This research assesses the potential of organised social networks to improve the resettlement of female forced migrants in their destination country. It looks more specifically at the impact of the Scalabrini women’s platform on women from the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) experience in the city of Cape Town. In the context of the DRC, forced migration includes movements caused by conflict, political instability and economic crises while post-apartheid South Africa offers peace, democracy and a stable economy in the Southern African region, although it is pervaded by a strong xenophobic sentiment towards black African foreigners. In addition to xenophobia and racism that linger in South Africa, women face gender-based inequalities and the barrier of language, placing them in a vulnerable position and exposing them to abuse and isolation. Organised social networks are understood as a source of social capital that improves lifestyle by limiting everyday challenges. Using the theory of embeddedness and immigration (Portes and Sensenbrenner, 1993), the Scalabrini women’s platform offers enforceable trust which provides economic resources in the form of knowledge and networks. Data was gathered through a review of the literature and semi-structured interviews with active members of the platform. This research finds that the creation of a gender-specific network, outside of the community and mainly within immigrants, indeed works towards building enforceable trust with limited negative effects, but challenges remain. It further identifies the link between unemployment and documentation as the main obstacle to women’s positive resettlement. The platform tackles the challenge of unemployment linked to documentation by providing professional skills and contacts. They are powerful tools to avoid the restricted access to formal employment by contributing to capacity-building and increasing chances of self-employment. Organised social networks do contribute to the positive resettlement of Congolese women in Cape Town, but exclusion and isolation remain. The creation of weak ties with the broader South African society appears as essential in response to the xenophobic discourse of the State and the media, especially in the absence of inclusive immigration laws.

The advent of the European Union has necessitated an adaptation on the part of governments, especially in those areas where the Community's laws supersede the national laws. The process whereby the Union affects the state has been characterised as ' Europeanisation.' This paper examines the adaptation in certain policy areas, not of policy itself, but at changes in the decision-making mechanisms that accompany membership in Union. It focuses on change in foreign policy mechanisms in Britain and Sweden, both unique case studies because of their histories. I argue that changes in foreign policy mechanisms reflect a change in the construct of the state itself given the delicacy of this particular policy area. Because foreign policy making remains within the ambit of respective member states, with the CFSP, the second pillar of the Maastricht treaty, encouraging, at best coordination by states, without imposing supranationality, foreign policy coordination in the European Union is mostly an intergovernmental affair. The changes in decision-making mechanisms however, has jeopardised the accepted notion of sovereignty in EU states as Sweden battles to retain her neutrality identity and Britain struggles to keep its Atlantic alliance intact while being part of Europe. Moreover, although the present changes have not removed foreign policy within the Union from intergovernmental level, that position too is fast changing. It is too early to say that the CFSP or the CESDP will supersede national foreign policy, and possibly, for a long time it would not; however, the new mechanisms in place allow for change in this aspect of the Union. In essence, as national foreign policy mechanisms evolve to accommodate membership, the CFSP too is adapting to the influence of the states and in the final analysis has the most potential to shape the future of the Union.

Although established to promote economic integration in West Africa, ECOWAS has transformed into a regional security organization concerned with terminating conflicts in the sub-region. Accordingly, ECOWAS has militarily intervened in the numerous conflicts in the sub-region including the Liberian and Ivorian civil wars. The study notes that the fundamental causes of conflicts in the sub-region have not changed, although their dynamics have changed in many ways. Similarly, the approach of member states towards conflict resolution has changed remarkably with time, evidenced by the easing of the Anglo-Francophone tensions within the community. However, ECOWAS faces challenges in its conflict management role, including financial and logistical constraints, lack of consensus on the deployment of ECOMOG, lack of neutrality in peacekeeping operations, and its heavy reliance on Nigeria’s leadership in interventions. These and other impediments have vitiated ECOWAS’s capacity to swiftly intervene in conflict situations. The study concludes that, overcoming the challenges confronting it increases the capacity of ECOWAS to manage conflicts in the region.

Includes abstract. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 79-84). / During the mid-1990s to 2001, South Africa was the victim of numerous terrorist acts carried out by the People Against Gangsterism and Drugs (PAGAD). This paper discusses the problems and the procedures and methods used to combat domestic terrorism in constitutional democracies as well as the problems encountered by democratic South Africa in responding to PAGAD bearing in mind the legal-constitutional and the political constraints that this democracy faces. Using PAGAD as a case-study and discussing and analyzing the South African counter-terrorism strategies that were used against PAGAD, many interesting features are observed which clearly show that, while South Africa exemplified the problems that older constitutional democracies face when responding to terrorism, the country also deviated from what is usually expected from a constitutional democracy responding to terrorism.

This study presents an analysis of the presidency in Botswana from 1966 to 2013. It explores the character of presidential power, how that power has been used since 1966 and how the presidency has changed over the past five decades. The paper traces the constitutional, institutional and external and internal socio-political dynamics that have facilitated the centralisation of power in the presidency. It further explores the relationship between the presidency and institutions established to deepen Botswana's democracy. Lastly, it explores each President's tenure. It concludes that the presidency remains an impediment to deeper democracy in Botswana.

Critical discussions on United Nations (UN) peacekeeping operations are primarily failurefocused and seek to reform those operations, thus limiting the literature about peacekeeping and its results. This dissertation intends to expand the scope of inquiry into UN peacekeeping operations by critically analysing the United Nations Organisation Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUC). It accomplishes this by examining how MONUCs United Nation Security Council mandates and objectives (its prioritisation and interpretation of mission mandates) impacted the mission. In addition, it includes an examination of MONUCs accomplishments.

In the past two decades, South Africa has become the "new migration hub" in Africa. The country has witnessed the dramatic rise of people flowing into its borders post-apartheid from the continent and beyond. However, in response to the large influx of migrants (legal and illegal), South Africa has adopted protectionist and nationalistic migration policies, emphasizing border control, rather than migration facilitation or migrant protection. Despite South Africa's post-apartheid commitments to human rights, democracy, and Pan-Africanism, the restrictive nature of these laws has led to the mistreatment and neglect of refugee and asylum seekers, the unlawful detention and deportation of legal in-migrants, and the failure to address societal xenophobia. These policies have also contributed to a severe skills shortage in South Africa, impeding the growth of the South African economy, while also thwarting SADC's ability to govern migration cooperatively in the region. In light of the most recent migration reforms implemented in 2014, instigating more protectionism, this thesis examines and seeks to explain why South Africa has adopted and continues to maintain these policies post-apartheid despite their negative implications and lack of congruence with South Africa's new national identity. The international relations theories of constructivism and neoclassical realism (NCR) are used to understand and explain South Africa's decision to maintain a protectionist migration agenda. Ultimately, the thesis argues that South Africa's reasons for adopting a protectionist migration agenda are numerous and exist at all levels of analysis. These reasons include (1) South Africa's formation of an exclusionary national identity post-apartheid, (2) the persistence of mass legal and illegal in-migration to the country, (3) the institutionalized perception of migration as a threat to national and social security by South African policy-makers/media/community leaders, and (4) the failure of the state to provide adequate social service delivery, impacting the implementation of more liberal policies in the new millennium.

Includes abstract. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 88-94). / This dissertation seeks to investigate why finns in the Western Cape province of South Africa do not pay sufficient attention to environmental concerns, when conducting corporate social investment (CSI) programmes. As a result of thins investigation, the research will also give attention to the relationships between finns, their CSI, the sustainable development agenda.

Includes bibliographical references.

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 101-107). / There has been as yet no empirical study that has undertaken to identify how Sub-Saharan African (SSA) states have allocated the wealth generated from the 21st century oil boom. The answer to this question may well determine whether Africa has any prospect of sustainable resource led development in the near future. This work is an empirical study into how oil states have allocated their wealth in the modern era, and whether there has been a divergence from the past. The main goal is to revise the common view (based as it is on the experiences of the 1970's and early 1980's) that increased levels of oil wealth serve only to undermine the prospect of long term economic growth within developing countries. I argue that improvements in the political environment have increased the possibility that the 21st century price rise has been used more productively than was the case thirty years ago. Thus the focus of this paper is to identify how oil states have improved their use of oil wealth in the recent era, and the factors that have brought this about. To achieve this end, I have created a set of variables that identifies the amount of oil wealth that has accrued to African governments (during the 21st century price rise) and the areas in which these funds have been allocated. I have also measured levels of political and social freedom to determine whether the political environment is one that has improved from the previous price hike period. My empirical findings display two clear results. Firstly, the political environment has improved significantly from the previous era, and secondly, the pattern of resource allocation has changed dramatically, to one that holds out a much greater prospect of positive long term economic growth. Based upon these results, it appears that SSA oil states have broken away from the negative effects associated with the resource curse and the previous oil bonanza.