Journal of Asian and African Studies

Political corruption has become one of the most topical issues in the political discourse in Ghana. This stems from the fact that corruption has become so endemic and systemic in Ghanaian polity with its negative effects on the economy. Indeed, political corruption negatively affects job creation, investment potentials, infrastructural development and generally the standard of living of the people. It is within this context that anti-corruption institutions have been established in Ghana to address the menace of corruption. The Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) is one of such institutions established under the 1992 Republican Constitution of Ghana tasked with the responsibility of addressing the problem of corruption in Ghanaian public administration system. This paper examines the extent to which the Commission has achieved this constitutional mandate of addressing the problem of corruption. The study finds that some drawbacks which inhibit the potency of CHRAJ in addressing the problem of corruption include lack of political will by the governing elite to support the institution, eroding confidence of the Commission, the trend of appointing the Head of the Commission in an acting capacity, constitutional weaknesses, poor capacity building support and low motivation. The paper therefore offers pragmatic policy suggestions to address the inherent deficiencies of the Commission with the objective of making it more functional.

In 1976, the educational system serving Druze villages in Israel was separated from the overall Arab school system and a distinct educational system was set up for the Druze. This was done because the Druze serve in the army. The State believed it was necessary to prepare them for service and reduce inevitable dilemmas concerning their identification with the State, in general, and dilemmas concerning the service, in particular. This educational system was staffed mainly by Druze and featured an intensive, purposeful effort, both in terms of the formal curriculum and informal education, to create an Israeli-Druze consciousness among the students. This consciousness was meant to cause Druze youth to identify with the State and its symbols, and involved an emphasis on what the Druze and the Jews have in common along with what separates the Druze and other Arabs.

South Africa is still lagging behind with health outcomes, especially when it comes to accessing treatment, prevention and care for reproductive health issues despite the significant progress made with regard to certain aspects of the health system. This study explores the reproductive health situation in South Africa. The study explores some selected health outcomes and related policies from the nine provinces in South Africa. The results indicate that, despite the progress made in the fight against HIV/AIDs and other health-related problems, little has been done to improve maternal health care.

Although Sri Lanka has 51% women, their participation in local governance as well as in the national parliament is 5% in total. The strong social development indicator of women in areas such as health and education has not translated into their increased political participation. As such, this study focuses on the level of women’s participation in local governance and explores why there is a low level of political participation of women in local governance. Both quantitative and qualitative methods comprising of questionnaire survey, interviews and focus group discussions were employed in this study. The findings show organized collective involvement of women was effective only in social welfare, livelihood and social security than political participation. The study also reveals that the low level of political participation by women is attributable to biological, economic, psychological, religious and political factors. Overall, it was found that although women are interested in participating in local governance, they have a lack of space for political participation.

Pakistan and Malaysia have a significant bilateral economic relationship. The Pakistan–Malaysia Free Trade Agreement (FTA) was signed in 2007, and was implemented in 2008. Pakistan’s volatile exports to Malaysia never achieved a sustainable period of growth. Trade balance has not achieved significant changes even after 9 years of implementation of the agreement. With this backdrop, this study first quantifies the current FTA between Pakistan and Malaysia and then suggests changes that could be made to improve the outcome for Pakistan. A new global economic trade model is adapted to include more detailed information on Pakistan’s labor and household groups into the Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP) database. This allows for a more detailed analysis of the impact of the FTA on Pakistan at the household level. The results show that there is win–win scenario for both Pakistan and Malaysia if both are able to renegotiate the current FTA to get the same tariff concession as awarded to each other’s trading partners.

How does polling information, the polling source, and how it is presented influence strategic voting? Few studies capture at what point individuals become strategic voters or how polling information affects this behavior. Furthermore, strategic voting research in mixed member systems remains largely confined to aggregate district level analyses. This analysis employs an experimental survey implemented in South Korea, Taiwan, and Japan. The results suggest that reminding respondents of the margin of error encourages strategic behavior, while polls originating from partisan sources discourage defection.

The influence of imported material, technology and methods has put pressure on most traditional architectural systems to modernize. This influence to modernize is transmitted through various mechanisms. This paper argues that there are a number of aspects to vernacular architecture that would be lost through this conversion process to modern materials, technology and methods. Through the examination of vernacular architecture among the Lamba people of Senior Chief Mushili’s chiefdom, the study found that there are cultural, environmental and aesthetical aspects in vernacular architecture that are poorly understood in the process of modernization. Data for this research were collected through an ethnographical approach with occasional in-depth interviews with senior members of the Royal establishment and the community. Thus, the data were mainly qualitative.

Studies on migrant-labour systems have focused on the negatives, particularly on women left behind as guardians of men’s interests, but with no real control. My extended research on former migrant-labour societies in north-western Zimbabwe has challenged this ‘doomsday’ narrative. It did not only reveal the feminisation of household and societal decisions, but also how the migration of men has liberated women and allowed them to play crucial roles within the household and society systems. My study thus illuminates differences between rural societies and cautions against the risks of over-generalisation when looking at the relationship between women and migration. It stresses the importance of migration on development, and the empowerment potential on women who take up prominent positions in the household and in society decision-making structures.