Thesis (M.A.(Political Science))--University of Pretoria, 2001. / Summary in English and Afrikaans. Available at the World Wide Web. Includes bibliographical references.

The process which culminated in the establishment of the East African Community (EAC) in 1967 started in the early 1920s. The idea was first conceived in Britain. Initially, East Africans vehemently opposed this idea fearing that it would sustain British hegemony in the region, but their resentment did not prevent the establishment of the East African High Commission (EAHC) in January 1948. It was only in the 1950s and 1960s that East African leaders embraced the idea due to political and economic reasons. In 1961 they converted the EAHC into the East African Common Services Organisation (EACSO) and in 1967 they established the EAC. Nationalism and sub-nationalisms in the region cast a spell on the EAC. The coup, which took place in Uganda in 1971, strained relations between Idi Amin and Presidents Nyerere and Kenyatta thus making it impossible to hold regional meetings. Eventually, the EAC collapsed in June 1977. / Political Science / M.A. (Politics)

Thesis (MA (Political Science. International Studies))--Stellenbosch University, 2008. / Abstract: The African continent has been riddled with conflict for many years. Angola and Somalia are prime examples of countries having experienced protracted wars. During those wars, warlords have played a definite role in perpetuating the fighting. The thesis investigates warlordism in Africa. Specifically, it is a comparative analysis of Jonas Savimbi of Angola and Farah Aideed of Somalia. The thesis investigates the concept of warlords and uses the examples of Aideed and Savimbi to illustrate the impact of warlords on the respective countries. The examples of Aideed and Savimbi are further used to show that there are different ways to becoming ultimately labelled as a warlord. The role of state weakness and ethnicity will be investigated in the two cases. The discussion will highlight the points that state weakness (i.e. lack of governmental functionality) and the use of ethnicity play a profound role in the rise and survival of warlords. The case studies of Aideed and Savimbi will emphasise the influence of state weakness and ethnicity in their formation as warlords. The concept of state weakness is defined and the thesis illustrates that there are different levels of state weakness. The thesis compares Angola and Somalia, and shows that Savimbi and Aideed acted under vastly different conditions as warlords. Ethnicity is defined and linked to the idea that the effects of colonialism played a profound role in creating ethnic divisions, enabling warlords such as Aideed and Savimbi to use their ethnic backgrounds to mobilise followers to wage war. The thesis investigates how Aideed and Savimbi maintained their military organisations. Their ability to do so is related to both state weakness and ethnicity. State weakness and ethnicity create conditions which are conducive to the emergence of warlords.

The process which culminated in the establishment of the East African Community (EAC) in 1967 started in the early 1920s. The idea was first conceived in Britain. Initially, East Africans vehemently opposed this idea fearing that it would sustain British hegemony in the region, but their resentment did not prevent the establishment of the East African High Commission (EAHC) in January 1948. It was only in the 1950s and 1960s that East African leaders embraced the idea due to political and economic reasons. In 1961 they converted the EAHC into the East African Common Services Organisation (EACSO) and in 1967 they established the EAC. Nationalism and sub-nationalisms in the region cast a spell on the EAC. The coup, which took place in Uganda in 1971, strained relations between Idi Amin and Presidents Nyerere and Kenyatta thus making it impossible to hold regional meetings. Eventually, the EAC collapsed in June 1977. / Political Science / M.A. (Politics)

The Heads of State and Government Implementation Committee (HSGIC) of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (Nepad) acknowledged and recognised the centrality of good governance within the context of the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), an innovative mechanism acceded to by member states of the African Union (AU) as a self- monitoring mechanism for good governance. South Africa is one of the countries which acceded to the APRM in 2003. Accordingly, South Africa appointed a National Governing Council (NGC) under the chairpersonship of the Minister of Public Services and Administration as the focal point to develop a strategy to manage the national APRM process. The NGC was constituted of business, the disabled, civil society, churches, trade unions, government and women’s coalitions thus ensuring all relevant stakeholders are represented. As part of South Africa’s country assessment, questionnaires dealing with the four core thematic areas of the APRM were sent through to the public by community development workers. In addition, four technical assessment agencies were appointed to assist in conducting research on the four thematic areas. The primary objective of this study is to examine the theoretical approach to the study and the African Peer Review Mechanism’s contemporary relevance to South Africa, its intended beneficiaries and an assessment of South Africa for the period 2006. The study revealed that Proportional Representation (PR) and floor-crossing have an impact on the sustainability, relevance, long term development, vibrancy and profundity of constitutional democracy in the country. Clearly, since the dawn of the democratic dispensation in South Africa the electoral system introduced is such that it had to take into account the challenges the country faced during the apartheid system of governance. In this context, enough space for free political competition in the country was created. On the basis of the findings of the study, it is patently clear that the time allocated for the CSAR was minimal and the country should have been given at least two years so that the self assessment could have been extensively done. On the issue of HIV and AIDS and its relationship to socio-economic conditions, it was revealed that the country has a lot to do in this regard. The debilitating effect that HIV and AIDS has on the lives of the citizens requires clarity of policy and strategy, consistency in public communication and the need for sustained partnerships amongst all relevant stakeholders. At another level, there was a call for a basic income grant although government does not necessarily support it. Based on the research findings above, a new research area outlined under recommendations can be conceptualized for further research and it requires some attention.

This study is about four interrelated key issues, namely, critique of Thomas Sankara as a political figure and erstwhile president of Burkina Faso; examination of Pan-Africanism as a movement, theory, ideology and uniting force for Africans and people of African descent globally; evaluation of leadership and governance lessons drawn from Burkina Faso’s August 1983 revolution, its successes, challenges, and shortcomings, and lastly; it draws socioeconomic and developmental lessons from the Burkina Faso experience under Sankara’s administration during the brief period from 1983 until his untimely assassination on 15 October 1987. The ousting of Blaise Compaore in October 2014 brought to the fore Sankara’s long buried and suppressed legacy, and this is what, in part, led to me deciding to do a systematic and thorough study of Sankara and the Burkina Faso Revolution. Two theories were used in the study – Pan Africanism and Afrocentricity - because they together centre and privilege the African people’s plight and agency and the urgent need for Africans to find solutions to their own problems in the same way Sankara emphasised the need for an independent endogenous development approach in Burkina Faso. Methodologically, a Mixed Methods Research (MMR) approach was employed so as to exploit and leverage the strengths of each individual approach and due to the complex nature of the phenomena studied. The study argues that the nerve centre of developmental efforts in Burkina Faso was a self-propelled, self-centred, and endogenous development model which placed the agency and responsibility, first and foremost, in the hands of Burkinabe people themselves using their own internal resources to improve their lives. Secondly, agrarian reforms were designed in such a way that they formed the bedrock of economic self-reliance and industrial development in Burkina Faso. Lastly, overall findings of the study indicate that the revolutionary cause and intervention in all critical sectors such as education, health, and the economy were prioritised and the pace at which these sectors were overhauled was crucial. Implication of these findings for development in Africa is that development cannot be externally imported either through foreign direct investments or through a straight-jacket policy transfer where African countries often borrow European economic policies and try to implement them in drastically different contexts and historical epochs. / Political Sciences / Ph. D. (Philosophy)