The Nordic Africa Institute
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Ethnicity and Democratisation in Africa : Challenges for Politics and Development
No full textThis Discussion Paper explores the challenges that ethnicity poses for democratisation and development in Africa. It provides an overview of the literature on ethnicity and democratisation and an analysis of the trends on the continent since the end of the Cold War. In this regard, it critically examines perspectives on the impact of ethnicity on democracy and analyses the ethnicity-citizenship nexus in the context of the national democratic question in Africa. This provides the basis for the analysis of emerging challenges facing Africa and the way forward. The paper provides additional insights into the ongoing debates about democracy and the nation-state question in Africa and is of interest to scholars, practitioners and the general reader
Oil and Insurgency in the Niger Delta : Managing the Complex Politics of Petroviolence
No full textThe recent escalation in the violent conflict in the Niger Delta has brought the region to the forefront of international energy and security concerns. This book analyses the causes, dynamics and politics underpinning oil-related violence in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. It focuses on the drivers of the conflict, as well as the ways the crises spawned by the political economy of oil and contradictions within Nigeria's ethnic politics have contributed to the morphing of initially poorly coordinated, largely non-violent protests into a pan-Delta insurgency. Approaching the issue from a number of perspectives, the book offers the most up-to-date and comprehensive analysis available of the varied dimensions of the conflict. Combining empirically-based and analytic chapters, it attempts to explain the causes of the escalation in violence, the various actors, levels and dynamics involved, and the policy challenges faced with regard to conflict management/resolution and the options for peace. It also examines the role of oil as a commodity of global strategic significance, addressing the relationship between oil, energy security and development in the Niger Delta.Contents: -- Introduction: Petro-violence in the Niger Delta: The Complex Politics of an Insurgency / Cyril Obi and Siri Aas Rustad -- 1. The Nigerian State and the Niger Delta Crisis / Ukiwo Ukoha -- 2. Capacity and Governance Deficits in the Response to the Niger Delta Crisis / Babatunde Ahonsi -- 3. The Struggle for Resource Control and Violence in the Niger Delta / Rhuks Ako -- 4. The Niger Delta Crisis and the Question of Access to Justice / Engobo Emeseh -- 5. The Ijaw National Congress and Conflict Resolution in the Niger Delta / Ibaba Samuel Ibaba -- 6. Changing the Paradigm of Pacification: Oil and Militarization in Nigeria's Niger Delta / Charles Ukeje -- 7. Nigeria's Oil Diplomacy and the Management of the Niger Delta Crisis / Kayode Soremekun -- 8. 'Mend Me' the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta and the empowerment of violence / Morten Boås -- 9. Popular and Criminal Violence as instruments of struggle in the Niger Delta Region / Augustine Ikelegbe -- 10. Swamped with Weapons: The Proliferation of illicit small arms and light weapons in the Niger Delta / Nils Duquet -- 11. Women's Protests in the Niger Delta Region / Oluwatoyin Oluwaniyi -- 12. Corporate Social Responsibility and the Niger Delta Conflict: Issues and Prospects / Uwafiokun Idemudia -- 13. Labelling Oil, Contesting Governance: LegalOil.com, the GMoU and Profiteering in the Niger Delta / Anna Zalik -- 14. Conclusion: Amnesty and post-amnesty peace, is the window of opportunity closing for the Niger Delta? / Cyril Obi and Siri Aas Rustad</p
Biofuels, Land Grabbing and Food Security in Africa
No full textEnergy crisis and climate change have generated global demands for alternative non-fossil fuel sources. This has led to a rapid increase of investments in production of liquid biofuels based on agricultural feed stocks such as sugar cane. Most African governments see biofuels as a potential for increasing agricultural productivity and export incomes and thus strengthening their national economies, improving energy balances and rural employment. At the same time climate change may be addressed through reduction of green house gas emissions. There are, however, a number of uncertainties mounting that challenge this scenario. Using in-depth African case studies this book addresses this knowledge gap by examining the impacts of large-scale biofuel production on African agriculture in regard to vital land outsourcing and food security issues. The surge for African biofuels has also opened space for private investors both domestic and external to multiply and network 'independently' of the state. The biofuel expansion thus generates new economic alliances and production relations, resulting in new forms of inclusions and exclusions within the rural population. An essential book for anyone wishing to understand the startling impact of biofuels and land outsourcing on Africa.Contents: -- 1. Introduction: Biofuels, Food Security and Land Outsourcing -- 2. Land Rights, Livelihoods Justice and the Internationalization of the Search for Food Security and Energy -- 3. Peak Oil, and the Push for Bio-fuel by Industrialized Nations -- 4. Suspending People’s Resource Rights: The Demand for Foreign Direct Investment in Africa in the Context of Innovations on Bio-fuels -- 5. Smallholder-Led Transformation Towards Bio-fuel Production in Ethiopia -- 6. Bio-fuel, Land Outsourcing and the Process of Environmental and Social Impact Assessment in Tanzania -- 7. The Push for Bio-fuels in the Context of the Political Economy Crisis in Zimbabwe -- 8. The Effect of the Spread of Jatropha Production on Food Security in Northern Ghana -- 9. Who Governs Bio-fuels?: Lessons and Reflections on Social Inclusion and Bio-diesel Policy in Brazil. What Can Africa Learn? 10. Lessons and Reflections on Brazilian Ethanol Development. What Can Africa Learn? -- 11. Setting A New Agenda for Smallholder Farmers in the Context of Bio-fuels: A Synthesis</p
Africa has the floor
No full textShort presentations of African writers.Contents: Henning Mankell /Has/The/Floor -- Veronique Tadjo /Has/The/Floor -- The/Authors: -- Chris Abani -- Lubna Al-Hussein -- Meshack Asare -- Sefi Atta -- Edem Awumey-- Gabeba Baderoon -- Yaba Badoe -- Doreen Baingana -- Biyi Bandele -- Lesley Beake -- Sihem Bensedrine -- Maïssa Bey -- Paulina Chiziane -- Mia Couto -- Bernadette Sanou Dao -- Lassana Igo Diarra -- Ousmane Diarra -- Boubacar Boris Diop -- Unity Dow -- Nawal El Saadawi -- Christian Epanya -- Nuruddin Farah -- Petina Grappah -- Nadine Gordimer -- Miguel Gullander -- Piet Grobler -- Helon Habila -- Jay Heale -- Ayaan Hirsi Ali -- Chenjerai Hove -- Philo Ikonya -- Brian James -- Tahar Ben Jelloun -- Billy Kahora -- Fatou Keïta -- John Kilaka -- Elieshi Lema -- Alain Mabanckou -- Sindiwe Magona -- Kopano Matlwa -- Desbele Mehari -- Maaza Mengiste -- Deon Meyer -- Bienvenu Sena Mongabe -- Geoffrey Musonda -- Wambui Mwangi -- Dominique Mwankumi -- Eyoum N’Gangue -- Cletus Nelson Nwadike -- Monica Arac De Nyenko -- Tolu Ogunlesi -- Ondjaki -- Shailja Patel -- Wumi Raji -- Lesego Rampolokeng -- Irene Sabatini -- Ismail Serageldin -- Steeve Sassene -- Jonathan Shapiro -- Patricia Schonstein -- Veronique Tadjo -- Mpho Tutu -- Ngugi Wa Thiong’O -- Binyavanga Wainaina -- Senayit Worku</p
Measuring democracy and ‘good governance’ in Africa : a critique of assumptions and methods
No full textLiterature searching
No full textContents: Bibliographic overviews -- Current bibliographies -- Literature published in Africa -- Searching for literature on the Internet -- Africa -specific databases -- Library databases -- Subject databases -- Digital archives and web portals -- Searching for journal article
Democratic Governance and Accountability in Africa : In Search of a Workable Framework
No full textThis Discussion Paper provides a thought-provoking and radical intervention into the ongoing debates on democratic governance and accountability in Africa. The author undertakes a critical overview of the discourse on democratisation in Africa and notes that democracy on the continent cannot be fully understood on the basis of the ways in which electoral pluralism has played out in the last 20 years. The paper critiques mainstream explanations and points out their shortcomings. It goes on to make a compelling case for an alternative framework based on historically informed dialectical analysis of everyday democracy and struggles for democracy in Africa. Noting that no two democracies are exactly the same, the paper advocates the need for democracy in Africa to be studied on its own terms, and in a way that facilitates taking the African experience into the global arena to produce a truly comparative theory of democratisation on a world scale. The paper is essential reading for all those interested in the history, present and future of democracy in Africa
Reconceptualising Democratic Local Governance in the Niger Delta
No full textThis Discussion Paper critically examines local governance in the Niger Delta and its relevance to the search for inclusive and sustainable conflict-resolution in the oil-rich Niger Delta region of Nigeria. It critiques the existing local government system and explores the possibility of reconceptualising local governance along more inclusive, accountable and participatory lines that would institutionalise democracy, development and peace at the grassroots or community level in the troubled oil-rich region. Its originality lies in its departure from top-down perspectives, and its refocusing of attention on the oft-neglected local sites of conflict and under development. The paper will appeal to scholars, policy actors and development planners with a particular interest in developments at the African grassroots level