My Career as a Teacher and a Political Scientist: If I Knew Then What I Know Now

This article addresses my professional development as a teacher and political scientist throughout the span of a 15-year career in political science. Also included are reflections on graduate education and the compatibility and necessary dual focus on both political science and teaching in the academy today as it relates to my present-day professional position.     

Institutional Legitimacy Building in a Context of Transition: The South African Land Claims Court

The success of societal transformation often depends on the legitimacy of the government institutions developed to mediate the transition. This article examines one case of institutional development and legitimacy building, the South African Land Claims Court. Formed in 1996 to help South Africa resolve land-claim concerns that surfaced as the nation transitioned to a postapartheid society, the court demonstrates the challenges of developing an institution in the context of large-scale societal transformation, reconciliation, and governmental legitimacy building. By tracing the evolution of the court and analyzing its first five years of activities, the article presents the challenges and opportunities of legitimacy building for entities working in transitional political and administrative settings.     

Beyond Identities: Political Determinants of Support for Decentralization in Contemporary Spain

Support for decentralization has generally been considered an outcome derived from the existence of regional or subnational identities. A recent complementary explanation has highlighted the role of politics to create regionally orientated support. We combine these two explanations by studying what determines the support for decentralization in Spain, an almost unique case where these two approaches can be tested. Using a hierarchical model, we show that in those regions without a different subnational identity, some citizens develop regionally orientated support because of their wish to bring the administration closer to the citizens and because their preferred party is pushing for further decentralization. In addition, we highlight the importance of considering decentralization as an outcome derived from party dynamics, which are able to shape political attitudes towards decentralization.     

Political radio and television advertisements in a young democracy: the 2009 South African national election campaign

It is argued that political parties in a developing democracy should contribute to sustaining democracy through their informational and motivational functions during election campaigns. Rather than debating the merit of issue messages, it is argued that cognitive and emotional campaign messages should be integrated, in order to not only attract voters' attention but also to inform the voter, to foster democratic values, to stimulate debate and to motivate voters to vote. It was found that in the 2009 South African general election, South African political parties did not effectively integrate emotional and cognitive messages, but references to democratic values were integrated with the emotional messages. Few of the parties encouraged voters to participate in the election for the sake of sustaining the democracy. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The multiplicity of challenges faced by South African borders: A case of Limpopo Province

Continently, African countries are gradually facing overwhelming tasks of managing their borders in ways that safeguard their national sovereignty, ensures that they are bridges rather than barriers for cross‐border cooperation and regional integration, prevents illegal entries, xenophobic attack and exiting of people and goods while allowing natural movement of goods and people. In this manner, South Africa and other African countries are confronted with different challenges, which impact negatively on the economy and political arena. Therefore, the article aimed at examining the multiplicity of challenges faced by South African borders with specific reference to Limpopo Province. The article has determined the number of aggravating factors towards porous borders which contribute to the multiplicity of challenges, inter alia; an increase in corruption, porous borderlines and weak management systems. A desktop research approach was applied to collects historical materials to validate the arguments that African countries are faced with an epidemic xenophobic attack due to poor maintenance and control of national borders and security system. As a result, the article recommends that the government ought to intensify the visibility of South African Police Services on the borders to help curb crimes and illegal immigrants. The article also recommends effective outsourcing of certain government functions to the private sector, effective use of technology for detections of risks and deployment of skilled, experienced and trustworthy or ethical officials. In conclusion, this article outlines some of the solutions that may be applied to address the porous borders management challenges experienced at the South African borders.     

Substantive Symbols: The Attitudinal Dimension of Black Political Incorporation in Local Government

Traditional studies of minority incorporation focus on the redistribution of public resources that purportedly follows black gains in representation. The present study departs from this approach by focusing on the attitudinal effects of black leadership. Two research questions guide this study: To what extent do blacks' assessments of neighborhood services and conditions stem from black representation in local executive and legislative offices? Are these attitudinal effects rooted in policy and service delivery outcomes? Employing survey data from 3,000 blacks embedded in 52 cities and 53 school districts, this study reveals that blacks report higher levels of satisfaction with their neighborhood conditions, police services, and public schools when represented by blacks in city hall and on school boards and that these evaluations are most positive when improvements in local services are conspicuous. Overall, these findings extend conventional conceptualizations of substantive benefits and challenge more pessimistic accounts regarding the effects of black representation in local politics.     

Invisible Labour: The Political Economy of Reintegration in South Sudan

This article considers the 2005–12 Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR) programme in South Sudan. Current DDR practice centres on ex-combatants' reintegration through encouraging entrepreneurship and self-employment and thereby their willingness to take risks and responsibility. However, South Sudan's DDR programme invisibilizes and obscures the ex-combatants' endogenous capacity to adapt and generate an income. Based on in-depth interviews with participants of the DDR programme and key stakeholders, the article argues that DDR interventions seldom capture the labour market experience of demobilized combatants. The article concludes that self-employment is the solution to the process of reintegration, empowerment and ultimately a key to statebuilding.     

A Transition without Players: The Role of Political Parties in the Arab Revolutions

Academic scholarship regarding the role of political parties in the Arab world remains largely underdeveloped in comparison to analyses focusing on the role of political Islam or on authoritarian resilience. Although both of these fields of research contain useful paradigms for explaining aspects of the region’s political development, this overemphasis means that there is a lack of meaningful analysis of political participation. This article seeks to analyze the role of political parties in the light of regional transition processes since the Arab uprisings, claiming that the region’s political history and sociocultural makeup can help in explaining that much of the popular mobilization in the Arab world following the Arab revolutions took place outside of institutionalized politics. First, the article reviews and analyzes relevant theories of political parties. Second, the article presents a comparative analysis of existing theories and case studies of political parties being part of transition processes in Latin America and Eastern Europe. Taking this as starting point, the article, by looking at the Egyptian and Tunisian cases, demonstrates the limited role of political parties in connection with the regional transitory processes, with the ambition of presenting some relevant analytical tools as well as useful hints for further analyses of political transformation processes in the Middle East.     

Metropolitan-scale Planning in Neo-liberal Times: Financial and Political Obstacles to Urban Form Transition

Just as rising concern about its environmental, economic, social, health and quality of life downsides generates loud calls for a departure from the dispersed car-oriented urban model, conditions for such a transition have become more uncertain. The intended urban shift is hampered by dissonance between the generation of metropolitan-scale planning visions and the anti-interventionist characteristics of the current neo-liberal age. The paper identifies impeding effects of neo-liberalism—notably, public funding hardship and political dynamics—on attempts at carrying out transformative metropolitan planning. The difficulty in preventing major failures in the operation of cities under neo-liberalism is reflective of its inability, at a broader societal scale, to regulate the economy and thus avert economic and social crises. The paper draws its empirical substance from the gap in Toronto, Canada, between metropolitan planning visions and the urban development reality.     

Russian Politics in Transition: Political Parties and Organizations in Russia and the Murmansk Region

In this article the development of new political organizations in Russia is discussed. The authors acknowledge the fact that the new parties and organizations are still weak and not well organized. bur they nevertheless play a significant role in the preservation of democracy in Russia. Several stages in the party creation process can be discerned. Before the 1991 attempted coup d'état the Communist Party of the Soviet Union still played a dominant role, while a number of smaller political organizations emerged. After the dissolution of the CPSU. the centre groupings dominated the political scene. Gradually. the level of political polarization increased. as evidenced by the 1993 elections which spelled victory for the post-communists and ultra-nationalists. Using sartori's definitions, the authors analyse the party and organizations with the help of a left-right continuum, which portrays some differences in Russian politics without covering all cleavages. The important regional differences in party formation are illustrated with empirical data from the Murmansk region. During the Gorbachev period a number of informal organizations emerged which gradually developed into parties critical of the CPSU. Initially, social democratic organizations were strong on the Kola Peninsula, but they declined in importance due to internal disagreement. In the 1993 elections, the largest parties in this region were the ultra-nationalist Liberal Democratic Party and the market-oriented Russia's Choice. In Russia as a whole, the post-election period manifested itself in increasing political polarization and successive retreat from the marker-reform policies. Clearly, the road to a well-functioning system of parties in Russia is still a long one.     

The development of capitalism in South African agriculture: clas struggle in the countryside

The existence of contradictions within the Ricardian system is by now well established. It remains, however, to consider the necessity of those contradictions. In this essay certain of the central paradoxes of Ricardian economics are treated not in terms of the deficiencies of Ricardo's analytical ability, the lack of proper ‘tools’, or the presence of ideological blinders, but in terms of their intrinsic necessity within the Ricardian conception of the capitalist economic system as a whole. We indicate how Ricardo's own insight into the functioning of the capitalist economy drives him to adopt principles of value which he himself considers to be in conflict. In light of this discussion it is possible to approach more closely to a determination of the essential character of Ricardian economics and of classical political economy as a whole.     

The Political Economy of Transition in Post-Socialist Systems: The Case of the Baltic States

The nature of the failed socialist systems calls for a transition which is as comprehensive in its objectives as were the systems themselves before they failed. Hence, the transition to democracy in the post-socialist systems cannot be treated as separate from the transition to a market economy and national independence. The critical part of the transition is the economic reforms inasmuch as the institutions of the planned economy are the major power base for the conservative elites. To be successful, the economic transition must be able - in both the short and the long term - to command political support, to achieve social acceptance of the distributional consequences involved and to be compatible with democratic institutions. Analysis reveals that in the case of the Baltic states widespread support for the transition to a market economy can be detected and that the democratically elected governments have so far been fairly active in establishing a legal framework for transition, but appear unable to implement the necessary stabilization policy. The reforms have produced strong social protests, and the governments have been under pressure to maintain social guarantees during the period of transition. The non-Baltic minorities in particular defend previous social privileges and are distressed by their uncertain status after independence. The ultimate outcome of political and economic transition in the Baltic states, therefore, remains in doubt.     

Beyond the Voting Rights Act: White Responses to Black Political Power in Tchula, Mississippi

This article is a case study of the legal and political harassmentof a black mayor in Tchula, Mississippi. The case illustratesin the extreme the peculiar challenges that can be confrontedby local black elected officials in small southern jurisdictions,even where the population is predominantly black and the reachof the federal government otherwise assures black residentstheir rights to vote and hold public office. Effective enfranchisementof blacks in such communities is difficult because blacks possessfew resources with which to translate votes into economic developmentand because historic patterns of race relations in such backwaterareas stand as major cultural barriers to change.     

Food for Thought: Reflections on a Counter-hegemonic Food-related Intervention in a South African University

Currently the Academy operates primarily as a space that helps to create and cement neoliberal hegemony in the Gramscian sense. However, since hegemony is never complete, universities are a site of struggle and the opportunity exists to engage in a “war of position” within them. This must necessarily involve allowing space for counter-hegemonic discourses to emerge through critical reflection on “common sense” discourses, as well as the deliberate inclusion of counter-hegemonic thinking and theory from below. This article reflects on an attempt to do this in a South African university, the University of KwaZulu-Natal, in relation to the issue of food. The Food Festival was an attempt to subvert interlocking hegemonic discourses, including that of food security, by “reading the world” (à la Freire) in order to understand the actual nature of existing food systems as inherently oppressive, and “inserting” the concept of food sovereignty as developed by the global peasants’ movement La Via Campesina. After considering the counter-hegemonic intentions of the Festival, the article reflects on its uneven success.     

Multilingual signage: a multimodal approach to discourses of consumption in a South African township

The paper explores how global commercial discourses and the politics of aspiration in post-apartheid South Africa may be seen as contributing to the restructuring of spaces of multilingualism and the refiguring of indexical values of English and South African languages. The analysis takes its point of departure in how late-modern lifestyles, identities, aspirations and imaginations are represented across local and transnational commercial signage in the Western Cape township of Khayelitsha, focusing in particular on how different languages are multimodally constituted and differentially represented in two different sub-genres of commercial billboards. We suggest that new late-modern multimodal representations of identity, and the way multilingual resources are configured into new repertoires and genres of subjectivity, may be one important factor in how social transformation is mediated in changing perceptions and practices of language, while simultaneously and paradoxically reinforcing traditional conceptions of cultural authenticity and self-representation.