Thesis (MA (Political Science. International Studies))--Stellenbosch University, 2009. / As the ethnic militias increased in strength after the transition to democracy, voices were raised whether they could pose a threat to the consolidation of democracy. In order to understand the problems that ethnic militias pose for the consolidation of democracy we try to show how they were established and how they have influenced the consolidation of democracy in Nigeria. Further, we ask if the ethnic militias have outplayed their role in Nigerian society. The main results show that the ethnic militias arose because of necessity, in an environment where ethno-nationalism was prevalent because of a repressive state’s inability to take care of its own people. The violent activities of the ethnic militias was not good for democracy in the short run, but as a counterweight to the state the ethnic militias played an important role in what can be described as civil society taken up arms. This militarising of society seems to have forced the state to take the ethnic militias more seriously. Hence, it can be claimed that the ethnic militias served as a midwife to the current Nigerian transitional democracy. However, as the state recognised the ethnic militias as a part of the political realm, and not just violent groups, the legitimacy for the ethnic militias eroded. The Oodua People’s Congress (OPC), which was the most influential ethnic militias in Nigeria, has now changed its agenda, and has not gone back to being the socio-cultural organisation as they were formed as. There is an important role for the OPC and the Niger Delta ethnic militias as a counterweight to the state, but dialogue should be the main way of communication, as violence will only foster violence. It seems clear that the state needs to take the first step in order to make this happen. The conclusion is that ethnic militias have had, and still have an effect on the consolidation of democracy by holding the state responsible for its actions, and by punishing the state when it does not act according to its people’s wishes. It can be claimed that they forced out democracy by highlighting the flaws of the Nigerian state even if the way they operated, was not democratic. By highlighting corruption, lack of law enforcement and unnecessary use of force, they were able to bring down the authoritarian rule and make way for the transition to democracy. However, they do not seem to pose a threat to consolidation in the short term, rather they can have a positive effect, as they can act a counterweight to the ruling elite and other forces obstructing democracy. As we show, ethnic militias are and have been a part of civil society, and the focus of the future should be how to incorporate them into civil society, especially the Niger Delta ethnic militias as they are still active. Ethnic militias (except for some ones in the Niger Delta) were a brief phenomena in Nigerian history, and the focus should be on understanding the reason for them coming into being, in order to avoid it happening again. This thesis tries to give a holistic view of the Nigerian political situation. This thesis fills a gap in the literature concerning ethnic militias, by incorporating the most important factors into a framework. This makes it easier to make an accurate conclusion on how they have affected democracy, and questions the opinion that militias were only harmful to Nigerian development. It is the author’s opinion that this thesis will give scholars a more nuanced perspective of the ethnic militias, and lead to more accurate research in the future.

Natural disasters are social and political phenomena. Social structures create vulnerability to natural hazards and governments are often seen as responsible for the effects of disasters. Do social trust, political trust, and government satisfaction therefore generally change following natural disasters? How can media coverage explain change in political attitudes? Prior research suggests that these variables are prone to change, but previous studies often focus on single cases, whereas this dissertation adopts a broader approach, examining multiple disasters. It investigates the social and political impact of natural disasters by examining their effect on social and political attitudes and by exploring media coverage as a mechanism underlying political consequences. The results reveal that natural disasters may have a comparatively frequent, although small and temporary, effect on social trust. Substantial effects are less likely. Social trust was found to decrease significantly when disasters cause nine or more fatalities (Paper I). Political attitudes were expected to be prone to change after natural disasters, but Paper II illustrates that political trust and government satisfaction among citizens are generally hardly affected by these events. Finally, media framing and the political claims of actors explained the variation in political consequences after disasters of similar severity. Paper III also illustrates the importance of the political context of natural disasters, as their occurrence can be strategically exploited by actors to further criticism towards the government in politically tense situations. This dissertation contributes to existing disaster research by investigating more cases than disaster studies typically do. It also uses a systematic case selection process, and a quantitative approach with a, for disaster research, unique research design. Hence, it offers methodological nuance to existing studies. A broader analysis, factoring in the variation of disaster severity and the increased number of cases offers new answers and tests assumptions about underlying patterns. The main contribution of this thesis is that it examines how common political and social effects of disasters are. Furthermore, this dissertation contributes to existing disasters research by emphasizing contextual and explanatory factors, e.g., properties of disasters and the political context that affects the media coverage of natural disasters.

This thesis critically examines the nature and purpose of the MobiSAM partnership, in relation to its value as a model resonating with normative theories on the role of the media in South African democratic society. The MobiSAM project introduces a mobile polling application, designed for citizens to provide real-time, user-generated data on crucial municipal service delivery such as clean water in Grahamstown, Eastern Cape, South Africa. The project has partnered with the local community newspaper, Grocott's Mail, to broadcast this data, with the aim to facilitate citizen participation in public problem solving and support local government accountability in service delivery. Despite pervasive poverty in areas such as the Eastern Cape, mobile penetration in South Africa is near universal. The MobiSAM partnership is an ongoing effort to forge new links between social accountability monitors, new media, traditional media, citizens and local government around public issues in Grahamstown, in line with the development objectives of the post-apartheid South African state. The overall theoretical framework for this thesis is taken from Christians, Glasser, McQuail, Nordenstreng and White's Normative Theories of the Media, which provides an analysis of four roles of the media in a democratic society, that is: the monitorial, the facilitative, the radical and the collaborative roles. Within each of these roles, the stated journalistic approach is explored, that is investigative journalism, public journalism, radical journalism and development journalism. Public journalism is focused on as having the most resonance with the goals of the MobiSAM partnership. The chosen research design is a critical realist case study with the selected methods of thematic document analysis and, primarily, in-depth interviews with key project participants. The research goals were to analyse this primary data against the normative theory on the role of the media in a democratic society, and the 'real world' constraints posed by the project’s specific political and socioeconomic context. The findings conclude by offering certain recommendations and areas for further research, such as the central importance of a dedicated municipal reporter for covering complex public issues. This critical realist case study, drawing on qualitative interviews with both the accountability monitors and the media practitioners, interrogates the philosophical understandings on the role of the media in this new project, towards an empirical model for advancing substantive socio-economic change through media in South Africa.

This study was undertaken with the purpose of analysing the public accountability system of secondary schools in the Johannesburg North District. It also tested the relationship between the accountability system and the effectiveness and efficiency of secondary schools. Over and above principals, learners and parents, the study also utilised numerous published literature to analyse the current accountability system. The findings of the empirical study revealed that there were disparities between the literature review and the current accountability system. Three major findings were made by this study. Firstly, there is a lack of synergy between internal and external accountability systems. Secondly, there are different accountability systems used by different secondary schools in the same District and lastly grade twelve results are used to measure the effectiveness and efficiency of secondary schools in the chosen District. In conclusion, proposals which may assist in improving the current accountability system were made. / Public Administration and Management / M. Tech. (Public Management)