published_or_final_version / English Studies / Master / Master of Arts

published_or_final_version / abstract / Education / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Philosophy / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Biological Sciences / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

No description available.

No description available.

Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy: Public Management (Peacebuilding), Durban University of Technology, Durban, South Africa, 2016. / Conflicts in Zimbabwe have triggered communities to be divided along political party lines. Violence has been prevalent and this has intensified economic ruin and social polarity. In high density urban areas this violence continues to divide communities. The overall aim of this research study was to facilitate reconciliation in divided communities in Mashonaland province, Zimbabwe with the Alternative for Violence Project (AVP), an international non-profit organisation that provides experiential training to individuals and organisations in nonviolence and pre-emptive conflict resolution. The objectives of the study were to explore the underlying causes of violence in Zimbabwe, its consequences and impact since 2000, and also to explain the concepts of conflict transformation, forgiveness and reconciliation as used by AVP. In addition, the study explored AVP’s outcomes in different contexts and examined its potential as an instrument for reconciliation by implementing several AVP workshops in the divided communities. Hatcliffe, a high density area outside Harare, was used as a sample population for the study which drew from Lederach’s theory of conflict transformation and from Azar‘s model of protracted social conflicts. The researcher used a qualitative approach in the field research and interviewed both the victims and perpetrators of violence as well as elected leaders in the Hatcliffe community. The main findings of the study were that reconciliation efforts are best begun with an orientation towards peace-building for community residents and local ownership of all reconciliation processes. All community members directly or indirectly involved in a conflict situation are critical to reconciliation efforts and third parties must ensure that these people are empowered to make their own decisions. The study concluded that AVP is an effective tool which can be used to change people’s perspectives about conflict and that creating safe spaces where people can articulate their issues in a relaxed atmosphere can be deeply healing. Because the findings are not disconfirmed by prior theories and research based on similar efforts, but rather add to knowledge already gained, one can assume that there also is a degree of external validity to the study. / D

Comparative studies of democratization point to a multitude of explanatory factors, while often lacking empirical evidence and theoretical foundation. This study introduces the revolution in information technology as a significant contributor to democratization in the 1980s and beyond. Utilizing a cybernetic version of an evolutionary interpretation of democratization an amended model for 147 countries is tested by bivariate and multiple regression analysis. The focus of the analysis is on how the first-ever use of an indicator of information technology explains democratization. The overall findings show that information technology is a meaningful element in the study of democratization today.

This thesis develops a legal theory reflecting the insights of feminism and environmental philosophy. I argue that human beings are not ontologically separate, but embedded in webs of relationality with natural others. My primary purposes are to 1) delineate ways in which institutions of modernity (such as law and science) have precipitated ecosocial crisis through the attempt to dialectically enforce mastery and control over nature and women; and 2) explore alternate political forms and ontologies which challenge the classical liberalist view of the (human) individual as a radically isolated, discrete, autonomous being. My overarching theme is that law functions as a narrative that can both hinder and enhance the promotion of ecological ideas, and how ecofeminism can contribute to transformative projects of environmental philosophy and feminist law.

M.Ed. (Educational Management) / Please refer to full text to view abstract