{"title":"A Coalition for Change? Role Orientations in the 12th Parliament of Botswana.","authors":"Anja Osei, Batlang Seabo","doi":"10.1080/03057070.2024.2476901","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/03057070.2024.2476901","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Botswana's parliamentary democracy features a weak parliament that is ineffective in law making and executive oversight. Conventional explanations emphasise a dominant party system that emerged following independence, lack of operational independence from the executive, and the poor capacity of parliament as factors that undermine its effectiveness. Using a novel dataset that is based on interviews with Members of Parliament (MPs) on a wide range of issues, including their role orientations, this article tests several interrelated hypotheses to investigate whether there is an emerging coalition for change. The article finds that there is a group of opposition MPs that constitutes a coalition for change because they are reform oriented, discuss parliamentary affairs and exercise executive oversight. We argue that this coalition for change is marked by a connected communication structure. The study furthers our understanding of the functioning of parliament as a core institution of Botswana's democracy.</p>","PeriodicalId":47703,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Southern African Studies","volume":"50 4","pages":"643-663"},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2025-04-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11974910/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143812752","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"‘It took courage to die in Angola’: Umkhonto we Sizwe’s War versus UNITA, 1975–89","authors":"Daniel L. Douek","doi":"10.1080/03057070.2024.2401735","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/03057070.2024.2401735","url":null,"abstract":"Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK), the armed wing of the African National Congress, is reputed to have been a largely ineffective guerrilla army which hardly challenged the apartheid war machine. Instead, thi...","PeriodicalId":47703,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Southern African Studies","volume":"52 2 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2024-10-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142556180","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"One Livelihood Risk Factor Too Many? How Unintended Impacts of Conservation Contribute to Food Insecurity in Kavango Zambezi, Southern Africa","authors":"Manuel Bollmann","doi":"10.1080/03057070.2024.2403942","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/03057070.2024.2403942","url":null,"abstract":"Kavango Zambezi (KAZA) is the world’s largest terrestrial Transfrontier Conservation Area (TFCA), covering vast regions of Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Elephants and other specie...","PeriodicalId":47703,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Southern African Studies","volume":"130 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2024-09-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142486796","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Land and its People: The South African ‘Land Question’ and the Post-Apartheid Political Order","authors":"Andries du Toit","doi":"10.1080/03057070.2024.2403902","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/03057070.2024.2403902","url":null,"abstract":"Why is it that South Africa’s ‘land question’ is so stubbornly resistant to resolution? This think piece re-examines 30 years of debate, concentrating on the disjuncture between the discourses of p...","PeriodicalId":47703,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Southern African Studies","volume":"7 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2024-09-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142556182","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Using Written Consent Forms When Conducting Non-Elite Qualitative Research: Reflections from Zambia","authors":"Robert Macdonald","doi":"10.1080/03057070.2024.2386650","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/03057070.2024.2386650","url":null,"abstract":"Many ethics review bodies now routinely recommend the use of written consent forms as the default method of obtaining informed consent, including for research conducted in African countries. Althou...","PeriodicalId":47703,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Southern African Studies","volume":"6 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2024-09-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142383945","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"A Sonic Biography of an Afterlife: The Expelled Liberation Leader Uria Simango in Mozambican Rap","authors":"Janne Rantala","doi":"10.1080/03057070.2024.2372556","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/03057070.2024.2372556","url":null,"abstract":"This article focuses on two interlinked trends in public memory in Mozambique: the rise of alternative heroes and parallel invocations of seemingly incompatible heroes, particularly as they relate ...","PeriodicalId":47703,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Southern African Studies","volume":"56 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2024-08-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142325713","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The environment, capital and the politics of race in South Africa","authors":"Tholithemba Lorenzo Ndaba","doi":"10.1080/03057070.2024.2383081","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/03057070.2024.2383081","url":null,"abstract":"Published in Journal of Southern African Studies (Vol. 50, No. 1, 2024)","PeriodicalId":47703,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Southern African Studies","volume":"30 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2024-08-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142118027","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Land, Labour and Liberation: The Political Ecology of Southern Africa’s Unresolved Tensions","authors":"Alex Beresford","doi":"10.1080/03057070.2024.2385873","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/03057070.2024.2385873","url":null,"abstract":"Published in Journal of Southern African Studies (Vol. 50, No. 1, 2024)","PeriodicalId":47703,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Southern African Studies","volume":"8 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2024-08-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142118028","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}