THE URGENCY OF LAND AND AGRARIAN REFORM IN RWANDA

The challenges which lie ahead for post-genocide Rwanda's economic,social and political development are closely related throughthe issue of land. The pressure from a high rate of populationgrowth, added to the paucity of economic opportunities outsidethe agricultural sector, is forcing people off the land andinto poverty. Society is under extreme stress. Over the lastdecade the fabric of Rwandan society has been torn, resultingin ethnic and social divisions which culminpted in the eventsof 1994. Since then, new groups have entered the competitionfor land. Decisions concerning land and agrarian reform willunavoidably benefit some groups within this fragmented societywhile disadvantaging others. This article approaches the landproblem from two perspectives: first, by situating its socio-economicdimension in a deeper historical context and second, by consideringit as a specifically contemporary socio-political problem. Thearticle discusses the latest proposals for land and agrarianreform. While pressure on land has, over time, weakened socialbonds, it remains doubtful whether the government has the politicalstrength—in the present unstable national and regionalpolitical climate—to carry out the necessary reinforcementof communal bonds which economic development appears to require.     

THE RENAISSANCE FACTOR IN SOUTH AFRICA AND THE CHANGING LANDSCAPE OF AFRICAN REGIONAL GOVERNANCE (1999-2008)

ABSTRACT

This article examines a likely South African hegemony in Africa between 1999 and 2008. Hegemony is admittedly difficult to define in African regionalism studies, as it is counter intuitive to Pan-Africanism discourse. However, this article aims to show that hegemony can be a credible argument in explaining the South African driven changes that occurred in African regionalism between 1999 and 2008. The article locates key characteristics which underpin arguments of South African hegemony during the study timeline. It argues that Thabo Mbeki's governance philosophy of African renaissance was the central piece of South African Africa foreign policy that distinguishes this period from any other before or after it. By establishing hegemonic credibility in South Africa's interaction with Africa in this period, the article demonstrates how South Africa was able to contribute to transformational governance changes in Africa. This also holds lessons for South African regional ascendancy in the future.     

CONSOLIDATING SOUTH AFRICAN DEMOCRACY: THE POLITICAL ARITHMETIC OF BUDGETARY REDISTRIBUTION

An absence of legitimacy of an economic dispensation cannotbe overcome by democratization alone. In unequal societies,new regimes also seek to increase economic legitimacy and thereforetheir own political legitimacy through redistribution. Socialspending is the most promising redistributive device availableto South Africa's new democracy to reduce racial inequalities,but there are constraints on increasing social spending or evenredistributing existing spending. To maximize political impact,spending will thus probably be concentrated on the most visibleprogrammes and concentrated in die cities. The impact on blackmaterial living standards of complete redistribution of socialspending is shown to be fairly large, but still may not satisfythe newly enfranchised. Coloureds, Indians and poorer whiteswould lose most from budgetary redistribution. As demands exceedresources, resource allocation then becomes a question of politicalarithmetic. This may assist in consolidating democracy amongsturban black ‘insiders’, but would effectively leavethe unorganized rural poor fiscally disenfranchised.     

IDENTITIES AND THE STATE IN PAKISTAN: A STUDY OF MENTALITY

This paper examines Pakistan's identity as a state, a religious community, a developmental enterprise, and a primordial society. It argues that over time Pakistan's state and developmental identities have weakened while its religious and primordial identities have gained in strength. This change in the balance has grave implications for Pakistan in terms of the working of the state and its legitimacy in the eyes of its own people. There is therefore a need to rehabilitate the state and developmental identities at a functional level, which means investing in improving the quality of governance and policy planning in Pakistan over the long-term.     

ISSUES OF RACE,ETHNICITY, SOCIO-ECONOMIC POSITION AND SPATIAL ACKNOWLEDGEMENT IN SOUTH AFRICA: HOW SPATIAL ACCESS AND EXPRESSION STILL PERPETUATE NOTIONS OF DIFFERENCE,SEPARATION AND UNCERTAINTY AMONGST THE SOUTH AFRICAN COLOURED1 POPULATION

ABSTRACT

While the Native Land Act [Act 27 of 1913] and the Native Trust and Land Act [Act 18 of 1936] dispossessed black South Africans of their land physically, the insidious Group Areas Act [Act 41 of 1950] and the Population Registration Act [Act 30 of 1950] reified perceptions of race and ethnicity in the context of phenotype, culture, language and even religion. Although these Acts were repealed the legacy remains part of the South African psyche still. Such perceptions are evident in the Coloured communities where the Population Registration Act classified and defined the group as a singular unit while the Group Areas Act segregated and confined them, and restricted their association within the group almost exclusively. This meant that education, access to information, socialising, and religious assembly and to a limited extent employment were restricted mostly to these designated segregated areas. Limited interaction between various legislated groups, even within the Coloured group itself reinforced the socio-economic racial hierarchy and the prejudices linked to economics. The combination of these Acts created an ‘us’ versus ‘them’ hostility further (re)enforcing notions of separateness and difference. The article seeks to examine social and racial interpretation (based on income and spatial realities) of the Coloured population in the Eastern Cape and how the group perceives its primary identity and allegiance in terms of ethnicity or national identity as salient in the current socio-political environment. The objectives are first to assert that legislated segregation created rigid jingoist structures of ethnic and racial identities that will take longer to dismantle than the Acts of separation had and secondly that national identity can be salient amongst a minority group irrespective of socio-economic position. The conclusion highlights that the social and identity Acts, spatial acts, regarded once as a legislated absolute, reduced the Coloured communities specifically, to regard themselves as different yet the same, inferior and superior, marginalised yet included, but that this is not incompatible with nation building.     

CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM IN UGANDA: THE NEW APPROACH

The article examines the constitution-making process in Uganda,from the days when Museveni's National Resistance Movement conductedits guerrilla campaign, declaring its intention to re-establishdemocracy with a new constitution. It considered that Uganda'scycle of violence in the past sprang from the lack of a goodconstitution and much store was placed on constitutionalismas a panacea. Accordingly, a constitutional commission was setup to consult the people and make proposals for a new constitution.The article examines how far this was a genuine attempt to consultwidely, or whether the government ‘guidelines’ wereintended to steer the discussion along pre-determined lines,and at a deliberately slow pace. The constitution itself isseen to contain some valuable improvements on previous constitutionsbut also to safeguard and preserve the existing ideology ofthe National Resistance Movement as far as possible.     

ASEAN AND CHINA IN THE SOUTH CHINA SEA DISPUTES

The South China Sea disputes involve both island and maritime claims among sovereign states and the issue has long been a point of debate in international politics. It involves not only the countries in dispute but also other major world powers, including the United States. Its important strategic location and the abundant resources make the South China Sea a target of contention among the claimant countries. The arbitral ruling in July 2016 gives a new momentum to the dispute. The article examines the strategic relations of China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) by analyzing the positions and steps taken by ASEAN and China, as well as ASEAN-China joint initiatives. It also discusses the challenges and viable solutions to the dispute.     

CHURCH AND STATE IN KENYA, 1986-1992: THE CHURCHES' INVOLVEMENT IN THE 'GAME OF CHANGE'1

This article examines the stages by which the Church in Kenyaoffered a primary challenge to the closed political system ofDaniel Arap Moi's regime, yet without establishing a politicalparty. More specifically, this article reviews the role of meChurch between 1986–1992 in generating and sustaininga public discourse on democracy and change in Kenya as wellas its organizational grass-root political activities priorto the holding of the first multi-party elections in 1992. Finally,it is argued that the debate between officialdom and the Church—mainlyits leading clergy—over the very definition of politics,not only sustained the national discourse on democracy but alsospawned demands for the democratization of Church structuresthemselves. This study is neither chronological nor purely narrative. Ratherit is structured around three central foci: first the Churches'critique of the structure of power in Kenya—a structurewhose core was the one-party system; second their involvementin local or sproadic controversies and upheavals; and thirdtheir active political involvement and information-disseminationcampaign prior to the 1992 elections.     

STATE AND CIVIL SOCIETY IN JAPAN

Professor Ian Neary is head of the Department of Government at Essex University. His recent publications include Human Rights in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan (Routledge, 2002) and The State and Politics in Japan (Polity Press, 2002). The following article is based on a lecture Professor Neary delivered at the Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation in July 2002.     

AFRICAN RENAISSANCE AND NEGOTIATION OF YORUBA IDENTITY IN THE DIASPORA: A CASE STUDY OF NIGERIAN STUDENTS IN CAPE TOWN

ABSTRACT

Drawing on poststructuralist discourse analysis and Hall's (1990) notion of diaspora cultural identities, this article explores the discontinuation and maintenance of Yoruba identity options by students at three Western Cape Province universities. Interviews and observations data are used to consider how different forms of representations and cultural practices associated with Yoruba in Nigeria lead to equally fragmented and hybrid lifestyles and identity options in the Diaspora due to the changed socio-cultural conditions. The argument shows the ruptures and fragmentation of Yoruba cultural elements as students try to fit into the South African socio-cultural contexts while trying to live ‘home’ life away from home. It also shows cultural appropriation by local South Africans who claim Nigerian [Yoruba] affiliation through wearing Yoruba attire and partaking in Nigerian [Yoruba] cuisine. The authors argue that identities are produced across national and ethnic boundaries not only through language choices, but also through dress, food and other semiotic resources, and that to promote the ideals of an African renaissance, there is need to recognise that Africa is a consequence of not just similarities, but more so of various critical points of profound difference and discontinuity. The article concludes that African renaissance entails embracing shared African cultural heritage and differences as the norm; and transnational competition, interdependency and interconnectedness are critical ingredients for the technological and socio- economic development of Africa.     

AFRICAN ARCHAEOLOGY: THE CALL OF THE FUTURE

African archaeology, both in theory and practice, suffers froma burdensome colonial experience. By gaining independence, thetemptation to fashion the past in terms of models of Europeannationalism must be countermanded by a serious considerationof the role and character of nation states in an open globalsociety. The emergence of divisive sectarian, ethnic or linguisticfactions requires new models of nation-building that can facilitatethe integration of diverse groups without the authoritarianhegemony of any ruling party. African archaeology should aimto provide examples of such forms of government in pre-Europeancontexts. Africa's archaeological and cultural heritage in the light ofthe current global economic disparities should not only contributeto a sense of pride and achievement, but must also become ameans to economic development and trans-cultural education.Archaeologists can provide policy-makers with models of alternativetourism, and may contribute to the revival of traditional crafts,as well as the use of archaeological know-how in locating waterresources, discovering sustainable modes of subsistence, andworkable models of social organization. None of these contributions,however, can be achieved at the current pitiful level of financialsupport. Local governments and international organizations areasked to contribute effectively to the capacity building ofAfrican archaeological institutions. The road to a better futurelies in reshaping our notions of our common past and our sharedhuman bonds. Africa is no longer the dark continent it was oncebelieved to be, but, by contrast, the continent where humanitysaw the dawn of its day. Africa has been and remains an integralelement in the fabric of humanity. The veil of its recent colonialexperience should be lifted to reveal the shining face of itsachievements in the art of living.