Rethinking militarism in post-apartheid South Africa

This paper argues that contemporary South Africa is marked by a co-existence of both old and new forms of militarism. It tries to move beyond the statist conception of militarism in much of the scholarly literature in order to examine social relations more broadly, and the appropriation of the means and instruments of violence by non-state groups. The paper argues that a shallow and uneven process of state demilitarisation was underway in South Africa from 1990 in the form of reductions in military expenditure, weapons holdings, force levels, demobilisation, employment in arms production and base closures. However, this has had contradictory consequences. The failure to provide for the effective social integration of ex-combatants throughout the Southern African region, as well as ineffective disarmament in post-conflict peace building, has provided an impetus to a 'privatised militarism'. This is evident in three related processes: new forms of violence, the commoditisation of security, through the growth of private security firms and, most importantly, the proliferation of small arms. It is argued that small arms are highly racialised and linked to a militarised conception of citizenship. This feeds into a militarist nationalism, which claims a powerful army as an indicator of state power, which helps to explain a process of re-militarisation - evident in the R60 billion re-armament programme and increasing reliance on the military as an instrument of foreign policy since 1998. The paper concludes by emphasizing the need for a regional approach to security as a further corrective to a narrow, statist focus on the South African National Defence Force

Addressing organisational and societal concerns : an application of critical systems thinking to information systems planning in Colombia

Most current information system s (IS) planning methodologies are focused on achieving ‘successful’ plans, i.e. plans that provide competitive advantage, can be implemented in a given period of time, and that solve the problems of information needs by taking advantage of the latest technologies available. Concerns are technology and business driven, and focus on how to get the maximum profit for organisations from investing in information systems. However, this relatively narrow focus can be problematic, especially in developing countries where the social contexts of IS implementation may require a different primary focus. This chapter presents a methodology for IS planning based on critical systems thinking – an approach that encourages the critical analysis of stake holder understandings of social contexts prior to the selection and/ or design of planning methods. The methodology presented in this chapter uses a combination of the systems theories of autopoiesis and boundary critiques, which deepen our understanding of what it means to reflect on participation, values and social concerns during IS planning. In the course of applying the methodology in a project in Colombia, an issue arose of the ethics of the practitioner. To address this issue, following completion of the project, we sought to enhance critical systems thinking with Foucault ’s notions of power and ethics, which offer interesting alternatives for practitioner self-reflection. Implications for IS planning are derived from this perspective on ethics and power

Trade Logistics and Regional Integration in Latin America and the Caribbean

During the past few decades, the landscape of the world economy has changed. New trade patterns reflect the globalization of the supply chain and intra-industry trade, and increasing flows between neighboring countries and trading blocs with similar factor endowments. Similarly, the approach to production, trade, and transportation has evolved incorporating freight logistics as an important value-added service in global production. This integrated approach have become essential, and as such, both the trade agenda and freight logistics are beginning to converge providing an unparalleled opportunity for countries to deepen their integration with neighboring countries and their national performance in transport related services. Consequently, developing countries are finding themselves hard-pressed to adjust their policy agendas to take into account costs not covered in past rounds of trade negotiations. This paper focuses on the importance of freight logistics in trade facilitation measures, examines the transport and logistics cost in international trade, addresses logistics performance in Latin America and the Caribbean and regional initiatives to advance the integration process and finally, exchanges views on the potential for trade logistics to impact the regional agenda and to deepen integration.latin america caribbean trade; regional integration; infrastructure trade facilitation