| 1. |
- Rock, Anna Ida R.
(författare)
-
Statebuilding through diaspora recruitment? : The role of capacity, norms and representation for legitimacy in Somaliland and Liberia
- 2021
-
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- How do the local elites and the wider population perceive returnees in post-war governments and what shapes these returnees’ legitimacy? Overall, while acknowledging some benefits, local elites in Somaliland and Liberia highlight challenges connected to returnees’ presence in governments and question their legitimacy. These challenges are mirrored in the perceptions of the Liberian population, who see returnees as less legitimate in government positions than stayees. The legitimacy of these returnees is mainly shaped by notions of capacity, democratic norms and practices as well as by how well they represent the local population. This thesis provides several pioneering studies of how diaspora returnees are perceived domestically. These issues are examined through three essays that rely on a wide array of novel data from Somaliland and Liberia. In essay I, I discuss under which conditions returnees in the Somaliland government are seen as legitimate. In essay II, I demonstrate how Liberian elite perceptions and experiences of returnee ministers only slightly correspond to the expectations held in international and national policy circles. In essays I and II, I mainly rely on elite interviews. However, in essay III, I investigate the research question from the perspective of the general Liberian population. Using a survey experiment, I demonstrate how a high presence of returnee ministers negatively affects cabinet legitimacy. This effect, however, is attenuated when returnees indicate that they will give up their ties to their host country. In this way, this thesis problematizes expectations of diaspora returnees by showing how they seldom constitute ideal interlocutors in statebuilding activities and their engagement often implies difficult trade-offs between central peacebuilding and statebuilding objectives. Dominance by returnees in the government excludes local actors and signals that qualifications acquired in the Global North are valued over domestic knowledge. This thesis concludes that in these contexts diaspora recruitment is highly political.
|
|
| 2. |
- Coetzee, Wayne Stephen, 1984-
(författare)
-
Ideals and Interests in Swedish Foreign Policy : Explaining the South African Gripen Deal
- 2018
-
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This dissertation explores ideals and interests (and their interrelation) in foreign policy. An in-depth case study of this issue examines Sweden’s 1999 JAS-39 Gripen fighter aircraft deal with South Africa. Theoretically, the dissertation responds to the long-standing debate in foreign policy analysis about whether ideals or interests drive foreign policy. Speaking directly to research that has aimed to bridge the ideals-interests divide, this study sets out a framework of analysis that encompasses both ideals and interests as well as the relevant contextual forces that impact on foreign policy behaviour. The analysis shows that due to the multitude of richly interrelated elements connected to arms trade, there cannot be a neat and parsimonious distinction be-tween agents and structures or domestic and international settings. Reflected here are real-world practices and strategic relations between those forces that influence foreign policy behaviour regarding Sweden’s Gripen exports. Empirically, the dissertation provides an in-depth account of what the policymaking elite in Sweden was thinking and doing regarding the export of the Gripen to South Africa in the aftermath of the Cold War. The dissertation contends that the Gripen deal with South Africa is an interesting case study for two reasons: It involves long-standing, deeply (if not passionately) held ideals in Swedish foreign policy behaviour towards a country in the so-called Global South as well as compelling interest-driven calculations regarding the political economy of arms trade. These ideals- and interest-driven aspects stand side-by-side in this case study, explaining how Sweden’s foreign policy behaviour reflected and dealt with these issues in its decision to sell advanced fighter aircraft to South Africa.
|
|
| 3. |
- Saati, Abrak, 1982-
(författare)
-
The Participation Myth : outcomes of participatory constitution building processes on democracy
- 2015
-
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Since the early 1990s a growing number of constitution building processes in countries transitioning from authoritarian rule or recovering from war or severe institutional crisis have involved public participation. This increase stems from an assumption made by many peacebuilding scholars and practitioners that public participation in constitution building will lead to higher levels of democracy. This assumption has not, however, been the subject of systematic or comprehensive analysis. Therefore, the overarching purpose of this thesis is to scrutinize the participation-hypothesis - as it is referred to in this study.The study is a two-step investigation. The first part begins with an analysis of twenty cases of participatory constitution building that have occurred in post-conflict states, transitioning states and countries that have experienced a severe institutional crisis. In order to differentiate the cases in terms of how much influence participants were granted, an analytical framework is developed and the cases are categorized as either false, symbolic, limited, consultative or substantial participation. The participation-hypothesis is then empirically investigated by comparing democracy levels prior to and after the process for each of the 20 cases. In order to further test the hypothesis, cases of constitution making in which there was no public participation are then added to the investigation. These cases are included as a point of reference – the democratic outcome in this group is compared with the democratic outcome in the twenty participatory processes. The empirical results reveal that there is no relationship between public participation in constitution building processes and higher levels of democracy. On the contrary, some cases that involved considerable influence for participants have not experienced improved levels of democracy, while cases with low levels of influence for participants have shown democratic improvement. Moreover, a majority of cases of constitution making without public participation have also experienced increases in their democracy scores. Therefore, the conclusion of the first part of the study is that the participation-hypothesis does not stand up to empirical scrutiny.Particularly challenging for the participation-hypothesis is the fact that the analysis in part one shows that similar participatory processes have been followed by democratic improvement in some countries and democratic decline in others. Two such cases are Kenya and Zimbabwe. While democracy levels have increased in Kenya since the conclusion of the process, they have steadily declined in Zimbabwe. In the second part of the study, these two countries are therefore the object of intense, systematic and comparative scrutiny in order to explore factors beyond participation in constitution building that might explain the different trajectories of democracy. The comparison shows that the actions of political elites – in particular their ability to cooperate with each other – is the major explanation as to why the two wind up on different paths. The importance of elite cooperation is well-established in the democratization literature. One major conclusion of this study is therefore that the participation-hypothesis needs to be informed by insights drawn from this literature.
|
|
