This study develops a geographic theory relating to sub-imperial states and resistance to them. The theory is centred on what can be called the government-business-media (GBM) complex, whilst resistance to such states is characterised as counter-imperialist discourses. The theory is applied primarily to South Africa’s (SA’s) interactions with the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region. The aim is to assess the state of SA’s sub-imperialism and evaluate the claim that this sub-imperialism is in crisis. The research findings are based on media material drawn from, and interviews conducted in, Botswana, Zambia and SA. The thesis outlines how sub-imperialism should be regarded as a distinct analytical and theoretical phenomenon. It explores the theoretical context in which the GBM complex and counter-imperialist discourses may be viewed. Using this theoretical framework, the study then traces the historical geographical development of SA’s GBM complex. Building on this, the thesis identifies and examines regional responses and attitudes to SA’s post-apartheid political, business and cultural-media engagement with the region, by analysing counter-imperialist discourses to SA during this period. In order to assess the current state of SA’s sub-imperialism, case studies were taken from the following four areas which cover crucial aspects of SA’s post-apartheid engagement with the region: SA’s parastatal expansion (Eskom); SA’s peacemaking role (Zimbabwe); SA’s state-driven rhetoric of multiculturalism and tolerance (xenophobia); and SA’s hosting of mega-events (2010 Football World Cup). In each of these areas the intended geopolitical and geoeconomic discourses of the GBM complex, and the corresponding responses in the region, are investigated. It is concluded that there is a discrepancy between the intended discourses of the GBM complex and the responses from the region, giving rise to counter-imperialist discourses. These discourses support the claim that SA’s sub-imperialism is in crisis.

This paper discusses urban agriculture in Dakar and Amsterdam and its contribution to urban sustainability. Therefore, it establishes an operational definition of urban sustainability, which is comprised of economic, social and environmental dimensions. It gives an insight in urban agriculture in both cities, and it analyzes its contribution to urban sustainability by examining the economic, social and environmental issues which are related to urban farming. Furthermore, it gives an insight in the differences of urban agriculture in the global South and the global North. Its findings suggest that although urban agriculture has potential for creating more sustainable cities, there are several constraints which need to be overcome. Keywords: Urban agriculture, urban sustainability, global South, global North, Dakar, Amsterdam

En 2015, avec 7 milliards d'usagers, le téléphone portable devient la technologie de communication la plus utilisée dans le monde. Du rappel de rendez-vous par SMS au glucomètre mobile, les systèmes de santé y recourent de manière croissante. Les programmes qui utilisent le téléphone portable pour améliorer la santé constituent un nouveau secteur de la télésanté appelé mHealth ou mSanté. Peu de recherches ont été réalisées sur leur déploiement en particulier dans les pays du Sud. A travers l'étude d'un programme global de santé maternelle au Ghana et Inde, la thèse apporte un premier regard sur ces dispositifs. S'appuyant sur une enquête multi-située et des méthodes de sociologie de la santé, des usages et d'analyse de discours, elle précise les assemblages sociotechniques propres à ces objets dans le champ biomédical mondialisé et se penche sur l'action effective des technologies mobiles sur la prise en charge et la santé des femmes ciblées. Cette triple approche permet de mettre en lumière les enjeux de pouvoir sous-jacents au développement de cette technologie dans les Suds. La thèse explore d'abord le modèle de « développement numérique » promu par les dispositifs de mSanté : un modèle qui établit une relation particulière aux savoirs et à la science, qui intègre l'expansion des technologies numériques d'une part et de leurs marchés d'autre part comme source de progrès et de croissance pour les Suds. Ce modèle techniciste et mercantile du développement reconduit des logiques impérialistes et déplace des inégalités Nord-Sud. Ensuite, la thèse analyse la place de l'information et des données de santé dans ces projets. Présentées comme le moyen principal de combattre la mortalité prématurée et de maintenir en bonne santé les populations, la responsabilisation du patient dans une logique consumériste et béhavioriste et la mise en données de la santé à des fins de surveillance caractérisent le dispositif étudié. L'enquête montre que le soin ne peut être entièrement capturé par des techniques d'encodage et de transmission et qu'en cherchant à rationaliser les services de santé à travers la sous-traitance du soin à des patients « informés » et à des personnels bon marché et précarisés, le dispositif technique dégrade les relations interpersonnelles indispensables au soin. Enfin, la thèse examine les rapports de pouvoir multiples dans lesquels s'inscrit la mSanté. Les acteurs de la mSanté déploient des programmes ciblant les femmes et entendent compenser des inégalités de genre grâce au téléphone portable, considéré comme un outil d'empowerment. Le dispositif étudié participe de cette tendance mais ne tient pas compte de la structure complexe des rapports de genre et propose de manière superficielle une inversion des rôles sans travailler sur les facteurs et les sphères de détermination. L'enquête multi-située montre comment loin d'annuler des relations inégalitaires, le dispositif technique transforme des inégalités de manière différente selon son contexte d'insertion. L'idée que les technologies numériques permettent une amélioration de la prise en charge, une diminution des disparités de santé et une optimisation des systèmes de santé a pris corps ces dernières années dans un ensemble de dispositifs techniques variés. Ainsi, la mSanté dans les pays en développement participe d'un mouvement plus général de globalisation et de technologisation de la biomédecine. L'analyse dépasse donc le cas de la téléphonie mobile pour montrer comment les technologies numériques participent à l'émergence de nouveaux pouvoirs, à la globalisation et à la mise en données de la santé, à la transformation du soin et des pratiques de santé. / With 7 billion mobile users in 2015, mobile phones became the most widespread communication technology worldwide. From appointment reminders by SMS to mobile glucometers, healthcare systems are increasingly using mobile technologies. However, the use of mobile technologies for health called « mhealth » or « mobile health » has not been well documented so far, especially in the Global South. Through the study of a global mHealth program on maternal health implemented in Ghana and India, this research offers a first glance at those devices. Based on an interdisciplinary approach combining sociology of health, users studies and discourse analysis, and a multisite ethnography conducted in Ghana and India, this dissertation describes those particular socio-technical assemblages deployed in a global biomedical context and details the specific impact of those mobile technologies on care provision and health practices for women targeted by those programs. This triple approach reveals power relations underlying the expansion of those new technical artefacts in the Global South. First of all, this work examines the model of « digital development » promoted by mHealth programs: a model that establishes a special relation to knowledge and science, that defines mobile connectivity and mobile market extension as key sources of progress and economic growth in the developing world. This technological and market-based model of development perpetuates imperialist dynamics and reshapes North-South inequalities. Moreover, the thesis studies the role of information and health data in those projets. Seen as central weapons to fight mortality and to preserve health for everyone, patient empowerment and data-driven health are strong characteristics of the studied device that increase the commodification and datafication of health. The research shows that care practices cannot be entirely captured by encoding and transmission techniques, by delegating care to the « digitally engaged patient » and to poorly trained-insecure-low-paid healthworkers, the project deteriorates interpersonal relationships that are essential for care practices. Finally, the thesis examines the multiple power issues at stake in mHealth projects. Those maternal programs are specifically targeting women and intend to compensate gender inequalities thanks to the alleged empowering effect of mobile phones. The studied program contributes to this trend and offers a shallow inversion of the traditional assignment of gender roles thus hardly taking into account the complexitiy of gender determination. This multisite research shows how the technical device far from erasing inequalities transforms them in different ways depending on its context of insertion. The idea that digital technologies contributes to improving care, reducing health disparities and optimizing health systems has taken shape in recent years in a diverse set of technical devices. mHealth or mobile Health is a particular vector of this global movement, which goes beyond the use of mobile phones, and shows how digital technologies contribute to the emergence of new powers, to the reorganization of care, to the globalization, the datafication and the commodification of health.

In this era of globalisation and rapid urbanisation, can city-to-city partnerships provide a unique approach towards contributing to the development needs of South African cities? There is a growing literature dedicated to North-South and South-South municipal international cooperation, exploring impacts on local governance and development, for either or both of the cities. However, there is a paucity of knowledge on this topic in South Africa. This project hopes to address this critical occlusion by examining Johannesburg’s experience of city-to-city cooperation partnerships. These partnerships will be examined with reference to how they are organised and their implementation. Has cooperation provided social and economic development in Johannesburg as agreements often state? To answer the research questions, an in-depth understanding of city-to-city partnerships in South Africa is required; therefore a qualitative data collection approach was adopted. City-to-city cooperation crosses geographical borders, and this study investigates how it also extends across theories, government spheres and topics. The research traces policy and practice of international city-to-city cooperation relationships, identifying the salient aspects of these city-level engagements and incorporates a critical view of policy documents that frame municipal international relations in South Africa, specifically in Johannesburg. The research shows that international city-to-city cooperation agreements should be greeted with a degree of scepticism in terms of the disparity between the agreement’s objectives, and the practical experience of implementation. Municipal international relations are an interesting exercise in city autonomy in the global economy, yet they are often conscribed by provincial and national government requirements.

This article uses the theory of strategic narrative to study the way Brazil presented its conditional cash-transfer program Bolsa Família abroad. More specifically, it studies where and how that message was received under both Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Dilma Rousseff from 2003- 2014. Previous academic work on the Bolsa Familia has not addressed how it fits within the larger Brazilian foreign policy strategy of the 21st century to increase autonomy in its international relations, especially with developing countries in the \"Global South.\" As such, this article attempts to address this deficit by using text analysis of twenty-seven countries\' English- speaking media coverage of the program to hypothesize that Brazil used the program as an extension of its activist foreign policy to create a larger international role for itself. The timeframe for the article begins with Lula\'s expansion of the program during his first term in 2003, at a time when Brazilian foreign policy shifted towards greater insertion of national autonomy into a Western-dominated international system. Whereas Lula\'s foreign policy worked to reignite Brazil\'s long-held ambitions for international relevance, Dilma\'s administration oversaw the end of Brazil\'s \"ascension\" moment, based on a decline in foreign investment, administrative malfeasance, a declining economy, and an abandonment of previous insertion strategies such as \"activist\" foreign outreach and a commitment to exerting political capital abroad. Even though the Bolsa Família remained a constant throughout both Lula and Dilma\'s administrations, the findings from this article suggest a change in international perception between the two leaders\' administrations, giving credence to the idea that for Brazil, the figure who drives the narrative is important. From the \"Global North,\" the American, Australian, Canadian, and English media generally trended from positive to negative sentiment between Lula and Dilma\'s term, while developing countries such as Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Pakistan, India, and Ghana reacted gave a warmer reception to it. These findings suggest that Brazil\'s strategic narrative was best received by partners in the Global South, suggesting a correlation with Lula\'s ambitious foreign policy approach that expanded a foundation present in the Fernando Henrique Cardoso administration to attract Southern allies. / Este artigo usa a teoria da narrativa estratégica para analisar o modo como o Brasil utilizou no exterior a ideia do Bolsa Família, o programa do país de transferência de renda condicional. Mais especificamente, estuda-se onde e como a mensagem do programa foi recebida, tanto na era Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva como na era Dilma Rousseff (2003-2014). Trabalhos acadêmicos anteriores não avaliam como o Bolsa Família se encaixa no amplo quadro estratégico da Política Externa Brasileira no século XXI para aumentar a autonomia do Brasil nas relações internacionais, especialmente com países em desenvolvimento do Sul Global. Assim sendo, este artigo tem por objetivo preencher essa lacuna fazendo uma análise de texto da cobertura midiática sobre o programa em vinte e sete países com pelo menos um jornal que publica em inglês. Enquanto a política externa de Lula trabalhou para reacender antigas ambições brasileiras de relevância internacional, a administração de Dilma teve que lidar com o fim do período de ascensão, com um declínio no investimento estrangeiro, corrupção na administração pública, declínio econômico e um abandono das estratégias de inserção prévias, como um amplo e ativo escopo de ação internacional e um comprometimento em investir capital político no exterior. Apesar da continuidade do Bolsa Família em todo período dos mandatos de Lula e Dilma, os achados deste artigo sugerem uma mudança na percepção internacional entre os governos dos dois líderes, deixando robusta a ideia de que, para o Brasil, a figura que conduz a narrativa é importante. Para o Norte Global, a mídia americana, australiana, canadense e inglesa tenderam de um sentimento positivo para um negativo entre os mandatos de Lula e Dilma, enquanto que países em desenvolvimento como Nigéria, Zimbábue, Paquistão, Índia, e Gana reagiram de forma mais aberta no mesmo período. Os achados sugerem que a narrativa estratégica brasileira foi melhor recebida por parceiros no Sul Global, sugerindo também uma correlação entre a mudança para uma política externa de maior escopo de Lula para atrair aliados do Sul.

Despite many important advances since the “Bretton Woods” agreement, the state of Third World development remains extremely unsatisfactory. About a billion people live in extreme poverty and more than 800 million do not get adequate nutrition. Third World Debt looms large on the horizons of most underdeveloped nations and development continues to benefit the Third World elites, the developed nations, and their multinational corporations. The North-South divide continues to widen with very little “tricking down” to the poor majority in many nations. It is strongly believed that one-third of the world’s poor are getting poorer. The conventional approach to development theory and practice, focusing on economic growth, investment, trade and free markets continues to benefit developed nations. Even in nations where free trade and markets have spurred growth, the net results of globalization have not reached the majority. Globalization defined as the “economic, social, political and environmental integration of nations” creates some major imbalances in a world system increasingly based on liberal market economies. Ultimately, the IMF-WTO corporate globalization model has failed to deliver for developing countries, severely punishing those least capable of protecting themselves – the billions living on $ 400 million annually. Market access is only useful to countries at a stage of development that allows for their engagement in world markets, in a manner that promotes improved standards of living for their populations. The promise of market access is a distraction that has served to create a myth of prosperity. This research seeks to raise issues regarding the impact of globalization on North-South imbalances highlighting the crucial gaps in the globalization process. Initially, the research outlines the parameters and theories surrounding the globalization process and then progresses on to demonstrate the imbalances of the global system, highlighting the key areas of impact that adversely affect the development of Southern nations. Using India’s economic liberalization as a case in point, this thesis attempts to unveil the growing myth of prosperity that is being propagated in relation to the issues of globalization and the South. Finally, the thesis attempts to draw pertinent theoretical lessons that would contribute towards a better understanding of the effects of globalization on the South. / http://proxy.library.adelaide.edu.au/login?url= http://library.adelaide.edu.au/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=1311650 / Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, School of History and Politics, 2008

This dissertation is an ethnographic study about ecological displacement, affective encounters, the work of care, and human and animal subjectivities involved in rehabilitating endangered orangutans in Sarawak, Malaysia. Using participant-observation, interviews, archival research, and animal behavioral methods during seventeen months of fieldwork, this work exemplifies Donna Haraway's idea of 'zooethnography' by treating animals and humans as situated subjects. Specifically, I examine encounters between semi-wild orangutans, indigenous Sarawakian workers, Sarawakian Chinese and Malay middle-class managers of the semi-governmental corporation running the centers, and transnational professionals from the Global North who pay thousands of US dollars to volunteer their manual labor. I address the question, how do conflicting concepts of freedom and autonomy get produced at wildlife centers in which animals are restrained and managed for the purpose of an eventual freedom that is unobtainable? I argue that orangutan rehabilitation entails the production of affect between bodies, which in turn generates a global, postcolonial economy of human nostalgia. Despite assiduous efforts to train orangutans for a life of autonomy within the confines of forest reserves, I found that rehabilitant orangutans experience a permanently deferred independence. I offer the concept of 'arrested autonomy' as a way of understanding how subjects are forcibly made dependent while simultaneously regarded as potentially independent. This permanently deferred independence resembles the deferred promises and hopes of decolonization that have yet to materialize. / Anthropology

Despite many important advances since the “Bretton Woods” agreement, the state of Third World development remains extremely unsatisfactory. About a billion people live in extreme poverty and more than 800 million do not get adequate nutrition. Third World Debt looms large on the horizons of most underdeveloped nations and development continues to benefit the Third World elites, the developed nations, and their multinational corporations. The North-South divide continues to widen with very little “tricking down” to the poor majority in many nations. It is strongly believed that one-third of the world’s poor are getting poorer. The conventional approach to development theory and practice, focusing on economic growth, investment, trade and free markets continues to benefit developed nations. Even in nations where free trade and markets have spurred growth, the net results of globalization have not reached the majority. Globalization defined as the “economic, social, political and environmental integration of nations” creates some major imbalances in a world system increasingly based on liberal market economies. Ultimately, the IMF-WTO corporate globalization model has failed to deliver for developing countries, severely punishing those least capable of protecting themselves – the billions living on $ 400 million annually. Market access is only useful to countries at a stage of development that allows for their engagement in world markets, in a manner that promotes improved standards of living for their populations. The promise of market access is a distraction that has served to create a myth of prosperity. This research seeks to raise issues regarding the impact of globalization on North-South imbalances highlighting the crucial gaps in the globalization process. Initially, the research outlines the parameters and theories surrounding the globalization process and then progresses on to demonstrate the imbalances of the global system, highlighting the key areas of impact that adversely affect the development of Southern nations. Using India’s economic liberalization as a case in point, this thesis attempts to unveil the growing myth of prosperity that is being propagated in relation to the issues of globalization and the South. Finally, the thesis attempts to draw pertinent theoretical lessons that would contribute towards a better understanding of the effects of globalization on the South. / http://proxy.library.adelaide.edu.au/login?url= http://library.adelaide.edu.au/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=1311650 / Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, School of History and Politics, 2008

This article uses the theory of strategic narrative to study the way Brazil presented its conditional cash-transfer program Bolsa Família abroad. More specifically, it studies where and how that message was received under both Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Dilma Rousseff from 2003- 2014. Previous academic work on the Bolsa Familia has not addressed how it fits within the larger Brazilian foreign policy strategy of the 21st century to increase autonomy in its international relations, especially with developing countries in the \"Global South.\" As such, this article attempts to address this deficit by using text analysis of twenty-seven countries\' English- speaking media coverage of the program to hypothesize that Brazil used the program as an extension of its activist foreign policy to create a larger international role for itself. The timeframe for the article begins with Lula\'s expansion of the program during his first term in 2003, at a time when Brazilian foreign policy shifted towards greater insertion of national autonomy into a Western-dominated international system. Whereas Lula\'s foreign policy worked to reignite Brazil\'s long-held ambitions for international relevance, Dilma\'s administration oversaw the end of Brazil\'s \"ascension\" moment, based on a decline in foreign investment, administrative malfeasance, a declining economy, and an abandonment of previous insertion strategies such as \"activist\" foreign outreach and a commitment to exerting political capital abroad. Even though the Bolsa Família remained a constant throughout both Lula and Dilma\'s administrations, the findings from this article suggest a change in international perception between the two leaders\' administrations, giving credence to the idea that for Brazil, the figure who drives the narrative is important. From the \"Global North,\" the American, Australian, Canadian, and English media generally trended from positive to negative sentiment between Lula and Dilma\'s term, while developing countries such as Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Pakistan, India, and Ghana reacted gave a warmer reception to it. These findings suggest that Brazil\'s strategic narrative was best received by partners in the Global South, suggesting a correlation with Lula\'s ambitious foreign policy approach that expanded a foundation present in the Fernando Henrique Cardoso administration to attract Southern allies. / Este artigo usa a teoria da narrativa estratégica para analisar o modo como o Brasil utilizou no exterior a ideia do Bolsa Família, o programa do país de transferência de renda condicional. Mais especificamente, estuda-se onde e como a mensagem do programa foi recebida, tanto na era Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva como na era Dilma Rousseff (2003-2014). Trabalhos acadêmicos anteriores não avaliam como o Bolsa Família se encaixa no amplo quadro estratégico da Política Externa Brasileira no século XXI para aumentar a autonomia do Brasil nas relações internacionais, especialmente com países em desenvolvimento do Sul Global. Assim sendo, este artigo tem por objetivo preencher essa lacuna fazendo uma análise de texto da cobertura midiática sobre o programa em vinte e sete países com pelo menos um jornal que publica em inglês. Enquanto a política externa de Lula trabalhou para reacender antigas ambições brasileiras de relevância internacional, a administração de Dilma teve que lidar com o fim do período de ascensão, com um declínio no investimento estrangeiro, corrupção na administração pública, declínio econômico e um abandono das estratégias de inserção prévias, como um amplo e ativo escopo de ação internacional e um comprometimento em investir capital político no exterior. Apesar da continuidade do Bolsa Família em todo período dos mandatos de Lula e Dilma, os achados deste artigo sugerem uma mudança na percepção internacional entre os governos dos dois líderes, deixando robusta a ideia de que, para o Brasil, a figura que conduz a narrativa é importante. Para o Norte Global, a mídia americana, australiana, canadense e inglesa tenderam de um sentimento positivo para um negativo entre os mandatos de Lula e Dilma, enquanto que países em desenvolvimento como Nigéria, Zimbábue, Paquistão, Índia, e Gana reagiram de forma mais aberta no mesmo período. Os achados sugerem que a narrativa estratégica brasileira foi melhor recebida por parceiros no Sul Global, sugerindo também uma correlação entre a mudança para uma política externa de maior escopo de Lula para atrair aliados do Sul.

Kiva is an international non-governmental organization that competes for funds with others in the field. As a consequence, some special relationships and dependencies are formed. This paper argues that among the most significant ones are the representations of borrowers on Kiva’s online lending platform. The work hypothesizes that while Kiva has the potential to create a friendly environment where both participatory and problem-solving style of communication is encouraged, the organization turns out to be a development factor with international importance which inevitably influences the stereotyping of individuals from the Global South. In that sense, the representations of people from the Global South on Kiva’s online platform seem to continue a well-established tradition of Western-centrism, thus admitting further stereotyping also of the audience from the Global North.Through the lens of postcolonial theory and critical discourse analysis as research methods, the research questions and the hypotheses of the paper aim at contributing to the current debates on the existing power relations between the Global South and North by providing information on: how are people in need represented through profiles of single parents as borrowers on Kiva’s website; do representations of single parents contribute to the process of creating stereotypes; what is the role of microfinance in development.By using the most recent data from Kiva's online lending platform, the work aims to present evidence on the stereotypization of representations of a specific sample group of borrowers – individual single parents. While taking into consideration Kiva's ambition towards creating cooperation based on reciprocal dignity, the paper provides some possible interpretations of the way individuals in need are portrayed. It aims to come to the aid of individuals who have interests in the development field, who may want to rethink fundraising strategies involving both visual and textual representations of people, especially in the field of online lending.