The African Peer Review Mechanism
The African Peer Review Mechanism

Author: Ross Herbert

Publisher:

Published: 2008

Total Pages: 428

ISBN-13:

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"The African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) is an innovative approach to improving African governance. It offers important opportunities for public dialogue but has proved politically and logistically challenging. The first in-depth study of the APRM, this ground-breaking book analyses the evolving peer review process in the first five countries. The product of a five-year research and training programme, it combines in-depth analysis of the APRM rules with an insightful evaluation of the political and social dynamics. Drawing on extensive interviews across the continent, it offers sounds recommendations to strengthen the process and deepen public participation. An invaluable resource for civil society and governments, this volume includes an interactive APRM Toolkit CD-ROM with the official APRM guidelines, final country reports, survey instruments, academic papers, video testimonials and a comprehensive collection of the governance codes and standards embraced by the APRM."--Back cover.

Integrating Africa
Integrating Africa

Author: Martin Welz

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2012-10-02

Total Pages: 273

ISBN-13: 1136235191

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The African Union (AU) is a continental organization that comprises every African state except for Morocco, is indeed a pioneering undertaking. Its ambitious aim is to integrate all member states, with the ultimate goal of forming the United States of Africa. Despite several attempts to build a union, the AU has remained an intergovernmental organization, one reason being a perceived unwillingness of the AU states to pool their national sovereignties. This study seeks to comprehend why Africa’s integration process has not moved towards a supranational organization, using a novel approach. It shifts the usual perspective away from the organization level and provides the first comprehensive and systematic analysis of the AU from the perspective of the states themselves. It includes 8 comprehensive case studies: Algeria, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Mauritius, South African, Swaziland, Uganda and Zimbabwe to help understand their foreign policy and provide key insights into why they are (un)willing to yield sovereignty. This work will be of great interest to students and scholars of African politics, international relations and international organizations.

Problems, Promises, and Paradoxes of Aid
Problems, Promises, and Paradoxes of Aid

Author: J. Oloka-Onyango

Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing

Published: 2014-11-10

Total Pages: 395

ISBN-13: 1443870935

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This book is an anthology of essays contributing new scholarship to the contemporary discourse on the concept of aid. It provides an interdisciplinary investigation of the role of aid in African development, compiling the work of historians, political scientists, legal scholars, and economists to examine where aid has failed and to offer new perspectives on how aid can be made more effective. Questions regarding the effectiveness of aid are addressed here using specific case studies. The question of ownership is examined in the context of two debates: 1) to what extent should aid be designed by the recipient country itself? and 2) should aid focus on “need” or “performance”? That is, should donors direct aid to the poorest countries, regardless of their policies and governance, or should aid “reward” countries for doing the right thing? The future of aid is also addressed: should aid continue to be a part of the development agenda for countries in sub-Saharan Africa? If so, how much and what type of aid is needed, and how it can be made most effective? The major criticism against aid is that it cripples the recipient country’s economic growth by turning it into a passive receiver; in addition, it has been noted that aid is mostly supply-driven, depending upon donors rather than the actual needs of recipients. For this reason, aid may not meet the goals for which it was intended. To meet the needs of the communities they want to help, donors should work through consultation and a measure of recipient ownership. Donors need to understand context, to protect human rights, and to be guided by principles of social and environmental justice. Other suggested strategies for making aid more effective include peer review; self-assessment; the empowerment of women; encouraging accountability; investing in agriculture; helping smallholder subsistence farmers; introducing ethical and professional standards for civil service; and raising the competence of civil servants.

Selected Themes in African Political Studies
Selected Themes in African Political Studies

Author: Lucky Asuelime

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2014-08-04

Total Pages: 150

ISBN-13: 3319060015

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Against the background of a long and continuing record of political instability in Africa, this edited collection presents a multi-disciplinary approach to selected issues in African political studies. The contributions explore a range of political and conflict situations, discuss efforts to develop indigenous conflict resolution mechanisms and consider some of the key political and economic issues facing the continent. The specific country studies illuminate the diversity of the African continent and indicate the ways in which the political and socio-economic contexts of African states bear directly upon the ability of states to solve political and economic challenges. The volume seeks to present and promote novel analytical frameworks, conceptual approaches and empirical accounts of relevance to scholars working on Africa and to practitioners and policy makers in politics, governance and peace initiatives in Africa.

African Solutions
African Solutions

Author: Tšoeu Petlane

Publisher: Jacana Media

Published: 2011

Total Pages: 154

ISBN-13: 1920196323

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"African Solutions is a result of research into the policies, programmes and experiences identified as best practices in the Country Review Reports (CRRs) of twelve countries published under the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), from Algeria, Benin, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Mali, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa and Uganda. The research was commissioned and coordinated by the Governance and APRM Programme of the South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA). To justify this inquiry, they argued, among others, that with the APRM conceived a voluntary mechanism, and in the absence of 'hard pressure' for compliance, incentives - rather than sanctions - could be the way to strengthen the APRM. Thus the importance of best practices: as templates and models for reform, and as a counterbalance to the temptation to concentrate on what is not working in Africa. In this book, therefore, best practices identified in the twelve CRRs are examined critically and methodically with a view to understanding: how they are conceptualised within the APRM (including their definition and how they are intended to be used to achieve the desired results); how the items reported as best practices qualify to be regarded as such in the sense of being demonstrably better than the rest, replicable and addressing APRM goals; and how they can be strengthened for use as material from peer learning within the APRM and around the continent"--Back cover.