Keys to Effective Development in South Africa

One out of four of the world’s population lives in absolute poverty. Twenty percent of these poor live in sub-Saharan Africa. Seventy percent of the absolute poor live in rural areas (Mikos 2001). These statistics paint a picture of a world in tremendous need of development. South Africa is no stranger to this development crisis. Approximately fifty percent of the country’s population lives in poverty, unemployment rates are 26.6 percent and HIV/AIDS is the cause of an estimated 1,000 deaths per day (USAID 2006). This paper focuses on development solutions, investigating whether or not participatory development approaches are effective strategies and identifying the strengths and weaknesses as well as the methods implemented by organizations using these tactics. The creation and evolution of development theory is first discussed as well as the current thinking and ideas on development paradigms. After a detailed analysis of development theory, I place South Africa in context, explaining the country’s development strategies post-1994 and showing how they have transformed throughout the first decade of democracy. I then focus on a rural development NGO in Cape Town, the Social Change Assistance Trust (SCAT), using it as a case study to critique the implementation of a participatory approach to rural development. Finally, using this case study (in the context of the South Africa), I identify successes and challenges associated with the implementation these methods. With these objectives in mind, I hope to answer my research questions and discover effective development strategies. SCAT’s mission is to: “improve the quality of life of people living in rural communities with the aim of them living in a vibrant and sustainable environment” (SCAT Strat 2007). To do this it uses four strategies: institution building, capacity building, mobilizing resources, and developing intellectual capital. SCAT partners with over 50 local development agencies (LDAs) across South Africa in isolated rural communities, working in conjunction to realize sustainable progress. SCAT’s tactics include: grantmaking, fieldwork, and the process of becoming a learning organization, each of which is instrumental in its success. By listening, linking, and learning, SCAT, and other organizations like it, can transform the process of rural development in South Africa and together create lasting and effective change

Disorderly And Inhumane: Explaining Government-Sponsored Mass Expulsion, 1900-2020

Since 2015 over two million people have been expelled, en masse, around the world. Mass expulsion is a major international issue that threatens peace and security around the globe. This dissertation examines why and how governments expel ethnic groups en masse. What motivates them to implement an expulsion policy and why don’t more governments do the same? By isolating policies of intentional group-based population removal—distinct from genocide, massacre, and coercive assimilation—I show that the motivations of expulsionist governments are informed by the phase of nation-building and the perceived threat of the target group. The four clusters of motivations are: fifth column, anti-colonialism, nativism, and counterinsurgency/reprisal. Since not all governments with one of the identified motivations to expel go on to remove populations en masse, I also identify important constraints on governments’ strategic choices. Through four paired-comparison case studies of similarly motivated governments with different outcomes (expulsion or non-expulsion), I show that alliances, target group homeland state(s), and the international community are the key contributing factors that enable or deter mass expulsion policies. The evidence is drawn from archival research conducted at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and the League of Nations archives in Geneva, Switzerland, as well as from other primary sources, secondary historical sources, and extant datasets. This dissertation contributes to the field of ethnic conflict and exclusionary politics. It fills a gap in the literature by systematically examining mass expulsion policies that intentionally remove ethnic groups over the longue durée. The argument expands existing explanations beyond war and security threats to highlight an entire class of expulsions that target economic threats, which requires scholarly and international policy attention. The dissertation also deepens our understanding of critical atrocity constraints and proposes tangible policy recommendations for deterring its use

Disorderly and Inhumane: Explaining Government-Sponsored Mass Expulsion, 1900–2020

Since 2015 over two million people have been expelled, en masse, around the world. Mass expulsion is a major international issue that threatens peace and security around the globe. This dissertation examines why and how governments expel ethnic groups en masse. What motivates them to implement an expulsion policy and why don’t more governments do the same? By isolating policies of intentional group-based population removal—distinct from genocide, massacre, and coercive assimilation—I show that the motivations of expulsionist governments are informed by the phase of nation-building and the perceived threat of the target group. The four clusters of motivations are: fifth column, anti-colonialism, nativism, and counterinsurgency/reprisal. Since not all governments with one of the identified motivations to expel go on to remove populations en masse, I also identify important constraints on governments’ strategic choices. Through four paired-comparison case studies of similarly motivated governments with different outcomes (expulsion or non-expulsion), I show that alliances, target group homeland state(s), and the international community are the key contributing factors that enable or deter mass expulsion policies. The evidence is drawn from archival research conducted at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and the League of Nations archives in Geneva, Switzerland, as well as from other primary sources, secondary historical sources, and extant datasets. This dissertation contributes to the field of ethnic conflict and exclusionary politics. It fills a gap in the literature by systematically examining mass expulsion policies that intentionally remove ethnic groups over the longue durée. The argument expands existing explanations beyond war and security threats to highlight an entire class of expulsions that target economic threats, which requires scholarly and international policy attention. The dissertation also deepens our understanding of critical atrocity constraints and proposes tangible policy recommendations for deterring its use

Adults with autism discuss their experiences of foreign language learning: an exploration of the "different strategies" hypothesis

How do persons who self-identify as having autism report their experience of second/foreign language learning? We propose a "different strategies" hypothesis: autistic individuals with verbal abilities will use their systemizing strengths to compensate for their reduced social abilities in order to learn a foreign language. Systemizing, the ability to analyze a multifaceted system, is a strength of those with autism. Qualitative analysis was used to analyze posts in online discussion forums where foreign language learning experiences were discussed. A thematic coding system was developed and two naive raters were trained to code posts for 20 theoretically relevant categories, including method of learning, number of languages mentioned, and outcomes of learning. We found that having a positive experience with reading and writing, while having a negative experience with speaking and listening, was more common in individuals with ASD. Additionally, avoiding conversation and a lower motivation to learn via social interaction were seen more often in the ASD forums. These novel results, taken from self-reported experiences, support the "different strategies" hypothesis and set the foundation for future experimental and quantitative research.Published versio