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Table of Contents :
An Afrocentric Reflection on the Prospects and Limits of Economic Sanctions in Africa: The Case Studies of Zimbabwe and Libya
Kgothatso B. Shai, Lebogang T. Legodi, Mustapha Darboe and Binta Ly Touray 5
There is a wide body of academic literature on economic sanctions, which have become one of the key tools of international relations between the developing and industrialised states. What emerges from this literature is that the use, efficiency and limits of economic sanctions is not uniformly understood within the academic and diplomatic circles. The competing accounts on this subject cannot be delinked from the varying ideological interests of the states who impose economic sanctions and those who are targeted. In the ideational space, much of the literature in this regard is also based on Westernised perspectives and critics, which do not necessarily capture the essence of African reality. As such, this paper adopts Afrocentricity as a theoretical and contextual lens to reflect on the prospects and limits of economic sanctions in Africa. Due to the mosaic nature of Africa, this paper employs Zimbabwe and Libya as case studies in order to paint a qualitatively rich picture of the phenomena being studied under a context of limited respondents. The major revelation of this paper is that economic sanctions have short term achievements in terms of the change of deviant behaviour in the international system. With Zimbabwe and Libya cases, in the long run, however, economic sanctions have a potential to also harm the same segment of the population that is theoretically meant to benefit from them.
Nigeria has the potential to give business owners and investors high returns on their investments. However, the upsurge in kidnapping for ransom in the country portends the risk of kidnapping investors for ransom. The purpose of this paper was to critically analyze the susceptibility of foreign investors to victimization by kidnappers in Nigeria, from the standpoint of routine activities theory, and the associated implications for Nigeria. The paper relies on secondary data sources and adopts a descriptive and analytical method. The paper found that kidnapping for ransom, which is rife in Nigeria, jeopardizes the chances of Nigeria benefitting significantly from the contribution of foreign investment to economic development. Also, the chances of Nigeria taking advantage of the employment opportunities, technology transfer, and human capital development offered by foreign direct investment are slim. Furthermore, it jeopardizes the chances of Nigeria generating revenue from the taxes paid by foreign investors. Based on the submission of Routine Activities Theories, the paper recommends situational crime prevention strategies as a way of preventing kidnappers' victimization of foreign investors in Nigeria.
This article discusses the tactics used by trade unions and the challenges they face in the process of collective bargaining in local councils in Zambia. A sample of 112 respondents and key informants were chosen, of which 12 were union officials and 100 were workers from three local councils in Lusaka province. In the collection of data from the 12 key informants, purposive sampling was used while stratified sampling was employed to select the 100 workers from the three local councils.
The findings reveal that the main strategy used by trade unions in collective bargaining in local councils is to present several demands to management. These include salary increment, allowances and insurance cover, among others. This strategy is used to increase the chances of securing benefits for workers. However, the unions face a number of challenges in the bargaining process. The challenges include delays to get response from management, lack of information, lack of seriousness from union leaders, poor communication between union leaders and members, and interference from management. Because of these challenges, most of the workers are not happy with the collective bargaining process and the tactics used by their unions.
The primary goal of the investigation was to learn about the psychological difficulties of being a teen mother in senior high schools and the coping mechanisms which they adopt to cope with the challenges. The research is qualitative in nature, in which a phenomenological design was employed. The researcher focused on a population of girls who are 13 years and above who had delivered and were attending Senior High School. Twelve (12) adolescent mothers were chosen as a sample to take part in the study. Guide for semi-structured interviews was employed to collect data from the participants who were selected through convenience sampling technique. It was discovered that the teenage mothers experienced sadness, anger, and worry. It also emerged from the study that the participants relied on various coping mechanisms such as withdrawal from peers, modeling and prayers to deal with the challenges. As a result, the study recommends that the Ghana Education Service (GES) should vigorously pursue guidance and counselling programmes at Senior High Schools to enable such students to achieve high laurels according to their academic abilities.
A transdisciplinary heath team was established at the Missionvale Psychology Centre (MPC). The bulk of referrals to this Centre consist of children experiencing difficulties at school – many of whom have been diagnosed with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) and related conditions. An informed decision was taken to address this problem as part of the collaboration between the Missionvale Care Centre (MCC) and the MPC. This article focuses on pregnant mothers’ overall levels of awareness, knowledge levels, and practices regarding their consumption of alcohol during pregnancy. The above-mentioned research was undertaken in the Missionvale area, an impoverished township situated in Gqeberha, Eastern Cape. This study utilised a quantitative research approach where a purposive sampling strategy was employed to recruit participants. Data collection comprised of a questionnaire consisting of four sections pertaining to individuals demographics, knowledge, awareness, and practices related to alcohol use in pregnant women. The statistical analysis together with qualitative comments expressed provided a comprehensive understanding of pregnant women’s levels of knowledge regarding alcohol use. Results revealed that respondents possess a foundational level of awareness of the negative effects of alcohol during pregnancy; however most of the participants lacked specific knowledge of the negative effects of prenatal alcohol use.
The increasing rate of psycho-social distress among depressed patients cannot be overemphasised. Despite this, attention was always given to other medical and psychiatric conditions. Hence, this study aims to examine psycho-social predictors of perceived stress among depressed out-patients in some selected Northern Nigeria psychiatric hospitals. This research adopted a cross-sectional design, and a purposive sampling technique was used to select 391 depressed out-patients. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis revealed that educational attainment, perceived stigmatisation and perceived social support jointly predicted stress, and contributed a variance of 7% to the observed changes in perceived stress. On the dimensions of social support; support from family and significant others predicted perceived stress. The above-mentioned variables play an important role in experiencing stress among depressed out-patients. Thus, it is important to strengthen sensitisation programmes among depressed patients on the implication of self stigmatisation and perceived alienation in the recovery process.
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