Model-Driven Technologies for Data Mining Democratisation

Data mining techniques allow discovering insights previously hidden in data from a domain. However, these techniques demand very specialised skills. People often lack these skills, which hinders data mining democratisation. To alleviate this situation, we defined a model-driven framework and some domain-specific languages that contribute to the democratisation of data mining. Here we summarise these contributions

Civil society and governance in Mozambique: a case of study analysis of the making of the new mining and petroleum laws in 2014

With the boom of mineral resources from the middle of the 21st century onwards, Mozambique has been targeted by countries seeking investment in the extractive industries sector. Internally, this subject has generated important debates among – but not exclusive to – political parties in the sense of greater regulation of the sector. This led to the formation of a coalition of key actors in Mozambican civil society (CS) leading to the advent of a CS platform for natural resources and extractive industries. However, in 2012, the Mozambican government took an important step in preparing the sector for the upcoming transformations. It is in this sequence of events that, in the same year, the revision of mining and petroleum laws appeared, which led CS to appeal for the need for transparency in the sector. This was accompanied by advocacy campaigns by CS, particularly of the platform referred to above. Thus, this study intends to answer the following question: what is the typology (or nature) of the existing relationship between CS and the Government of Mozambique? The study favours a qualitative methodology based on a case study and self-completion interviews directed at actors in CS that were selected due to their relevant roles in the advocacy campaigns for the approval of the Mining and Petroleum Laws in 2014. The results demonstrated that the relations established mainly have components of complementarity, since this process was driven by different strategies of CS actors as well as the Government of Mozambique. This case study contributes to the literature on the relations between the state and civil society in hybrid regimes. Future studies will be important to verify the extent to which those results are found in other areas of Mozambican politics and what developments have occurred over time.Com o boom dos recursos minerais a partir de meados do século XXI Moçambique ficou na mira dos países que procuram investimentos no sector da Indústria Extrativa. Internamente esta questão gerou importantes debates entre os partidos políticos no sentido de uma maior regulação do setor mas não só. Tal facto induziu a formação de uma coligação de atores-chave da Sociedade Civil (SC) moçambicana levando ao surgimento de uma Plataforma da SC sobre Recursos Naturais e Indústria Extrativa. Todavia, em 2012, o Governo Moçambicano deu um passo importante ao preparar o setor para as transformações que se avizinhavam. É nesta sequência que, no mesmo ano, surgiu a Revisão das legislações de Minas e Petróleos, o que levou a SC a apelar para a necessidade de transparência do setor, que foram acompanhados por campanhas de advocacy por parte da SC, em especial, da Plataforma acima referida. Assim, o presente estudo pretende responder à seguinte questão: qual a tipologia (ou natureza) das relações existentes entre a SC e Governo de Moçambique? O estudo privilegia uma metodologia qualitativa, baseada num estudo de caso e em entrevistas por autopreenchimento dirigidas aos atores da SC que foram selecionados em função do papel relevante nas campanhas de advocacy para a aprovação da Lei de Minas e Lei dos Petróleos em 2014. Os resultados alcançados demonstram que as relações estabelecidas têm sobretudo componentes de complementaridade, uma vez que este processo foi conduzido por estratégias diferentes por parte da SC bem como do Governo de Moçambique. Este estudo de caso contribui para a literatura sobre as relações entre estado e sociedade civil em regimes híbridos. Estudos futuros serão importantes para verificar em que medida estes resultados se verificam noutras áreas da política moçambicana e que evoluções têm ocorrido ao longo do tempo

Introduction

Peer Reviewe

A Critical Analysis of Presidential Term Limits in Africa: A Mixed-Methods Case Study of Causes of Political Violence in Burundi

The crisis in Burundi began when President Pierre Nkurunziza declared that he would pursue a third term despite a two-term limitation in Burundi’s Constitution. Opposition parties along, with some members of President Nkurunziza’s own National Council for Defence of Democracy, Forces for the Defence of Democracy (CNDD-FDD), argued that President Nkurunziza’s decision to extend his rule beyond the maximum two-terms was in direct violation of the Arusha Peace and Reconciliation agreement, also referred to as the Arusha agreement, signed in 2000. This action triggered opposition parties and civil society groups to organize peaceful protests to challenge President Nkurunziza’s third term bid. In response, government forces and Imbonerakure youth militia coordinated a campaign of repression and intimidation. The country of Burundi is characterized by political violence, targeted assassinations, and accusations of torture and rape by both government forces and armed opposition groups. The purpose of this study was to examine how the conflict surrounding presidential term limit manipulation affected the perception of peace and stability among people in Burundi. Understanding this phenomenon is extremely important because the recent hike in violence among Burundians has negatively affected the peace and stability of the nation. Through a mixed-method case study approach, the study’s main findings indicate the significant fracturing of citizen perceptions of peace and stability along identity lines, significant fear and insecurity among Burundians about the current crisis, as well as the continuing impact of the long-standing violence in the country’s past. Keywords: presidential term limits, conflict resolution, political violence, term limit manipulation, qualitative case study, and quantitative survey

State and Society in Papua New Guinea

Politics and government; Social conditions; Papua new guine

Industrial decentralisation, Bantustan policy, and the control of labour in South Africa

African Studies Seminar series. Paper presented 6 August 1984During the last two decades, industrial decentralisation and growth centre policies have been widely applied throughout the world. In this paper the authors describe a rather distinct application of those policies, namely that directed to facilitating the control of labour in South Africa. We also assess the extent to which the policies have "succeeded" and can succeed. Success cannot be judged in terms of criteria that may be used when evaluating decentralisation policies elsewhere in the world. In South Africa, such policies have been explicitly designed to further the system of apartheid and thereby the control of labour. Their success or failure lies in the extent to which they are able to do that. We have stressed how the recent emphasis on industrial decentralisation reflects the current and lasting crisis in Bantustan policy (2)

Gender issues, indigenous peoples and popular partication in Bolivia

[Explanatory note:] The following work is the culmination of a research process undertaken between December 1995 and September 1997 in various sites throughout Bolivia. Although the research process itself will be outlined more thoroughly in chapter 4 it would be useful to initially clarify a few key points as to the processes of fieldwork which resulted in the analyses presented in this thesis. The research process can be viewed in three phases. Phase I was undertaken in La Paz and Cochabamba between December 1995 and February 1996 by myself, Professor David Booth, then working at the University of Hull, and Charlotta Widmark representing the University of Stockholm. Phase II was conducted between May and September 1996 and involved a total of 14 Bolivian researchers working in four teams, with myself, Booth and Widmark.During this second phase we conducted fieldwork in four rural areas: the Amazonian region of Moxos, Corque on the Altiplano, Independencia in the High Andes and Puerto Villerroel in the coca-growing region of El Chapare. I worked in each of these areas except Corque on the Altiplano. Both phases I and II were commissioned and funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA).Phases I and II aimed to provide an initial appraisal of the process of democratisation in Bolivia, focusing in particular upon:• the coherence and practicality of the institutional reforms (decentralisation and popular participation) given the principal constraints on their operation;• the interpretation of, and responses to, 'democratisation' among women and men in poor communities, including the cultural ramifications and relations to previously existing representative institutions at various levels;• the effectiveness of the changes in improving the position of formerly disempowered groups and social categories, including Amerindian minorities and women;• any positive or negative interactions with objects of government policy and SIDA support, including poverty reduction, gender equality and educational reform;• the possible design of appropriate quantitative or qualitative indicators suitable for monitoring the progress of democratisation at the regional, provincial and community levels in Bolivia, bearing in mind the specific social and cultural conditions of the country.Phase III, the aims of which are outlined below, involved a further eight months of independent research conducted in the urban centre of Cochabamba between February and September, 1997. This was purely doctoral research and was self-funded and which I carried out alone and independently of the SIDA study. The following work is, however, based upon the findings and experiences resulting from all three phases of the research

The neoliberal rise of East Asia and social movements of labour: four moments and a challenge

The celebrated ‘rise of East Asia’ as a centre of global capitalism resulted from the increasing integration of East Asia into the expanding circuit of capital that turned most of the East Asian population into ‘capitalist value-subjects’. This means that the vast majority of East Asian population now have to make and reproduce living at different moments of production, reproduction and realisation of capitalist value. However this integration does not create these new value subjects as a singular and cohesive class of working women and men. Instead, it produces many segmented labouring classes whose livelihoods depend on insecure and oppressive wage employment or a wide range of survival activities for money income in the informal economy. The result is the paradox of East Asian development - the increase of the traditional working class has been marginal in the rise of East Asia as a workshop of the world. This again created a complex condition for social movements of labour. A close look at the current struggles of new value subjects in Thailand, Korea, Cambodia and China reveals that these new value subjects are capable of going beyond the boundaries set up by the previous struggles of organised labour. However, it also tell us that there is a serious disjuncture between the emerging social movements of labour and the existing trade union movement of the ‘industrial working class’ in East Asia. This challenge calls for a reconsideration of the theories and practices of the labour movement that presuppose a process of coherent working class formation

The Arab Spring and its different outcomes: Explaining the variation in the state of democratisation

The theme of this study is the Arab Spring and democratisation. The Arab Spring affected every country in the region very differently. This study aims to explain the variation of the state of democratisation in the different countries, as well as identify the factor(s) behind this variation. Six countries are selected for the analysis; half of them experienced major changes, the other half just minor political changes. These are tested against the modernisation theory, while controlling for Huntington's theory about waves of democratisation. The chosen method is a comparative politics method, together with quantitative analysis. The result shows that, contrary to the modernisation theory and the hypothesis, economic and socioeconomic development does not explain the variation in the state of democratisation. Countries with minor political changes are, to some extent, also more developed. The result further suggests that other factors such as economic failure and monarchy’s resilience could possibly explain the variation in the state of democratisation

Less pretension, more ambition: development policy in times of globalization

Development aid has become the subject of much discussion. Why do we give aid, and does it help? What do we know about the development paths being taken by various countries, or the possibilities of helping them to achieve their goals from outside? How relevant is development aid now that remittances and foreign direct investments have increased as a result of globalization? When does aid have more negative than positive effects? What is the significance of shifting power relations in the world? And do policies focusing on issues like climate, migration, financial stability, knowledge, trade and security not have a greater impact than aid on the development opportunities of poor countries? These questions inspired the Dutch Scientific Council for Government Policy (wrr) to examine what form development aid should take in the era of globalization. At the start of 2010, on the basis of over 500 interviews with experts and an extensive literature survey, the wrr presented its far-reaching recommendations. In October 2010, the new Dutch government decided to use the report as the basis of a thorough modernization of its development policy. This book is based on the wrr report. It builds on the many responses to the report, resulting in more elaboration on specific lines of reasoning, coverage of new themes and more comprehensive analyses, without changing the core of the original report