The purpose of this thesis is it to investigate the socio-political conditions that gave rise to right-wing populism (RWP) in Germany and Hungary. It ascertains reasons for increasing right-wing populist attitudes in these two countries by tracing the emergence of the German Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) and the Hungarian Movement for a better Hungary (Jobbik). The choice to compare these parties was influenced by considerations relating to their roles as main opposition parties in their respective countries’ parliaments as well as the fact that they were catapulted to political prominence as right-wing populist parties in the aftermath of the refugee crisis of 2015. Examining the causes for the increase of RWP across Europe is indispensable for purposes of understanding the everchanging political landscape of the European Union (EU) and the continued threat RWP poses to liberal democratic values in that region. Furthermore, it is necessary to comprehend the undercurrents besetting the two societies’ social fabrics and political nomenclatures as well as their roles in precipitating rightwing populist movements that have gone on dominate their respective polities. To unearth the circumstances behind the rise of RWP as a political phenomenon, the Most Different Systems Design will be utilized to identify factors which account for the success of the AfD and Jobbik in their respective countries. To carry out this task both the Cultural Backlash Thesis (CBT) and the Economic Insecurity Perspective (EIP) are employed as theoretical nodal points to ascertain each of the two countries’ unique set of socio-political and socioeconomic circumstances that propelled right-wing parties to political prominence. This thesis argues that both the CBT and EIP have been at the centre of why right-wing populism has been on the rise in the EU in recent times. Accounting for the exponential rise of Jobbik and the AfD is the exploitation of growing nationalist sentiments by both parties fuelled by fear of the loss of traditional norms and values since the refugee crisis. By focusing on traditional values and their countries’ cultural identities, the two right-wing populist parties inadvertently exclude minority groups on a continued basis. Furthermore, this study claims that while cultural discontents account for the rise of both parties, economic grievances are only applicable in Jobbik’s case alone. This is due to the fact that Germany suffers from less economic difficulties as EU’s strongest economy, whereas Hungary’s own has been performing below par, which has been aggravated by high levels of corruption in the public sector. Hence, Jobbik’s rise has been aided by economic and cultural frustrations as a result of the so-called foreign infiltration whereas the AfD’s is attributed to growing cultural and nationalist grievances gaining a foothold in Germany.

Keywords: kuduro, rap, music, diasporic, resistance, neoliberalism, seductive power, necropower, frozen citizenship, electronic capitalism, visibility, human rights I introduce kuduro music as a vantage point to uncover the political landscape of Angola where critical voices do not emerge with ease. I argue that kuduro, the globally known and disseminated genre of dance music, has been hijacked by the dos Santos government’s populist narrative so that it has become an ideological audio-visual narrative for ‘new’ Angola. Co-option is a socio-economic practice in new, independent Angola, but also political in the sense that it brings Angolans closer to the ruling elite’s economic power. The redistribution of wealth what Kalyan Sanyal (2007) coined as reversal of primitive accumulation is a useful concept here, but it falls short of fully explaining practices of patronage. Thus, I suggest seductive power as an extended concept, in order to understand co-option as both an economic and a cultural practice. In contrast to the kuduro scene, rap and hip-hop music have remained part of underground and DIY culture in Angola. This quasi-marginal position has allowed some musicians’ artistic practice to emerge as critical voices. In this mini-dissertation, I examine Ikonoklasta and MCK’s music because they are among the most represented musicians and activists by online media. New modes of civil resistance are often attached to Ikonoklasta’s name and songs. However, the recently emerged revolutionary’s movement cannot be fully identified with the Angolan rap scene (Martin 2015). In this sense, through Ikonoklasta’s activism and music production, along with MCK’s music, I show the extent to which the Angolan government keeps a certain culture of fear alive through necropolitics which was coined by Achille Mbembe (2003). This politics of death, and consequently, that of fear jointly produce what I call ‘frozen citizenship’. Before the revolutionary youth were arrested, Ikonoklasta and MCK collaborated with Batida, the Lisbon-based kuduro musician. Moreover, following the detention of musicians, local journalists and academics in Luanda, Batida began to use its global music network and platform to tell stories about the Angolan revolutionary movement. Repurposing his world music shows and DJ sets, Batida has enabled the dissemination of local counter-narratives within transnational NGOs’ circle. Pedro Coquenão aka Batida have organised demonstrations by utilising the global infrastructure and intellectual labour of Amnesty International. To elaborate on the transnational NGO’s role, I draw on critical human rights scholarship which consider human rights language as a global hegemonic framework engaging with injustices in a depoliticizing manner. Moving away from this theoretical preconceptions, I briefly discuss the extent to which transnational NGOs such as Amnesty International, paradoxically constrains and enables local activism at the same time. Although human rights organizations seem to have little power to put pressure on the Angolan government, they have the financial and infrastructural means to disseminate images, music and stories of local activists. I argue that this visibility provides global attention and certain protection to the high-profile activists targeted by the dos Santos regime. This medium falls in the trap of global witness fever (Kurasawa 2009) which offers an escape from ‘frozen citizenship’ through positive activist practice and a politics of hope (Baridotti 2010).

The African National Congress is commonly thought of as a dominant party, which poses an explanatory problem – how and why is it dominant? Greene (2007) proposes that orthodox electoral market explanations fail to explain the persistence of dominant parties, and advances that “hyperincumbency advantages” (i.e. resource and policy advantages accruing to the dominant party) best explain how dominant parties persist, and that the decline in these advantages is linked with decline in party dominance. Greene's early analyses took place before the ANC qualified as a dominant party in his model: this dissertation seeks to explain whether his theory explained the ANC's party dominance and its declining electoral and ideological dominance. Methodologically, a theory-testing case study incorporating process-tracing approach is taken. The ANC's hyperincumbency advantages are described through case studies of the party's funding mechanisms, its relations with public resources, and a specific study of patronage within the ANC during Jacob Zuma's presidency. This dissertation finds that Greene's hyperincumbency approach was insufficient to accurately explain the ANC's dominance or its decline. Firstly, the ANC's electoral and ideological declined even as its access to public resources through what Greene terms a “national patronage system” increased. Secondly, the expansion of the aggregate opposition vote has been mostly due to splits off the ANC and declining partisan alignment with the party, rather than declining resource imbalances. An historical analysis of factionalism within the ANC since 1994 is undertaken. Factional dynamics within the ANC have proven important to party dominance, as the direction of patronage became primarily targeted at winning intra-party battles, and lack of factional management repeatedly caused damaging splits off the ANC. This thesis suggests that approaches to dominant party studies should consider the importance of factional management in maintaining party dominance, as a necessary but potentially insufficient condition.

Following the end of colonial rule in several southern African states, national leadership passed largely to neoliberal and patrimonial governments that proceeded to dominate the political landscape. Despite the widespread poverty that characterised much of post-colonial Africa, these governments did little to expand welfare spending beyond what colonial administrations had provided. Endemic poverty, however, has forced ruling-party governments to change tack as opposition parties in more recent years have emerged to challenge their leadership. In two such countries - Botswana and Malawi - heightened electoral competition has accompanied the efforts of presidential incumbents to demonstrate new public commitments to poverty reduction through shifts in rhetoric, symbolism, and policy emphasis. I argue that incumbents have pursued this "branding" with respect to poverty reduction in order to effectuate greater voter support for their incumbency and party. The Botswana Democratic Party has ruled uninterrupted in Botswana since independence, but opposition parties have made significant inroads during recent elections. In the midst of this heightened political competition, President Ian Khama (2008- ) has sought to increase support for the party by remarketing the country's employment-based programmes to serve new governmental objectives around employment and poverty reduction. Khama's rebranding of public employment programmes (PEPs), especially the Ipelegeng Programme, has allowed government to target underserved beneficiary groups such as the urban poor, and provided more reliable incomes to out-of-work Batswana in rural areas. Critically, the rebranding of social protection programmes has resulted in their being publicly associated more with Khama himself than with government. Public displays of empathy for the conditions of the poor moreover, as manifested during Khama's visits to disadvantaged areas, reinforced the president's image as a poverty-sensitive leader. These programmatic and non-programmatic measures have together defined Khama's social protection 'brand'; or the public emphasis that the president has placed on his social protection agenda. For their part, opposition leaders have branded themselves around a "social-democratic" approach to poverty reduction. Since the 1990s, ruling and opposition parties have converged in their social protection ideologies as the BDP has "counterbranded" in response to electoral competition by adopting opposition policy ideas. Khama's branding around personalised PEPs, in conclusion, generated strong support for himself among the rural poor especially owing to popular preferences for low-wage work over cash transfers. Analysis of Afrobarometer survey data shows that Khama's branding was insufficient to maintain the BDP vote, as the party's poor performance in the 2014 election confirmed. Both Malawian presidents between 2004 and 2014, Bingu wa Mutharika and Joyce Banda, established new political parties while in office and opted to "brand" them as prioritising poverty reduction. These brands - which had programmatic, rhetorical, and symbolic components - allowed Mutharika and Banda the possibility of achieving a broader national appeal, whereas presidential elections before 2009 had been decided on the basis of regional patronage networks.

The Independence Memorial Museum is the latest addition to the post-independence memorial landscape by Namibia’s ruling party, South West African People’s Organisation (or the Swapo Party). Like many other southern African liberation movements turned ruling political parties, Swapo has looked towards history to find legitimation and support in the present. This is referred to in this research as the creation of a Swapo master narrative of liberation history. It is a selective and subjective re-telling of history which ultimately works to conflate Swapo with the Nation. As such, Swapo has been portrayed as the sole representative and liberator of the Namibian people, and anything which effectively contradicts this has been silenced or purposefully forgotten within official or public history. This study takes as its starting point the removal of the colonial era Rider Statue in 2009, to make way for the new museum. The site, a significant landmark with regards to the Herero and Nama genocide, had remained effectively untouched both pre and post-independence as the city built up around several German colonial monuments. In order to understand why such a change in the memorial landscape would occur, and in a turnaround from the National Policy of Reconciliation that opted to protect all historical monuments as heritage after independence, this study looks to the Swapo master narrative of liberation history to explain the motivations behind building an Independence Memorial Museum. As such, the museum was thematically analysed with reference to the master narrative, and it was found that the same inclusions and exclusions, emphases, and silences were continued and consolidated within the museum. This study considers what narrative is put forward by the museum and why, and contemplates what opportunities were lost. The continued silences within Namibian official history constitute a sustained injustice to the people of Namibia.

The United States is involved in strategies of counter-terrorism in many countries around the globe. Al-Shabaab in Somalia has been a United States designated foreign terrorist organisation since 2008. The objective of this dissertation is to determine the nature of contemporary counterterrorism strategy undertaken by the United States toward Somalia and to understand how it has been determined and sustained over time. In order to identify the specific type of counter-terrorism strategy applied to that country, a typology of four counter-terrorism strategies undertaken by the United States toward other countries has been developed. The secondary but closely related question this dissertation attempts to answer is which determinants, or factors, have caused a shift or change in the United States counter-terrorism strategy in Somalia. By identifying determinants that affect strategy, the justification for a change, shift, or stayed course in strategy is made clearer. The typology and key determinants were initially assessed beyond Somalia to include insights from United States involvement in countries such as Vietnam and Afghanistan. This dissertation contends that that the United States has been engaged in the same counter-terrorism strategy against al-Shabaab since the early days of its re-engagement in the Somali conflict. Applying the typology to situational analysis dating back to as early as 2002, it becomes clear that the United States employs and has maintained a complex/combined counterterrorism strategy toward Somalia. In fact, the research conducted for this dissertation supports the overall argument that complex/combined counter-terrorism strategy is especially broad, which enables the United States to prioritise a light military footprint and low costs of involvement in combating al-Shabaab without becoming heavily involved. The malleable nature of this strategy allows the United States to shift resources and tactics with relative ease.

As a historically Afrikaans university linked to the lingering legacies of Apartheid-era affiliation, Stellenbosch University (SU) faces harsh transformative realities. It has sought to tackle these realities through various policies and initiatives aimed at establishing (amongst others) diverse enrolment and racial inclusivity. Nevertheless, SU has consistently found itself embroiled in campus controversies over the past few years. More often than not, these controversies are ‘race’ related. As such, this thesis, by means of a theoretical case study, seeks to contextualise transformation at SU and questions its (in)efficacy thus far. The focus on transformation is divided into two levels: “institutional” and “relational”. The analysis of transformation in relation to these two levels is grounded in Critical Race Theory (CRT) and Critical Whiteness Studies (CWS), to try and illuminate novel areas of interest leading to nuanced, prospective, discussion. Using CRT, some of SU’s institutional attempts to transform are examined. A focus is placed on the Language Policy, given its central role in aiming to contribute to greater campus diversity. Amongst other findings, the lack of historical context contained within the various policy documents, in terms of highlighting Afrikaans’ stigmatic past, undermines the intent and efficacy of SU’s institutional transformation going forward. The Listen Live and Learn housing initiative is used as a starting point for a discussion on relational transformation. CWS is used as a lens to try and make sense of some of the individualised transformative shortcomings of the initiative. Whiteness, with a specific focus on Afrikaner whiteness, is established as a complex campus force that contains defensive elements in relation to transformation. These elements range from blatant resistance, to more latent elements such as fragility, guilt and shame. Often, these latent strategies come in discursive forms and are thus particularly unproductive in relation to transformation, as they serve to engender a lack of active and meaningful engagement. Nevertheless, elements of prospective transformative potential within whiteness are identified in relation to white fatigue. Finally, it is submitted that cautionary and effective engagement with whiteness offers a complimentary avenue on the road to achieving holistic transformation, in aiming to facilitate normative diversity on all fronts.

Includes bibliographical references. / The rise of new media has continued to have a profound effect on the global political system. Social media in particular have seen an exponential increase in penetration globally. The recent Arab uprisings that began in 2010 across the MENA region have challenged authoritarian resilience, which has been a prominent feature of the region for several decades. This project examines the rise of social media and their effects on the political system, specifically the role played by social media in undermining the power of authoritarian regimes. Traditionally authoritarian regimes have used many methods in order to maintain power. These have included: maintaining a strong coercive apparatus, the strategic introduction of certain institutions and the role of traditional legitimacy, and/or charismatic or personalistic leadership. This dissertation considers whether the use of social media has changed the balance of power within states enabling citizens to overthrow their authoritarian leaders. Two case studies; Tunisia and Syria are analysed to show the effects of social media on the political uprisings in both nations.

In light of the growing consensus surrounding the need for the emergence of Democratic Developmental States in Africa, this thesis analyses the concept within the context of two Southern African states: Botswana and South Africa. In this regard, it critically analyses the extent to which Botswana and South Africa can be considered to be Democratic Developmental States by making use five benchmarks of a Democratic Developmental State. It does so by firstly exploring and defining the concept and theory of the Developmental State as well as the concept of the Democratic Developmental State. Secondly, the thesis surveys the contributions made by five key authors, namely, Richard Sklar, Adrian Leftwich, Mark Robinson, Gordon White and Omano Edigheji, to the topic of the Democratic Developmental State and outlines the following five benchmarks of a Democratic Developmental State: Development-Oriented Political Leadership; Effective and Well-Insulated Economic Bureaucracy; Developmental Success; Consolidated Electoral Democracy; and Popular Participation in the Development and Governance Process. Thirdly, the five benchmarks are used to critically analyse whether Botswana and South Africa can truly be regarded as Democratic Developmental States. In this regard, the thesis finds that neither state fully exhibits all five outlined benchmarks of a Democratic Developmental State: While Botswana exemplifies most of the five outlined benchmarks of a Democratic Developmental State, this thesis finds that South Africa still has a long to go before it can be regarded as a Democratic Developmental State. In this manner, this thesis provides possible recommendations which will assist both Botswana and South Africa towards becoming fully-fledged Democratic Developmental States.

In 2016 a class action suit was certified in the case of Nkala & Others v Harmony Gold Mining Company Limited & Others (2016). The action was instituted by representatives of thousands of current and former miners from Southern African countries. Their intent was to claim damages from mining companies for causing their contraction of silicosis and/or tuberculosis as a result of poor working conditions. Before the Court could make any pronouncement on liability, the parties reached an agreement out of court whereby the mining companies set up the Tshiamiso Trust to provide for compensation. This thesis contextualises the Nkala case in post-apartheid South Africa, where economic inequalities have intensified despite the constitutional transition. Where the law was used in the past to support injustice, the intention of law-making after the transition was to create a new framework that sought to protect human rights, including socio-economic rights. The extent to which it is able to effect justice to those most profoundly impacted by apartheid policies falls under scrutiny in the face of prevailing inequality, especially in the context of mining labour relations. This thesis therefore questions whether this new framework has been able to deliver the promise of justice for miners who find themselves located within a context of over a century of racialised labour exploitation and extremely hazardous working conditions. That the applicants in the Nkala case had to resort to the common law to vindicate their rights to adequate compensation despite the existence of legislation that purports to provide for this calls into question the practical efficacy of such rights-based legislation. Where the Court in the Nkala case acknowledged the inadequacy of the legislative mechanism for occupational disease and injury, the potential of the Trust in providing for meaningful compensation must fall under scrutiny. The role that compensation plays in the broader context of remedial justice will therefore be analysed to consider where the outcome of the Nkala case may fall short in addressing the structural injustices caused by the mining industry.