Political Dispensation Research Articles

Teacher leadership in South African schools

The purpose of this study was to explore the role of teacher leadership in the transformation of schools since the advent of the new political dispensation in South Africa. This qualitative study using structuration theory as a lens employed unstructured interviews with 44 teachers (including heads of department, deputy principals and principals) selected from previously advantaged and previously disadvantaged schools. Data were analysed using inductive qualitative data analysis. Among the findings of the study, teacher leadership is conceptualised differently among teachers with a privileged background and those from less privileged backgrounds. The study has shown that teacher leadership is a phenomenon that has political and professional implications and that it was influenced by past struggles of teachers in the previous education dispensation during the apartheid era. While the study has found that political teacher leadership was dominant, it recommends more training of teachers to enhance professional teacher leadership.

The National Democratic Revolution (NDR) in South Africa: An ideological journey

Many people are familiar with South Africa’s political past – the prolonged periods of colonialism and oppression of the black majority, and the eventual dismantling of apartheid and the introduction of a new democratic order. Relatively few people, however, know what principles actually steered South Africa on its journey towards freedom and democracy. It is not uncommon for oppressed people to rise up and institute change through violent revolution. While some groups of people threw their weight behind the idea of an armed struggle, South Africa’s revolution was largely an ideological one ‒ characterised by a succession of struggle leaders debating the merits of communism vs. socialism, forming resistance groups and alliances, and producing authoritative treatises on how to achieve political and economic liberation (not so much a revolution but a bloody evolution). With the desired political dispensation long since attained, South Africa now faces the formidable challenge of freeing the majority of the population from economic bondage – an outcome that few anticipated back in 1994. This paper traces the history of the ‘National Democratic Revolution’ (NDR) as it applies to South Africa ‒ from its tentative beginnings, to its heyday, to the present time when overwhelming economic challenges are now threatening to eclipse much of the ideological fervour and progress of years gone by.

Leadership and Governance: A Case of Cattle Rustling as a Security Threat in Nigeria

Since the beginning of this political dispensation, Nigeria has suffered a lot from bad leadership with most of its leaders not concentrating on the welfare and security of its citizens because of corruption. Poor leadership undermines the legitimacy of democratic values and tolerance from the leaders and other stakeholders. However, the link between leadership and security challenges in Nigeria was analysed. Qualitative method of data collection was adopted, and secondary data was used. The paper found that cattle rustling as a security threat Nigeria was a product of bad leadership in Nigeria. The paper concludes that, until good leadership devoid of corruption, religious and ethnic interest is put in place, transparency and accountability in all aspect of governance is maintained, cattle rustling will be the order of the day.

Addressing the Problem of Political Vigilantism in Ghana through the Conceptual Lens of Wicked Problems

Ghana entered into the Fourth Republic in 1993 after experiencing political instability over two decades. A defining feature that has characterized the Fourth Republic of Ghana and marred Ghana’s democratic credentials is the emergence of political vigilantism. Political vigilantism has basically been perpetuated by the two leading political parties in Ghana: the New Patriotic Party and National Democratic Congress. The major political actors in the political system of Ghana continue to express the debilitating effects of political vigilantism on Ghana’s democratic advancement, nevertheless, it continues to persist in monumental proportion in our political dispensation. Using a qualitative research approach, the paper examines the factors responsible for the pervasiveness of political vigilantism under the Fourth Republic of Ghana and proffer some plausible solutions to address this political canker.

Bose: A Tryst with Press and Politics

The study examines the role of the press as a catalyst in the dominant portrayal of Subhas Bose as the political actor who has been arguably denied his rightful place in the annals of Indian history. The paper investigates the time plane in discourse analysis, the discursive strategies of social actors, and the extra- and supra-textual effects of mediated discourse (Carvalho, 2008) to advocate that press content on Bose is “shaped, pounded, constrained and encouraged by a multitude of forces” (Shoemaker, Reese, 1996). The paper critiques the discourse of The Statesman and Times of India in the light of the socio-political context and the published articles in 2015. This year was instrumental in marking a historical announcement that fundamentally influenced a seventy-year-long dialogue. The paper analyses the re-aligning of the nation’s narrative to create a public consensus incidental to the particular political dispensation of the day. It examines the positioning of Bose as an alternative to the dominant narrative of the national movement with Gandhi and Nehru as central protagonists.

The Place of Students and Workers Activism in Politics: A Historical Reflection

History has revealed that overtime Students and Workers through their activism have played a significant role in politics as they have acted as checks in any political dispensation that is against the common interest. This is because while the proletariats (workers) produce the wealth plundered by those in authority, the students form the literati, on whose shoulders rest the conscience of the society. It was in line with this mandate that in the 19thCentury, Russian students were at the forefront of the struggle against the Czars’ exploitative and dictatorial social system. Similarly, Chinese students constituted the most active groups in the fight against feudalism and Japanese colonization. In the 1960s, students took up arms in opposition to inhumane Western consumer societies and their exploitation and repression of the poor, black and yellow races. Also, American students were actively involved in the civil right movements, especially in the Southern parts. Under the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) they created a climate of opinion about the Vietnam War which the American people could not ignore. In Africa, outbursts in Mali, Zaire, Kenya, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Nigeria and South Africa have shown students and workers as an important factor in decolonization politics. This is because the oppressive policies of the state have most often further impoverish them both physically and psychologically. However, with the attainment of Independence, this role has been crippled by the forces which they paper intends to interrogate. Data obtained from primary and secondary sources were deployed to carry out the study with an analytical and narrative historical method. Findings indicate that oppressive politics has been the major factor that stimulated their role in politics especially during the decolonization process and that in the neocolonial state, emerging forces and policies of the government are directed at destroying this role. Keywords: Workers, Students, Governance, Politics

A commentary on the special issue Performance and Citizenship: Challenging populist political performances through citizenship as performance?

This piece teases out the links between this special issue’s key themes regarding performance and citizenship and the distinct realities of transitional democracies. To contribute to generating insights into other countries currently in the grip of populist political regimes, it looks at the case of the Philippines. In this context, it matters to think about the diversity of productions that can enable performances of citizenship. This is because contemporary media and communication research in the country has understandably but narrowly prioritised the toxicity of online political discourse brought about by the rise of populist political performances and political trolling. It also matters in the Philippines to think about the role of those involved in productions about performances of citizenship. This is because of the problems posed by how ‘authenticity’ has been hijacked by populism and has been weaponised against those who seek to critique the current political dispensation.

For a nation to progress victims must ‘move on’: a case of Zimbabwe’s social media discourses of Gukurahundi genocide silencing and resistance

ABSTRACTThis qualitative research article is about the meaning of debates on the yet to be officially discussed the Zimbabwean genocide. The main focus is on the meanings of discourses of resistance made by social media interactants and activists; those who either never experienced the genocide or those who experienced it as first-generation survivors and victims and through collective memory passed from generation to generation. My main interest is finding out how these discourses of resistance relate to the ‘new’ political dispensation in Zimbabwe that saw the country’s axed Vice President being installed as the country’s President after a military coup. He later called for the citizens to forget the past and let bygones to be bygones. I question the role of social media in discussing the taboo where memory of the genocide is suppressed and criminalized. The paper further explores the concept of ‘Shonaliness’, i.e. the unproblematized Shona privilege of seeing the world and an insistence that that way is the only correct one. I also address the diagnosis and prognosis through alternative discourses from ordinary people using the subaltern digital public sphere concept as a theoretical framework. Data used in this paper were gathered through purposeful sampling and analyzed using CDA.

In the post-Mugabe era: the role of social work in the democratisation of Zimbabwe

This commentary critically discusses the political space prior to, and in the aftermath of, former Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe’s fall from power and the possibilities for a transition from authoritarianism to democracy in a new political dispensation. The article examines the role of social work in contributing to the democratisation of Zimbabwe and makes a great case for the involvement of social workers at the micro- and macro-level in the pursuit of democracy.

Confronting “dark” colonial pasts: a historical analysis of practices of representation in Belgian and Congolese schools, 1945–2015

ABSTRACT Over half a century since the last wave of political decolonisation, the handling of “dark” colonial histories remains topical. Influenced by the postcolonial turn, this study aims to examine, from a novel historical and comparative perspective, evolving textbook representations of Belgian colonialism and its legacy in Belgian and Congolese school history education since 1945. Its diachronic and synchronic narrative analysis identifies continuity and change, and convergences and divergences, in perspectives, emphases, and silences in textbook narratives. Pinpointing the influence of colonialism and postcolonial discourse on educational practices of representation, the study explores the sometimes contradictory influences on these practices of politics, academic historiography, popular historical culture, and processes of educationalisation. The analysis illuminates parallel shifts in the two countries from triumphalist colonialist ideologies towards more critical postcolonial perspectives. In relation to educational practices of representation, often aimed at socialising citizens into worldviews sanctioned by the political dispensation of the time, the traces of these shifts have reflected dominant societal discourses while being largely at odds with historiographical advances. These dynamics are evidence of a slow process of decolonisation of existing power structures and knowledge systems which only gradually gave way to a postcolonial world still in the making.

Okonkwo in Harare? Reading the Poem ‘Déjà vu’ by Nhamo Mhiripiri through an Intertextual Lens

ABSTRACTNew generations of poets such as Nhamo Mhiripiri offer works that question the contemporary being of Africa by exploring the continuities and disruptions between her pre-colonial past and her postcolonial present. Subtly nuanced, such poetry is often concerned with issues of postcolonial poverty, corruption and the abysmal failure to better lives despite new political dispensations, among other themes. These are poets who have grown up with real life beggars and are inspired to highlight the pre-colonial, colonial and postcolonial circumstances of Africa such as are articulated by Chinua Achebe in some of his literary works. In the poem Déjà vu, through a complex matrix of intertextual manoeuvring, Mhiripiri counterpoints the fiercely engaged and active Okonkwo of the novel with the disengaged mendicant of the streets of Harare, that is, the latter persona becomes a literary enemy of the former. Feeding on and off other texts, this poem is patently a response to the general postcolonial African tragedy and that of many other formally colonised parts of the world.

Democracy And Stock Market Development: The Case Of Nigeria

Institutional economics theories stress the importance of political dispensations as a determinant of financial market development. The Literature shows that political institutions can influence financial market system by imposing constrains on the discretion of political power. In addition, a more democratic system may encourage free market and increase the number of new entrants which helps existing firms to be more efficient and improves its performance in the stock market. Democracy can reduce the power of government to manage and control the financial market which in turn increases the level of competition and further improves participation. However, the empirical findings remain inconclusive. There is evidence of positive, negative and/or no direct effect of democracy on financial markets. This paper contributes to this debate by examining the dynamic non-linear effect of democracy on stock market development for the period of 1984–2015 within nonlinear ARDL framework. The results show an asymmetric response of stock market to democracy in Nigeria. In a more specific, it shows that stock market’s response to democracy is negative both in the short run and long run. This finding serves as a confirmation that the stock market behaviors are related in a nonlinear way to the institutional fundamentals. The study therefore suggests that weaknesses in governance system, mismanagement of the economy and failure to grant independence to monetary authority are the key sources of challenges facing Nigerian stock exchange market. Efficiency of stock exchange is anchored largely on the efficient institutional environment. A good institutional framework remains the efficient ways of tackling corruption which has been one of the key factors most investors are afraid of in the context of Nigerian capital market. Sound regulation quality with adequate respect for the rule of law, avoid violence and political instability are very important to ensure efficient operation of Nigerian capital market.

Ethnic and National Attachment in the Rainbow Nation: The Case of the Republic of South Africa

Previous work concerning the interface between racial and national identification within multiracial states has suggested that dominant racial groups tend to express a firmer grip on ownership of and identification with the nation than is the case for racial minorities. This can occur despite inclusionary political rhetoric to the contrary and within nations regarded as civic rather than ethnic states. In this article, we explored the degree to which there were asymmetries in the interface between racial and national identities within the nation of South Africa, a state whose current political dispensation was founded on the principles of racial pluralism. We examined a large sample of South African citizens from the four officially recognized racial categories: Africans, Whites, Coloreds, and Indian/Asians. The results showed mixed support for the idea of South Africa as a “Rainbow Nation.”

Die relevansie van kerkreg met besondere verwysing na die Nederduitsch Hervormde Kerk van Afrika

This article believes church polity is critically important, especially in recent times where an appeal is quite easily made to the courts of the political dispensation. The article believes the scriptural viewpoint that Jesus Christ is head of the church plays a substantial role in the modern-day church, which should be kept in mind regardless. Reference is made to court cases in the past and the conclusion is that church polity is relevant because it is a scriptural necessity.

Modelling tourism demand volatility using a seasonal autoregressive integrated moving average autoregressive conditional heteroscedasticity model for Victoria Falls Rainforest arrivals in Zimbabwe

Accurate tourism volatility forecasts for popular tourist destinations, like the Victoria Falls Rainforest, are vital to tourism destination managers and policymakers. The Victoria Falls Rainforest in Zimbabwe is under the town of Victoria Falls and is one of the natural wonders of the world. The rainforest has many exceptional plant species not common in the region and hence attracts many tourists. Financial, political and economic environments differently affect the Zimbabwean tourism industry, as evidenced by large tourist arrival fluctuations. Previous research focused more on tourism determinants than tourism volatilities. Researchers noted political instability and exchange rates as the major Zimbabwean tourism determinants. Estimates of the Victoria Falls Rainforest tourist arrival volatilities are projected using the monthly tourist arrival figures from the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority and Zimbabwe Tourism Authority. The first difference of logarithmic transformed series is stationary. The univariate SARIMA(2,1,0)(2,0,0)12-ARCH(1) model fits extremely well and provides an informative out-of-sample volatility forecast because it captures tourism volatility effects, dynamics and non-linearity of conditional variances. The results indicate that positive tourism shocks affect tourist arrival volatility positively. Volatility estimates indicated minimal uncertainty in the first half of the forecasted year and then became constant throughout the year. This encourages the continuation of the implementation of new favourable policies and marketing strategies by the government and tourism destination managers to keep the destination distinctive and attractive. The New Zimbabwe political dispensation is likely to enhance investment opportunities at the Victoria Falls Rainforest as a destination because of minimal uncertainties exhibited by volatility forecasts. Potential employment creation, improved economic environment and other positives are some of the expectations from the model results.

Pastoral Letters and the Church in the public square: An assessment of the role of Pastoral Letters in influencing democratic processes in Malawi

The contributory role Pastoral Letters play in Malawi’s democracy cannot be underestimated. Historically, Pastoral Letters have been the voice of the Malawian people, and these have forced authorities to accommodate social and political reforms. From colonialism, federations and independence to the birth and consolidation of democracy, Pastoral Letters have been issued by the Church to State authority demanding political change and improvement in governance issues. For instance, Pastoral Letters issued by the Church put pressure on the British to end colonialism in Malawi, and in 1992, Pastoral Letters hugely contributed to the dismantling of Dr Kamuzu Banda’s, and the Malawi Congress Party’s, three-decade autocratic rule. Even in the multiparty dispensation, which was ushered in during 1994, Pastoral Letters have provided checks and balances to government in the consolidation of democracy. Thus, Pastoral Letters represent the voice of the voiceless in every political dispensation. The article is informed by the Pauline Pastoral Letters’ conceptual framework. The main argument governing this article is that unless there is continuity in the issuing of Pastoral Letters by the Church in addressing specific challenges within a democracy, sustainability of democratic value will always be compromised and not realised.Interdisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: This is an interdisciplinary article that touches on practical and public theology focusing on Church history and polity in assessing the role of Pastoral Letters in influencing the sustainability of democratic processes in a public square. The article contributes to a wider debate on the role the Church’s Pastoral Letters play in determining the sociopolitical landscape in Malawi. However, this is the only article written from a Pauline Pastoral Letters’ conceptual framework.

Questions of minority, agency and voice: student protests in India in 2016

ABSTRACTThis article takes up issues around questions of minority, agency and voice in relation to the student protests sparked off in the capital city of India, Delhi, in 2016, with other student protests reverberating in the background across India on different campuses – in the east, at Jadavpur University in Kolkata, and in the south, at Hyderabad University. Focusing on the moment at midnight 2 March 2016 when the student leader Kanhaiya Kumar was released on bail and returned to Jawaharlal Nehru University campus to address a large gathering, the question is formulated here with respect to how the students of India, who are citizens of the country but who were in a minority in relation to the reigning political dispensation, were treated by their own government almost as stateless migrants are by the nation-states that seek to contain them. This moment of protest and agitation, beamed across the country on television and carried in newsprint and on social media is read here through song, metaphor and the notion of the stateless, reflecting on how the postcolonial was reconfigured when agency was snatched back by students repudiating the subaltern categories into which they had been corralled by the state.

Curriculum under Siege

Citizenship education being central to the process of nation-building, changing political regimes promote a re-imagination of the ‘ideal’ citizen. A perusal of the successive national curriculum frameworks introduced by the NCERT (1975–2005) shows how curricula and textbooks have been repeatedly re-designed to suit the requirements of changing political regimes, throwing up contesting visions of citizenship and nationhood. While this explains the seemingly inevitable state-curricular linkage, the announcement made by the current political dispensation regarding an urgent need for drastic reduction of the curricular load at the school level raises serious concerns. It is widely speculated that the current ruling dispensation supported by its ideological mentor, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), is going to introduce curricular reforms aimed at reshaping the national identity in accordance with its ideological framework. As during the previous NDA regime (1998–2004), this would not only severely damage the multicultural narrative of India’s past and present, but would also pose a serious challenge to the very idea of India.

From appropriation to conservation: Mughal monuments, colonial tourism and the Dak Bungalow

ABSTRACTThe rise in colonial tourism in the post-uprising decades propelled the need for tourist infrastructure in the Indian Subcontinent. This need was met by appropriating historic monuments and reusing them as tourist rest houses, called Dak Bungalows – a common occurrence in Agra and Delhi, former Mughal capitals and popular tourist destinations. Even as the state established the Archaeological Survey of India to safeguard the Subcontinent’s monuments, the transformation carried out by colonial engineers undermined their historic worth in the absence of guidelines. Critical of the engineers’ undertaking, Viceroy Curzon, took up the challenge of ridding monuments, particularly Mughal monuments, of modern interventions. While being instrumental in providing monuments with statutory protection, Curzon appropriated these monuments to legitimize the colonial state’s authority. This paper examines the seventeenth century Mughal city, Fatehpur Sikri, a popular tourist destination in the nineteenth century, where three historic buildings were appropriated and transformed into Dak Bungalows prior to the building of a new Dak Buangalow at Curzon’s behest. Examining these developments against the backdrop of the colonial state’s post-uprising political dispensation, through the prism of monument conservation and colonial tourism, it argues that all forms of engagement with monuments operated within the colonial framework.

African Youth’s ‘Whirl-wind’ Allegiance to Leadership

Realising that most youth militias in African politics get to a point where they dump their erstwhile leaders for change and new political dispensation, this study sought to explore the dynamics behind and the main factors driving youth abandonment of their political ideologies for new pursuits. The study conducted through desk analysis followed a qualitative path in order to produce descriptive results. It specifically focused on Africa. Manifest Content Analysis was employed to process data. The study established that most leaders create political environments that do not allow independent intellectuals and youth empowerment resulting in youth getting tied to the leaders‟ ideology for hope and survival. Along the way, they are used to protect the leaders‟ continued stay in office. It also established that over time, most youth realise the level of abuse and what any other alternative might offer for their development before they suddenly and permanently switch sides. Often times, the abandonment of these leaders mark their demise politically. Key words: Political Youth, Development, Allegiance, Leadership, Youth militia, Ideology