The concept of agency refers to the ability of agents to shape their environment. Most existing literature focuses on agency as a product of governmentality, which shapes the desires of the...Show moreThe concept of agency refers to the ability of agents to shape their environment. Most existing literature focuses on agency as a product of governmentality, which shapes the desires of the population towards promoting a pro-development environment. However, recent scholarly work has delved into the role of agency when utilised by leaders to stimulate economic development. There is ongoing debate regarding the extent to which economic performance is improved by the agency of leaders or populations. Through a case study of Ethiopia, this thesis demonstrates that Abiy Ahmed's agency has contributed to the country's economic performance, while the agency of the Ethiopian population has had no impact on the national economy. The findings suggest that under developmental patrimonialism, developmental leadership, and developmental financial and economic policy, leaders employ agency that positively influences national economic performance. However, the study indicates that the agency of the population does not lead to similar positive outcomes. This is attributed to limited governmentality and weak social ties within Ethiopia, which hinders the population's ability to drive the economy through agency. In conclusion, the case study contributes significantly to the ongoing debate about the effects of leaders' and populations' agency on economic performance.Show less
The rising threat of climate change and its shocks lead to forced migration flows globally, which have important implications for human security. This research aims to analyse the impact of...Show moreThe rising threat of climate change and its shocks lead to forced migration flows globally, which have important implications for human security. This research aims to analyse the impact of environmental forced migration within countries on the likelihood of violent conflict in Africa. This quantitative study expects to find a positive relationship between environmental migration flows and violent conflict through two conditional effects, being political institutions and past conflict. It is hypothesised that democratic states are better in mitigating conflict than non-democracies and that hybrid regimes experience more conflict caused by migration flows than both authoritarian and democratic regimes. Moreover, it is expected to observe that countries that have previously experienced conflict or currently experience ethnic, religious, or other social divisions are more vulnerable to the onset of new conflict. After conducting the statistical analysis, the empirical results support the theoretical prediction regarding the conditional impact of democratic and authoritarian regimes, but hybrid regimes appear to experience more violent conflict than authoritarian regimes. Moreover, the results appear to be insignificant regarding past conflict experience.Show less
