Nigeria in African Affairs: Hegemonic and Altruistic Considerations

Commitment to Africa has become a permanent policy of the Nigerian state. Yet, critics have expressed reservations about the worthiness of the policy. While their arguments appear strong, they do not provide adequate grounds to justify a reconsideration of the policy. Nigeria’s quest for dominance has always informed the country’s designation of Africa as a primary sphere of interest. To achieve this goal, altruism has become a defining attribute of Nigeria’s African diplomacy, thereby validating the theoretical overlap between hegemony and altruism. If Nigeria’s altruistic and subtle diplomacy has failed to translate into diplomatic ascendance in Africa as some observers have argued, then it is not because the policy is ignoble; the problem lies elsewhere. The paper contends that the question has more to do with the manner in which Nigeria has managed the domestic environment of its African policy over the years. Relying on data generated through the secondary method and key-informant interview, as well as the interpretive method of qualitative data analysis, this piece examines the planks upon which the policy is built, explains the complexities involved in its pursuit, and then constructs arguments in favour of the policy.     

Dynamics of consumption distribution and economic fluctuations

Economic Change and Restructuring - This study aims to investigate the dynamics of consumption distribution and to determine how it is affected by macroeconomic fluctuations based on two different...     

Violence and the breakdown of the political settlement: an uncertain future for Bangladesh?

Abstract

We explore the dynamics of the elite political settlement in Bangladesh after the democratic transition in 1991 and its impact on the elite interactions in the arena of competitive electoral democracy. We trace the history of how a political settlement around regime succession developed in the mid-1990s, and then experienced difficulties in multiple stages, and finally broke down in 2011. Violence was instrumentally used, by the ruling elites and the main opposition party, to influence the processes of negotiations around the succession of power. We argue that ‘partyarchy’—where political parties exert informal control of the party through formal processes and institutions—and dynastic rule prevent the political elites from reaching a stable settlement around regime succession. We also show how the changes to the rules of the game around regime succession have led to a qualitative shift in the extent and nature of violence in the political domain, and explore why democratic consolidation remains elusive.     

Citizenship as Targeted Behavior: Responses to Organizational Justice and the Role of Culture

The study aimed at reviewing citizenship as targeted behavior in response to justice perceptions and investigating the role of within-culture differences on citizenship responses to organizational fairness perceptions. Data were solicited from 150 employees and their supervisors representing various public sector entities of Pakistan. Results showed that distributive and interactional fairness predict interpersonal organizational citizenship behavior. Organizational fairness did not predict citizenship behavior targeted at organizations. Organizational justice had negative values of citizenship behavior for higher values of collectivism. Findings and implications for human resource management practitioners and suggestions for future research are discussed.     

Ethiopian female labor migration to the Gulf states: the case of Kuwait

ABSTRACT

International labor migration is one of the most salient features of the modern globalized world. However, the phenomenon has its roots in some earlier periods in human history. Africa is traditionally a sending continent of all types of migrations, voluntary or forced. This study examines the above-mentioned issues through the mounting phenomenon of migration of single independent women in search for better economic, social, or political conditions across the boundaries of their home countries. In the past, African women migrants were only spouses or dependent family members. But as modernity swept most African societies, with rising unemployment rates, there is evidence everywhere in Africa that women labor migration is a growing phenomenon that deserves to be understood in the context of current gender-related research. This work explores these issues further, focusing on the experience of Ethiopian women labor migrants to Kuwait, within Gulf Cooperation Council, an area with a shared socio-economic background. In addition to numerous difficulties already facing labor migrants, Ethiopian women suffered greater degrees of gender-based violence, underpayment, and trafficking, to mention only few aspects of human rights violations. This situation could be attributed to the fact that most of these women fall under the category of unskilled and/or illiterate migrants, as irregular migrants who are employed within the private sector, outside the purview any legal or labor regulatory authorities.     

Antecedents and consequences of interpersonal trust： An empirical study

The main purpose of this paper is to explore the effect of empowerment, participation and feedback as antecedents of interpersonal trust and organizational commitment and productivity as consequences of interpersonal trust. This study also attempts to find the influence of empowerment, participation and feedback on positive organizational outcomes such as organizational commitment and productivity. A quantitative research design was employed. Data were collected through survey instrument from 186 participants comprising professional, administrative and support staff working in one municipality of Istanbul （Turkey） government. The research results indicate that interpersonal trust is vital to positive organizational outcomes such as organizational commitment and productivity and to enhance the interpersonal trust and positive organizational outcomes, which are characterized by empowerment, participation and feedback are very important.     

Perceived public condemnation and avoidance intentions: The mediating role of moral outrage

The effects of intrapersonal emotion on consumers' behavior have long been studied, but the effects of interpersonal emotions on public's intentions remain poorly understood. People often get angry when they observe injustice with others but not themselves. Drawing on emotions as social information theory, we investigated how perceived public condemnation (knowledge that other also condemn a particular norm violation by an organization) affects the moral outrage of public and their future intentions toward the organization. A quantitative study was empirically examined through a sample of 107 users of a leading riding service in Pakistan. Data were analyzed through statistical tools (IBM SPSS & AMOS 21). Finding shows that perceived public condemnation was positively correlated with moral outrage and avoidance intentions of individuals. However, moral outrage mediates the association between perceived public condemnation and avoidance intentions of the public. The implications highlight the importance of a community's social norms and values to gauge the organization's reputation in people's eyes.