Browsing by Subject "State"

Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    The informal sector revisited: Botswana's developmental state and micro-enterprise development.
    (2009-12) Menyah, David
    Governments, policy-makers and academics have come to recognize and acknowledge the vital role played by the informal sector in facilitating economic development especially in the third world. To realize the full potential of the informal sector as a possible engine of growth, more research is needed as to how the state can create a favorable institutional, regulatory and policy environment that allows productive employment, income generation and growth of the informal sector. The dissertation goes beyond the neo-liberal theory informed antagonistic pathways that characterize the relationship between the state and informal sector in the literature because they operate at opposing logics. I argue that such one-dimensional assessment of state-informal sector relations is highly problematic and flawed because the state is packaged as a unitary category with no differentiation and critical interrogation. The dissertation unpacks the state and identifies different types of states with varying abilities and capacities to engage the informal sector productively. Secondly, the antagonistic pathways framework of analysis is counterproductive and limits the possibilities of the state engaging the informal sector positively for mutual development. An alternative scenario is possible but contingent on the character of the state or a state that goes beyond "the Smithian Watchman" to a developmental one. Using Botswana as a case study, the dissertation appropriates survey and interview data to interrogate how the developmental state engages the informal sector for mutual development or otherwise.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    State Laboratories Shaping Their Own Futures
    (2012-03-13) Jacobs, Lawrence R.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    The State’s Role and Synergies in China-Africa Engagements: The Case of Ghana’s Bui Hydropower Dam
    (2019-08) Adovor Tsikudo, Kwame
    Contemporary China-Africa engagement endured a tumultuous start for much of the 20th century until changes over the last three decades transformed it into a salient case in international political economy. The relationship which began after World War II was inspired by geopolitical and anticolonial philosophies. These principles lingered until China’s 1990 economic boom triggered sustained economic performance that supplanted the geopolitical motives. The new geo-economics deepened China’s interactions with African countries. Trade which was previously peripheral increased exponentially, resulting in China becoming Africa’s leading trading partner. Likewise, aid and investment cooperation soared, culminating in rebranding the relationship as a win-win affair. The new win-win relationship attracted considerable attention, and has now sparked intense debate in African studies, international relations, and China-Africa relations. The debate can be structured into two: advocates and critics. Advocates see China’s African intervention comprising trade, aid, and investment as a catalyst for the continent’s transformation. For the advocates, China’s operations in Africa differ from Western assistance, hence provide the continent opportunity for self-determination. This view is countered by critics who consider China’s presence in Africa as self-centered due to excessive focus on resource extraction and market expansion. Critics argue that China’s activities in Africa are reminiscent of colonial strategies. As such, they characterize China’s approach as neocolonial and less developmental. These two views are important in highlighting the pros and cons of China’s Africa foray. However, they overly amplify China’s actions and rarely analyzes how African countries can harness the opportunities the relationship entails. To fill this lacuna, this study proposes decisive and active state interventions in forming synergistic networks with China to leverage and shape the developmental outcomes of the current relationship. This proposition seeks to rescue the relationship from being lopsided and provide a framework for evaluating the outcomes of the relationship based on African state interventions. My study focuses on Ghana’s Bui hydropower dam as a case of China’s African initiatives. The Bui hydropower dam was implemented between 2008 and 2013 with the purpose of: 1) generating 400 megawatts of electricity; 2) boosting Ghana’s socio-economic development. Although the project was perceived as a success based on improvements in Ghana’s previous large experience, the objective of using electricity to catalyze local transformation has yet to occur. The project has been plagued with several issues. First, energy output from the dam falls short of anticipated targets. Second, the project has so far generated negligible socio-economic development in and beyond the project. Third, the construction project displaced, and impoverished residents of riparian communities yet created little opportunities for livelihood improvements. These shortcomings derive from poor Ghanaian state capacity and the weaknesses of its actors in their interactions with Chinese players in designing and building the behemoth. These conclusions highlight the centrality of state capacity and interventions in development programming. The study contributes to the literature on development studies, China-Africa relations, African studies, and international political economy.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Transforming sport and identity in the post-apartheid South African nation state.
    (2010-11) Maralack, David Mark
    This dissertation examines processes of state restructuring and nation-state building in post-apartheid South Africa through the lens of sport policies and institutions. The post-apartheid state used sports to nurture post-apartheid identity, overcome economic inequalities, racial cleavages, and foster civic participation at the same time. However, contestations have pervaded sport transformation in South Africa from apartheid to the present. In 2005, the Sports Minister lamented that it is inconceivable that 12 years of democracy has not reduced contestation over sport transformation and remains the most vexing and divisive issue for post-apartheid sport. I seek to understand why sport transformation remains challenging in post-apartheid South Africa and analyze the ways sport has and could be used to create post-apartheid national identity. Through a critical assessment of sport strategies, policies, processes and dilemmas, I analyze the tension between elite and community sport at the national and local/Cape Town scales. Using a diverse set of methods including document analysis, participant observation, and interviews, I assess the efficacy of sports policies in transforming sport, identities and nation building at national and local scales. At the national scale I focus on the ways in which processes of internationalization and globalization in sport affected apartheid and post-apartheid state restructuring and sports policies. At the local scale in Cape Town, I examine a situated practice of deliberative democracy in sport processes, addressing negotiations across difference - racial cleavages and inequalities in resource distribution. I argue that sustainable sport transformation should not be a single national project but a multi-scaled project with a heterogeneous set of strategies, enacted by multiple actors who are situated in a variety of institutions and located at a variety of scales. I conclude with a proposal for praxis of sport politics, a Collaborative Sport Development and Praxis Model.