The frontier revisited: displacement,land and identity among farm labourers in the Sundays River Valley

This paper aims to unpack the dynamics of displacement and the relationship of physical movement to elements of space (i.e. land) and place (or identity), in the Sundays River Valley, near the town of Kirkwood, in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. It primarily uses the motif of frontiers to cast light on displacement as an ongoing phenomenon and explore the different eras of occupation of land in the Sundays River Valley, from the early nineteenth century until 1970. It relates different layers of belonging and identity to the unfolding of capitalism and apartheid in South Africa. The article argues that ties to land are multiple, contested and based upon dispossession and physical movement rather than upon stability. While such a high degree of contestation of oral evidence in the Sundays River Valley might not give current claimants a detailed legal basis for restitution, it is an academically valuable idea to explore the origins of the inhabitants in the Sundays River Valley – because it can indicate the degree to which local identities are influenced by experiences of disruption and displacement. The paper argues that frontier relationships in the SRV are central in the formation of larger systems of relationships of race and class, and that this casts new light on displacement (both as a historical event and a contemporary experience), in the formation of identity and place in southern Africa.     

President Museveni and the politics of presidential tenure in Uganda

There are various reasons why President Museveni is so determined to hold on to power in Uganda. These are similar to the ones motivating other African presidents seeking to entrench themselves in office. Museveni believes he is indispensable for Uganda's stability and prosperity, especially in a country devastated by bad leadership in earlier post-independence decades. Moreover, Museveni and his close allies are fearful of being prosecuted under a new president for alleged wrongdoings.

Opposition to Museveni's continued stay in power has come from within the ruling party, as well as other parties and the Buganda kingdom. But, as elsewhere in Africa, the opposition is too weakly developed to challenge Museveni effectively. Also, presidential manipulations, election rigging, and coercive measures have helped to secure Museveni's grip on power. In particular, Museveni has used the military to entrench himself in office.

Moreover, as in some African countries, international pressures to force Museveni to relinquish power are limited. In fact, donors have propped up a quasi-authoritarian regime with large amounts of resources. Museveni has overseen a prolonged period of economic and political stability and donors argue he deserves their support, even when his record on democracy and good governance is tainted.

In Africa, presidential incumbents who have stepped down have done so because of the strength of domestic and international pressures. Where political opposition is organised and united or where international donors use their aid to promote greater democratisation, then leaders are more likely to abandon plans to stay in power. It is the absence of such conditions and pressures that are leading to the creation of a life presidency in Uganda.     

Singapore’s Phantom Workers

In 2009, the Singapore state prosecuted a string of businesses for listing fictitious local workers on their books in order to stretch their foreign worker entitlement. These “phantom” worker scams, prevalent since the 1980s, appear out of place in Singapore – a country with a strong international reputation for its government’s efficiency and strict legal enforcement. This paper examines the state’s prosecutions of the phantom worker scams in the context of the exceptional economic and political stresses in 2009, when Singapore was most severely affected by the global economic crisis, in order to address the employment regime in Singapore. It argues that the belated efforts to tackle the phantom worker scams reflected the pro-business state’s reluctance to tackle illegalities crucial to facilitating employers’ otherwise unlawful access to wealth and resources in Singapore.     

Typhoon Haiyan: pushing the limits of resilience? The effect of land inequality on resilience and disaster risk reduction policies in the Philippines

Disaster risk reduction has been an important priority in the Philippines for the last twenty years. Yet Typhoon Haiyan still resulted in at least 6000 deaths and affected more than 14 million people. Why was this the case in a country supposedly well equipped to respond to natural disasters? While there are several explanations, including the sheer scale of this typhoon, corruption, and implementation challenges, this paper focuses on growing social and economic inequalities. This paper argues that the resilience discourse and framework at the national level do not translate into programs that help lift people out of poverty, particularly landless people. This is because state-led resilience policies focus on technical aspects of recovery rather than the root cause of vulnerabilities, explaining to some extent the high level of casualties in the wake of typhoon Haiyan. Evidence supporting this argument is drawn from more than forty interviews between 2013 and 2015 with disaster victims and professionals involved in resilience building.     

Agrarian adaptations in Tajikistan: land reform,water and law

In Central Asia, agriculture and water management have ranked as the two most important economic activities in this arid environment. These activities gained even more prominence during the Soviet era as planners expanded irrigation into previously marginal land that bolstered their vision that the best land be allocated exclusively for cotton production. In the wake of the fall of the Soviet Union, Tajikistan has enacted laws meant to expand and clarify land use categories to meet the dual targets of expanding food production within the country while maintaining as much land as possible in cotton production – their economic mainstay. To this end, the Tajik government instituted five categories of land tenure. Though comprehensive, these new dispositions merely mask a continuation of top-down agrarian decision making implemented during the Soviet period. Consequently, this change has created new problems for farm labourers as they struggle to adapt to post-Soviet life and negotiate with the new bureaucracy in the face of ‘de-modernization’ and the loss of jobs, wages, and in many cases, access to productive land. This research demonstrates that the means by which the Tajik government expanded food production has contributed to agricultural problems apparent at the time of independence.     

Land policy in post-independence Eritrea: A critical reflection

After a brief review of the traditional land tenure systems in a historical perspective, the article attempts to identify and discuss the main tenets of the post-independence government's land policy and explains the reasons underlying the government's decision to opt for state ownership, in spite of the bleak track record of such a property rights regime, instead of building on the wealth of the historically transmitted, culturally embedded, and socially sanctioned tenurial regimes in the country. On the surface, there appear to be well-thought-out arguments underlying the government's land policy as underpinned by the land law. This article questions the main assumptions and the reasons that support this policy.     

The character and value of vernacular security: the case of South West Cameroon

ABSTRACT

This article reports the findings of field research into the vernacular understanding of security in South West Cameroon. It was found that security significantly contested; it is both objective and subjective; it is communal, whilst at the same time requiring individual l responsibility of personal security; it favours certainty and stability; it draws on a multiplicity of providers, and it goes beyond traditional conceptualisations. The findings make it clear that there are wide divergences between the typical state and donor driven security reform programmes, and people’s perceived security needs. The definition of security is challenged by popular understandings. In addition, though not rejecting the need for state security, it is evident that many more actors are engaged in security provision and personal safety than state actors, and that these actors need to be accounted for in reform programmes. Conclusion draw out advantages of the vernacular approach in security reform programmes.     

Securing the Homelands: Transatlantic Co-operation after Bush

Since 9/11, internal security co-operation has grown into a major feature of transatlantic relations. This article seeks to appraise both the achievements of the Bush administration in this field and the prospects for President Obama's period of office. Homeland security has been a new and difficult area of co-operation to foster, yet both sides of the Atlantic have come to recognise their shared interests in working together. The article cautions those European policy-makers who are hoping for a major change in homeland security co-operation under the new president. It is likely that the policies of the new administration will be characterised more by continuity than by change.     

Excluded from Health? Informal Workers’ Access to Health Care in Chile

The Pan American Health Organisation recently highlighted the increased exclusion of low income households in Latin America from health care. The rise in informal employment and sub‐contracting of workers means that many employees lack formal contracts and are excluded from health insurance programmes. Feminist research suggests low income women are often most at risk of exclusion. Simultaneously, deeply entrenched inequalities within health systems across the region have not been addressed by health sector reforms. Drawing on the case of Chile, this paper examines the extent to which informal workers have indeed been excluded and how far these processes are gendered.     

后金融危机的日本雇佣体系：数据、观点与趋势

始于上个世纪90年代前期的日本雇佣体系的变革由于缺乏系统性、整合性以及劳资双方的共识,从而使部分处于弱势地位的劳动者过多地承担了本应由企业和国家共同分摊的改革成本。2008年的金融危机呈现了非系统改革的脆弱性,引发了日本各界全面思考雇佣体系的危机感和使命感,开始对劳动时间的两极分化、非正式员工的社会排除现象、社会保障安全网、劳动者培训中政府与企业的责任定位等相关问题进行系统研究。     

Cuban Labour at 50: What About the Workers?

Cuba is reforming its employment relations as it emerges from the economic crisis and restructuring of the 1990s. Employment relations are one key indicator of the state of Cuba's socialist ambition as it celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Revolution. Several key aspects of recent employment law and salary reform are discussed. It is argued that, within a state-dominated economy, Cuba's workers and trade unions continue to exercise real influence, both in national policy-making and in workplaces.