Tsarist Russia, the USSR and modern Russia have had unique perspectives on Africa and aid, due to geographical location, changing ideologies, non-colonial history with Africa, the Cold War, alternating aid status of recipient and donor, and a historic view of Africa in a tripartite relationship with the West. Western development discourse evolved to produce a large aid apparatus, accompanied by depoliticised discourse on Africa. The USSR’s discourse on Africa was political. Using Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), Discourse Historical Approach (DHA) and a postcolonial approach, with a structural analysis of 262 pages of Soviet newspaper Pravda and discourse analysis of 54 articles, this thesis relates findings to the Russian, Soviet and Western contexts in which the discourses arose. It shows that Pravda used Africa and aid as discursive tools to establish the USSR’s position in the international hierarchy, used Africa as a rhetorical proxy, and carried a theme of “freedom as development”. Similarities between Soviet, Russian and Western representations of Africa, development and aid (for example Africa’s low status) were built on different motivations and assumptions, and used different tools. The USSR’s Cold War rhetoric conveyed a partial and incomplete construction of Africa, aid and development. Pravda conveyed assumptions that all countries, including the USSR, are developing, that the USSR and Africa are comparable and in some ways similar, and that freedom is an overriding aspiration. Constructing development as natural, Pravda constructed a weak link between development and aid, and in general Pravda presented aid as harmful Western aid. Russia’s legacy is an ideology in which Africa is still eternally “developing” but shares this activity with all countries, Africa is weak and yet is Russia’s friend and ally, competition continues between Russia and the West over Africa’s friendship, and aid has mainly humanitarian rather than development value. Socialist ideological discourse of equal nations remains in today’s Communist Pravda. This thesis explores the evolution of perceptions in Soviet Pravda discourse, and makes a substantive analytical contribution to the literatures on development and aid, Russian foreign policy and international relations, and postcolonialism. It increases knowledge of Cold War Africa, and the USSR’s and Russia’s self-perceptions and attitudes towards others. Russia’s status as a non-Western donor and recent aid recipient make its legacy and attitudes of particular interest.

This dissertation analyses the contribution that Amartya Sen’s idea of justice can make to inform development policies. Particularly, it examines to what extent Sen succeeds in presenting a useful theoretical framework for orienting political action towards justice-enhancing change. In The Idea of Justice (2009), Sen argues that ideal theories of justice which aim at identifying the nature of a perfectly just society—what he calls ‘transcendental’ theories—are not appropriate either for examining prevalent injustices or for rectifying them. Sen therefore proposes a ‘comparative framework’ of justice capable of providing useful practical guidance to advance justice or reduce injustice, a task for which ‘transcendental’ Rawlsian-like theories are redundant. This dissertation critically assesses these two claims advanced by Sen. Taking John Rawls’ Theory of Justice as an illustration, it argues that ideal theories are indeed essential, even if not sufficient, for the reduction of injustice. Therefore, it advances that it is necessary to complement ideal and nonideal approaches to justice. It then advocates for a ‘dual Rawlsian/Senian framework’. Yet this dissertation argues that, even if coupled with an ideal theory, Sen’s nonideal theory remains insufficient to orient injustice-reduction actions because it fails to take into account the overarching social nature of injustice and its perpetuation. In the light of this shortcoming, this dissertation stresses the need to conceptualise injustice as something different from simply the lack of justice and to understand it in a more dynamic and relational way. Ultimately, this implies further complementing a dual framework with a broader conceptualisation of injustice. The dissertation illustrates this argument with the social policy of Oportunidades in Mexico. It concludes that, in order to create a more just society, injustice-reduction policies need to go beyond the removal of capability-deprivations and address the ways in which injustice is reproduced through social interactions.

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Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-29T14:15:57Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Regina Rodrigues da Costa.pdf: 1189254 bytes, checksum: 5dab6e97a9dba41270bcaccb8ef96ba4 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-12-02 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / This study discusses the value of Play for the child, his goal was to investigate the senses and meanings of joke street children between 9 and 11 years, appraised by professional team of education of rua da Municipal Department of Social Assistance of Guarujá as brincantes Street, residents in the neighborhood of waterfall, located in the municipality of Guaruja, Sao Paulo State. Given the objectives proposed in the research, based on the qualitative study, data were collected through semi-structured interviews and applied in their own space of the Street between September and November 2009. the playground is perceived as one of the pillars of the construction process of relations between the child and the world which allows a constructive this identity in the way of being, thinking and acting for the world's critical appropriation. research part of understanding of how children define the condition of "being a child", and their representations about playing. Critical analysis grasps the specific questions that lead to approximation of street children with feelings that emerge from this social experience. shapes of practical realization of the game on the conditions imposed by the public space, the confrontation between the play dreamed and lived in entering. Conversely parsing the value of the content and contributions from the game to the child's social, training points the implications and the impact of experience for their lives as a result of the search, it is concluded that certainly playing in the street offers a playful social experience, though, cannot be regarded as fully satisfactory experience with content able to contribute with an apprenticeship, strengthening the subjectivity of the child. by reason of conditions imposed by the street environment, given the risk with accidents, urban violence and disrespect human game Street which should be developed as spontaneous activity becomes an activity divested and alienating the play depending on the restrictions of spaces for play. thus offers reduced contributions for the construction of children's social imaginary, committing its rapprochement with the contents of an informational universe capable of inducing the critical understanding of everyday life, exercise between understanding and dealing with the real world / Este estudo aborda o Valor do Brincar para a criança, seu objetivo foi investigar os sentidos e os significados da brincadeira de rua para crianças entre 9 e 11 anos, conceituadas pelos profissionais da equipe de educação de rua da Secretaria Municipal de Assistência Social de Guarujá como brincantes de rua,residentes no Bairro da Cachoeira,localizado no município de Guarujá,Estado de São Paulo.Atendendo os objetivos propostos na pesquisa,com base no estudo qualitativo, os dados foram coletados por meio de entrevistas semi-estruturadas e aplicadas no próprio espaço da rua entre setembro e novembro de 2009.O brincar é entendido como um dos pilares do processo de construção das relações entre a criança e o mundo que possibilita uma identidade construtiva presente no modo de ser,pensar e agir para apropriação critica do mundo.A investigação parte da compreensão de como as crianças definem a condição de ser criança ,e suas representações sobre brincar.A análise crítica apreende as questões concretas que levam a aproximação das crianças com a rua,revelando os sentimentos que emergem dessa experiência social.As formas concretas de realização da brincadeira diante das condições impostas pelo espaço público,o confronto entre o brincar sonhado e o vivido na cotidianidade.Afinando a análise no valor do conteúdo e contribuições da brincadeira para a formação social da criança,aponta as implicações e o impacto da experiência para suas vidas Como resultado da pesquisa, conclui-se que certamente brincar na rua propicia uma experiência social lúdica,embora,não possa ser considerada como uma experiência totalmente satisfatória,dotada de um conteúdo capaz de contribuir com um aprendizado, fortalecendo a subjetividade da criança.Em razão das condições impostas pelo ambiente de rua,conferido no risco com os acidentes,a violência urbana e o desrespeito humano, a brincadeira de rua que deveria ser desenvolvida como atividade espontânea,passa a ser uma atividade alienada e alienante na simplificação dos jogos e brincadeiras em função das restrições dos espaços para brincar.Desta forma,oferece reduzidas contribuições para a construção do imaginário social da criança,comprometendo sua aproximação com o conteúdo de um universo informacional capaz de induzir a compreensão crítica da vida cotidiana,o exercício entre compreender e lidar com o mundo real

Thesis (Master of Military Studies)-Marine Corps Command and Staff College, 2008. / Title from title page of PDF document (viewed on: Feb 2, 2010). Includes bibliographical references.