Department of Political Studies
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Item Africa–India nuclear cooperation: pragmatism, principle, post-colonialism and the Pelindaba Treaty(Routledge, 2011) Pretorius, JoelienThe United States India nuclear agreement, announced in 2005, was a first step in the process to normalise India’s international nuclear relations despite the fact that India is not a party to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. Africa is largely seen as a uranium supplier rather than nuclear power producer in the world nuclear order. The position that African states take towards Africa India nuclear cooperation, uranium supply to India in particular, is informed by two seemingly contrasting factors, namely economic and political pragmatism on the one hand, and non-proliferation imperatives and norms on the other. The African Nuclear Weapons Free Zone Treaty, also referred to as the Pelindaba Treaty, prohibits uranium and nuclear-related exports to states without comprehensive safeguards of their nuclear facilities, but the case of India is still open for interpretation. Africa and India’s shared post-colonial consciousness, manifesting in their historical ties, membership of the Non-Aligned Movement and South South cooperation, is often regarded as another factor facilitating Africa India nuclear relations. A more critical view points to the different notions of post-coloniality in Africa and India, resulting in different approaches to nuclear non-proliferation that constrain their nuclear relations.Item Astronaissance: Communicating astronomy & space to the African imagination(2013) Gottschalk, KeithAstronaissance neatly conceptualizes the crossover between the African Renaissance, the re-emergence of Astronomy in Africa, and the rise of cognate space sciences and astronautics. Story-telling, painting, engraving, writing, and above all, viewing the heavens above, have always been amongst the strategies for communicating this excitement and wonder. Today, astronomy societies, the internet, media and mobile phone apps, and other public outreach projects are crucial when, for the first time ever, a majority of Africa’s people now live under the light-polluted skies of our continent’s towns and cities. Space-related products and services are woven into the fabric of our daily life as never before. Policy-makers, budget-allocators, and managers need to see as essential to their strategy communicating to Africa’s citizens, voters, and taxpayers, the necessity of Astronomy, the other space sciences, and Astronautics.Item Complexity, depoliticisation, and African nuclear ordering agency: a meso-level exploration(Routledge, 2024) Pretorius, Joelien; Vaughan, TomThe regional nuclear ordering terrain in Africa is increasingly complex, with proliferating and deepening institutional relationships to the institutions of the global nuclear order. Applying a ‘complexity lens’ to this regional institutional apparatus may therefore seem like an intuitive way to understand its role in global nuclear ordering at large, and Africa’s place within it. However, one important concern when thinking about complex multinational regimes is depoliticisation. This has been examined in contexts of global development as well as nuclear order and we show this as a key feature of meso nuclear ordering in Africa. A complexity lens is useful to analyse the characteristics of the African regional institutional terrain. However, a complexity lens can perpetuate this depoliticisation if it does not acknowledge the political thrusts which underlie conceptions of ‘order’ and ‘disorder’.Item (De)legitimizing rape as a weapon of war: patriarchy, narratives and the African Union(University of the Western Cape, 2014) Langeveldt, Veleska; Pretorius, JoelienThe African continent has over the past 40 years witnessed a continued scourge of violent conflict and human rights abuses. These conflicts have significantly undermined the social, political, and economic prosperity of African citizens. Additionally, women and children are particularly affected by these conflicts. Women and children are regarded as ‘the most vulnerable’ as they often become the targets of sexual abuse by the enemy. The African Union (AU) is primarily responsible for the resolution of conflicts on the continent. It professes to be committed to the prevention of human rights abuses and the protection of African women (and children) during armed conflicts. It has thus developed an array of mechanisms, protocols, and instruments to address the exploitation and sexual abuse of women during conflict periods. These instruments include: The Constitutive Act of the AU (2000); The Solemn Declaration of Gender Equality in Africa (2003); the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa- ACHPRWA (2004); and the Protocol relating to the Peace and Security Council. In this research project, I consider whether the narratives used in these AU documents sufficiently and explicitly address the use of rape as a strategic weapon during armed conflicts; or whether these narratives inadvertently contribute to a culture that perpetuates war-time rape. My analysis shows that these AU documents deal with war-time rape in very vague and euphemistic terms. Although gender discrimination, sexual violence, exploitation, discrimination, and harmful practices against women are condemned, the delegitimization of rape as a weapon of war is not specifically discussed. This allows for varying interpretations of AU protocols, including interpretations which may diminish the severity of strategic rape. This has lead me to propose that the narratives used in these AU protocols and related documents draw on patriarchy, perpetuate patriarchy, and thus inadvertently perpetuates a culture that perpetuates the use of rape as a weapon of warItem The impact of the colonial legacy on African institutions: A case study of the Pan-African Parliament (PAP)(University of Western Cape, 2020) Baba, Awonke; Mngomezulu, Bheki R.After Independence in Africa, vast institutions were established in order to deal with the legacy of colonialism and to encourage development in the continent. Decades later, some of these institutions are said to be ineffective due to a number of constraints – one of which is the colonial legacy which has rendered them almost dysfunctional. This study assesses the impacts of colonialism on these African institutions and uses the Pan-African Parliament (PAP) as a case study. Guided by Post-colonial theory and Institutional theory, and using Content Analysis (CA) as a tool for data analysis, this study has found that African institutions are operating under the influence of ex-colonial countries. This is evidenced by how these institutions are using European languages as their medium of communication and receive more than half of their funds from international bodies which then control their operations. This contributes to their inability to make decisions due to conflicting interests within the representatives and member states.Item The impact of the colonial legacy on African institutions: A case study of the Pan-African Parliament (PAP)(University of the Western Cape, 2020) Baba, Awonke; Mngomezulu, Bheki R.After Independence in Africa, vast institutions were established in order to deal with the legacy of colonialism and to encourage development in the continent. Decades later, some of these institutions are said to be ineffective due to a number of constraints – one of which is the colonial legacy which has rendered them almost dysfunctional. This study assesses the impacts of colonialism on these African institutions and uses the Pan-African Parliament (PAP) as a case study. Guided by Post-colonial theory and Institutional theory, and using Content Analysis (CA) as a tool for data analysis, this study has found that African institutions are operating under the influence of ex-colonial countries. This is evidenced by how these institutions are using European languages as their medium of communication and receive more than half of their funds from international bodies which then control their operations. This contributes to their inability to make decisions due to conflicting interests within the representatives and member states. Based on these findings, this study concludes that the colonial legacy plays a major role in delaying the development of African institutions. Therefore, this study provides recommendations or a way forward by arguing that these institutions which include the AU should tie/tighten the knots on their programmes such as the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) so as to strengthen democracy within member states. They should revive or reconsider constitutions that focus on the penalties for member states that do not pay their membership contribution as agreed and on those member states that fail to obey agreed to protocols. Lastly, this study recommends that fund-raising programmes should be established in selected member states so as to prevent financial dependency on international bodies that weaken African institutions.Item Postmodernism and the reclaiming of tradition(Berghahn Books, 1998) Piper, Laurence‘The history of the Zulu people is the history of myself’.1 In Africa, as elsewhere, the notion of tradition is bound up with the discourses of ethnicity and nationalism. Typically invoking pre-colonial identities as the basis of peoplehood, such narratives of common descent are imbued with a strong sense of ‘pastness’, orientating the modern self in traditional terms. Anderson explains this invocation of tradition as a feature of the inverted nature of ethnic narratives of common descent.2 More common are accounts which focus on the ‘loss of meaning’ brought about by modernisation and the psychic security offered by an idealised past.Item Postmodernism and the reclaiming of tradition(Berghahn books, 1998) Piper, LaurenceThe history of the Zulu people is the history of myself'.1 In Africa, as elsewhere, the notion of tradition is bound up with the discourses of ethnicity and nationalism. Typically invoking pre-colonial identi- ties as the basis of peoplehood, such narratives of common descent are imbued with a strong sense of 'pastness', orientating the modern self in traditional terms. Anderson explains this invocation of tradition as a feature of the inverted nature of ethnic narratives of common descent.2 More common are accounts which focus on the ioss of meaning' brought about by modernisation and the psychic security offered by an idealised past. Recent theories look to supplant this sense of tradition as reaction with a sense of tradition as creation. One example is Lonsdale's argument that the affirmation of ethnicity in post-colonial Africa, with its associated invention of tradition, must be seen in the context of internal debates over civic virtue as pre-colo- nial moral economies are re-structured by the state and capitalism.Item Who watches Korean TV dramas in Africa? A preliminary study in Ghana(Sage, 2018) Kim, SuweonMore and more Ghanaians are watching Korean TV dramas. These are not just ordinary Ghanaians because they are from a particular socioeconomic bracket; they have a certain level of education, access to screen devices and Internet, accumulated previous experience of watching other foreign screen products and, most importantly, a peer network with those who can afford these items. Drawing from qualitative work and focus-group interviews, the article argues that Korean TV dramas are spread efficiently by taking advantage of those contributing components within the privileged network, but they remain within the network due to the lack of those necessary components outside the bracket. The recipients find Korean media products attractive because they are fresh, funny, socially decent, different, yet close to them vis-à-vis Hollywood and Nollywood.