This thesis conciders the conditions for news reporting in two post-authoritarian African nations, and places focus on Chinese media’s influence on the local journalism and media system. The question of how much influence China’s international media has in Africa, has been brought up by communication scholars, but not yet empirically studied. Based on a theoretical framework of how the structure of the media system dictates the practice of journalism, this research enquiry scrutinises the mass media coverage and framing of the news that involves Chinese engagements in Africa. The research question concerns whether China’s investment efforts in the area of media, culture and education have discernible impact on journalism and mass media content in Kenya and South Africa. The context which gives rise to the research question consists of a collection of sometimes instrumentalist literature, describing the nature and the intention of China’s expanding engagement in Africa, as well as an academic debate about what consequences the relationship has for social and political development in African countries. In such debates it has been discussed whether the Chinese commercial investments or direct aid is benefitting social justice in Africa or rather serve to widen existing inequalities. It is in this debate assumed that while Western countries have, since the end of the Cold War, promoted a democratic development model on the African continent, China is currently advertising an alternative model for development. However, there has not been any study to date, which tests this assumption. This study was conducted to gather empirical evidence for a better understanding of the scope and implications of Chinese international media and cultural exchange in Africa. The research is based on interviews with media practitioners who worked for Kenyan and South African media organisations, and content analysis of newspaper articles in the respective countries. The methodological approach forms two separate parts, which both help to answer the research question. By triangulation of the results from the two-pronged study, some significant findings have been drawn. The media practitioners in the majority display a critical view towards Chinese international media as source of information and forum for debate. The result of the content analysis indicates that any influence of China’s international media on local reporting is limited to certain publications, depending on media funding, ownership, and relation to the government.

As a recipient of Official Development Assistance (ODA), the Republic of Zambia is considered one of the aid-dependent nations in Sub-Saharan Africa. Development assistance has been said to have had made absolutely no contribution to economic growth and development in the country on observation of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita figure over the years which indicates periods of stagnation in growth despite ODA receipts. Generally, this conclusion has in the past been drawn without consideration for, and appreciation of, the variations in the objectives and disbursement channels of ODA. Consequently, this study sought to investigate the separate impact of multilateral and bilateral ODA on GDP per capita which served as a proxy for economic growth and development in Zambia. Based on a modified neo-classical economic growth model that incorporates multilateral and bilateral ODA as determinants of economic growth, this study employed the ARDL model to investigate the long-run and short-run relationship between GDP per capita and ODA from 1975 to 2016. Two similar growth models were analysed substituting the net ODA variable with multilateral and bilateral ODA in order to assess the relationship. In addition to net ODA, the model included the variables investment, trade openness and the labour force as determinants of economic growth. Findings from the study show that multilateral ODA had a significant negative impact on GDP per capita, while the bilateral ODA model showed a statistically insignificant negative relationship. The findings of the study support the notion that different types of foreign aid cannot be expected to have a uniform impact on growth and development in terms of effectiveness. The recommendations point to the importance of re-evaluation of modalities by donors to ensure that development assistance is more effective in achieving sustainable development goals.

Please read the abstract in the 00front of this document. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2011. / Economics / unrestricted

Two recent developments dominate the political economy of Sub Saharan Africa -- the adoption of economic structural adjustment reforms and the emergence of pressures for the democratization of the political process. Economic reform measures have spawned civil society, made up of anti-authoritarian, anti-statist, non-governmental organizations, that demand political liberalization. This study is an attempt to analyze, theoretically and quantitatively, the unanticipated association between these developments. Democratic institutions inherited by Sub Saharan Africa at independence were subverted either through military coups or by the abuse and misuse of the institutions by an inordinately ambitious political elite. Thus, about a decade into independence more than three quarters of the sub continent virtually came under authoritarian rule. Contemporaneously there was a decline in the economies of these countries, forcing them to borrow from international financial institutions, in order to offset their balance of payment difficulties. By the mid-1980s most of Sub Saharan Africa had also instituted structural adjustment programs. Using a pooled cross-sectional time series model of analysis, data gathered from Sub Saharan African countries are analysed to test the explanatory power of the three extant contending theories of development: classical, dependency, and neoliberal. Then, most importantly, the analysis examines the relationship between structural adjustment, the development of civil society, and democratization. Overall, the results indicate that the institutional structures generated by, and the political millieu created by structural adjustment are conducive for the evolution of civil society and for its activities for democracy. This political opportunity, however, is also found to be dependent on the level of restructuring involved. The more the political system is restructured, the more the freedom of political participation by civil society, and the higher the level of democratization. The study found a very weak relationship between structural adjustment and economic growth, thereby calling into question many current economic policies. It further demonstrated that no one single theory had the advantages over others in explaining the dynamics of both political and economic development in Sub Saharan Africa and, by extension, in other developing countries.

Does allocating large amounts of international aid specifically for fighting HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa have an influence on mortality rates in this region? This paper explores the relationship between total Official Development Assistance and Official Development Assistance earmarked for HIV/AIDS with AIDS mortality and overall mortality within Sub-Saharan Africa between 2000 and 2006. There are no definitive findings from this study to conclude that the amount of any form of assistance aid has a positive or negative effect on mortality. The results suggest that focusing on establishing greater development and less government corruption would more effectively alleviate the high mortality rates in Sub-Saharan Africa than increasing funding for HIV/AIDS.

What has caused the. African continent to remain fragmented, underdeveloped, and lacking liberal democracies? The present study attempts to quantitatively and qualitatively assess the effect European colonialism has had on sub-Saharan Africa democratic development. The research finds that problems of democratic consolidation in sub-saharan Africa are not necessarily due to the primitiveness of government institutions or trivial ethnic tensions, as generally believed. Instead the case is made that decades of absolute and arbitrary rule under European colonizers has hampered democratic development. Disregard for humanity and civility by the European colonial states made a peaceful transition after independence nearly impossible. The current complex challenges obstructing democratic consolidation in sub-Saharan Africa can be understood by examining the region's colonial history. This research project takes into account the uniqueness of Africa's experience by steering away from the traditional Western approach to truly understand Africa's democratic plight. Extensive qualitative research was conducted in order to determine the reasons why democracy is lacking in a majority of sub-Saharan Africa. The effects of European colonialism, the necessary factors for democratic transition, and why democratization is still limited in the region were all examined. While colonialism may not be the sole reason for sub-Saharan Africa's failed democracies, this research finds that it is the instigator of centuries of social, political, and ethnic strife.

No description available.

D.Phil. / This study examines the background, the execution and the consequences of French agricultural development aid to thirteen former French colonies in sub-Saharan Africa. The period under analysis is 1960 to 1980. In a continent which experienced an overall downward trend in per capita agricultural production during this period, despite adequate natural resources and higher aid allocations than other parts of the Third World, it is felt that lessons can be learnt from French aid which was consistent and geographically concentrated. The accent of the study lies on improved understanding of French agricultural aid in francophone sub-Saharan Africa as a whole. It does not assess the impact of French aid on agricultural development at country level ...

The capability approach’s primary point of departure from mainstream economics may be stated simply: it perceives incomes and commodities value predominantly as instruments or means to other ends. In contrast to mainstream economics, the approach places individual freedom at the centre of its attention. Therefore, income is merely one of numerous variables that influence deprivation. The dissertation aligns itself with the capability approach to development in its conclusion that developments’ primary target ought to go beyond a study of the level of per capita incomes as it has more significant moral implication of diminished lives, agonised existences and a large percentage of premature preventable deaths. Therefore, the dissertation advocates a fundamental shift in the measures that economists utilise in their measurement of poverty. Accordingly, the dissertation suggests that the manner in which economists intellectualise the relationship between poverty and the lives that people lead requires alteration. The dissertation provides evidence, using regression analysis, that the democratic frameworks that are in place in Sub-Saharan Africa are failing to provide the negative freedoms that serve as the environment in which individual’s pursue their own conception of well-being. However, the dissertation acknowledges the constitutive and instrumental importance of democracy in the process of development. Therefore, the dissertation argues that it is the shape of democracy that has led to these results in Sub-Saharan Africa. As a repercussion, democracy remains an important ingredient in the development process. Instead of embracing the view that political freedom and, in particular, democracies failure to assist in human development is evidence of a flaw in the capability approach. The dissertation perceives the failure as an opportunity to re-evaluate the nature of democracies in Sub-Saharan Africa. Therefore, there is scope for policy makers to conceptualise and implement policies that will be able to harness the inherent strengths of democracy.

Thesis (M.M. (Finance & Investment))--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, Wits Business School, 2017. / The extent to which the liquidity has an impact on stock return continues to be an eagerly researched topic. The effect on liquidity on the return of stocks has been a greatly debated subject on the capital market theory. The thesis looks at the impact of liquidity on the stock indices return of eight frontier markets. The paper uses two methods to estimate the regression namely, unbalanced dynamic panel Generalised Method of Moments and Fixed Effect Model. An analysis on factors affecting liquidity was done and turnover ratio, Amivest ratio and Amihud ratio were used as a measure for liquidity. The correlation between stock return and the liquidity measure was mixed; with turnover ratio having a negative correlation. Amivest ratio has positive relationship consistent with the risk premium and was found to be significant. However, the correlation on the Amihud ratio was not consistent with the liquidity premium as it was found to be positive. Although negatively correlated to return, the turnover ratio was found to be insignificant. / MT 2017