Download or read book Unilever Estates in Crisis and the Power of Organizations in Cameroon written by Piet Konings and published by Lit Verlag. This book was released on 1998 with total page 166 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The current economic crisis and political liberalization process in Africa have led in many cases to a partial withdrawal of the state, creating more space for autonomous forms of organization and action. Most analyses of these developments focus only on the national level, overlooking forms of organization and action at regional and local levels. This monograph tries to fill this gap. It first examines the impact of the current economic crisis on one of the oldest private agro-industrial enterprises in Cameroon, the Plantations Pamol du Cameroun Ltd, or Pamol, as it is still popularly called. It is a subsidiary of the giant Unilever company located in the South West Province of Anglophone Cameroon. The Francophone-dominated Cameroonian state denied any assistance to the ailing company during the crisis, leading to Pamol's liquidation in 1987. Interestingly, the newly appointed liquidator then decided to run the company as an ongoing business until a prospective buyer was found. The book also assesses the roles played by Pamol's trade unions and contract farmers'cooperatives, as well as by newly created regional elite groups and associations, in defence of their members' interests. Their capacity to act appears to be strengthened by the current political liberalization process.
Download or read book The Leadership Challenge in Africa written by John Mukum Mbaku and published by Africa World Press. This book was released on 2004 with total page 592 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This collection of essays, written by an outstanding group of scholars, makes a significant contribution to the debate on poverty alleviation in Cameroon, the country's stalled transition to democratic governance, identity and citizenship and the equitable allocation of resources. The essays contain a refreshing, rigorous and informative analysis of the Biya regime, opposition politics and provides practical strategies to enhance peaceful co-existence and sustainable develpment in the country.
Download or read book Crisis and Neoliberal Reforms in Africa written by Piet Konings and published by African Books Collective. This book was released on 2011 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book discusses the social and political consequences of the economic and financial crisis that befell African economies since the 1980s, using as case study the plantation economy of the Anglophone region of Cameroon. The focus is thus on recent efforts to liberalize and privatize an agro-industrial enterprise where overseas capital and its domestic partners have converged, the consequent modes of production and labour, and the alternatives proposed and resistance generated. The study details how the unprecedented crisis caused great commotion in the region, and presented a serious challenge to existing theories on plantation production and capital accumulation. The crisis resulted in the introduction of a number of neoliberal economic reforms, including the withdrawal of state intervention and the restructuring, liquidation and privatisation of the major agro-industrial enterprises. These reforms in turn had severe consequences for several civil-society groups and their organisations that had a direct stake in the regional plantation economy, notably the regional elite, chiefs, plantation workers and contract farmers. On the basis of extensive research in the Anglophone Cameroon region, Konings shows that these civil-society groups have never resigned themselves to their fate but have been actively involved in a variety of formal and informal modes of resistance.
Download or read book A Nation at Risk written by Peter Wuteh Vakunta and published by iUniverse. This book was released on 2012-08-02 with total page 206 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Nation at Risk: A Personal Narrative of the Cameroonian Crisis should be construed as a requiem for what used to be known as the Republic of Cameroon. The overriding objective of this book is to shine the searchlight on the dysfunctional government of Cameroon under President Paul Biya, a minuscule man and matching mind, endowed with a gargantuan ego. Those who wish to comprehend the apocalypse toward which the Cameroonian nation has been propelled by the rogue government of Mr. Biya would do well to study the minds of the men at the helm. Mr. Biya and his henchmen enjoy playing at and for power. The politics of power is for them an act of intellectual masturbation. Even the diabolism inherent in the phenomenon of power is something they relish. In Nation at Risk, Peter Wuteh Vakunta, a prolific writer in his own right, has successfully pieced together a compelling narrative of the many facets of the crisis that has plagued Cameroon during the more than three-decade presidency of Mr. Paul Biya. Lucid and captivating, this landmark volume provides a seminal contribution to readers appreciation of the social, political, economic and cultural events that have shaped Cameroons history from the time of independence from colonial masters to date. Vakuntas penetrating analysis of the lackluster governmental modus operandi of President Biya is a must read for all Cameroonians and friends of Cameroon who feel deeply about the future of this often forgotten African nation. Dr. Peter Ngwafu Ajongwa, Associate Professor
Download or read book Neoliberal Bandwagonism Civil society and the politics of belonging in Anglophone Cameroon written by Piet Konings and published by African Books Collective. This book was released on 2009-11-01 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Civil society and empowerment have become buzz words in neoliberal development discourse. Yet many unanswered questions remain on the actual nature and configuration assumed by civil society in specific contexts. Typically, while neoliberals perceive civil-society organisations as vital intermediary channels for the successful implementation of desired economic and political reforms, they are inclined to blame the current resurgence of the politics of belonging for the poor record of these reforms in Africa and elsewhere. This book rejects such notions and argues that the relationship between civil society and the politics of belonging is more complex in Africa than western donors and scholars are willing to admit. Konings argues that ethno-regional associations and movements are even more significant constituents of civil society in Africa than the conventional civil-society organisations that are often uncritically imposed or endorsed. He convincingly shows how the politics of belonging, so pervasive in Cameroon, and indeed much of Africa, during the current neoliberal economic and political reforms, has tended to penetrate the entire range of associational life. This calls for a critical re-appraisal of prevalent notions and assumptions about civil society in the interest of African reality. Hence the importance of this book!
Download or read book Labour Relations in Development written by Alex Fernández Jilberto and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2002-08-22 with total page 439 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This timely and well-written collection explores the impact of economic reforms in developing and transitional economies across the world. In a first of its kind, this book examines such issues as:* in-depth, cross-regional analysis of the pressures for global integration* labour costs and their determinants: crucial factors in the success of econo
Download or read book Fractures and Reconnections written by J. Abbink and published by LIT Verlag Münster. This book was released on 2012 with total page 265 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This collective volume pays tribute to the work of Africanist Piet Konings and his 30-year career (1978-2008) at the African Studies Centre Leiden. It focuses on key themes addressed in Konings' work such as labour relations, African development, social and political history, ethno-regionalism, and civil society and civic movements. Contributions: Introduction: Piet Konings' contributions to African Studies (J. Abbink); The political economy of authochthony: labour migration and citizenship in Southwest Cameroon (Peter Geschiere); 'Ganyu' in Malawi: transformation of local labour relations under famine and HIV/AIDS duress (Deborah Fahy Bryceson); Labour migration from the Gold Coast to the Dutch East Indies: recruting African troops for the Dutch colonial army in the age of indentured labour (Ineke van Kessel); Economic crisis and imaginative response: the upsurge in traditional medical practices among youths in Cameroon (Robert Mbe Akoko); Taking Africaness and African law seriously in South African law schools: some conceptual challenges (Francis B. Nyamnjoh); Football in Cameroon: its origins, politics and sorcery (Paul Nchoji Nkwi); 'Sagacity spirit' and 'ghetto ethic': 'feymania' and new African entrepreneurship (Basile Ndjio); Examining the architecture of electoral authoritarianism in Cameroon (Nantang Jua); Multipartyism and 'big man' democracy in Cameroon, 1990-2011 (Ibrahim Mouiche). [ASC Leiden abstract]
Download or read book The Future of Organised Labour written by Craig Phelan and published by Peter Lang. This book was released on 2007 with total page 408 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "This book offers analysis of the causes and extent of the movement's current malaise from a variety of vantage points. It provides eight national and regional studies - China, Britain, France, the US, Eastern Europe, Brazil, Ghana and Cameroon - that detail problems face and the revitalisation strategies trade unions have pursued in response. It also offers fresh scholarly perspective on a host of pressing labour issues: the extent and impact of global corporate restructuring; the ongoing fight to achieve core labour standards; the enduring importance of gender and diversity; the fortunes of the international labour movement; the relationship between trade unions and NGOs; the intellectual response to organised labour's present predicament; and the role of labour in the global social justice movement." -- BACK COVER.
Download or read book Oil in Nigeria written by Jedrzej George Frynas and published by LIT Verlag Münster. This book was released on 2000 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 3.6. Land Use Act
Download or read book The Politics of Neoliberal Reforms in Africa written by Piet Konings and published by African Books Collective. This book was released on 2011-07-26 with total page 348 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Neoliberalism has become the dominant development agenda in Africa. Faced with a deep economic and political crisis, African governments have been compelled by powerful external agencies, in particular the Bretton Woods institutions and western states, to pursue this agenda as a necessary precondition for the receipt of development aid. What is particularly striking in Africa, however, is that neoliberal experiments there have displayed such remarkable diversity. This may be due not only to substantial differences in historical, economic and political trajectories on the African continent but also, and maybe more importantly, in the degree of resistance internal actors have demonstrated to the neoliberal reforms imposed on them. This book focuses on Cameroon which has had a complex economic and political history and is currently witnessing resistance to the neoliberal experiment by the authoritarian and neopatrimonial state elite and various civil-society groups. It is the culmination of over twenty years of fine and refined research by one of the leading scholars of Cameroon today.
Download or read book Big Business and Economic Development written by Barbara Hogenboom and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2006-12-21 with total page 541 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Bringing together an international and multidisciplinary group of experts, this is the first comprehensive volume to analyze conglomerates and economic groups in developing countries and transition economies. Using sixteen in-depth case studies it provides a comparative framework for the study of contemporary process of privatization, economic and
Download or read book Trade Unionism Since 1945 written by Craig Phelan and published by Peter Lang. This book was released on 2009 with total page 472 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Overview This book offers the detailed historical background required for a holistic appreciation of current problems faced and the possibilities for revitalisation. In two volumes it provides introductory overviews of trade union development since the end of World War II in 26 countries from every corner of the globe. Each chapter explains the main contours of trade union growth and development in one country from the pivotal year 1945 to the present. Each chapter assesses the often dynamic expansion of trade unionism in the 1950s and 1960s; the role of trade unionism in the movements for national liberation in the Global South and the erection of social welfare systems in the developed North; the economic shocks that resulted in membership decline and loss of political influence from the late 1970s onward; the economic restructuring and growing labour market diversity of the 1980s and 1990s that undercut the traditional bases of trade union membership; and the historical roots of the contemporary political and economic context in which revitalisation efforts are taking place.
Download or read book The Dynamics of Power and the Rule of Law written by Wim M. J. van Binsbergen and published by . This book was released on 2003 with total page 348 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Download or read book Negotiating an Anglophone Identity written by Piet Konings and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2003-07-01 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is a significant and timely book on the politics of belonging. It captures, with fascinating detail and insight, the current widespread disaffection with the sterile rhetoric of nation-building that has characterised much of postcolonial African politics. Until the liberation struggles of the 1990s, dictatorship only paid lip service to democracy with impunity, often by silencing those perceived to threaten national unity. Since then, individuals and groups have reactivated claims to rights and entitlements and nowhere more so than in Cameroon. The book articulates the experiences and predicaments of the country's Anglophone community trapped in a marriage of inconvenience pregnant with tensions and conflicts.
Download or read book Gender and Plantation Labour in Africa written by Piet Konings and published by African Books Collective. This book was released on 2012 with total page 308 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book explores the relationship between plantation labour and gender in Africa, particularly Cameroon. It demonstrates that the introduction of plantation labour during colonial rule has had significant consequences for gender roles and relations within and beyond the capitalist labour process. These effects have been quite ambivalent, being marked by both profound changes and remarkable continuities. The book focuses on two tea estates established in anglophone Cameroon in the 1950s, the Tole Estate and the Ndu Estate, the first employing mainly female pluckers, the second mainly male pluckers. This allows for an examination of the variations in male and female workers' modes of resistance to the control and exploitation they meet in the labour process. [ASC Leiden abstract]
Download or read book Good Governance in the Era of Global Neoliberalism written by Jolle Demmers and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2004-08-02 with total page 340 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The contributions cover a wide range of territories - Argentina, Russia, the Ukraine, Indonesia and Taiwan The book will be the first to call into question the idea of 'good governance' and exactly what that implies The editors have a good track record and have been widely published in the area Book should be of great appeal to all international and development economists
Download or read book thiopien Zwischen Orient und Okzident written by Walter Raunig and published by LIT Verlag Münster. This book was released on 2004 with total page 252 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
