The contribution of the Church to the reconstruction of a nation is the primary reason for the present study. The paradox image that the Democratic Republic of Congo presents deserves particular attention. With more than 80% of DRC population being Christians, this study strives to examine the current Christian religious discourse in the DRC and to see in what way this discourse can be ameliorated in order to play properly the role of facilitating a positive transformation of this country. Notwithstanding I have been alienated from the country for some years now, the study analyzes the current situation on the ground on the basis of the data available, and makes some recommendations in order for the situation in the DRC to be ameliorated. This study thus urges a reconstructive Christian religious discourse in the hope of changing the nation’s mentality in order to reconstruct this beautiful Country. / New Testament / M. Div. (New Testament)

Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2003. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This research report documents the results of a study that aims at investigating the potential contribution of a gender perspective towards conflict resolution. In this regard, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is used as a case in point. The study takes the form of an exploratory and descriptive study and extensive use is made of both primary and secondary sources of data. By arguing that a gender perspective on conflict will elucidate the way in which women are affected differently by conflict it logically follows that women should be permitted to assume their rightful positions in attempts at transforming conflict. The application of a gender perspective furthermore urges a revision of conflict resolution towards conflict management and transformation as the appropriate ways of bringing an end to war. This implies that the emphasis is shifted from a search for political solutions towards conflict prevention and early warning as the most effective ways of pre-empting violent conflict and the breakdown of peace-processes aimed at resolving violent conflicts. In the search for an appropriate role for women in conflict management, the study revisits a number of frameworks for the full and equal participation of women in conflict management at the international, regional and subregional levels of analysis. These frameworks are then applied to the situation in the DRC and some practical courses of action are proposed. While the study concludes that there is a clearly defined need for exposing the gender bias in the analysis and resolution of violent conflict, it notes that the patriarchal nature of the DRC and the international system will in many instances hamper progress towards the achievement of a non-patriarchal and nongendered peaceful social world order. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie navorsingsverslag dokumenteer die uitkomste van 'n studie wat daarna streef om die potensiële bydrae van vroue tot konflik resolusie te ondersoek. Tot hierdie end word die Demokratiese Republiek van die Kongo as 'n gevalstudie gebruik. Die navorsings ontwerp is eksploratories en beskrywend en daar word ekstensief gebruik gemaak van beide primêre en sekondêre bronne van data. Deur aan te voer dat 'n gender perspektief op konflik die wyse waarop vroue verskillend geraak word deur konflik beklemtoon, volg dit logies hierop dat vroue toegelaat behoort te word om hul regmatig plek in te neem ten tyde van pogings tot konflik transformasie. Die toepassing van 'n gender perspektief dwing verder ook 'n hersiening van konflik resolusie en beskou konflik bestuur en transformasie as die gepaste maniere om oorlog tot 'n einde te bring. Dit bring mee dat daar 'n verskuiwing van klem plaasvind - vanaf 'n soeke na politieke oplossings na konflik voorkoming en vroeë/tydige waarskuwing as die mees effektiewe instrumente om geweldadige konflik en die ineenstorting van vredesprosesse te voorkom. In die soeke na die gepaste rol vir vroue in konflik bestuur, herondersoek die studie 'n aantal raamwerke vir die volledige en gelyke deelname van vroue in konflik bestuur op die internasionale, regionale en sub-regionale vlakke van analise. Hierdie raamwerke word dan toegepas op die situasie in the DRK, en praktiese riglyne word voorgehou. Hoewel die studie vind dat daar 'n duidelike gedefinieerde behoefte bestaan om die gender vooroordeel in die analisie en resolusie van konflik te openbaar, word dit ook aanvaar dat die patriargale aard van die DRK en die internasionale sisteem in die meeste gevalle ware vooruitgang in die daarstelling van 'n nie-patriargale, gelykregtige, vreedsame sosiale wêreldorde sal kniehalter.

In some of the most established and supposedly immutable liberal democracies, diverse social groups are losing con fi dence not only in established democratic institutions, but in the idea of liberal representative democracy itself. Meanwhile, an illiberal and anti-egalitarian transformation of democracy evolves at an apparently unstoppable pace. This democratic fatigue syndrome , the present article suggests, is qualitatively di ff erent from the crises of Democracy which have been debated for some considerable time. Focusing on mature democracies underpinned by the ideational tradition of European Enlightenment, the article theorizes this Syndrome and the striking transformation of democracy in terms of a dialectic process in which the very norm that once gave birth to the democratic project - the modernist idea of the autonomous subject - metamorphoses into its gravedigger, or at least into the driver of its radical reformulation. The article further develops aspects of my existing work on second-order emancipation and simulative democracy . Taking a theoretical rather than empirical approach, it aims to provide a conceptual framework for more empirically oriented analyses of changing forms of political articulation and participation.

Il est assez difficile pour la jeune génération d’électeurs démocrates qui ont contribué à porter Barack Obama au pouvoir en 2008 et 2012 d’imaginer l’état de déroute dans lequel se trouvait le parti démocrate après les victoires électorales de Ronald Reagan en 1980 et 1984. Obama doit sa double élection à la fois à l’efficacité de ses campagnes et aux changements qui ont affecté le parti démocrate depuis les années 1980. Certes, les élus démocrates n'avaient pas attendu l'échec humiliant de Jimmy Carter en 1980 pour engager un travail de réflexion mais c'est pendant les années Reagan que certains démocrates influents commencèrent à se mettre concrètement au travail. Le Democratic Leadership Council (DLC) fut la pièce maîtresse d'une sorte d'aggiornamento politique et idéologique qui permit au parti démocrate de reconstituer ses forces en moins de dix ans et de reconquérir la présidence en 1992 avec l’élection de Bill Clinton. Depuis le début des années 1980 jusqu’à sa disparition en 2011, le DLC se consacra à la modernisation idéologique du parti démocrate. / It is quite difficult for the young generation of Democratic voters who contributed to bring Barack Obama into power in 2008 and 2012 to imagine the electoral losing streak the Democratic Party endured after Ronald Reagan’s electoral victories in 1980 and 1984. Obama owes credit to both his efficient campaigns and the changes which have affected the Democratic Party since the 1980s for winning the executive office twice. The Democratic elected officials certainly had not waited for Jimmy Carter’s humiliating defeat in 1980 to reflect upon the situation but it is during the Reagan years that some Democratic influential members started taking action. The Democratic Leadership Council (DLC) became a key part of a sort of political and ideological aggiornamento which allowed the Democratic Party to rebuild its forces in less than ten years and to win back the executive office in 1992 with Bill Clinton’s election. From the early 1980s to its dissolution in 2011, the DLC devoted itself to the ideological modernization of the Democratic Party.

This is a collection of four papers about the All-Affected Principle (AAP): the view that every person whose morally weighty interests are affected by a democratic decision has the right to participate in that decision. The first paper ('Narrow Possibilism about Democratic Enfranchisement') examines how we should distribute democratic participation rights: a plausible version of AAP must avoid treating unlike cases alike, which would be procedurally unfair. The solution is to distribute participation rights proportionately to the risk that a person's interests will be affected. AAP thus implies an account of political equality that requires adherence to the 'one person-one vote' model only if interests are indeed equally affected. The second paper ('Economic Participation Rights and the AAP') argues that AAP supporters have paid insufficient attention to economic participation rights. The exercise of such rights raises unique worries about democratic accountability, which is why their exercise is constrained by a number of duties. The third paper ('What AAP Is, and How (Not) to Fight It') explores how AAP fares in light of possible objections from desirability and feasibility. Unlike crude versions of AAP, a plausibly restricted version of AAP cannot be dismissed as easily as many AAP sceptics may have thought. My reflections here are useful for AAP supporters and sceptics alike: this paper helps clarify what kind of objection can cast serious doubt on AAP. The fourth paper ('Criminal Disenfranchisement, Political Wrongdoing, and Affected Interests') asks: is AAP compatible with criminal disenfranchisement? AAP, when endorsed in combination with a plausible theory of punishment, is compatible with disenfranchising a narrow set of criminal wrongdoers only: those guilty of 'political wrongdoing', which is wrong primarily because it undermines democratic procedures and institutions for private gain. The upshot is that current blanket policies of criminal disenfranchisement are incompatible with AAP.

This study focuses on the premise that national interests of governments are the primary motivating factors that inform decisions on military interventions. Military strategy remains a principal tool in the attainment, pursuance and safeguarding of these interests. Military intervention is the last resort to a series of options that begin with and continue to inform the dynamic: diplomacy, policing, reliance on alliance action and finally, deterrent or pro-active military action. Military interventions in the 20th century have been undertaken at the multilateral, regional and sub-regional levels in given conflicts by a range of actors. Scholarly questions have been asked about the rationale behind the respective governments’ decisions to undertake these interventions. In the case of this study, which focuses on the SADC coalition of willing nations’ military intervention in the Congo conflict, questions have centred on the following: What was the rationale and motive that led governments of the three countries to undertake the decisions for military intervention in the Congo? Was the intervention an altruistic act by the intervening governments seeking to stop aggression of an ally or was it driven by the personal quests by leaders of these intervening countries to secure their share of the DRC mineral wealth? Or, was it merely a case of the three governments intervening as a coalition in pursuit of their varied interests? What was the strategy that this coalition adopted in pursuit of the member countries interests? It is this attempt to explain and determine the rationale and principal factors that informed the three countries’ decision to intervene in the conflict and the military strategy adopted to safeguard these interests that serve as the focal basis for this study. In trying to answer its key questions, this study uses historical and qualitative approaches in collecting and analysing data not only from both primary and secondary sources but also interviews with participants (some off the record as still serving). Thus, the findings of the research would be analysed critically within the framework of the core objectives of the study, which seek not only to identify and establish how the interests of the governments that intervened in the DRC conflict were the primary motivating factor that informed their decisions on military interventions, but also to ascertain the extent to which the SADC coalition’s military strategy became a principal tool in the attainment and safeguarding of these varying interests as well as how that strategy was utilised as a mechanism for the translation and development of these varying interests into common ones among the intervening countries. Lastly, the study seeks to offer policy suggestions on the execution of future military interventions in African conflicts, particularly at the SADC sub-regional level. Whilst literature on military interventions seems to be informed by realpolitik, with the notions by Barry Buzan (and others) that strong states take decisions to intervene when their geostrategic and economic interests are served, states can also militarily intervene for humanitarian purposes. Using the realist paradigm as a theoretical tool of analysis, the study noted that military intervention can best be understood in terms of the power and interests of particular nation states acting individually or collectively as a coalition using the brand of a sub-regional, regional or even international organisation with or without the mandate of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). An analysis is made on the scholarly legal debates surrounding the decision to intervene by the SADC coalition. The study generally established that the claimed interests that motivated the decisions by the respective governments were generally based on the political, economic and military/security dimensions. A critical evaluation of these respective interests of the interveners show that their interests shifted in regards to the levels of importance (that is primary and secondary level) at the initial stage of the intervention and during the intervention period. The coalition’s military strategy became a tool for attaining, securing and safeguarding of these respective interests. As part of the strategy, the SADC coalition’s Mutual Defence Pact acted as a political and legal guide in the promotion of complimentary and common interests of the interveners. Despite formulating such a military strategy, the unexpected longevity of the intervention impacted on the intervening countries’ logistical capacity to sustain the war effort. An initiative by the DRC government to enter into bilateral business ventures with the respective SADC countries and its awarding of mining concessions to the same was meant to be part, arguably, of sustaining the military intervention. However, this war time economic initiative has raised questions among scholars and policy practitioners on whether or not the decision for intervention by a coalition of these countries was basically underpinned by the quest to attain and safeguard national interests or it was aimed at promoting personal elite interests. Having taken note that the major findings of the study revolve around contentious primary issues relating to foreign policy decision making in the context of military intervention, a number of recommendations are made. These include: · Firstly, the undertaking of cost benefit analyses in regard to political, legal and economic matters prior to a nation’s decision for military intervention; · Secondly, the need for an appropriate and effective sub-regional mechanism guided by a sub-regional legal guide or tool for military intervention that would be utilised within the relevant AU and UN political and military framework; Finally a paradigm shift is needed in the conceptualization of what constitutes national interest. This includes a new theoretical thinking based on unilateral and multilateral military intervention in the present global order which should be based on the global or collective interest where maintenance of international peace, stability and security (more importantly human security) are of primary importance. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2012.

L‘Afrique subsaharienne connait des crises et conflits qui menacent aussi la sécurité de l’Europe, des Etats-Unis et du reste du monde.Elle cherche à se sécuriser par elle-même et sollicite l’aide extérieure notamment celle européenne dont on s’interroge quant aux atouts, réalités et perspectives de paix avec l’UE. L’Union Européenne est un partenaire dont l’efficacité garantie par son approche globale et permise par ses instruments multiformes, ACP/CEE-UE et PESD/PSDC, est prouvée au Togo de 1993 à 2005 ; en RDC avec « Artemis » et EUFOR-RDCONGO ; au Darfour avec EUFOR Tchad-RCA ainsi qu’au large des côtes Somaliennes avec EUNAVFOR, mais dont le besoin de renforcement des atouts et d’atténuation des faiblesses conduit à promouvoir les concepts de complémentarité et d’appropriation dans la construction de l’Architecture Africaine de Paix et de Sécurité. Ce qui se fait à travers les opérations et surtout les missions civiles EUPOL et EUSEC en RDC, EUTM « Somalia », EUAVSEC au Soudan du sud, EUCAP Sahel Niger et EUCAP Nestor pour la formation des forces nationales de lutte respectivement contre le terrorisme islamiste et la piraterie maritime. Mais quelles inflexions et améliorations à apporter au Droit européen, panafricain et international, pour notamment des financements innovants et une meilleure coordination et mutualisation des ressources africaines avec des apports multiformes extérieurs suscités par l’attractivité subsaharienne du 21ème siècle ? Un nouveau vaste champ de réflexion. / Sub-Saharan Africa is faced with crises and conflicts that also pose a threat to the security of Europe, the United States and the world at large.Africa seeks to ensure its own security and calls on the aid of foreign partners including Europe. But questions arise concerning the strengths and realities of that partnership and the prospects for peace it offers.The European Union is indeed a partner whose effectiveness - guaranteed by the comprehensive approach embodied in its multifaceted ACP/EEC-EU and ESDP/CSDP instruments - was demonstrated in Togo from 1993 to 2005, in the DRC with "Artemis" and EUFOR RD CONGO, in Darfur with EUFOR Chad-CAR and off the coast of Somalia with EUNAVFOR. Yet the need to highlight its strengths and play down its weaknesses leads it to promote the concepts of complementarity and ownership in the construction of the African Peace and Security Architecture through operations and civilian missions, in particular EUSEC and EUPOL in the DRC, EUTM "Somalia", EUAVSEC in Southern Sudan and Niger Sahel EUCAP and EUCAP Nestor for the training of national forces in the fight against Islamist terrorism and maritime piracy.What adjustments and improvements to European, pan-African and international law are required, with a view, in particular, to more innovative forms of funding and better coordination, as well as a pooling of African resources and the various forms of assistance from foreign contributors attracted by the resources and the economic opportunities of sub-Saharan Africa in the 21st century? This opens up a whole new and wide-ranging debate.

This qualitative study is done with the purpose of creating understanding for the theoretical democratic content in educational materials for Civic Education courses 1a1 and 1b during GY-11, so teachers create an intentional approach when using educational materials in their democratic education. This was motivated as important considering the reduction in obligatory Civic Education for the vocational programs. The study was conducted using a hermeneutic qualitative reading method where the educational materials, more specifically two series with one book for each course, was read with purpose of creating understanding for the democratic content according to ideal democratic models: deliberative democracy, participatory democracy and electoral democracy. A text voice analysis was also conducted using Bakhtins theory of dialogic and monologue text that contributed to the general result concerning the democratic content. The results show that the electoral democracy ideal is dominant in all educational materials, there is hence no striking difference between the democratic content in 1a1 and 1b educational materials. Though the study shows intention in the 1a1 educational materials towards a more participatory democracy ideal, the electoral ideal are still clearly dominant. / Denna kvalitativa studie är genomförd med syftet att skapa förståelse för det demokratiteoretiska innehåll som finns i läromedel för Samhällskunskap 1a1 och 1b under GY11, så att lärare kan skapa ett medvetet förhållningsätt till läromedel i deras demokratiundervisning. Detta upplevdes som väldigt aktuellt med tanke på nedskärningen av den obligatoriska Samhällskunskapen på yrkesförberedande program. I studien användes kvalitativ hermeneutisk läs metod där läromedlen, närmare bestämt två serier av böcker med en bok för respektive kurs, lästes med syftet att skapa förståelse för det demokratiska innehållet enligt de demokratiteoretiska ideal modellerna: deliberativ demokrati, deltagardemokrati och valdemokrati. En text röst analys genomfördes också där Bakthins teori om dialogiska och monologiska texter användes och detta bidrog till det generella resultatet rörande demokratiteoretiskt innehåll. Resultatet visar att det valdemokratiska idealet är dominerande i samtliga läromedel, det finns alltså ingen slående skillnad mellan det demokratiteoretiska innehållet i läromedel för 1a1 och 1b. Dock visar studien intentioner i läromedlen för 1a1 om en ansats mot mer deltagardemokratiska ideal, trots detta är det valdemokratiska idealet klart dominant också där.

Over the past five years, Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWFs) have become a prominent phenomenon in contemporary capitalism. Described as government investment vehicles that invest state wealth in financial markets, the majority of the world's 60-plus funds have been established since the year 2000. Despite extensive treatments of SWFs' geopolitical and international significance, ethical and domestic level analyses are sparse. In response, this thesis interrogates three key normative questions raised by the funds for the domestic citizen-state relationship: (1) How (and by whom) should sovereign funds be managed? (2) How should sovereign wealth be invested? (3) How should the earnings of sovereign fund investment be distributed? In answering these questions, this thesis aims to dispel ambiguity over the ownership status of sovereign funds, evident in popular and academic discourse and within communities that establish these entities. For this task, it draws on recently revived fiduciary theory of the citizen-state relationship to argue that the rightful owner of these funds is the citizenry - not states or governments who enjoy physical and legal possession of SWFs. It goes on to examine the implications of this fiduciary state conception of SWF ownership, asking how citizen-owners should enjoy control over and benefit from the distinct constituent parts of their SWF property: the institution of the fund, the underlying sovereign wealth and the financial returns earned on the investment of its assets. The model of citizen ownership defended demands substantially increased popular control over SWF management and the investment of sovereign wealth, as well as direct benefit rights for citizen-owners to fund income through individualised distribution of investment returns. Examination of existing practice among SWFs demonstrates that this normative ideal is far, although not impossibly distant from current institutional practice.

The contribution of the Church to the reconstruction of a nation is the primary reason for the present study. The paradox image that the Democratic Republic of Congo presents deserves particular attention. With more than 80% of DRC population being Christians, this study strives to examine the current Christian religious discourse in the DRC and to see in what way this discourse can be ameliorated in order to play properly the role of facilitating a positive transformation of this country. Notwithstanding I have been alienated from the country for some years now, the study analyzes the current situation on the ground on the basis of the data available, and makes some recommendations in order for the situation in the DRC to be ameliorated. This study thus urges a reconstructive Christian religious discourse in the hope of changing the nation’s mentality in order to reconstruct this beautiful Country. / New Testament / M. Div. (New Testament)