Small-scale irrigation in sub-Saharan Africa: Sparse lessons,big problems,any solutions?

This paper identifies from studies made of specific schemes the major social and administrative problems confronting the improvement and extension of small-scale irrigation in Africa. The first section reviews the studies and notes the conclusions to be drawn from each separate one. Underlying these separate conclusions six general problems are identified and in the second section of the article each of these six is elaborated and discussed: the relation between the direct producer'S benefit and wider social benefits: problems of control, commitment to hierarchy, the working of production units, and how to learn from farmers in respect of water use; and finally the general problem of how to plan for the further change that follows after irrigation is introduced.     

ISIS gains ground in sub-Saharan Africa

ISIS has had a varying degree of success in making inroads among sub-Saharan African jihadist groups linked to al-Qaeda. The latter still exerts strong influence, especially in the Sahel and the Horn of Africa. Jihadist groups based in Africa are primarily focused on local agendas that are at odds with the international ambitions of ISIS.     

Policy research in sub-Saharan Africa: An exploration

This article argues that a major problem with contemporary policy analysis is that it has difficulty coming to terms with complex economic change. This in turn is probably influenced by a view of socioeconomic systems that still harks back to the classical mechanics of the nineteenth century and a relatively stable world in which social action could reasonably be informed by disinterested scientific research of a traditional kind. By means of a review of some recent policy analysis literature and by focusing on issues relating to development issues in contemporary Africa, the article maintains that a more realistic approach would recognize the evolutionary nature of modern socioeconomic systems and base policy interventions accordingly. In particular, there is a need to see ‘policy’ as a process of complex change requiring innovative institutional contexts and novel managerial capabilities.     

Administration of pastoral development: lessons from three projects in Africa

Administrative problems are a major cause of the poor performance of pastoral development projects in Africa. This study focused on two aspects of project administration: policy development and organizational structure. From the literature, 11 actions in these 2 areas were identified that were supposed to enhance project performance. These 11 propositions were tested against evidence from 3 pastoral development projects in Africa funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development. Eight of these actions were strongly associated with improved project performance. These results become the basis for guidelines to improve design and implementation. © 1996 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The colonization of consciousness in South Africa

This essay documents an early phase in the colonization of consciousness, and the consciousness of colonization, among a South African people. Here, as elsewhere, European domination was as much an attempt to seize control of the signs and practices of everyday life as an exercize in material coercion. Nineteenth-century evangelists in the South African interior relied on techniques of persuasion, seeking to introduce an existential ‘state of colonialism’ which anticipated the colonial state. Whatever else it might have been, the history made on this frontier was one of struggle over power and meaning. We trace the attempt of the civilizing mission to invade three domains of African life: its natural resources, techniques of production, and language. We argue that, in order to grasp how new hegemonies were laid down amidst local resistance, it is necessary to distinguish two levels of operation in colonizing cultures. For while its ideological message was widely rejected, the mission enmeshed local peoples in the underlying forms of the European system - the commodity form, linguistic forms, and so on. Thus was initiated the process that incorporated many African peoples into the political economy of Empire.     

Analyzing the dynamic complexity of development interventions: lessons from an irrigation experiment in Nepal

Improving irrigation systems in Asian countries has been a high priority for the allocation of international aid. Substantial funds have been allocated to adopt the “best practices” of hiring external water engineers to construct modern systems to replace those that farmers built. These expensive investments have infrequently led to long-term improvement in the operation of irrigation systems in Asia. In this article, we examine the process and impact of an innovative irrigation assistance project that was initially undertaken in Nepal in the mid-1980s. We analyze data obtained over three time periods related to changes in system structure and performance over time. We trace the unfolding patterns of improved engineering infrastructure across time depending on the way it interacts with other factors to affect long-term irrigation performance. We examine some of the key variables that are likely to affect the diverse and complex patterns of change. We also undertake analysis of the configural impact of core variables using Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA). We find that the initial and later investments in system infrastructure are only one factor that helps to generate short-term improvement. Unless farmers encourage local entrepreneurs and organize themselves, create their own rules or use sanctions, and augment their rules through collective action, infrastructure investment alone is not sufficient to achieve sustainable higher performance.     

Stakeholder model for community economic development in alleviating poverty in municipalities in South Africa

Governments globally have several responsibilities to its citizen, and one of these responsibilities is the improvement in the living standard and to stimulate social well‐being and sustainability in communities. A meta‐review of over a 100 article was conducted of both the qualitative and quantitative method related to the antecedents to business models, community economic development, and poverty alleviation. The basis for the paper is the proposition of the stakeholder model for implementing Community Economic Development in municipalities for alleviating poverty in South Africa.     

Human rights and development: the case of local government transformation in South Africa

Local governments throughout the world are assuming a more important role in economic development of their communities as an increasing number of governments begin to decentralise powers and functions. As these lower levels of government seek sustainable local economic development (LED) strategies the human rights approach towards development becomes pertinent as globalisation accelerates. This article proposes an emphasis on socio‐economic rights as the basis for sustainable LED in developing countries. The article is based on the experience of South African local government in the period after 1994, leading up to the first democratic local government elections on 5 December 2000. Proceeding from the view that the promotion of human rights is necessary for the promotion of economic development, the article critically assesses the role of local government in the promotion of LED through a rights‐based approach. It is argued that the identification in the South African Constitution of local government with basic service provision (recently emphasised by a Constitutional court judgement) will place socio‐economic rights at the centre of LED strategies in South Africa. It is argued that this is indeed the most appropriate cornerstone of LED in South Africa. However, the transformation process that leads the country towards its progressive Constitution needs to be maintained and this article identifies five broad areas for transformation that may still be needed to entrench an adequate human rights culture within the sphere of local governance. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Bureaucratization and administrative development in Africa: A reading of Riggs' theory of prismatic society

Poor bureaucratization in prismatic (transitional) societies is attributed to malintegration of the ideal bureaucratic principles with subsisting traditional sociocultural features by Fred Riggs. Riggs has been severely criticized on many fronts, yet aspects of his theory remain relevant towards explaining persistent poor administrative behaviour in most African countries. This article applies Riggs' notion of poly‐communalism and poly‐normativism to explain the contribution of low state identity to persistent poor administrative behaviour in Africa. Historical institutionalism theory is also used to attempt at resolving the challenge of equilibrium for which Riggs' theory is commonly criticized. The author avers that communalism, a value that supports group interest in a traditional society, subsists in most poly‐communal transitional African countries, leading to distortions in administrative behaviour. A good number of African countries were mobilized through colonialism but poorly assimilated, thus lacking strong common state identity, which leads to ineffective public administration. The article suggests that resolving the trapping of the administrative system in Africa requires resolving the challenge of poly‐communalism and lack of common identity among a state population.     

Domestic Reform in sub-Saharan African Governments under International Influence

Books reviewed:
Ladipo Adamolekun, ed. Public Administration in Africa: Main Issues and Selected Country Studies
Joshua Bernard Forrest, Namibia's Post-Apartheid Regional Institutions: The Founding Year     

The Ambiguities of Reconciliation and Responsibility in South Africa

This paper traces the ways in which the language of reconciliation promotes and detracts from responsibility. What it means to be responsible and to take responsibility is explored through a reading of J. M. Coetzee's novel, Disgrace . Coetzee provokes a nuanced examination of the nature of reconciliation and responsibility in post-apartheid South Africa, particularly how deep a moral transformation is needed and of whom it should be expected. The tensions between pro forma acknowledgement and deep moral transformation are examined with respect to the competing narratives of reconciliation and responsibility that took place during the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and afterwards in South African civil society. The paper concludes with a warning about the delicate balance between responsibility and vilification, reconciliation and denial.     

Public sector transparency and sustainable development: A focus on Sub-Saharan Africa

This study empirically addresses the relevance of public transparency in promoting sustainable development in Sub-Saharan Africa. Using the generalized method of moments techniques in order to account for concerns of endogeneity and simultaneity, the study utilizes a panel of forty-eight (48) countries in Sub-Saharan African countries for the period 2000-2019. We then establish the subsequent findings. Public transparency maintains overall positive net effects on both the human development index (i.e., social sustainability); adjusted net national income growth (i.e., economic sustainability), and renewal energy consumption (i.e., environmental sustainability). Overall, we establish that public transparency enhances sustainable development. This study recommends that policymakers should ensure that public transparency processes are enhanced in order to achieve the post-2015 agenda.     

The Challenges of Regional Integration in the Horn of Africa

This paper examines the challenges of regional integration （RI） in the Horn of Africa （HOA）. It examines constellations of possibilities and obstacles of RI in the HOA. The HOA is known for its prolific production of pathological situations. Four prime interlinked pathological situations ravage the HOA. These are rampant conflicts, state crisis, environmental degradation, and underdevelopment. There is growing realisation that these concerted pathologies could only be addressed by collective concerted capacity. The endeavour for this collective capacity presupposes a corresponding overarching supra-national organisation and structures.     

Political participation in Africa: The role of individual resources

This paper aims to examine the role of individual resources in explaining African political participation. If political participation is costly and requires inputs in terms of individual resources, and citizens in young developing country democracies face comparatively high participation costs and have more limited individual resource endowments than citizens in more established democracies, a resource approach to political participation should be particularly relevant in the African setting. On the contrary, however, empirical findings drawing on recent data for more than 27,000 respondents in 20 emerging African democracies suggest weak explanatory power of the resource perspective. Often, the relatively resource poor actually participate to a greater extent than the more resource rich. The results are encouraging in that they suggest fairly broad-based political participation, but also call attention to the need to evaluate the motivational forces behind the decision to take part.