

The end of hostilities between warring factions in Congo-Brazzaville has marked a decisive moment in the state’s developmental history. Post conflict reconstruction is a foundational component of public policies that restore order within society, igniting the engines of economic development, and in obtaining sustainable peace. In recent years, Africa has experienced a disproportionate share of conflicts compared with other regions; and leads the world in the number of present intrastate conflicts. Since the end of the Cold War, some African states have made advances in post conflict peacebuilding and intergroup reconciliation. This article focuses on post conflict reconstruction through the …


Goodbye To Europe And Hello To Asia: The New Imperialism Of “Chindia” In Africa, Sybil Gelin (Class Of 2014) Jan 2014

Goodbye To Europe And Hello To Asia: The New Imperialism Of “Chindia” In Africa, Sybil Gelin (Class Of 2014)

Writing Across the Curriculum

In 2006, the Chinese government released its first ever Africa policy paper. In the document, the government of China announced its plans to forge a strong and enduring relationship with Africa on the basis of four ideals: mutual tolerance despite differing ideologies, cooperation in international politics, economic intercourse predicated upon fairness, and observance of Africa’s right to choose its own path to economic development.[1] This document, along with the third Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (or FOCAC) (at which more than forty-five African leaders gathered to discuss the future of China-Africa relations), served as a springboard for future Chinese engagement …


Escaping The Resource Curse: The Sources Of Institutional Quality In Botswana, Angela Gapa Nov 2013

Escaping The Resource Curse: The Sources Of Institutional Quality In Botswana, Angela Gapa

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Botswana has recently garnered analytic attention as an anomaly of the “resource curse” phenomenon. Worldwide, countries whose economies are highly skewed towards a dependence on the export of non-renewable natural resources such as oil, diamonds and uranium, have been among the most troubled, authoritarian, poverty-stricken and conflict-prone; a phenomenon widely regarded as the “resource curse". The resource curse explains the varying fortunes of countries based on their resource wealth, with resource-rich countries faring much worse than their resource-poor counterparts. However, Botswana, with diamond exports accounting for 50percent of government revenues and 80percent of total exports, has achieved one of the …


Elusive Agency: Africa's Persistently Peripheral Role In International Relations, Stefan Andreasson Jan 2013

Elusive Agency: Africa's Persistently Peripheral Role In International Relations, Stefan Andreasson

Stefan Andreasson

No abstract provided.


Smart Power For Hard Problems: The Role Of Special Operation Forces Strengthening The Rule Of Law And Human Rights In Africa, Kevin H. Govern Jan 2013

Smart Power For Hard Problems: The Role Of Special Operation Forces Strengthening The Rule Of Law And Human Rights In Africa, Kevin H. Govern

Kevin H. Govern

This article will assess the roles and responsibilities of Special Operations Forces (SOF) within the newly created U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) as an active proponent of a so-called “smart power” national security strategy. In particular, it will outline the economic, political, and military challenges faced in Africa; specifically, how and why SOCAFRICA is the U.S. force of choice for promoting human rights and rule of law in Africa. With the goals of the U.S. military in mind, questions will necessarily arise as to “what success looks like” for both the U.S. and African nations, and the roles of each in …


Africa, Mark J. Calaguas Jan 2012

Africa, Mark J. Calaguas

Mark J Calaguas

The Africa Committee's contribution to the 2011 Year-in-Review issue of the American Bar Association Section of International Law's quarterly journal, The International Lawyer.


On The Nature Of Anglophone Conservatism And Its Applicability To The Analysis Of Postcolonial Politics, Stefan Andreasson Oct 2011

On The Nature Of Anglophone Conservatism And Its Applicability To The Analysis Of Postcolonial Politics, Stefan Andreasson

Stefan Andreasson

This essay examines the nature and development of an Anglophone tradition of conservative political thought (conservatism). It considers how, in contrast to a more reactionary European tradition, conservatism has evolved over time in its variously diverging and converging Anglo-American historical and cultural contexts and what relevance – what analytical utility – this body of political thought may have today for understanding politics and socio-cultural developments in a postcolonial world beyond its Western origins. In considering the relative merits of conservatism as compared to other theoretical approaches, the essay asks whether this conservatism can offer a superior analysis of postcolonial politics …


Old Actors, New Drama: Chinese Engagement With Africa And The Implications For The United States, Megan Ruth Wanee May 2011

Old Actors, New Drama: Chinese Engagement With Africa And The Implications For The United States, Megan Ruth Wanee

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.


From Importer To Exporter: The Changing Role Of Nigeria In Promoting Democratic Values In Africa, Shola J. Omotola Jan 2008

From Importer To Exporter: The Changing Role Of Nigeria In Promoting Democratic Values In Africa, Shola J. Omotola

Shola J. Omotola Mr

No abstract provided.


Against The Cultural Gap Thesis In Africa’S Democratisation, Shola J. Omotola Jan 2008

Against The Cultural Gap Thesis In Africa’S Democratisation, Shola J. Omotola

Shola J. Omotola Mr

The article challenges the cultural gap thesis in Africa’s democratization. The thesis argues that democratization in Africa falters because there is a cultural gap in the democratic framework, such as the absence of democrats, i.e., culture, and the subsequent perversion of the democratization process. The argument holds only if there is one single democracy, and therefore, only one acceptable political culture, which is seldom the case. The problem of democracy in Africa is not due to a unique flaw in the African way of life that forecloses the feasibility of sustainable democracy in the continent. It must be that the …


Timbuktu: A Lesson In Underdevelopment, Riccardo Pelizzo Jan 2001

Timbuktu: A Lesson In Underdevelopment, Riccardo Pelizzo

riccardo pelizzo

Th e purpose of the present paper is to investigate Timbuktu’s economic decline in the three centuries elapsed between 1526, when Leo Africanus reached the Mysterious City, and 1830, when the fi rst European explorers arrived in Timbuktu. It is argued that Timbuktu’s decline was neither an accident nor the result of inevitable natural conditions. Timbuktu’s decay was the product of historical and social forces. Specifi cally, it is argued that Timbuktu lost power and prestige because its market decayed. However, it is also suggested that no single factor can account individually for this event. Th e crisis of Timbuktu’s …