Strengthening Peace Research and Peace Education in African Universities

This paper explores the problems and challenges of promoting and embedding conflict-sensitive peace  education in African higher education, especially in the universities. The paper also proffers some  constructive policy recommendations and intervention strategies. Universities have traditionally been  concerned with imparting specialized knowledge and skills in various fields of study capable of helping  beneficiaries to make useful contributions to societal development and also earn meaningful livelihood  from a legitimate occupation. There is increasing interest in the role of higher education in promoting  peace and security at all levels of society, particularly in volatile conflict-prone and war-affected  societies. This research has been mainly conceived to help strengthen the growing body of policy-relevant  knowledge on the functional application of peace research and peace education in Africa.Keywords: peace education. Higher education, policy, structural violence; conflict resolution Ce document explore les problèmes et les défis de la promotion et de l’intégration éducation à la paix  sensible au conflit dans l’enseignement supérieur de l’Afrique, en particulier dans les universités. Le papier profère aussi quelques constructive des recommandations politiques et des stratégies  d’intervention.. Les universités ont traditionnellement été concernés par la transmission des  connaissances et des compétences spécialisées dans divers domaines d’étude capable d’aider les bénéficiaires à faire des contributions utiles au développement de la société et aussi gagner de  subsistance significative d’une occupation légitime. Il ya un intérêt croissant pour le rôle de  l’enseignement supérieur dans la promotion de la paix et de la sécurité à tous les niveaux de la société, en particulier dans les sociétés sujettes aux conflits et touchées par la guerre volatils. Cette recherche a été principalement conçu pour aider à renforcer la masse croissante de connaissances pertinentes pour la politique sur l’application fonctionnelle de la recherche de la paix et de l’éducation de laMots clés: éducation à la paix. L’enseignement supérieur, la politique, la violence structurelle ; résolution de confli

Promoting peace and conflict-sensitive Higher Education in Sub-Saharan Africa

YesIt is an increasingly acknowledged fact that one of the most effective ways universities in war-affected countries can be functionally relevant to the everyday needs and challenges of their immediate environment is by promoting peacebuilding through peace education. This paper explores the role of universities in fostering peace education in diverse post-conflict and conflict-prone countries of sub-Saharan Africa. Specifically, the research investigates the contending models and strategies (notably the Bradford Model and the Centralized Unitary Model) of conflict-sensitive peace education in the context of universities in post-conflict and volatile societies in Africa. The study also analyses the problems and challenges associated with promoting peace education in Sub-Saharan Africa and recommends policy-relevant intervention measures designed to strengthen the process. Data for the study have been generated from secondary sources, as well as a raft of conflict intervention, regional security and peacebuilding projects the researcher has taken part in across a number of conflict-prone and war-affected African countries (notably, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Rwanda, Burundi, DRC, Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria and South Sudan)

Natural resource rent and stakeholder politics in Africa: towards a new conceptualisation

YesThis paper critically revisits the debate on natural resource rent, curse and conflict, interrogating some of the key assumptions that have become received knowledge in extant discourses. The paper demonstrates how orthodox theories’ preoccupation with issues of resource rent and resource curse tend to be marred by slants of ahistoricity and state-centricity. Adopting a stakeholder approach to the issues of resource rent and conflict in Africa, the author argues that natural resource rents produce and attract a multiplicity of competitive stakeholders, both domestic and external, in the resource-rich states. The competition and jostling of stakeholders for access to, and appropriation of, rentier resources is too often an antagonistic process in many emerging economies that has consequences and implications for violent conflict. The paper attempts a new conceptual explanation of how natural resource rents dialectically generate stakes, stakeholders and political conflict. The paper concludes by proposing the need for the more conflict-prone African rentier states to transition to a more functional state model, the transformative state

Natural resource rent and stakeholder politics in Africa: towards a new conceptualisation

YesThis paper critically revisits the debate on natural resource rent, curse and conflict, interrogating some of the key assumptions that have become received knowledge in extant discourses. The paper demonstrates how orthodox theories’ preoccupation with issues of resource rent and resource curse tend to be marred by slants of ahistoricity and state-centricity. Adopting a stakeholder approach to the issues of resource rent and conflict in Africa, the author argues that natural resource rents produce and attract a multiplicity of competitive stakeholders, both domestic and external, in the resource-rich states. The competition and jostling of stakeholders for access to, and appropriation of, rentier resources is too often an antagonistic process in many emerging economies that has consequences and implications for violent conflict. The paper attempts a new conceptual explanation of how natural resource rents dialectically generate stakes, stakeholders and political conflict. The paper concludes by proposing the need for the more conflict-prone African rentier states to transition to a more functional state model, the transformative state

Design topology of a remote-controlled bi-directional rotation of an A.C. fan with speed control

The use of remote control for alternating current fans in homes/offices is one of the applications of electronics that enhances human comfort. It should therefore not be seen as luxury, rather, it should be taken as a basic requirement of life. In this study, the bi-directional rotation and speed control of ac fan were achieved using ardiuno microcontroller and tuned capacitors circuit. The use of the new state-of- the art technique in this work is significant because it helped in over-coming the drawbacks associated with the use of inductive, resistive and phase angle controlled regulators. The significance of this study will be of great benefit to physically challenged and aged persons who need to have their comforts in their various places of sitting. The designed topology of the work was executed and achieved. Reliability test carried out on the finished work showed better efficiency

The causes of conflict and promotion of durable peace and sustainable development in Africa, Kofi Annan: discussion

The paper by the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan (hereinafter SG) renders an elaborate diagnosis of the causes of conflict in Africa and articulates a multi-faceted remedial framework for surmounting the problems. Indeed, both the observed problems and solutions largely reflect the dominant thematic views and perspectives found in the extant literature on the African crises. Running through and interlinking the various sections of the paper is the idea of promoting human security, which the SG remarks is not only central to conflict prevention but also remains the cardinal mission of the UN

Extractive economies and conflicts in the global south: Multi-regional perspectives on rentier politics

Natural resources have presented scholars of the global south with a paradox. Oil, diamonds, gold and timber, to name but a few, characterize the economic geography of post-colonial countries throughout sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, Latin America and Asia. One might therefore expect that such resources would provide not only a reliable source of wealth, but a consequent foundation for social, political and economic development. Instead, as a growing body of literature has emphasized, their presence has contributed to continuing mass poverty, authoritarian political structures and violent conflict ~see, for example, Paul Collier and Anke Hoeffler, “Greed and Grievance in Civil War,” Oxford Economic Papers 56, 2004: 563–95; Philippe Le Billon, “The Political Ecology of War: Natural Resources and Armed Conflicts,” Political Geography 20.5, 2001: 561–84; Michael Lewin Ross, “Does Oil Hinder Democracy?” World Politics 53.3, 2001: 325–61!. In Extractive Economies and Conflicts in the Global South: Multi-Regional Perspectives on Rentier Politics, a variety of scholars from diverse academic backgrounds have provided a useful contribution to the continuing debate over why resource-rich countries are prone to so much instability. What is unique about this work is its scope: thirteen chapters address the impact of natural resources through a focus on case studies drawn from several African, Middle Eastern and Latin American countries. This reflects the goal of the book’s editor, Kenneth Omeje, to present readers with an analysis that will move beyond the study of oil and the so-called “rentier state” in the Middle East that has dominated academic attention since the publication of Hazem Beblawi and Giacomo Luciani’s edited volume, The Rentier State ~1987!. To be sure, many of the general theoretical insights provided in that work, and those that followed it, are taken seriously by Omeje and his contributors. Profits amassed through the sale of natural resources—rents— have a determining influence in shaping state–society relations. With state survival virtually guaranteed by rent accumulation, populations lose the ability to influence the decision-making process, as taxation is not relied upon to sustain the state and its leadership. Instead, stability comes through continued reliance on rents, military and financial support from foreign powers dependent on the state’s resources, and promises to provide for the basic material needs of the population ~5, 36, 214–15!. Where this book departs from the traditional model is in drawing from relatively recent work by Mick Moore that has questioned the rentier state’s dominant role and its apparent ability to fend off challenges and maintain order ~“Death without Taxes: Democracy, State Capacity and Aid Dependence in the Fourth World,” The Democratic Development State: Politics and Institutional Design, ed. Mark Robinson and Gordon White, New York: Oxford University Press, 1998: 84–121; “Political Underdevelopment: What Causes ‘Bad Governance’?” Public Management Review 1.3, 2001: 385–418; “Revenues, State Formation and the Quality of Governance in Developing Countries,” International Political Science Review 25.3, 2004: 297–319!. Though state capabilities are certainly enhanced by rents, the reliance on those rents in the place of taxation and other policies that encourage state legitimacy produces widespread societal grievances. Hence, rents serve as a primary cause of conflict once those grievances are mobilized by insurgent groups ~37–38!. With such insights in mind, Omeje’s