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published_or_final_version / History / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

This study discusses the potential for promoting cyber democracy through interactivity, on the Internet. Both interactivity and cyber democracy will lead to a broadening of the Zimbabwean public sphere by including online newspapers in the media circle. It views interactivity, cyber democracy and the public sphere as central to free expression. Zimbabwean online newspapers are not fully exploiting the Internet’s potentials to promote the threefold ideal for public deliberations identified in this study. The content analysis of 22 Zimbabwean online newspapers revealed that many newspapers are providing interactive tools that are of limited relevance to interactive communication. The different models for assessing interactivity, cyber democracy and the public sphere in the online newspapers that were employed in this study point to very low levels of interactivity, hence the rest of the components were affected. The three aspects of public deliberation identified in this study were found to be interdependent on each other. The qualitative research procedure confirms and provided reasons for low interactivity on Zimbabwe’s online newspapers from the editors’ perspectives. The online editors are cautious in their approach to a free-form type of public deliberations. Interactivity, potentials for cyber democracy and possibilities of a broadened public sphere were found to be very low on Zimbabwe’s online newspapers. However, the Internet itself is endowed with great possibilities for political deliberations that remain untapped. The onus is upon the newspapers to accord citizens opportunities for participation by making available tools for higher levels of interactive communication. / Thesis (M.A.) - University of KwaZulu-natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2009.

This study attempts to analyse the way foreign media organisations have used the Internet to inform, educate and mobilise citizens for participation in their national election. These foreign experiences provide a framework with which to analyse the implications for the SABC as a public broadcaster of the next elections in South Africa. The research was informed by theories of media and democracy. One of the most powerful features of the new technology is its technical ability to facilitate an interactive flow of information. This research examines the concept of cyberdemocracy and the implications for the SABC, especially as it is planning on launching an online election strategy. The democratic roles of journalism and the implications for the SABC are also discussed. As a public service broadcaster, the SABC is bound to educate, inform, and mobilise voters for participation, build community and national identity and scrutinise the poll in the interests of transparency, accountability and fair play. International journalists are advocating a new type of journalism, called public or civic journalism, which combines these roles. This research draws primarily on qualitative research methods, using a case study methodology. It draws upon direct observation and interview methodology in the fieldwork. However, it also uses some quantitative methods in the analysis of the websites and the SABC research.Finally, the research analyses the situation at the SABC and provides recommendations for the election website within this context.

This dissertation examines three different subjects underpinned by one common approach— the survey experiment—and, broadly, one common aim: to better understand heterogeneity in public opinion in the United States and Canada. Specifically, it focuses heterogeneity as it relates to minorities and the cultural dynamics that emerge in multiracial and multiethnic countries. Contexts with diverse racial and ethnic compositions, diverse immigration and equity policies, and complex sociohistorical lineages are bound to be underpinned by deeply fragmented attitudinal dynamics. Yet only recently has research taken a deep dive into what the contours of this fragmentation might look like. As diversity increases in the West and cultural complexities deepen, understanding heterogeneity in public opinion toward and among different cultural, racial, and ethnic groups will become increasingly pressing. Luckily for the research community, the ability to study such heterogeneity is increasing as well. Fielding large-scale surveys has been facilitated by both the vast penetration of the Internet in the 21st century and the explosion of online marketplaces that allow researchers to buy survey respondents relatively cheaply and quickly. This dissertation exploits these contextual developments to field three online survey experiments among a total of 40,000 respondents in Canada and the United States.

News and public affairs on commercial radio dramatically changed following the 1996 Telecom Act, with rapid consolidation and economic efficiencies radically shrinking commercial radio's role in the provision of political information. By examining jobs data, public files, and the views of broadcast journalists, this project assesses the Act's impact through the lens of civic-minded Portland, Oregon. Because political information enables democracy, and because of radio's uniquely accessible qualities, this paper argues that market emphasis in media policy--especially in the Act's absolute manifestation--has diminished a significant channel of public discourse. Noticing radio's democratic potential, still relevant in the digital age, this work offers support for a revival of discursive opportunities on local commercial radio.

This dissertation brings the works of Antonio Gramsci and W.E.B. Du Bois in conversation with each other to theorize transformative hegemony as a project aiming to overcome racial capitalism despite the backlashes and resilience of this social order. The dissertation argues that racial capitalism is sustained by a strategy that divides the subalterns, the non-ruling classes, through coercion and co-optation in a way that perpetuates cycles of crises and violence. The project of transformative hegemony aims to overcome this by forming a broad passionate coalition of the subalterns around a new worldview that can offer a genuine answer to the contradiction of this socio-economic system. To form such a coalition despite the pervasive division amongst the subalterns, Gramsci and Du Bois present a strategy of war of position that is meant to empower the subalterns and destabilize the ruling coalition. They compare this strategy to a form of trench warfare because it prepares the subalterns for a long-term struggle, requires mobilizing a broad coalition from different groups with diverse needs, interests, and grievances, and creates trenches to foster transformation in different spheres of society. The dissertation develops Gramsci and Du Bois’s insight into the role of culture, leadership, science, and the organization of movements as trenches of transformation meant to empower the subalterns and destabilize the ruling coalition to bring about a transformative hegemony.

Thesis (MA)-- Stellenbosch University, 2014. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The interplay between political risk and emerging markets is current and dynamic. As global interest shifts, investors cannot ignore emerging market behaviour and their influence. However, with great potential and opportunities, too comes great political risk. This research study begins with the point raised by the Eurasia Group that emerging market risk differs to that of developed market risk, and that risk in some instances can be ‗unbounded‘. Subsequently, the Eurasia Group deems emerging markets a top risk for 2013. Focussing on the oil and gas industry in emerging markets, Nigeria and Mexico offer valuable case studies. This research study offers a comparative study of these two countries in order to determine a generic list of political risk factors that are facing the oil and gas industries in emerging markets. In an increasingly volatile world, with a growing global demand for energy sources, and greater uncertainty surrounding investments and potential returns, political risk analysis is an invaluable decision-making tool for Transnational Oil Corporations (TNOCs) in order for their assets and interests to be protected. The central research question concerns the main political risk factors facing investors who want to participate in the oil and gas industry in emerging markets. The aim of the research study is to answer the central research question through the help of supplementary questions. The first of these ask what the main political risk factors for TNOCs operating in the Niger Delta are. The second question asks what the main political risk factors for TNOCs operating in the Gulf of Mexico are. So as to complete the political risk picture, the last question asks how political risk in the oil and gas industry can be mitigated. This research study will contribute to existing research, and will assist investors with risk identification, analysis and mitigation. By utilising the generic list of essential political risk factors, TNOCs are made aware of the most salient political risks in the oil and gas industry in emerging markets, and therefore are better placed to make rational and informed decisions when it comes to foreign investment. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die wisselwerking tussen politieke risiko en opkomende markte is intyd en dinamies. Soos globale belange verskuif, kan beleggers nie die opkomende markte se gedrag en invloed ignoreer nie, alhoewel met groot potensiaal en geleenthede kom daar ook groot politieke risiko. Die navorsingstudie het begin met die Eurasia Groep wat uitgelig het dat opkomende markrisiko verskil van die van ‘n ontwikkelde mark en dat die risiko in sekere gevalle ―ongebonde‖ kan wees. Gevolglik is opkomende markte as ‘n top risiko vir 2013 geklassifiseer. Met ‘n fokus op die olie- en gasindustrie in opkomende markte, bied Nigerië en Mexiko waardevolle gevallestudies. Die navorsingstuk bied ‘n vergelykende studie van dié twee lande met die doel om ‘n generiese lys van politieke risikofaktore wat die olie- en gasindustrie in opkomende markte in die gesig staar, vas te stel. In ‘n toenemende onstabiele wêreld met ‘n toenemende globale aanvraag vir energiebronne en groter onsekerheid rakende beleggings en potensiële opbrengs, is politieke risiko-analise ‘n waardevolle besluitnemings-meganisme vir Trans-Nasionale Oliekorporasies (TNOKs) om hul bates en belange te beskerm. Die sentrale navorsingsvraag fokus op die hoof politieke risikofaktore vir beleggers wat in die olie- en gasindustrie van opkomende markte wil belê. Die doel van die navorsingstudie is om die sentrale navorsingsvraag te beantwoord met behulp van aanvullende vrae. Die eerste vraag raak die hoof politieke risikofaktore vir TNOKs aan wat in die Niger-Delta opereer. Die tweede vraag handel oor die hoof politieke risikofaktore vir TNOKs wat in die Golf van Mexiko opereer. Die laaste vraag voltooi die politiese risiko profiel deur te vra hoe die politieke risiko in die olie- en gasindustrie verminder kan word. Die navorsingstudie sal bestaande navorsing aanvul en beleggers help om risiko‘s te identifiseer, analiseer en verminder. Deur ‘n generiese lys van politieke risikofaktore te gebruik, word TNOKs bewus gemaak van die mees prominente politieke risiko‘s in die olie- en gasindustrie van opkomende markte, wat hulle in staat stel om rasionele en ingeligte besluite te neem wanneer dit by internasionale beleggings kom.

published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Sociology / Master / Master of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Literary and Cultural Studies / Master / Master of Arts