1,720,995 research outputs found
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe 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
A critical analysis of the US-China geopolitical contest in the Indo-Pacific region : implications for Africa's regional inclusion
No full textDissertation (MA (International Relations))--University of Pretoria, 2024.The Indo-Pacific region holds significant and strategic geopolitical importance in the 21st century. It is in the region that the US-China strategic contest is prevalent, driven by economic, security, and geopolitical interests. This strategic contest implicates Africa, fostering strategic synergies in the broader Indo-Pacific. Although the US-China rivalry is the centrepiece of the geopolitical discourses of the Indo-Pacific, other major powers such as Australia, India, Japan, and ASEAN also influence regional dynamics. It is for this reason that the strategic US-China rivalry implicates regional members who also contest for power and influence in the broader Indo-Pacific with the extension of synergies with the African littoral nations in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR). This study provides a critical analysis of the US-China geopolitical contest in the Indo-Pacific region and its implications for Africa’s regional inclusion. It argues that African littoral nations of the IOR are largely excluded in the regional framework and discourses of the Indo-Pacific. Also, the continent is marginalized in the Indo-Pacific strategic visions and conceptions of key stakeholders such as the United States and Australia whose regional construct excludes the Western Indian Ocean (WIO) region while the Association of Southeast Asia (ASEAN) has an ambiguous construct of the Indo-Pacific.
This geopolitical exclusion implies that Africa is left out of the strategic forums and initiatives of the Indo-Pacific such as the ASEAN Regional Forum (ASEAN-ARF) and the United States Indo-Pacific Command (US-INDOPACOM). Through the use of a qualitative methodology and content analysis technique, the study examined this geopolitical exclusion and explored strategic opportunities for Africa’s regional inclusion. This is done within tenets of the theory of new regionalism which the study adopted as a theoretical framework of its critical analysis to explain Africa’s geopolitical exclusion in the Indo-Pacific region. New regionalism theory argues for regional multilateralism and aims to create non-hegemonic regions while supporting international cooperation.
The analysis of the study, however, shows that Africa lacks a clear policy focus and a common position in response to the growing significance and synergies within the broader Indo-Pacific. Secondly, the US-China strategic contest in the Indo-Pacific region and Africa serves as a strategic pathway for the inclusion of the continent in the region; regional members such as India and Japan also play a crucial role in Africa’s inclusion in the region. Concluding that Africa’s regional inclusion in the Indo-Pacific presents economic, security, and geopolitical opportunities for the continent that cannot be ignored, the study recommends, amongst others, that Africa develops an Indo-Pacific Outlook/Strategy guided by the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA)-Indo-Pacific Outlook (IPO) which includes the Eastern and Southern African littoral nations as geographic parts of the Indo-Pacific. The IPO should also guide the revision of America and Australia’s Indo-Pacific visions to include Africa to the fore.MasterCard Foundation ScholarshipPolitical SciencesMA (International Relations)UnrestrictedFaculty of Humanitie
Variations on the Author
Full text link“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
US Hegemony and Latin American Regional Security : The United States’ hegemony in the Organisation of American States (OAS) : Implications for Latin American Regional Security
Full text linkMini-dissertation (MSS (Political Sciences))--University of Pretoria, 2021United States of America (US) hegemony has been a topic of scholarly discussion for long. Regarding US hegemony within the Organisation of American States (OAS), and Latin America by extension, the OAS institutional and budgetary reforms submitted with the Revitalisation and Reform Act of 2013 had signified a trajectory towards a declining hegemony. This study explores the implications of OAS budgetary reforms on inter-American security architecture. This research uses theoretical assumptions of regime and hegemonic theory to construct hypotheses assessing the changes that could happen with a potential declining influence of the US. Findings showed that the OAS member states have been free riding on the US’s funds to operate the region’s security agenda and strategy. This must change. Increased autonomy, cooperation, and financial contribution from the Latin American member states would decrease the efficacy of the US conditionality—a tool the hegemon currently uses to shape inter-American security and peace policies to US interests. The US should change its strategy in Latin America going forward.Political SciencesMSS (Political Sciences)Unrestricte
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe 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
Explaining Security and Insecurity in Africa : the case of Mozambique
Full text linkMini Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria,2021.This study argues for governance security as the eighth dimension of human security using the case of the insurgency in the Northern Province of Cabo Delgado in Mozambique. It aims to contribute toward a non-western understanding of security and insecurity, with a focus on Africa, which has been marginalized in security literature. The study also examines the current governance challenges faced in Mozambique and their impact on human security. The writer propositions that the governance challenges in Mozambique have led to instability of the country with a consequence of increased levels of poverty and insecurity in the country.Political SciencesMaster of Arts in Security StudiesUnrestricte
Women, religion, and peacebuilding : a case analysis of Sudan
No full textThesis (PhD (International Relations))--University of Pretoria, 2021.The roles of women and religion in peacebuilding have been subjects of extensive research in recent years. Scholarly evidence has underscored the importance of including women in peace processeses to ensure the sustainability of peace in conflict-affected communities. There is also a rich body of literature on the role of religion in both perpetuating and transforming conflict, rooted in traditional norms and values of peace and reconciliation, which has come to be known as religious or faith-based peacebuilding. However, not much has been written on the intersection of women, religion, and peacebuilding and how this plays out in specific conflict contexts.
Stemming from Third World Feminism—which combines both African and Islamic feminisms—as the theoretical framework for its analysis, the thesis contributes to bridging the gap in literature on the intersection of women, religion, and peacebuilding. It builds on the scant literature on the role of women in religious or faith-based peacebuilding and explores the role religion—being one of the major factors shaping the culture and identity of societies—plays in enhancing or obstructing the role of women in the various forms of peacebuilding processes.
To this end, the study adopted a research design rooted in feminist epistemology that highlights the specificities of the context within which the relationship between religion and women peacebuilding roles is analysed. Both the qualitative research and case study approaches were combined given the nature of the research objectives and questions, which required the collection and analysis of qualitative data from both primary and secondary sources to examine the relationship between women, religion, and peacebuilding in Sudan. This accommodated an in-depth examination of this relationship in the case of Sudan by focusing on civil society organizations and actors working on peacebuilding issues in the country as units of analysis. It also allowed for reflecting the voices and agencies of ordinary Sudanese women, as African and Muslim agents, through capturing their insights and perspectives on their various roles in peacebuilding, the challenges militating against their participation, and the impact of religion on their participation and inclusion in the informal and formal peacebuilding domain. In-depth interviews and a focus group discussion with international and local organizations and actors working on issues related to women and peacebuilding in Sudan were employed. Both secondary and primary data were analysed using a combination of content analysis and thematic analysis techniques, which allowed room for a deeper understanding of the relationships between the main research variables and contributed to bridging the gap in literature between “women and peacebuilding” and “religion and peacebuilding”.
Based on its findings, the study concludes that in societies such as Sudan where religion plays a dominant constitutive role in social existence, its impact on women’s participation and representation in peacebuilding processes is profound and needs to be theorized. The case is therefore made for a Global South feminist theoretical perspective that takes historical and cultural contexts into account, including the multiplicity of actors and processes involved in peacebuilding and conflict transformation, while reflecting the agency and voices of women in Africa and the Global South, and making them the starting point of the research, rather than its objects.
Keywords: Feminism, Peacebuilding, Religion, Sudan, Women.Political SciencesPhD (International Relations)Unrestricte
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe 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
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