A socio‐cultural approach to public sector corruption in Africa: key pointers for reflection

The public sector of many African countries is notoriously corrupt; cultural inclinations and socialization processes largely have a tendency to lead public officials into actions that may amount to corrupt practices. Providing seven (7) key pointers for reflection, this study explores public sector corruption in African countries by examining the interplay between culturally acceptable norms and professional expectations of public officials. The public official, by these two unparalleled expectations, tends to walk on a tight rope which often results in ethical dilemma and conflict of interest. The study adopts Riggs' prismatic‐sala model and uses the case of Ghana and traditional proverbs to explain the cultural context within which Ghanaian public official ought to operate. How can one combine these cultural expectations with professionalism? To what extent does the ‘collectivity culture’, ‘culture of gift giving and acceptance’, ‘extended family system’, ‘ethnic loyalty’ and ‘unfettered respect of the aged’ downplay professional bureaucratic and ethical principles? Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Application of 3D Imaging Technology to Latent Fingermark Aging Studies

In most latent fingermark aging studies, two‐dimensional (2D) features are obtained from photo images, scans, or inked impressions. However, some relevant information is possibly being missed because fingermarks are three‐dimensional (3D) objects that age in all three dimensions. A feature that has not been carefully examined is how the height of ridges changes over time. In this report, a 3D imaging technology—called optical profilometry—is introduced as a tool for the visual examination of the aging process. Optical profilometry is a nondestructive technology that allows the visualization and data acquisition of unprocessed latent fingermarks. Detailed ridge images and spatiotemporal data were successively obtained on the x‐, y‐ and z‐axis, delivering 3D topographical information. OP was able to detect the loss of ridge heights over time. The feasibility of employing this technology to collect data on the aging process of ridges has been proven.     

Paradoxes of internationalisation of the Anglophone problem in Cameroon

Historically it is not strange that the Anglophone elites in Cameroon took their case to the international community, since this was a strategy that they employed during the British colonial period. A number of petitions and constant visits were made to the United Nations (UN) by Anglophone elites concerning British neglect of their territory. These petitions were made in the form of presentations before the United Nations in New York or whenever there was a visiting UN mission to the trust territory. Nonetheless, since the early 1990s, the pattern of petitions has changed drastically. Petitions against the new state are different from those earlier petitions against colonialism. The aim of the petitions against the new state has been to draw the attention of the UN and the international community to the injustices inflicted upon minority English-speaking Cameroonians by the ruling government. The Anglophone elites believe that, by making their plight known to the international community, the latter might intervene to restore the statehood of Southern Cameroons.     

Social networks among Indigenous peoples in Mexico

We examine the extent to which social networks among indigenous peoples in Mexico have a significant effect on a variety of human capital investment and economic activities, such as school attendance and work among teenage boys and girls, and migration, welfare participation, employment status, occupation, and sector of employment among adult males and females. Using data from the 10 percent population sample of the 2000 Population and Housing Census of Mexico and the empirical strategy that Bertrand, Luttmer, and Mullainathan (2000) propose, which allows us to take into account the role of municipality and language group fixed effects, we confirm empirically that social network effects play an important role in the economic decisions of indigenous people, especially in rural areas. Our analysis also provides evidence that better access to basic services such as water and electricity increases the size and strength of network effects in rural areas.     

Therefore,Is Bureaucracy Dead? Making a Case for Complementarity of Paradigms in Public Administrative Thinking and Discourse

Public Administration has gone through conceptual development to inject renaissance and public value creation. The literature provides a battleground of ideas between bureaucracy, new public management and post NPM with the latter ones chastising bureaucracy. The new developments should be seen as perfecting and correcting some of the extremes of bureaucracy but cannot replace it entirely. Owing to the broad nature of the public sector coupled with complex goals, agencies and mandates; this paper argues for a synergistic relationship and harmonization of the principles espoused by each paradigm; because each may be applicable in specific context, sector and periods.     

Microcredit and gender empowerment: policy implications for sustainable agricultural development in Eritrea

Sustainable agricultural development requires capital investment. However, farmers in Africa are constrained by inadequate access to microcredit. Therefore, this article examines the extent to which gender influences access to microcredit. The empirical results showed that women are less likely to be able to access microcredit, compared to men. The study also found that separate sets of factors including assets endowment, socio-economic, institutional, and technological factors significantly affected women’s and men’s access to microcredit. The article suggests that to promote sustainable agricultural development, gender differential should be critically considered in designing microcredit schemes that target farmers in Africa.     

Comparative Islamist Perspectives on the Politics of Energy in the Middle East and Beyond

The article will describe the general Islamic approach on energy based on the Sunnah of Prophet Muhammad, as well as the writings of prominent Muslim thinkers. Then it will examine and compare the energy perspectives of four Islamist groups: Hizballah, Hizb ut-Tahrir, the Muslim Brotherhood, and Al Qaeda. It will be argued that Islamist groups have attempted to achieve their external energy objectives by either using violence or exercising political blackmail against their opponents. Moreover, Islamists have developed globalized, glocalized, or localized “scale of engagement,” depending on the targeted audience. Finally, the article will examine the security implications stemming from Islamists’ interest in energy issues.     

Focused training of child and youth-care workers for promoting social and educational inclusion of youth at risk

Engaging marginalized youngsters in the mainstream society poses a great challenge for child and youth-care (CYC) workers. Workers' ability to promote significant inclusion of these adolescents is largely shaped in process of their professional education. Most academic programs for CYC workers define the profession too broadly, and this lack of specification, reflecting the scope and complexity of the field, could have a negative impact on the inclusion-aimed process of professionalization. This opinion note aims at opening a discussion about a new, inclusion-focused perspective on higher professional education of CYC workers. This discussion could suggest a refinement of CYC curricula to reflect specific characteristics of the target populations as well as consider some core concepts of the field of child and youth care.     

Challenges and methodological flaws in reporting the global land rush: observations from Tanzania

Since international awareness of a global rush for land has grown from 2008 onward, various databases and reports have attempted to provide an overview of the situation by compiling information on individual land deals. While providing such an overview is challenging owing to the dynamic and untransparent nature of the investments, flawed methods of using and citing data are aggravating that challenge and allowing dissemination of inaccurate information. The consequences are an unnecessarily blurred picture of the land deal situation and thus an inadequate basis for related political decisions or social actions and a misleading starting point for new research projects. In this article we demonstrate some of the flaws in the use of data and their consequences, with examples from fieldwork and literature on Tanzania. The paper illustrates and contributes to the evolving debate on appropriate research methodologies for studying the global land rush.