Studies in War-time Organisation: (6) East African Command.

This is an abridgement of a lecture which Gen. Platt gave onthe 31st October at a combined meeting with the Royal EmpireSociety. It has been included in the series on wartime organisationbecause the East Africa Command is possibly the most remarkableexample of the impact of war in the whole of the African Continent.Gen. Platt was, of course, G.O.C., 1941–44.     

Studies in War-time Organisation: (5) AFLOC

War-emergency is one of the few occasions when the problemsof Africa can be treated as a whole, without too much regardfor national sovereignties or vested interests. The author ofthis article was put in charge of trans-African transport projectsat a time when existing supply routes to the Middle East werevery seriously threatened. His remarks have more than a merelyhistorical interest.     

Studies in War-time Organisation: (4) The Union's Supply Effort

South Africa's war-time supply problems have led to a spectacularsuccess for her infant industry, under Government direction,as this note by the editor of "South Africa" explains. As tothe future General Smuts has said (at Bloemfontein last December):"It will be the policy of the Government as early as possibleto restore full freedom to private enterprise, unhampered bycontrols, except in exceptional cases called for by overallinterest."     

Studies in War-time Organisation: (I) THE UNITED KINGDOM COMMERCIAL CORPORATION

The war has led in Africa, as elsewhere, to large-scale organisation;and this study, by one well-qualified to know the facts, givessome account of the work in Africa of the Middle East SupplyCentre, through its principal agent, the U.K.C.C. Many of thefacts here given are published for the first time. It is hopedto follow this article by studies of other examples of war organisation,often involving several territories.     

Studies in War-time Organisation: (2) THE RESIDENT MINISTRY IN WEST AFRICA

One of the purest types of "functional" organisation, initiatedfor purely temporary purposes, and, with the alteration in thewar situation, almost inevitably gravitating to more long-distanceplanning, is the Resident Ministry in West Africa. This articlewas written, at our invitation, by a member of Lord Swinton'sHeadquarters staff, who wishes it to be understood that he iswriting in a purely private capacity.     

Indian health diplomacy in East Africa: Exploring the potential in pharmaceutical manufacturing

Indian engagement in East Africa’s health sector is multifaceted, comprehensive and involves national and subnational actors. It includes exports of low cost generics, building health infrastructure, aid, technical assistance and hosting medical tourists among others. This paper, based on extensive fieldwork conducted with multiple stakeholders in Kenya and Ethiopia, provides an overview of the various components of India’s co-operation in the East African health sector and identifies pharmaceutical manufacturing as a space for Indian actors to leverage their strengths. It focuses on two case studies of manufacturers: a third-generation company in Kenya owned by members of the Indian diaspora, and a newly formed subsidiary of an Indian corporation in Ethiopia. These case studies inform the larger debate on India’s health diplomacy on the continent and the myriad ways in which the Indian state as well as corporates can enhance existing co-operation.     

Noble Robbers,avengers and entrepreneurs: Eric Hobsbawm and Banditry in Iran,the Middle East and North Africa

Banditry has been endemic across the Middle East and North Africa. Yet the Middle Eastern experience of banditry has thus far failed to receive sustained academic attention. In particular, the debates stimulated by Eric Hobsbawm's thesis of social banditry have elicited only a few responses from scholars of the Middle East and North Africa, and these largely negative. This article asks to what extent the recent work done in the field of ‘Bandit studies’ helps to elucidate the experience of the Middle East and North Africa. Why has there been such a lack of interest in banditry when the phenomenon itself, and rural crime in general, was so widespread? Why are so few individual bandits celebrated or reviled? What do we mean by banditry in the Middle Eastern context, who became a bandit, why and in what circumstances, what did bandits do and how was this perceived by elites and subalterns, what were the connections between bandits and peasants and between bandits and the worlds of power and, perhaps most importantly, who has written about bandits and what sources have they used?     

The Shanghai Co-operation Organisation: China's Initiative in Regional Institutional Building

China's initiative in establishing and promoting the development of the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation (SCO) is an interesting case study of China's attempt at regional institution building. China's increasing interest in Central Asia coincided with its gradual acceptance and rising enthusiasm regarding participation in regional organisations. The “Shanghai Five” mechanism and the SCO were seen as appropriate mechanisms for pursuing China's multiple interests in the region; their development was also in line with the improvement in Sino-Russian relations. Chinese leaders have skilfully developed the SCO's institutional framework, and they seem intent on getting good value for the resources spent. The leaders have also demonstrated considerable patience when the SCO's development encountered setbacks.     

美国的中东问题研究:理论、论战与影响

美国中东研究的功用经历了从为政府服务到脱离政府轨道 ,再到批评政府中东政策的演变 ;研究范式也经历了从西方模式的现代化理论到后殖民主义 ,再到市民社会的变化。美国外交政策文化中的“第三方”以九一一事件为契机 ,对美国中东研究现状进行激烈地批评 ,引起论战。本文概括了论战的要点 ,认为其实质是美国新保守主义者试图影响美国中东政策的一次努力 ,在一定程度上 ,也是阿以冲突在学术领域里的继续。同时 ,也反映了学术界所存在的共性问题。文章认为论战对布什政府的中东政策特别是伊拉克政策所产生的影响是非常明显的。     

Language and politics in the Middle East and North Africa: the Soviet version

Ryeshyeniye natsional'nogo‐yazikovoy problemi v. SSSR, The Resolution of the National‐Linguistic Problem in the Soviet Union (Moscow: Political Literature Press, 1982; 224 pp.)

Socialism: Nations and National Relations (Moscow: USSR Academy of Sciences, 1982, Problems of the Contemporary World, No. 104),

Yazikovaya situatsiya v stranakh Azii i Afriki, The Language Situation in the Countries of Asia and Africa (Moscow: Nauka Press, 1967; 192 pp.)

Razvitiye yazikov v stranakh Zarubyedzhnogo Vostoka (poslyevoyenniy pyeriod), The Development of Language in the East Beyond the [Soviet] Borders: The Post‐War Period (Moscow: Nauka Press, 1983:208 pp.)

Kul'tura ipolitika v stranakh Azii i Afriki, Culture and Politics in the Countries of Asia and Africa (Moscow: Nauka Press, 1986; 336 pp.).

Gilbert Grandguillaume's Arabisation et politique linguistique au Maghreb (Paris: Maisonneuve et Larose, 1983).

Yazik v politikye i idyeologii strait Zarubyedznogo Vostoka, Language in the Politics and Ideology of the Countries of the East Beyond the [Soviet] Borders (Moscow: Nauka, 1986; 197 pp.).     

The chimera of redistribution in post-apartheid South Africa: 'Black Economic Empowerment' (BEE) in industrial fisheries

Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) is an attempt to marry redistributiveand neo-liberal economic policies. The South African state,however, has differing degrees of power to force redistributionon different sectors of the economy. Fisheries is one of thesectors where state allocation of licenses, exploitation rightsand quotas makes the prospects for BEE promising. In this article,we examine redistributive processes in the hake trawl industry.We conclude that BEE, despite its redistributive intentions,has been doubly conducive to the interests of large-scale SouthAfrican capital. To begin with, it has by and large confirmedthe historical share of fishing rights to incumbent, largelywhite-controlled, operators. Second, it has created a layerof ‘black captains of industry’ to whom incumbentsare increasingly outsourcing primary production in a volatile,high-risk and currently loss-leading sector. While fishing operationsare being outsourced under the banner of redistribution, thefish trade remains under the effective control of white capital.     

The Sources of Authoritarian Control after the Cold War: East Africa and the Former Soviet Union

Why have some post-Cold War autocrats consistently been able to sideline opposition and avoid debilitating elite defections while others have faced repeated challenges? Drawing on interviews, the media, and the academic literature, this article focuses on two sets of factors affecting the extent of incumbent control over opposition: the degree of state economic control and the extent of divisions in national identity. Two sets of most similar cases are compared: Belarus and Ukraine, and Kenya and Tanzania. These comparisons are used to highlight the importance of distinguishing between the causes of democracy and those of authoritarian breakdown.     

Participation of African member states in the World Trade Organisation (WTO) multilateral trading system

Abstract

The core purpose and goals of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) are to enhance growth by allowing each country to trade freely according to its comparative advantage. The other stated main objectives of the WTO are: raising standards of living; providing full employment; reduction of tariffs and non‐tariff barriers; and the elimination of discriminatory treatment. According to the current orthodox economic view, trade openness is essential for growth: countries that liberalise their imports and orientate production towards exports are assumed to have faster growth than those that do not, and the faster the rate of opening, the greater will the prospect be for development. The emphasis on trade liberalisation and export orientation in the past ten years following the adoption of the Uruguay Round has led to phenomenal growth in world merchandise trade, which has grown consistently faster than output. The orthodox view approach is today expanded and modified with the view that liberalisation measures are not sufficient by themselves and should be accompanied by other factors such as sound macroeconomic policies, good governance and a modern infrastructure. Africa's dependence on primary commodities as a source of export earnings has meant that it is vulnerable to weather conditions, market vagaries, and price volatility, arising mainly from supply shock and the secular decline in real commodity prices. The attendant terms of trade losses have exacted heavy costs in terms of incomes, indebtedness, investment, poverty and development. Therefore, the basic approach that liberalisation has a direct link to economic growth and should be undertaken as fast as possible is being questioned and has been challenged by empirical studies in recent years. The relevant studies have shown that there is a lack of relationship between the degree of trade liberalisation and the rate of growth. The emerging paradigm accepts that there are possible costs, as well as potential benefits of trade liberalisation to a particular developing country, depending on the conditions in that country, and the type of liberalisation undertaken. The other impediments and weaknesses identified as affecting effective, efficient and economical participation of African members in the WTO include rapid liberalisation as potential source of fiscal instability; general absence of peace, security and democracy; globalisation and lack of competitive ability; supply‐side constraints; high export concentration ratio; problems of implementation; exclusion and/or marginalisation from knowledge‐based economy; and lack of capacity. The Doha Development Round was initiated to attend to, and address, these problems, and it is still too early to predict the outcome. African countries need to look for African solutions to their socio‐economic and political problems, adopting transdisciplinary approaches in the context of the African Renaissance paradigm.