The Palgrave Handbook of Religion, Peacebuilding, and Development in Africa

The Palgrave Handbook of Religion, Peacebuilding, and Development in Africa

Author: Susan M. Kilonzo

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2023-11-18

Total Pages: 819

ISBN-13: 3031368290

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This Handbook explores the ways in which religion among the African people has been applied in situations of conflict and violence to contribute to sustainable peace and development. It analyzes how peacebuilding inspired and enabled by religion serves as the foundation for sustainable development in Africa, while also acknowledging that religion can also be a tool of destruction, and can be used to fuel violence and underdevelopment. Contributors to this volume offer theoretical discussions from existing literature, as well as experiences of practitioners, to deepen the readers’ understanding on the role of religion and religious institutions in peacebuilding and development in Africa. The Handbook provides reflections on possible future developments as well, thereby aligning with the goals of SDG 16.


Grassroots Governance?

Grassroots Governance?

Author: Donald Iain Ray

Publisher: University of Calgary Press

Published: 2003

Total Pages: 324

ISBN-13: 1552380807

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Traditional leadership is a factor that has been long overlooked in evaluations of rural local government in much of contemporary Sub-Saharan Africa -- this volume addresses it head-on. Case studies drawn from Ghana, South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, and Commonwealth countries in West, East, and Southern Africa, as well as Jamaica are included. An interdisciplinary and intercontinental collection that addresses this gap in dialogue about African politics. The book brings new perspectives on the integration, or reconciliation, of traditional leadership with democratic systems of local government.


Seeking Viable Grassroots Representation Mechanisms in African Constitutions

Seeking Viable Grassroots Representation Mechanisms in African Constitutions

Author: Charles Mwalimu

Publisher: Peter Lang

Published: 2009

Total Pages: 742

ISBN-13: 9781433107825

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In this book Charles Mwalimu explores viable grassroots representation mechanisms in African constitutions in order to positively integrate indigenous and modern systems in Sub-Saharan Africa. A comparative study method is used to examine the constitutional principles of chieftaincy and local government and their impact on human rights. To establish and prove lack of positive integration Mwalimu connects this failure to poor constitutionalism, development and stultified growth and human rights violations. This book proposes remedial actions to build nondiscriminatory constitutional regimes eradicating violations of human rights.


Governing Access to Essential Resources

Governing Access to Essential Resources

Author: Katharina Pistor

Publisher: Columbia University Press

Published: 2015-12-08

Total Pages: 390

ISBN-13: 0231540760

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Essential resources do more than satisfy people's needs. They ensure a dignified existence. Since the competition for essential resources, particularly fresh water and arable land, is increasing and standard legal institutions, such as property rights and national border controls, are strangling access to resources for some while delivering prosperity to others, many are searching for ways to ensure their fair distribution. This book argues that the division of essential resources ought to be governed by a combination of Voice and Reflexivity. Voice is the ability of social groups to choose the rules by which they are governed. Reflexivity is the opportunity to question one's own preferences in light of competing claims and to accommodate them in a collective learning process. Having investigated the allocation of essential resources in places as varied as Cambodia, China, India, Kenya, Laos, Morocco, Nepal, the arid American West, and peri-urban areas in West Africa, the contributors to this volume largely concur with the viability of this policy and normative framework. Drawing on their expertise in law, environmental studies, anthropology, history, political science, and economics, they weigh the potential of Voice and Reflexivity against such alternatives as pricing mechanisms, property rights, common resource management, political might, or brute force.


Human Rights and the Environment in Africa

Human Rights and the Environment in Africa

Author: Jean-Claude N. Ashukem

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2023-11-10

Total Pages: 408

ISBN-13: 1000997677

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The relationship between human rights and the environment, as evidenced by the recent UN Resolution on the human right to a healthy environment, is a topical, fascinating, uneasy, and increasingly urgent one. This timely collection explores the inextricable relationship between human rights and the environment as a critical lens for understanding and addressing key human rights and environmental issues confronting Africa. The work explores theoretical, philosophical, doctrinal, and empirical research to interrogate and provide clarity on how and whether the human rights-based approach to environmental protection and policy implications has been effective in enhancing environmental protection and sustainability in Africa. It brings together an elite group of African and international experts to investigate the increasing connectivity and problems with African human rights, environmental governance, and the quest for sustainability. The book is divided into thematic clusters, including: the right of vulnerable communities to sustainability; climate change, the right to development and natural resource governance; corporate environmental responsibility and sustainability; the philosophy of environmental ethics and theories of human rights approaches to environmental governance; procedural environmental rights; the role of the judiciary in environmental protection; and desertification. These themes provide a structure to investigate and clarify specific fundamental questions on Africa’s environmental governance paradigm. This innovative contribution provides an interdisciplinary approach to the philosophical interrelationship and use of human rights approaches to ensure and enhance environmental protection and sustainability. As such, the book will be of interest to African scholars, researchers and students in Human Rights Law, Environmental Studies, Political Science, Ecology and Conservation and Development Studies. It will also be a valuable resource for policymakers, governments, NGOs, practitioners, and all those interested in African environmental governance.


The Dynamics of Power and the Rule of Law

The Dynamics of Power and the Rule of Law

Author: Wim M. J. van Binsbergen

Publisher:

Published: 2003

Total Pages: 348

ISBN-13:

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Recent scholarship has increasingly shown that traditional rulers occupy a pivotal place in the dynamics of power in Africa. Drawing upon the work of Van Rouveroy van Nieuwaal, former professor of African Studies at Leiden University, this collection presents nine case studies of the dynamics of traditional leadership in modern Africa. African and European specialists deal with local situations in countries as diverse as Nigeria, Ghana, Mali, Togo, Cameroon, Zambia, Botswana, Tanzania, and South Africa. The debate on the resilience of African chieftainship adds to the significance of this volume. Wim van Binsbergen is professor of foundations of intercultural philosophy, Erasmus University, Rotterdam, and chair of the theme group on globalization, African Studies Centre, Leiden.