This thesis serves to politically conceptualize and explain the popularity of Pentecostalism in Nigeria. The paper focused on the choice of students and employees Covenant University to join that...Show moreThis thesis serves to politically conceptualize and explain the popularity of Pentecostalism in Nigeria. The paper focused on the choice of students and employees Covenant University to join that same university. Covenant University is a private university which is a subsidiary of the Living Faith Church Worldwide (LFCWW), one of the largest Pentecostal churches in Nigeria. This choice of university represents a clear choice to affiliate with or join the Pentecostal community and faith. Covenant University is also a community under full control of the church and a Pentecostal societal model. As an multidisciplinary project, the thesis involved using system-level conceptual analysis of political theory combined with an anthropological ethnographic micro-level study of the Covenant University community. The main argument of the thesis is that while the Nigerian sociopolitical landscape is in a state of disorder, meaning that it is void of a supraethnoreligious ethic and is plagued by extreme violence in everyday life, Covenant University and the LFCWW present themselves as communities of order. This is because they are governed by an overarching ethic derived from scripture and because the main compound of the LFCWW is safe contrasted to the Nigerian public space. Church members and staff explicitly separate themselves from the non-believing populous and the government in a dichotomous friend-enemy fashion. The thesis concludes that the choice of Covenant University as a workplace or place of study constitutes a political choice of order over disorder. As this choice mirrors becoming a Pentecostal church member, the analysis of it bares the political importance the Pentecostal movement in Nigeria.Show less
Even though billions are spent on poverty alleviation, and many thousands of pages of policy have been written, there is no clear idea on the effect of poverty reduction strategies. This paper...Show moreEven though billions are spent on poverty alleviation, and many thousands of pages of policy have been written, there is no clear idea on the effect of poverty reduction strategies. This paper argues that not only development aid has not been durably effective, moreover, this lack of effectiveness is due to a fundamental misunderstanding of what is poverty. This paper argues that the mismatch between poverty-definitions of donor and recipient can be solved through a new conceptualization of poverty, in which its intersocial dimension is central. Two new concepts are introduced: aspiration (the desire to belong to a group which possesses certain commodities – ranging from material goods to civil or human rights, and more) and acceptation (the condition that the group needs to accept an aspirer). Hence, poverty is defined in terms of agency, individuality and desire. The last step made in the argument is to apply the new conceptualization – the Aspiration Approach – to three recurring themes in Dutch development aid to Sub-Saharan African countries. It is shown here how a different definition of poverty can lead to a better understanding of failing development aid. The Aspiration Approach to Poverty defines poverty as the state in which one can be where one has aspirations that cannot be fulfilled. This unfulfilment can obviously have many reasons, but the reason that stands out in the Aspiration Approach is that others – the Opulent Society – do not accept the validity or worthiness of the aspirations.Show less
The purpose of this thesis was to broaden understanding of the artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASM) formalisation experience in Côte d’Ivoire. The research was focussed on how the formal...Show moreThe purpose of this thesis was to broaden understanding of the artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASM) formalisation experience in Côte d’Ivoire. The research was focussed on how the formal regulatory framework for ASM is connected to the informal status of the sector in the country. The research has presented different findings. Firstly, due to a long period of political instability and a high international gold price, the artisanal and small-scale gold mining sector has experienced a strong growth over the 1999-2011 period in Côte d’Ivoire. In a response to the strong growth and the negative social and environmental impacts of the sector the government of Côte d’Ivoire presented the PNRO in 2013 for the effective regulation of the sector. While the program was aimed to end in 2016, the implementation of the process is still ongoing. The direct results of the program and experiences of different stakeholder in the field present an image of a formal regulatory framework that was ineffective: no (or very limited) authorisations have been handed out, no geologically viable ASM corridors have been identified and the negative impacts of the ASM sector, including LSM-ASM conflicts, have not decreased. This narrow focus, together with the bureaucratic procedures and costs to obtain an authorisation, the private control of informal gold mines by high ranking politicians, the prioritization of large scale mining and a lack of capacity by the government, have contributed to the design and implementation of an ineffective formal regulatory framework for the artisanal and small-scale gold mining sector in the country. A consequence of this, is that with the current approach the sector is deemed to stay informal and increases the likelihood of ASM-LSM conflicts. This scenario is unwanted, because it leaves the ones that most need an effective regulatory framework left in informality, it increases problems with insecurity for mining companies and creates a huge losses of tax revenues for the government. The sole actors that profit from an informal ASM sector are the ones that benefit from the illicit trade of gold.Show less
The thesis approaches the complex of ethnicity in Rwanda under German colonial rule (1885-1916) and focuses on how Rwandan social structures were perceived by German colonialists and influenced by...Show moreThe thesis approaches the complex of ethnicity in Rwanda under German colonial rule (1885-1916) and focuses on how Rwandan social structures were perceived by German colonialists and influenced by their policy. The research question – what was the German approach to ethnicity in the former protectorate of Rwanda, what informed it, and how did it impinge on the society? – already suggests that this period is severely under-researched. Challenging the contemporary discourse that it was the Belgian rule under which Hutu and Tutsi were divided into two premordial entities, the thesis argues that it was earlier, during the German period, that social differences were introduced as racial differences. This argument gets developed on the basis of archive material and with a focus on four key personalities who were implementing German racial ideology in Rwanda by translating it into colonial policy. Without attributing direct responsibility for the 1994 genocide to the German rule, the case shows that the search for root causes of ethnic conflict in Rwanda must consider this timespan as a crucial incision for the further developments that tore society apart along racial lines.Show less
