The North African Background: IV. PUBLIC LIFE

This concludes the series of extracts from a longer work onthe Barbary States, especially Tunis, by the writer, a surgeonthen serving in the Army.     

The French North African Background

This continues our extracts of a longer study by Mr. Atkins,written while a surgeon in the army. There are of course considerabledevelopments on foot, but these notes may provide a useful basisfor a study of contemporary trends.     

The French North African Background

This represents the first of a series of extracts from a longerstudy written by the author when stationed in North Africa asa surgeon in the Army. Although he claims no detailed knowledgeof Islam, Mr. Atkins starts with religion because he considersit isthe major factor in the present situation. In succeedingissues we hope to print further notes on the economic background.private life (mainly women), and public life (mainly men).     

Change and Continuity after the Arab Uprising: The Consequences of State Formation in Arab North African States

This article provides a comparative macro-level overview of political development in Morocco, Tunisia and Egypt. It examines their evolution from the colonial period through several distinct phases, showing how differences in their origins were followed over time by a certain convergence towards a common post-populist form of authoritarianism, albeit still distinguished according to monarchic and republican legitimacy principles. On this basis, it assesses how past state formation trajectories made the republics more vulnerable to the Arab uprising but also what differences they make for the prospects of post-uprising democratisation. While in Morocco the monarch's legitimacy allows it to continue divide-and-rule politics, in Egypt the army's historic central role in politics has been restored, while in Tunisia the trade union movement has facilitated a greater democratic transition.     

The scramble for resources: African case studies

China's renewed interest in Africa's resources is a mixed blessing. China is offering infrastructure packages that are especially attractive for post‐conflict countries but it is also helping countries with poor governance to avoid western pressure for economic and democratic reform.     

The Royal African Society

The following revised rules are published for information. Theyare to be considered at the Annual General Meeting on the 29thApril.     

The Secret Japan-US Security Pacts: Background and Disclosure

For many years the Japan-US Security Treaty has been the cornerstone of Japanese foreign policy and security policy. Suspicions have long been voiced, however, that behind the security treaty there lurked unpublicized secret pacts. In particular, despite the denials of the Japanese government, there were suspicions that nuclear-armed warships had in fact called at Japanese ports. With the change in government in September 2009, the issue came to be the subject of an investigation by the new Democratic Party of Japan administration. The author of this article served as chairman of the commission of inquiry.     

The Southern African unipolarity

Despite the tectonic changes that have taken place in Southern Africa since the demise of apartheid, South Africa is still widely considered a hegemonic regional power by scholars, practitioners and pundits. This article challenges this interpretation, asserting that both Pretoria’s foreign policy and that of its neighbours fit the concept of regional unipolarity with more precision. Since the early 1990s, South Africa has pursued leadership within binding regional institutions and invested resources in order to reinforce the sovereignty of second-tier states such as Angola, Mozambique and Zimbabwe, which have in turn disputed its diplomatic and military primacy, achieving impressive results. This behaviour is characteristic of unipoles rather than hegemons. In this article I revisit the evolution of South African relations with its more proximate neighbours in a transition from hegemony (1961–1990) to unipolarity. I start by defining both concepts and clarifying the behaviours that regional powers and small states are expected to have under hegemonic and unipolar settings. Then, I examine inter-state relations in the region, showing that the concept of unipolarity best describes power distribution and best predicts foreign policy in Southern Africa since the 1990s. Finally, I show that this exercise in concept rectification illuminates comparisons with other regional unipoles, and provides a useful framework to forecast the consequences of an eventual Southern African bipolarity, if Angola continues to catch up.     

African Renaissance: The need for gender-inclusive developmental states

ABSTRACT

This article was developed from a paper presented at a seminar at the Africa Institute of South Africa in Pretoria in 2006 while the author was an Archie Mafeje Fellow. It argues the urgent need for the construction and consolidation of gender-inclusive democratic developmental states as central to grounding the concept of an African Renaissance, for an effective transformation of the human condition, and for ensuring that this renaissance does not become romanticised and meaningless. While the notion of developmental states has gained currency in recent years, very little, if at all, has been said about gender in relation to these debates – despite the United Nations warning that ‘without engendering development, development itself is endangered.’ In other words, formulating and implementing development policies with gender lenses are crucial for development.     

The Development of African Agriculture

This article was delivered as a lecture at a joint meeting withthe Royal Empire Society on the 29th October, Col. C E. Ponsonbybeing in the chair. The speaker, who should be well known toreaders as a reviewer, is a member of the department of agriculturein the University of Oxford, where he went after many years'service in Uganda.     

The East African Groundnuts Scheme

The Managing Director of the United Africa Company was responsiblefor the original idea of this vast new public project. He deliveredthis lecture at the Royal Empire Society on the 26th March underthe chairmanship of the Rt. Hon. John Strachey, M.P., Ministerof Food.