ORGANISING THE BLUES

While all governments in the region acknowledge the importance of the work of police officers, they seldom take a close look at their working conditions and the nature of police labour. While the situations in Namibia, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Lesotho and Swaziland are different there are commonalities: police management has not changed significantly and neither has police legislation. Key concerns of the officers in the region centre on service conditions and wages. Communicating these concerns to the state is made difficult by the less than democratic approach taken by governments professing to favour democratization. A more democratic workplace for the police is of benefit to the broader community and is a crucial point to bear in mind when attempting to develop community-oriented professional policing.     

Open source intelligence (OSINT) for conflict monitoring in contemporary South Africa: Challenges and opportunities in a big data context

This article argues that aspirations of maintaining a dominant influence over sub-Saharan security issues has spurred the French and British leadership of European Union (EU) foreign and security policy integration, just as it has informed military capability expansions by the armed forces of the main EU powers. While Europe's initial African focus was on stabilising a continent marred by state failure, civil wars and genocides, changes in the global security context, especially the shift towards multipolarity manifest in China's growing engagement, has prompted a complementary focus on deterring other powers from making military inroads into the subcontinent. Hence Europe's sub-Saharan security focus is shifting from stabilisation towards deterrence. This helps explain recent military procurements which, in spite of the extremely challenging fiscal position of most EU member states, feature large-scale investments in long-range deterrence capabilities.     

‘Fighting for peace’

In Africa, most of the present conflicts are civil, intra-state wars where belligerent groups use guerrilla tactics to achieve various political, economic or ideological objectives. The atrocities and the effect of these on-going wars on innocent civilians, human suffering, poverty and development are beyond comprehension. Not surprisingly, the majority of current peace operations are in Africa, with more than 70 countries contributing forces to these conflict zones. On the continent, South Africa has come to assume a leading role in peace operations and is now a major troop-contributing country to UN and AU missions. In the past 11 years, the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) has taken part in no fewer than 14 peace missions. This article provides a brief background of the conflicts in Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Sudan, the different United Nations (UN) and African Union (AU) mandates under which peacekeepers had to operate as well as their objectives, and the extent of South Africa's involvement in the various missions. In the last section, the major challenges, that these operations have posed are highlighted.     

关于提高部队党建水平的思考

新形势下,必须大力加强思想建设、组织建设、作风建设、制度建设和反腐倡廉建设,不断提高部队党的建设科学化水平,有效防范精神懈怠、能力不足、脱离群众、消极腐败“四大危险”.     

中国共产党90年的奋皇功绩与经验启示

中国共产党90年,以艰苦卓绝的奋斗取得了丰功伟绩,积累了深刻宝贵的基本经验和启示：不负重托,不辱使命;保持先进性;把马克思列宁主义基本原理与中国具体实际情况和时代基本特征相结合;一切为了和紧紧依靠人民群众;加强和改进自身建设。     

新时期加强机关党建工作的几点思考

在新形势下,随着机关改革的不断深入,如何抓好机关党的建设,对提高党的执政能力有重要意义。本文提出了机关在党的建设工作中存在的五个主要问题,分析造成问题的原因,并提出抓学习、讲廉洁、出典型、抓队伍建设等工作重点。     

改进党的作风是实践“三个代表”的必然要求

党的作风问题 ,也是党的形象问题 ,作风不正 ,形象好不了 ,必然脱离群众 ,脱离实际 ,就会严重影响人心向背 ,影响群众的信任 ,影响党的工作和事业 ,这是十分危险的。综观国际国内形势 ,进入新世纪 ,我们党面临的形势、任务、环境正发生深刻而复杂的变化 ,机遇与挑战同在 ,希望与困难并存 ,需要我们党站在时代的高度统揽全局 ,与时俱进 ,按照“三个代表”的要求 ,全面加强党的建设。而改进党的作风 ,既是新时期党的建设的根本 ,也是实践“三个代表”的必然要求     

‘God willing,I will be back’: Gauging the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's capacity to deter economic crimes in Liberia

Recently, in July 2012, the high-profile and bitterly fought nine-month race for the post of Chair of the African Union (AU) Commission, between Dr Jean Ping of Gabon, and his main challenger, Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, culminated in the latter's victory. Her victory came after the deadlock at the Eighteenth AU Summit in January 2012. Borne out of the considered need for a quick fix through reliance on a vote of expediency, the election of Dr Dlamini-Zuma represented a political resolution to the crisis that arose due to the earlier ongoing electoral deadlock. Far from being a competitive election by design, the 2012 AU Commission election by default became transformed into an intensely fought campaign that put the AU in the limelight. This article briefly introduces the electoral process, explains in detail the voting behaviour of AU member states, and offers five specific reasons for the victory of Dr Dlamini-Zuma. On the surface the election looks very competitive, but the article explains why this is not the case. To create greater competition for these posts, the AU needs to overhaul the nomination process and the voting procedure. In this regard, the article proffers detailed analysis and proposes a radical revision of the existing criteria for the nomination. The article also proposes specific recommendations for the amendment of the rules of procedure of the AU Assembly to allow for a qualified majority as a deadlock breaker in the fifth round. It also assesses whether the integrity of the AU Commission election was damaged during the campaigning and voting process. In this regard, it recommends the development of a code of conduct for future elections at the AU.     

Perspectives on 2011

The dramatic events of the Arab Spring have changed the political landscape in Africa and showed up both the need for and the shortcomings of the African Union. The author looks at the impact of the past year on security issues across Africa.     

Country survey XII: South Africa

This article examines the relationship between defence expenditure and economic performance in South Africa, both prior to and after that country's first fully democratic election in 1994. Prior to 1994 defence expenditure decisions were largely dominated by non‐economic factors; since then defence spending has declined in reaction to, inter alia, the need to address a number of socio‐economic inequities.

After 1975 in particular, military industrialisation in South Africa placed a disproportionately high burden on the country's industrial resources and natural economic and technical capabilities. However, although this suggests that the opportunity cost of domestic arms production has been fairly high, the country's poor economic and development performance since the mid‐1970s is a function of underlying structural deficiencies and institutional constraints rather than the consequence of inordinately high defence spending levels.