A Diverse Society, A Representative Military? The Complexity of Managing Diversity in the South African Armed Forces

After providing a brief background as to why issues of diversity management within armed forces have become important internationally, this article outlines the diversity challenges facing the South African National Defence Force (SANDF). The first part of the article describes how the racial, language/ethnic and gender profile of the SANDF has changed since 1994 and the tensions this has evoked. The second part provides a brief conceptual framework against which diversity management in the SANDF can be interpreted, whereafter the various diversity management programmes instituted over the years to cultivate a respect for diversity are outlined. It is argued that the predominant emphasis on ‘workplace diversity’ at the cost of ‘valuing diversity’ has meant that existing stereotypes and tensions within the ranks have remained, with dire consequences not only for the cohesiveness and effectiveness of the SANDF, but also for civil-military relations

Stress and Change in the Military Profession Attitudes of Officer Students at the South African Military Academy

In this paper it is illustrated that there is a decline in the commitment to altruistic values if one analyses the survey data of junior officers among all four arms of service at the South African Military Academy. The results show a clear drift towards occupationalism as outlined by Moskos (1977) if the reasons for joining, preferred job characteristics, commitment to selfless service and the need for a representative association are analysed. This trend towards occupationalism could be ascribed to the decline in status and relevance of the armed forces in society, coupled to organisational change, which in placing the military profession under considerable stress in this current period of transition. Some implications of these trends for the military profession are discussed.</p

The soldier as employee : the compatibility of labour rights with military service

Bibliography: leaves 173-187.A review of literature reveals, that three key issues underlie the debate on whether soldiers may have labour rights. The first suggests that it is socially unjust, or undemocratic, to deny soldiers the right to belong to a labour union to advance their interests as employees. The second, is that the constitutional rights of soldiers to belong to trade unions must yield to the unique nature of military service, given the need for discipline, obedience and cohesion. For the sake of national security, these rights must be curtailed. The third area of concern, is the effect of military unionisation upon the political control of the armed forces. This study sets out to analyse whether labour rights, such as the right to belong to a trade union for the purpose of collective bargaining, as well as the right to strike, can be extended to soldiers without undermining national security. The suggestion is made that the unique nature of the military profession, the ethical requirements of the profession, as well as the potential consequences of the abuse of the monopoly over the means of mass destruction, complicates the acceptance of a more pluralist approach to labour relations. The drift towards occupationalism, as well as the impact of certain societal trends on the military organisation, nevertheless compels the armed forces to adapt their unitarist approach to labour relations, and accept a more pluralist dispensation. The unique nature of military service complicates the acceptance of pluralist labour relations practices, and even where labour rights have been extended to soldiers, the activities of the unions or associations representing soldiers are curtailed. Against this background an assessment is made whether labour rights can be extended to soldiers in South Africa

Parliaments’ Contributions to Security Sector Governance/Reform and the Sustainable Development Goals

The United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16 calls for the establishment of peaceful, just and inclusive societies. The security sector has the potential to contribute to SDG16 through the fulfilment of its traditional and non-traditional security tasks. However, the security sector can also detract from SDG16 when it acts outside the confines of the law. Good governance of the sector is therefore a prerequisite to achieving SDG16, and parliaments can make an important contribution to accountability and good governance. Parliaments contribute to both transparency and accountability of the sector through their various functions and act as a counterweight to executive dominance, including in the executive’s use of security forces. Yet, in times of crisis, states run a risk of executive dominance and executives are often quick to resort to the use of the security sector to address an array of challenges. This risk also emerged during the global Covid-19 pandemic where states used the security sector, notably the military and police, in various ways to respond to the pandemic. This study reviewed the utilisation of the security sector in South Africa, the Philippines and the UK during the first year of the Covid-19 outbreak, resulting in varied outcomes ranging from positive humanitarian contributions to misconduct and brutality that led to the death of citizens. The initial lockdowns in these countries constrained parliamentary activity, resulting in a lack of adequate parliamentary oversight of security sector utilisation when it was most needed. Parliaments did recover oversight of the sector to varied degrees, but often with limited depth of inquiry into the Covid-19 deployments. To prevent the security sector from detracting from SDG16, the study identified a need for a rapid parliamentary reaction capability to security sector utilisation, especially in cases of extraordinary deployments coupled with an elevated risk of executive dominance

Parliaments’ Contributions to Security Sector Governance/Reform and the Sustainable Development Goals

The United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16 calls for the establishment of peaceful, just and inclusive societies. The security sector has the potential to contribute to SDG16 through the fulfilment of its traditional and non-traditional security tasks. However, the security sector can also detract from SDG16 when it acts outside the confines of the law. Good governance of the sector is therefore a prerequisite to achieving SDG16, and parliaments can make an important contribution to accountability and good governance. Parliaments contribute to both transparency and accountability of the sector through their various functions and act as a counterweight to executive dominance, including in the executive’s use of security forces. Yet, in times of crisis, states run a risk of executive dominance and executives are often quick to resort to the use of the security sector to address an array of challenges. This risk also emerged during the global Covid-19 pandemic where states used the security sector, notably the military and police, in various ways to respond to the pandemic. This study reviewed the utilisation of the security sector in South Africa, the Philippines and the UK during the first year of the Covid-19 outbreak, resulting in varied outcomes ranging from positive humanitarian contributions to misconduct and brutality that led to the death of citizens. The initial lockdowns in these countries constrained parliamentary activity, resulting in a lack of adequate parliamentary oversight of security sector utilisation when it was most needed. Parliaments did recover oversight of the sector to varied degrees, but often with limited depth of inquiry into the Covid-19 deployments. To prevent the security sector from detracting from SDG16, the study identified a need for a rapid parliamentary reaction capability to security sector utilisation, especially in cases of extraordinary deployments coupled with an elevated risk of executive dominance

Building resilience: the gendered effect of climate change on food security and sovereignty in Kakamega Kenya

CITATION: Liru, P. & Liru, P. 2021. Building resilience : the gendered effect of climate change on food security and sovereignty in Kakamega-Kenya. Sustainability, 13(7):3751, doi:10.3390/su13073751.The original publication is available at https://www.mdpi.comPublication of this article was funded by the Stellenbosch University Open Access FundClimate change is a global threat, affecting the food security and food sovereignty of many depending on agriculture for their livelihoods. This is even more pronounced in Kenya, given their over-reliance on rain-fed crops and the frequency of floods and droughts in the country. Through qualitative interviews, this study set out to establish how climate change not only affects the food security, production and consumption of rural women farmers in Kakamega County, Kenya, but their response to climate shocks. Using resilience theory as a lens, we established that women use different pathways to mitigate the effects of climate change on their livelihoods. The study found that initially women adopt coping strategies that are reactive and not sustainable, but soon adapted their farming strategies, using their indigenous knowledge to exercise some control over both their food security and food sovereignty. Besides this, they use their human and social capital to expand their networks of support. By linking up to other organizations and gaining access to government support, they are able to challenge patriarchal relations that perpetuate poverty and inequality and bring about more transformative and sustainable responses to climate change.https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/7/3751Publisher's versio

Socio-economic and social capital assessment of Avian Park residents, Worcester

At the beginning of every academic year, the Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology (hereafter Department), Stellenbosch University, takes Honours students on a research fieldtrip. The rationale is based on the need to provide Honours students with an in-service learning opportunity that entails fieldwork in an environment where their research efforts could make a contribution to community development. There is thus a dual objective: firstly, in-service learning through applied research using different research methodologies and secondly, the generation of new knowledge that could benefit community initiatives of various stakeholders. There is an additional third objective, namely to train community members in fieldwork skills in order for them to partake in similar studies. For 2011 Worcester and more specifically Avian Park (ward 13) was chosen as the research site. This site was selected partly because Stellenbosch University already has a community health project running in this area and there was both an interest and need for collaboration from the side of the Ukwanda Rural Clinical School in Worcester. Other University stakeholders included (in alphabetical order): Family Medicine, Human Nutrition, Occupational therapy, Physiotherapy, Speech, Language and Hearing therapy, Rehabilitation and Social Work. These stakeholders desired information about the community and some wanted to use the community volunteers trained by the Department for future research projects/interventions in the community

The National Security Implications of HIV/AIDS

Feldbaum and colleagues look at evidence on the links between HIV and national security, and evaluate the risks and benefits of addressing HIV/AIDS as a national security issue

Reserva estratégica do medicamento – uma ferramenta (in)vulgar

Como têm respondido as Forças Armadas à emergência COVID-19? Que impactos tem esta crise na organização e nas missões militares? Em que medida afetará os recursos que lhes são alocados, ou o peso relativo de diferentes serviços ou áreas internamente? Que lições para a articulação com outras forças de segurança e organizações civis? Estas são algumas das questões que colocámos aos especialistas convidados neste IDN Brief. Para além de participantes nacionais desafiámos também analistas de França, Reino Unido, Holanda, Canadá e África do Sul que nos trazem reflexões a partir da experiência dos seus países. Os desafios que enfrentamos exigem cada vez mais partilha de informação, aprendizagem cruzada e respostas cooperativas.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio