Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Francophone Regionalism And Its Impact On West African Integration, Sekou Camara

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

French-speaking countries in West Africa have a long history of inter-state cooperation that goes to the French colonization of the region. The culmination of their integration resulted in the creation of L'Union Economique et Monétaire Quest Africaine, UEMOA (The West African Economic and Monetary Union). With its financial and monetary arrangements, which include a common currency and a central bank, UEMOA is one of the most far-reaching examples of economic integration among developing countries. UEMOA's main advantage has thus been its "depth."

What makes the study of Francophone regionalism in West Africa even more interesting at this …

Telecommunications Reform In Botswana: A Policy Model For African States, Patricia K. Mccormick

Communication Faculty Research Publications

Since the mid-1990s, Botswana has pursued a policy of telecommunications liberalisation. This article, based on fieldwork conducted in Botswana in the summer of 2000, analyzes several notable aspects of the process of reform and denotes those worthy of emulation by other African states. The participation and protection of domestic telecommunication users, transparency in decision-making, the creation of an independent regulatory agency, and the introduction of competition in the form of private cellular service providers are among those policy features that are recommended for replication. Various facets of the tendering process and subsequent licences granted to the mobile operators as well …

No. 04: Gender Concerns In South African Migration Policy, Jonathan Crush, Vincent Williams

Southern African Migration Programme

This paper draws attention to the need for a gender analysis of the South African government’s proposed new policy on international migration, by identifying a number of areas of implicit gender discrimination. Such “discrimination by default” is of more than academic relevance, having important implications for national and regional development. Research undertaken by the Southern African Migration Project indicates a growing “feminization” of migration to South Africa from the Southern African region, as well as gender-specific motives and patterns of migration. If migration is to be effectively managed, such realities must be taken into account. The paper concludes by advocating …

No. 02: The New South African Immigration Bill: A Legal Analysis, Jonathan Crush, Vincent Williams

Southern African Migration Programme

The Southern African Migration Project (SAMP) notes the promulgation of an Immigration Bill in Government Gazette Vol. 416 (No. 20889) on 15 February 2000 and the invitation to submit comments. SAMP supports the Department’s contention, implicit in the gazetting of a new Bill, that the Aliens Control Act is an unacceptable instrument for the sound and effective management of migration. The rescinding of the Aliens Control Act and its replacement by a new Immigration Act is therefore a matter of highest priority. However, it is equally important that such legislation is not rushed; that it is constitutionally-sound, implementable and cost-effective. …

No. 03: Making Up The Numbers: Measuring “Illegal Immigration” To South Africa, Jonathan Crush, Vincent Williams

Southern African Migration Programme

The extent of South Africa’s “illegal immigrant” problem continues to confound. Numbers in the millions continue to be casually thrown around by officials, politicians, and the local and foreign press. The study on which these millionaire estimates are based has been widely discredited. But those who are critical of the study and skeptical of the inflated numbers are unable to come up with alternative numbers. Their response is usually that the extent of undocumented migration is, by definition, unknowable. True as it might be, this response unfortunately does not help very much. In this paper, the author attempts to break …

No. 01: The South African White Paper On International Migration: An Analysis And Critique, Jonathan Crush, Vincent Williams

Southern African Migration Programme

SAMP commends the South African government and the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) for their ongoing commitment to developing a new immigration and migration policy framework, exemplified most recently by the passage of a new Refugee Act and the gazetting of a Draft White Paper on International Migration (WP).

SAMP notes with encouragement the steps taken in the Draft White Paper to move to a more holistic view of the benefits of sound, effective and transparent immigration management. SAMP is supportive of continued immigration policy transformation and any initiatives that advance this aim.

SAMP possesses the experience and capacity to …

No. 06: The Point Of No Return: Evaluating The Amnesty For Mozambican Refugees In South Africa, Jonathan Crush, Vincent Williams

Southern African Migration Programme

In the 1980s, civil war in Mozambique forced hundreds of thousands of people to flee their homes and seek refuge in neighbouring countries, including South Africa. Formal refugee status was granted only after the civil war ended, with the signing in October 1992 of a Tripartite Agreement between Mozambique, South Africa and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). The majority of these former Mozambican refugees clearly wish to remain in South Africa, as few took advantage of a UNHCR offer of free repatriation to Mozambique in the early 1990s. In 2000, an estimated 200-220 000 former Mozambican refugees …

No. 05: Counting Brains: Measuring Emigration From South Africa, Jonathan Crush, Vincent Williams

Southern African Migration Programme

Official South African statistics on the magnitude of emigration from the country seriously undercount. In this paper, the authors have devised an innovative methodology which reveals the extent of the undercount but also provides important insights into the volume and sectoral distribution of emigrants. One of the common strategies suggested for countering some of the negative consequences of “brain drain” is the mobilization of diaspora networks. The paper provides an introduction to one such network, the SANSA project. The paper was written by Mercy Brown, David Kaplan and Jean-Baptiste Meyer of the Development Policy Research Unit of the University of …

No. 22: Immigration, Xenophobia And Human Rights In South Africa, Jonathan Crush

Southern African Migration Programme

In 2000, the Southern African Migration Project (SAMP) entered into a partnership with the Roll Back Xenophobia Campaign of the South African Human Rights Commission. The two cooperated in offering a series of country-wide training workshops for media and journalists at which the results of SAMP research into media xenophobia was presented and discussed. This publication is the second product of that partnership. The paper sets out to critically review and examine the evidence for the argument that xenophobia is widespread and growing in South Africa. While it is important to document the scale of the problem and the enormity …

No. 21: Cross-Border Raiding And Community Conflict In The Lesotho-South African Border Zone, Gary Kynoch, Theresa Ulicki, Tsepang Cekwane, Booi Mohapi, Mampolokeng Mohapi, Ntsoaki Phakisi, Palesa Seithleko

Southern African Migration Programme

Movement backwards and forwards across borders for work is often considered to be the primary form of unauthorized movement in Southern Africa. In southern Lesotho, a new and particularly dangerous form of two-way cross-border movement has become entrenched. This situation warrants the label “crisis”; a crisis which is devastating parts of the countryside in both Lesotho and the northern Eastern Cape Province of South Africa.

Media and official attention has focused on the extreme violence which accompanies cross-border stock raiding. This paper seeks to understand the social and economic roots and impacts of cross-border stock theft. Such an analysis is …

No Easy Walk: Advancing Refugee Protection In South Africa, Jeff Handmaker

Southern African Migration Programme

South Africa only began accepting individual applications for political asylum in 1994. A policy designed to recognize former Mozambican refugees for the purposes of a repatriation program became the (awkward) basis of the asylum procedure up until April 2000. Criticized by some, a lively discussion raising often-contradictory views began in 1996, leading to a policy reform process culminating in the Refugees Act in December 1998. The Act only came into force at the beginning of April 2000. This article analyzes the process of policy development in South Africa, focusing on practical and theoretical challenges facing the government in the implementation …

Kabou Dechire Le Certificat D'Innocence De L'Afrique? (Review Of Et Si L'Afrique Refusait Le Développement By Axelle Kabou), Kasongo Mulenda Kapanga

Languages, Literatures, and Cultures Faculty Publications

Pourquoi I' Afrique est-elle sous développée? En repondant a cette question, Axelle Kabou fait d'une pierre deux coups. D'abord, elle émet une thèse d'après laquelle I'Afrique refuserait de se développer à cause de sa léthargie. Ensuite, elle fait un réquisitoire severe en désignant du doigt I' Africain lui-meme comme source de son retard. Le refus de développement, explique-t-elle, vient d'une fausse conception manichéiste qui voit en I' Afrique une antithèse de I' Europe. Par consequent, tout emprunt des valeurs européennes indispensables au développement est vu avec méfiance. C'est ainsi qu' «à peine sortie du monde manichéiste pré-colonial, I' Afrique a …

Property Rights And The Role Of The State: Evidence From The Horn Of Africa, Sandra F. Joireman

Political Science Faculty Publications

This study applies extant theories of property rights change to three land tenure systems in Imperial Ethiopia. Two of the areas underwent changes in property rights after experiencing changes in the value of land; one did not. A data set of litigation over land rights is used in conjunction with case studies to understand the mechanisms motivating or impeding property rights change. Amendments to the role of the state are suggested and two conclusions are reached: (1) that movement towards greater specificity of land rights did not always occur; and (2) the changes in property rights that occurred were imposed …

Inherited Legal Systems And Effective Rule Of Law: Africa And The Colonial Legacy, Sandra F. Joireman

Political Science Faculty Publications

The question of whether particular types of legal institutions influence the effectiveness of the rule of law has long been answered with conjecture. Common law lawyers and judges tend to believe that the common law system is superior. This opinion is based on the idea that the common law system inherited from the British is more able to protect the rights of the individual than civil law judicial systems. Quite the opposite point of view can be found in lawyers from civil law countries, who may view the common law system as capricious and disorganised. This paper compares the effectiveness …