South African Journal of International Affairs-SAJIA最新文献

{"title":"Discrepancy between theory and practice: Democratic recession or a crisis of state legitimacy?","authors":"M A Mohamed Salih","doi":"10.1080/10220461.2023.2265892","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10220461.2023.2265892","url":null,"abstract":"The discrepancy between democratic theory and practice is common to all democratic and quasi-democratic governments. Democratic recession manifests where there is an extreme discrepancy between normative democratic values and their practice – for instance where the state has flouted democratic normative rules (theory) and rendered major democratic institutions dysfunctional. This article posits that democratic recession can be seen in the 21st century as a reaction to at least four factors: 1) shifts in global geopolitics, 2) a crisis of representative democracy, 3) democratic silence, and 4) the rise of populism and post-truth framing. Indices of democracy do not, however, reveal the extent of the state’s role in undermining democratic institutions (ie, political parties, election monitoring bodies, parliaments, the media, civil society), due to a bias of liberal individualism. The outcome has been a crisis of state legitimacy, where citizens lose trust in the state rather than in democratic governance.","PeriodicalId":44641,"journal":{"name":"South African Journal of International Affairs-SAJIA","volume":"52 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136033554","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Liberalism and Its Discontents <b>Liberalism and Its Discontents</b> , by Francis Fukuyama, London, Profile Books Limited, 2022, 178 pp., R235, ISBN: 978-1-80081-014-3","authors":"Sishuwa Sishuwa","doi":"10.1080/10220461.2023.2265898","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10220461.2023.2265898","url":null,"abstract":"\"Liberalism and Its Discontents.\" South African Journal of International Affairs, ahead-of-print(ahead-of-print), pp. 1–2","PeriodicalId":44641,"journal":{"name":"South African Journal of International Affairs-SAJIA","volume":"446 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135853925","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Reconstructing elections in a digital world","authors":"Nighat Dad, Shmyla Khan","doi":"10.1080/10220461.2023.2265886","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10220461.2023.2265886","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACTThe nature of elections has been transformed by the rise of digital technologies in the last few years, in large part due to the rise of social media platforms and their impact on election campaigning, dissemination of information and opinion formation. Furthermore, digital technologies have been employed in the administration of elections, and are being adopted by electoral management bodies. This article seeks to understand these transformations in light of ongoing debates regarding the regulation of elections and digital technologies by positing an approach focused on international human rights frameworks.KEYWORDS: Digital democracyelectionselection regulationdigital technologytechnology platformsartificial intelligencedisinformationsynthetic media Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Notes1 Sutton Meagher, ‘When Personal Computers are Transformed into Ballot Boxes: How Internet Elections in Estonia Comply with the United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights,’ American University International Law Review 23, no.2 (2009): 349–86.2 Emma Baulch, Ariadna Matamoros Fernandez, and Fiona Suwana, ‘Memetic persuasion and WhatsAppification in Indonesia’s 2019 presidential election,’ New Media & Society (2022); Kristin English, Kaye D. Sweetser, and Monica Ancu, ‘YouTube-ification of Political Talk: An Examination of Persuasion Appeals in Viral Video,’ American Behavioral Scientist, 55, no. 6 (2011): 733–48.3 José Luis Vargas, ‘Study on the Role of Social Media and the Internet in Democratic Development’ (European Commission for Democracy through Law, CDL-LA(2018)001, 2018), https://www.venice.coe.int/webforms/documents/default.aspx?pdffile=CDL-LA(2018)001-e.4 Bisam Gyawali, ‘How digital media impacts voter education in Nepal,’ UNDP (blog), August 10, 2022, https://www.undp.org/nepal/blog/how-digital-media-impacts-voter-education-nepal.5 ‘Voters can now check details via SMS free of charge: ECP,’ Geo News, November 26, 2021, https://www.geo.tv/latest/384465-ecp-introduces-sms-service-to-check-votes-for-free.6 European Commission and United Nations Development Programme, Information Technology and Elections Management: Informed Decisions for Sustainable Outcomes: Summary Report (Mombasa, 2012), https://www.ec-undp-electoralassistance.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/undp-contents-publications-thematic-workshop-ICT-elections-management-English.pdf.7 International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, Introducing Biometric Technology in Elections (Stockholm, Sweden: International IDEA, 2017), https://www.idea.int/sites/default/files/publications/introducing-biometric-technology-in-elections-reissue.pdf.8 EC and UNDP, Information Technology and Elections Management, 25.9 Mark Maguire, Ursula Rao, and Nils Zurawski, Bodies as Evidence: Security, Knowledge, and Power (London: Duke University Press, 2018).10 Privacy International, ‘Exclusion by design: how national ID syste","PeriodicalId":44641,"journal":{"name":"South African Journal of International Affairs-SAJIA","volume":"45 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136352406","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Why Bother With Elections <b>Why Bother With Elections</b> ?, by Adam Przeworski, Cambridge, Polity Press, 2018, Vii + 141 pp., £12.99(paperback), ISBN: 978-1-50952-660-4","authors":"Victor Shale","doi":"10.1080/10220461.2023.2262980","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10220461.2023.2262980","url":null,"abstract":"Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Notes1 James C. McKinley Jr 1997 Zambia Arrests Former President In Crackdown After Failed Coup. Online at: https://www.nytimes.com/1997/12/26/world/zambia-arrests-former-president-in-crackdown-after-failed-coup.html. Also see Michael Chawe (June) 2021 Kenneth Kaunda: Son of Malawian Preacher Who Became Zambia’s Liberation Hero. Online at: https://nation.africa/kenya/news/africa/kenneth-kaunda-son-of-malawian-preacher-who-became-zambia-s-liberation-hero-3441328.2 Nic Cheeseman and Brian Klaas (2018) label this “election rigging”. See Cheeseman, N. & Klaas, B. How to Rig an Election (London: Yale University Press, 2018).","PeriodicalId":44641,"journal":{"name":"South African Journal of International Affairs-SAJIA","volume":"52 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136294624","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Electoral Violence, Corruption, and Political Order <b>Electoral Violence, Corruption, and Political Order</b> , by Sarah Birch, Princeton, NJ, Princeton University Press, 2020, pp. x + 211, £28.00 (paperback), ISBN: 978-0-691-20363-8","authors":"Leontine Loeber","doi":"10.1080/10220461.2023.2263418","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10220461.2023.2263418","url":null,"abstract":"\"Electoral Violence, Corruption, and Political Order.\" South African Journal of International Affairs, ahead-of-print(ahead-of-print), pp. 1–2","PeriodicalId":44641,"journal":{"name":"South African Journal of International Affairs-SAJIA","volume":"44 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136293724","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"How to Rig an Election <b>How to Rig an Election</b> , N Cheeseman, and B Klaas, London, Yale University Press, 2018, pp.320, £18.58, ISBN 978-0-300-20443-8","authors":"Mpilo Pearl Sithole","doi":"10.1080/10220461.2023.2262963","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10220461.2023.2262963","url":null,"abstract":"Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Notes1 Cheeseman, N & Klaas, B, How to Rig an Election (London: Yale University Press, 2018).2 Fukuyama, F. The End of History and the Last Man (London: Free Press, 1989).3 Mills, G. Why Africa is Poor: And What Africans Can Do About It (Johannesburg: Penguin Books, 2010).4 Sithole, M.P. (2020) “Land in South Africa: A Permanent Question; thanks to History, Law and Economics” in The Covid-19 Pandemic in South Africa: A Review of selected Local Governance and Policy Responses, ed. Kariuki, P.; Reddy, P.S.; Wissink, H., Vol 2, 2020, 256–268.","PeriodicalId":44641,"journal":{"name":"South African Journal of International Affairs-SAJIA","volume":"91 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136352740","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Chinese Energy Companies in Africa: Implications for the Foreign Policy of an Authoritarian State","authors":"F. Akeredolu","doi":"10.1080/10220461.2023.2232350","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10220461.2023.2232350","url":null,"abstract":"notes that companies are increasingly being held accountable for their extraterritorial impacts on human rights, as well as environmental and climate issues. As a result, she concludes that companies can now be held responsible for adverse impacts throughout their entire value chain. Part IV is devoted entirely to the negotiations for an internationally binding treaty recounting the previous negotiation rounds, providing a critical assessment, and exploring challenges as well as opportunities. The concluding section highlights the remaining actions required to effectively implement human rights and environmental due diligence. It ends with a strong statement that the business and human rights movement has not yet addressed systemic issues and continues to promote a system founded on growth and free trade. These principles lie at the root of power imbalances and unjust business practices. The book stands out for its inclusion of numerous real cases, successfully illustrating how environmental, and climate due diligence is put into practice. Through this approach, Macchi effectively demonstrates the actual and ‘hard’ consequences of soft law instruments. Furthermore, the use of several current examples, particularly in legislative processes, is a significant advantage of the book, highlighting the topicality of the issue and providing helpful tools for advocating for environmental due diligence. However, this also means that the content may quickly become outdated. One area where the book falls short is its theoretical grounding. Despite consistently referencing the so-called ‘functionalist approach’ (p. 25), it adds little value to the already sound argumentation. To strengthen the theoretical underpinning the functionalist perspective should be applied in other parts of the book, beyond just chapter 2, to demonstrate its usefulness and applicability in the environmental due diligence debate. Macchi has skilfully provided an overview of the evolution of the business and human rights debate, which ultimately led to the adoption of the UNGPs. The UNGPs served as a catalyst (p. 155), not only for moving beyond voluntary approaches in corporate due diligence but also to include environmental and climate issues. The book has an introductory character that may remind readers of a textbook, as evidenced by its clear structure and the abstracts and keywords at the beginning of each part. As such, it is a valuable contribution to students and scholars of political science and law, as well as practitioners and policy makers seeking a comprehensive introduction to environmental due diligence. The thorough footnotes and precise citations are also noteworthy and appreciated by readers.","PeriodicalId":44641,"journal":{"name":"South African Journal of International Affairs-SAJIA","volume":"30 1","pages":"314 - 316"},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2023-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45377509","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Business, Human Rights and the Environment: The Evolving Agenda","authors":"Viktoria Reisch","doi":"10.1080/10220461.2023.2232346","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10220461.2023.2232346","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":44641,"journal":{"name":"South African Journal of International Affairs-SAJIA","volume":"30 1","pages":"313 - 314"},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2023-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46413726","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Green energy transitions and the temptation of natural resource rents: Experiences from Ecuador","authors":"J. Ickler","doi":"10.1080/10220461.2023.2221219","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10220461.2023.2221219","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT In the last two decades, the Ecuadorian state, under the presidencies of left-wing Rafael Correa and his successor Lenín Moreno, has pursued a clearly marked development strategy based on the extraction and export of raw materials, especially oil. In Ecuador’s natural resource-driven development model, the appropriation and distribution of natural resource rents play a significant role. These rents render economic, institutional, and political reforms and development projects possible. However, the dependence of large strata of the Ecuadorian population on these rents presents hurdles for sustainable development in general and a green energy transition in particular. The article explores these challenges, emphasising the economic and political conditions defined by a rent-based logic. Although governments in Ecuador have started to acknowledge the role of green mining in the energy sector, a wholehearted energy transition or a push toward sustainable development might fail because of the formative power of rent.","PeriodicalId":44641,"journal":{"name":"South African Journal of International Affairs-SAJIA","volume":"30 1","pages":"279 - 295"},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2023-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47593885","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The ‘new geopolitics’ of mineral supply chains: A window of opportunity for African countries","authors":"Melanie Müller","doi":"10.1080/10220461.2023.2226108","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10220461.2023.2226108","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Following the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the focus of many industrialised states has shifted regarding where they secure raw materials; a revised geopolitical perspective has impelled states to reduce strong dependencies on certain countries. For the European Union, its proposed Critical Raw Materials Act could have a crucial impact on the economic relationship of EU countries with China, currently the most important source of processed minerals to the EU, causing them to set ambitious diversification targets. How will this rise of a ‘new geopolitics’ of mineral supply chains shape the relationship between the EU and other trading partners, such as mineral-rich countries on the African continent? And how might African economies work to maximise their own benefit from this refocus? The article explores current geopolitical dynamics as they relate to the restructuring of supply chains, as well as opportunities for African economies.","PeriodicalId":44641,"journal":{"name":"South African Journal of International Affairs-SAJIA","volume":"30 1","pages":"177 - 203"},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2023-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47520509","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}