1,720,955 research outputs found
The nexus between natural resources and conflict in the Gulf of Guinea: Case of Nigeria
No full textCountries endowed with natural resources such as Nigeria have been susceptible to economic underdevelopment and conflict. Nigeria is an empirical case for the resource curse-a notion that depicts a negative correlation between resource endowment, development and conflict. This study examines the relationship between natural resources, oil in particular and conflict in Nigeria. The study sought to examine the historical development of conflict over oil in Nigeria and to ascertain the impact of structurally-induced scarcity resulting from the distribution of rents in the country. The research was guided by the hypothesis that lack of accountability and unfair distribution of natural resource wealth amalgamated with political and social grievances normally results in explosive conflicts in resource rich countries. The resource curse, greed and grievance theories provided the framework for analysis. The study used the case study design wherein qualitative tools such as documentary search and in-depth interviews with key informants were employed to gather data. Data was analyzed using content analysis for documentary data and thematic analysis for interview data. Information gathered was presented using emerging themes from the data. The main finding of the research is that, the regime governing the oil industry in Nigeria pushes the producing community to the periphery in decision making. The local people are frustrated because of the perception that oil revenue has not been used to improve their livelihoods. This has led them to resort to violence in seeking the attention of the government. The research concludes that conflict in Nigeria is a result of the governance system in the country which does not allow for the equitable distribution of oil wealth. The implication of this is that there is need for the inclusion of the Delta people into the central government such that their needs can be addressed at the highest level. The research recommends the systematic reform of institutions governing the oil industry in Nigeria such that the government would be made accountable on the use of oil revenue
The Nexus between Natural Resources and Conflict in the Gulf of Guinea: Case of Nigeria
No full textCountries endowed with natural resources such as Nigeria have been susceptible to economic underdevelopment and conflict. Nigeria is an empirical case for the resource curse-a notion that depicts a negative correlation between resource endowment, development and conflict. This study examines the relationship between natural resources, oil in particular and conflict in Nigeria. The study sought to examine the historical development of conflict over oil in Nigeria and to ascertain the impact of structurally-induced scarcity resulting from the distribution of rents in the country. The research was guided by the hypothesis that lack of accountability and unfair distribution of natural resource wealth amalgamated with political and social grievances normally results in explosive conflicts in resource rich countries. The resource curse, greed and grievance theories provided the framework for analysis. The study used the case study design wherein qualitative tools such as documentary search and in-depth interviews with key informants were employed to gather data. Data was analyzed using content analysis for documentary data and thematic analysis for interview data. Information gathered was presented using emerging themes from the data. The main finding of the research is that, the regime governing the oil industry in Nigeria pushes the producing community to the periphery in decision making. The local people are frustrated because of the perception that oil revenue has not been used to improve their livelihoods. This has led them to resort to violence in seeking the attention of the government. The research concludes that conflict in Nigeria is a result of the governance system in the country which does not allow for the equitable distribution of oil wealth. The implication of this is that there is need for the inclusion of the Delta people into the central government such that their needs can be addressed at the highest level. The research recommends the systematic reform of institutions governing the oil industry in Nigeria such that the government would be made accountable on the use of oil revenue
Youth political participation in Zimbabwe and the prospects for representation in the national parliament (2017-2023)
Get PDFDoctor of Philosophy in Social Sciences with Political Studies, North-West University-- Potchefstroom CampusYouth political participation is a relatively new area of study. Youth political participation is a right. This right is enshrined in several international conventions, including the UDHR and AU Charter and subsequently adopted or incorporated into national laws. In Zimbabwe, youth political participation is enshrined in the constitution and the revised National Youth Policy 2020. Notwithstanding this, global statistics reveal low representation of youth in governance institutions, including the national parliament. The international scenario on youth representation is also relatable to the Zimbabwe case. Interestingly, following the 2017 military-assisted transition in Zimbabwe, the nation experienced momentous political events with the chance to transform the country’s governance system. In this respect, this study examined youth political participation under the Second Republic and the prospects of their representation in the national parliament. Using democratic theories as the framework of analysis, the study revealed that while it is commonly held that democracy provides a system of social organisation for a just, equitable, accountable, and representative system, no single theory posits how this can be achieved. This is further complicated by the notion that, as a concept, political participation is dynamic and elastic. Political participation encompasses all the institutionalised and non-institutionalised activities that are taken to influence policy. While participatory democracy provided a valuable contribution which can be related to this study on youth political participation with prospects for representation in the national parliament, it falls short of clearly outlining the critical political activities needed for democratising parliaments. The core contribution made by participatory democracy is the identification of the workplace as a sector of participation which needs to be democratised. Participatory democrats argued that the workers spend most of their working hours at the workplace; hence, they should directly participate in the decision-making process at the workplace. Participation is crucial because it leads to the worker’s self-development. The theory also posits that the workplace should be democratised not for its sake but to democratise the entire political system. This provided the basis for this study’s use of the parliament as a sector of participation that can be democratised through youth representation. Using a case analysis of the 2018 and 2023 harmonised elections in Zimbabwe, the study developed a new theory of participatory democracy with safeguards for youth participation. This theory uses parliament as a sector that needs to be democratised through youth inclusion and representation. The basis for youth inclusivity is the idea that since the youth constitute a large share of the Zimbabwean population, they must be involved in the making of decisions that affect their lives. The post-2017 political environment and the leadership of Mnangagwa under the rubric of the ‘Second Republic’ or ‘New Dispensation’ and the increased interest in the 2018 and 2023 elections among the youth made the elections suitable case studies. The new theory used identified four institutionalised political activities which are campaigning, voting, candidature and election into political office as the requisite activities for youth representation in the national parliament. These activities were presented on two pyramids, starting with campaign at the bottom and election at the apex. Pyramid A represented the empirical case of youth participation in Zimbabwe, which had the potential of being transformed by reforms enacted under the Second Republic, leading to the ideal scenario where youth participation across the activities in the pyramid is even. Findings from the literature, including election observation reports for the 2018 elections, confirmed the diagrammatic representation of youth participation in Figure A, where youth participation is mainly concentrated on the lower rungs of pyramids during campaigns and voting. Despite the increased number of youths who registered to vote during the 2018 elections, the number of youths elected into the 9th Parliament was low. Of the 270 MPs for the 9th parliament, only five were youths, of which three were directly elected, while the other two were young women elected through the women’s PR system. This, again, is in line with the illustration on the Pyramid, where youth participation as candidates and election into political office is concerning. On the other hand, the structural changes, including introducing the youth quota in 2021, influenced youth candidature for the 2023 elections. This resulted in an increased number of young parliamentarians in the 10th parliament. Out of the 280 MPs for the 10th Parliament, 35 are youths. Of the 35, 17 were directly elected into parliament, ten came through the youth quota, and eight were elected through the women’s PR. The findings on youth participation in the 10th Parliament again conform to Pyramid B’s depiction of youth participation. Pyramid B represents the ideal, and the relative increase of youth following the 2023 elections can be considered as such. The implications of the findings for youth participation in the 2018 and 2023 harmonised elections and the subsequent representation in the 9th and 10th Parliament, respectively, point to fundamental theoretical and governance issues. In terms of the new theory that was developed in the study, while increased youth representation in the 10th Parliament was recorded, in literature, especially with the youth quota, it has been described as ‘skewed demographic representation.’ Theoretically, it implies that the nature of youth representation may improve, yet structural changes within the governance system must support the improvement. The study concludes that the relative improvement of youth representation in the 10th Parliament in Zimbabwe is not sustainable because it has not been accompanied by structural changes that have been limiting youth participation. Therefore, sustainable youth representation in parliament, the essence of Pyramid B, or the ideal situation, can be achieved through structural changes. The new theory presents these changes as safeguards to promote youth participation. These safeguards include, among other changes, aligning the voting age with the eligibility age to run for parliamentary positions (National Assembly and Senatorial seats), increased reserved youth quota seats and democratic candidate selection processes. Broadly, using youth political participation as an indicator of assessing the post-2017 governance system in Zimbabwe, the study advances the notion that there have been no fundamental political reforms in Zimbabwe that foster youth participation, such instead of democratising the governance system in the old republic remains intact. The purported ‘Second Republic’ is just a carry-over from the old system. The safeguards advanced in this study cannot be generalised to other country case studies. However, the use of systematic analysis of youth participation across the activities in the Pyramids can, as a means of identifying context-specific challenges hindering youth representation in parliaments.Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Get PDF“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Get PDFWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Get PDFWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
koamabayili/VECTRON-author-checklist: VECTRON author checklist
No full textWe have done our best to complete the author checklist relating to the use of animals in the hut study. Note that the objective for the hut study was to evaluate the IRS treatment applications for residual efficacy against Anopheles mosquitoes, including the local An. coluzzii mosquito population. Cows were only used to attract mosquitoes into the huts and no tests were carried out directly on the cows. The author checklist is intended for use with studies where experiments are carried out on animals, which is why we have had such difficulty in completing this for the hut study, as many of the questions do not relate to how the cows were used
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