La thèse constitue la première étude d’ensemble de l’œuvre poétique yiddish d’Élia Lévita (1469-1549) qui cherche à définir sa place dans la littérature de la Renaissance en analysant les transferts esthétiques et culturels ayant présidé à sa production. Elle situe l’œuvre vernaculaire de ce savant hébraïste, proche des humanistes chrétiens, dans les traditions poétiques juives hébraïques et yiddish et dans la logique d’une affirmation du rôle de l’écrivain et de la langue vernaculaire dans la société juive. Elle analyse également la portée des modèles extérieurs, chrétiens, en insistant sur l’inscription des romans de chevalerie de Lévita dans l’évolution générale du genre chevaleresque en Italie, et met en évidence le rôle fondamental qu’a joué l’Arioste, et en particulier le Roland furieux, dans le raffinement progressif du projet esthétique de l’auteur. Enfin, elle propose la première analyse d’un certain nombre de textes de la littérature yiddish ancienne, conservés dans des manuscrits, et fournit des arguments pour l’attribution de nouvelles œuvres à Lévita, dont un long poème satirique sur les femmes. Par son ampleur et par sa variété, l’œuvre vernaculaire d’Élia Lévita constitue non seulement la première œuvre moderne de la littérature yiddish mais aussi un cas particulièrement éclairant sur la diffusion des modèles esthétiques de la Renaissance dans des catégories ethniques (les juifs) et sociales (les classes populaires) que l’on aurait pu croire éloignées de ces mutations culturelles. / This PhD dissertation is the first study entirely dedicated to the poetical creation of Elia Levita in Yiddish (1469-1549) and aims at defining its place in Renaissance literature by proposing a detailed analysis of the esthetical and cultural transfers this work illustrates. It locates the vernacular production of this renowned Hebraist, who was acquainted with numerous Christian Humanists, inside the Yiddish and Hebrew poetical traditions and sheds light on the new functions endorsed by the writer and the vernacular language in Jewish society at the beginning of the modern era. It also discusses the influence of external – i.e. Christian – models on the poet and insists on the participation of Levita’s chivalric romances to the global evolution of this genre in Italian literature, by underlying, in particular, the essential role played by Ariost, and his Orlando Furioso, in the progressive refinement of the author poetical practice. Finally, it analyses, for the first time, some texts of Old Yiddish literature which were still buried in manuscripts, and argues for the attribution of new works to Elia Levita, among them, a long satire about women. Elia Levita’s vernacular work not only constitutes, by its size and variety, the first modern work of Yiddish literature but it is also a rich and enlightening example of the diffusion of Renaissance esthetical models inside ethnic and social groups (the Jews and popular classes) which one might have thought untouched by such cultural transformations.

This case-study provides a critical evaluation of the effects of neo-liberal (market-driven) reforms in achieving the goal of human security in Sierra Leone after the civil conflict in 2002. In the context of Sierra Leone, there are fundamental questions about the basic security of the population. This mean the ability to live without fear of conflict and the security to do with the ordinary lives of Sierra Leoneans. This is absolutely central to the post-war reconstruction of that country. It represents a major concern for the international community, the Sierra Leone Government, foreign government donors as well as the NGO communities. Underlying these issues is the subject of which development paragon is best suitable in addressing these questions, and what impact will it have on the people. To understand this, the study has framed the issues of education and health, the two aspects which this thesis focuses upon, as a commitment to human security. Human security has become a dominant theme for many development organisations around the world because of it connection with security and development. Education and health are important because they are crucial social and basic human right that should be provided without any form of unfairness by the state. Because of their multiplier effect, they assist in eradicating poverty and further the attainment of human security. The reforms, which includes privatisation and decentralisation, has been imposed primarily by the World Bank and the IMF to transform the education and health system in order to improve the human security of the Sierra Leonean people. Proponents of these reforms argued that it would provide equal access, make the system more efficient, provide more choices for the population, and enhances accountability and citizens’ participation in governance. As a result of these, the study is important for three reasons: first, it assesses the success of these reforms; second, it offers a better understanding of socio-economic development related to education and health as they are now viewed as a commodity; and third, it suggests ways of enhancing the performance of its delivery intended to assist the population. The evaluation is informed by critical theory, the theoretical framework because: of its usefulness in understanding the concept of power/knowledge, ideology and governance, as neo-liberalism has become a discourse of global common sense that frames policy options as though they were natural or not to be questioned, and yet serve to reinforce the interests of dominant groups. Critical theory enable us to make sense of the hidden power relations in the way knowledge/policy is constituted. Second, critical theory is also a qualitative approach and hence comes as a way of critiquing quantitative methodology. The study argues that it is very problematic to imagine that this strategy (neo-liberal reforms) is actually for the great masses of people living in poor conditions, while it does not address their needs and does nothing to deal with the security of their lives. The study found that the reforms were considered undemocratic, and has led to unequal access thus augmenting fears of stratification on the basis of an individual being rich or poor. Therefore, the study recommends that if the goal of human security is to be achieved, it is important to strengthen citizens’ and other local actors’ voices in governance to develop effective local policies; and government intervention and commitment is also needed to improve the performance of public schools and health care institutions in order to make them more competitive so that they can co-exist with their private counterparts. Key Words: Neo-liberalism, critical theory, education policy, health policy, human security, privatisation, decentralisation, social justice, socio-economic development.

Current political research on peace negotiations is fundamentally incomplete because it lacks the capacity to explain individual intents, choices and actions. This dissertation asks what impact individual negotiators, their approaches and choices of tactics have on peace talks and their outcomes. Individual people—be they representatives of rebel groups, non-governmental organisations or states—negotiate peace agreements. Consequently, an examination of individual motivations and actions in negotiations yields important knowledge. A fuller understanding of political negotiations, negotiators, and their tactics in Sierra Leone and Liberia is facilitated through a multidisciplinary consideration of the psychology, law and management studies literatures that consider individual motivations, biases, and behaviours. Based on extensive field research in Sierra Leone and Liberia, including numerous interviews with key players, I argue that individuals and their specific approaches and tactics influenced and altered the course of these peace negotiations, as well as their outcomes. Negotiators engaged in peace talks with underlying approaches (such as competitive, collaborative and cooperative styles) and then came to use various tactics (including shifting goalposts, hardball, silence, and bad faith), many of which were influenced by their innate biases and frames. Exploring these individuals’ conduct gives us previously unexplored insight into peace processes.

In capital-scarce low income economies, the lack of attractiveness to private foreign investment implies that the only readily available source of external financing for economic development has to come from foreign aid which normally comes with an altruistic motive. However, despite long history of aid-giving to low income countries and especially Sub-Saharan Africa, evidence of effectiveness of such assistance has remained debatable, particularly with the dominance of cross-country studies in such enquiry. With yet no existing country study for Sierra Leone, a typical aid dependent country, this research investigates the relationship between donor intervention (in their aid disbursement) and the development outcomes of economic growth and poverty reduction in the country. In conducting such an enquiry, the study proposed three objectives. The first examines the relationship between aid and economic growth. The second objective investigates the relationship between aid and poverty reduction considering two variants of poverty reduction: improvement of pro-poor growth and aggregate human welfare. The final objective assesses the effect of domestic politics on aid’s effectiveness in improving human welfare. Arising from a pluralistic analytical framework involving a triangulation of econometric estimation approaches complemented with qualitative enquiry, the study finds that aid to Sierra Leone is significant in promoting economic growth in the country. In terms of the impact on poverty, the results show that foreign aid to Sierra Leone has significantly improved long-run pro-poor growth in the country, but this impact could not be confirmed in the short-run. With respect to the other strand of poverty, the study finds that though aid may have not improved human well-being in Africa, it is found to significantly improve human development in Sierra Leone, though the evidence could not support its reduction of infant mortality rate as a second indicator of human well-being. Finally, for the investigation of the link between aid, politics and human development in Sierra Leone, the study finds that though aid is significant in directly improving human development in the country, yet pro-democratic politics (as against autocratic regimes) can also be good a policy option for aid‘s impact on human development in the country. Accounting for disaggregation bias of foreign aid, the study finds that whilst grants seem to consistently improve economic growth, pro-poor growth and human welfare, the study could not find strong evidence to suggest that technical assistance and loans likewise improve economic development the country. The impact of food aid on pro-poor growth is found to be moderate in conformity with the study’s hypothesis. Concluding from the analysis, it is evident in the case of Sierra Leone that the supplemental theories largely hold that foreign aid is vital in the promotion of a country’s economic development. Hence, the intervention of donors in the economy of Sierra Leone has not seemed to be in vain, but has rather proved to be largely useful. It implies that Sierra Leone’s persistent poverty characterisation amidst notable donor presence and participation in the country’s economy has little to do with the fact that foreign aid has not been effective in promoting the country’s economic development, but it may however be that the magnitude of the effect may not have been that high to completely eradicate poverty. The study’s identification of the most effective types of aid as well the realisation of political stability and democracy for enhanced effectiveness of aid in the country could be crucial if the economic significance of foreign aid is to be improved in Sierra Leone.

Between 2014 and 2016, West Africa was struck by the largest ever Ebola epidemic. In Sierra Leone, the outbreak occurred only about a decade after the end of an eleven-year long civil war, which left the country with little capacity to contain the virus. While many have investigated the crisis that the Ebola outbreak caused West African countries, few have turned their attention directly towards the response to it. Following that line of thought, this case study explores how the Ebola response carried out by local, national and international actors played into conflict dynamics in the aftermath of the Sierra Le-onean civil war. By applying the theoretical perspectives of ‘the fortified aid compound’ and ‘dependent agency’, I argue that the response embodied a militarised approach and that it was insensitive towards local customs, which showed in shifting acts of compliance and resistance by beneficiaries. Lastly, by applying the theory of ‘protracted social con-flict’, I argue that conflict dynamics from the civil war were amplified by the Ebola re-sponse to some extent. The study concludes that future responses to epidemics, particu-larly in conflict affected settings, should consider potential negative effects connected to response structures and measures to a greater extent.

No description available.

The principal aim of this study is to examine law enforcement and human rights in a post war African society: Sierra Leone. The major question addressed in the course of this research is: should respect for human rights be relevant to law enforcement and should law enforcement officials in post conflict societies (such as Sierra Leone) be bound by national and international standards in domestic law enforcement in their countries? Also explores the use of dissuasive measures such as prosecution to minimise the culture of impunity by law enforcement officials especially during conflict and post conflict periods / Thesis (LLM (Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa)) -- University of Pretoria, 2008. / A Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Law University of Pretoria, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Masters of Law (LLM in Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa). Prepared under the supervision of Professor Tsegaye Regassa, Faculty of Law, Addis Ababa University – Addis Ababa, Ethiopia / http://www.chr.up.ac.za/ / Centre for Human Rights / LLM

Is the inclusion of social provisions in peace agreements influenced by the participation of women, and if so, why? It is suggested that if women participate in the negotiation, the agreement is likely to broaden with social provisions. But our understanding regarding why social provisions are shaped by the participation of women is still limited as previous research rarely looked at this phenomenon. By drawing on theories suggesting women’s participation will broaden the scope of the negotiation, and theories proposing women through the agency for being at the negotiation table would push for social provisions, this study hypothesizes that if women participate, the agreements are likely to broaden with more social provisions. A content analysis of the agreements reached on Liberia 2003, Sierra Leone 1999, Côte d’Ivoire 2003 and Niger 1995, and a supplementary in-depth comparative case study presents evidence suggesting women does influence peace agreements to become more holistic with more social provisions. At the same time, this study also highlights the essence of taking other factors that shape the scope of the agreements and the presence or absence of social provisions such as the context and duration of the conflicts and the belligerent actor’ will into consideration.

The thesis based on analysis of international community peacebuilding policy and consequent reaction by local actors assesses the influence of this interaction onto the liberal peace and changes in missions' operation. The extent of local ownership and the real agency of local actors is then dependent on the time of mission occurrence, power related interests of international community and the force and accessibility of structures that the international community tries to influence. Key words: peacebuilding, hybridization, local ownership, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Afghanistan, Sierra Leone

Maternal mortality rates in low-income countries remain high and almost two thirds of global maternal deaths are in sub-Saharan Africa (WHO, 2019). Communications interventions such as media and entertainment education initiatives could help improve maternal health outcomes. The aim of this research is to explore this area further; focusing on the case study of ‘Di Kombra Di Krai (Cry of a Mother)’, a maternal health drama produced in Sierra Leone in 2020. The research utilises interviews with key stakeholders in the production, and content analysis, to understand why film is an appropriate medium of communication for maternal health, the processes involved, and the benefits to the participants. This research aims to provide further information that will be beneficial for communication for development professionals and organisations on the role of film in maternal health communication in low-income countries.