Journal of Asian and African Studies

This paper examines the response of the Government of Bangladesh to COVID-19 from a political economy lens. We argue that the support package implemented by the government had a distinct bias that went against the interests of the poorer segments of the society but conformed neatly with the government’s quest for political legitimacy. Our analysis finds that the economic support package designed and implemented by the government was heavily biased toward growth-orientation to the relative neglect of protection-orientation, with seriously adverse consequences for the well-being of the people and the bias resides in the realm of political economy of governance.

JEL Classification: H12, I18, I38, O40, O53

In Algeria, Islam has often been used to strengthen the sense of national identity and as an instrument of self-legitimation. The Algerian state gradually bureaucratized Islam through different organisms, represented by the Ministry of Religious Affairs and other institutions, such as the Islamic High Council. This constitutional institution can be considered the core tool used by the state to defend an Islam that is near and faithful to the values of the state, always ready to face dangers coming from religious radicalism. This essay describes the council’s historical development, emphasizing the modifications made to support state laws and policies on a variety of topics that are vital to the stability of the country, including religious problems.

Though the “local turn” in peacebuilding increased interest in traditional methods of conflict resolution, a comparative assessment of the effectiveness of these methods vis-à-vis hybrid and modern approaches is only just emerging. This paper adds to this nascent body of research by analyzing the trends in the applications and effectiveness of different communal conflict resolution approaches to end localized conflict in Africa. The paper found out that in communal conflicts with an annual conflict-death of 25 or more, the type of conflict resolution method used and the intensity of the conflict influence the effectiveness of a communal peace agreement. This result is in line with the hypothesis that traditional mechanisms are comparatively more effective than hybrid and modern methods. In communal conflicts with less than 25 annual deaths, hybrid approaches appear to be as effective as traditional methods, though our confidence in this result is tempered by the limited size of our sample and the lack of control over ‘conflict intensity’ as a relevant variable.

What happens when liberal democracy, rooted in the ideals of individual liberty, is imposed on a society deeply rooted in in-group loyalty? Geographers have noted that mountains and hills generally result in “minute mountain states” among their inhabitants, often resulting in constant feuds among those groups. Nagaland bears no exception, with hilly terrain being its geographic setting—Independent village republics, with head-hunting among the villages and tribes, characterized pre-colonial (i.e. British colonialism) and pre-Christianity Nagaland. To an ethnic group where the concept of electing their leader was unknown, the election process for the State Legislative Assembly of India was introduced. During which, the boundaries of the village republic are supposed to take a back seat, and individual liberty should take priority since several villages come within one constituency. However, the village boundary refuses to be erased, resulting in an illegal practice popularly known as ‘village consensus candidate’—a candidate from a village for whom the entire village is forced (in some cases voluntarily) to vote. The article explores the historical events and cultural values that shape and influence the election practices of Nagaland and the consequences of such practices on gender representation in the seats of the state’s legislative assembly.

Social policy, development and democracy in Africa are dominated by externally engineered and controlled philosophies. This has resulted in policy regimes and architecture that fail to sustainably improve the wellbeing of the continent. The article is conceptual and utilises interpretive methodology, and Transformative Social Policy to draw insights from Thandika Mkandawire’s philosophy on social policy, development and democracy. The prime argument of the article is that Mkandawire’s ideas contribute immensely to interrogating and improving inclusive development, governance and social policy in Africa. Nonetheless, Mkandawire’s philosophy is not the sole pathway to Africa’s transformation, and cannot be applied uniformly across Africa.

Despite being a basic right for all citizens of every country, access to healthcare has been a challenge for many people globally. However, the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic has heightened the need for improvedhealthcare service delivery and access to healthcare globally. The need for improved access to healthcare is especially critical for developing countries as theywere the worst affected in terms of healthcare service delivery by the pandemic. This study, which sought to assess healthcare accessibility in rural areas of Lesotho, is relevant because Lesotho is a country with high poverty levels, and most of the poor people in Lesotho live in the rural areas. The study employed a quantitative design and sampled 200 healthcare users from the rural areas of Lesotho to measure the dimensions of access to healthcare (which refer to the affordability, availability, acceptability and accessibility / accommodation of healthcare) on a 5-point Likert-type scale. The study’s findings showed that healthcare affordability remains a barrier to access in rural Lesotho. This was followed by accessibility and accommodation, then acceptability and availability of healthcare in rural Lesotho. The study then made recommendations to guide health policy makers in Lesotho.

The high prevalence of cousin marriages in the patriarchal Pakistani society presents a unique setting to study the impact of consanguinity on domestic violence. Our study investigates the relationship between consanguineous marriages and domestic violence against women, using econometric models and the Pakistan Demographic and Health Surveys (2012 and 2017–2018). The findings reveal a grim picture of domestic violence, with 6.5% of women experiencing severe physical violence in 2017–2018. We find that consanguineous marriages serve as a protective cushion against domestic violence, while being married to a maternal cousin as compared to a paternal cousin interestingly reduces domestic violence.

This essay builds on an ethnographic framework of the Dharavi slum in Bombay during the COVID-times. It explores, further, health and social conditions of women, their vulnerabilities and violence-inflicted lives, economic deprivation and mental health conditions. This article, further, builds together community sense of feeling, community spaces as a way to social justice, arguing the phenomenology of resilience in seeking social, emotional and other means of mutual support that they experience in attempts to alleviate their health-led challenges and varied conditions of vulnerabilities. Also, arguing further, the essay captures a people-centred analyses to global health, seeking further in calling for the meaning to ‘health’ as transferring the diagnostic or standardized model of a politicized biology to shifting, discursive configurations to well-being.

This article examines the different aspects that converge to explain food insecurity in the Republic of Sudan from 1989 to the secession of the southern states in 2011. Two phases of the 1989–2011 period are analysed, and within these, three fundamental aspects of the Sudanese scenario: the role of political and social elites, economic dependence and food insecurity. The latter is a corollary of the two previous aspects. Consequently, the successive wars in Sudan cannot be understood with a simple and partial approach. Dependency and permanent repression have crystallised as essential elements of the exercise of power by the Islamist elites in order to understand food insecurity in most Sudanese regions in the last decade of the 20th and early 21st centuries. The three aspects mentioned above also give shape to a phenomenon or syndrome and a concept that is not only specific to Sudan, but which has clearly materialised in Sudan: the ‘Sudanese disease’.

This study utilized a phenomenological design to examine the factors that contribute to the underreporting of occurrences of intimate partner violence (IPV) among married women living in rural areas. We obtained the data from a sample of 12 married women recruited using snowball sampling techniques and from four key informants recruited using purposive sampling. The study revealed structural factors such as limited service availability, corruption, and negative attitudes from service providers, and existing systemic barriers. It provides new approaches to address and eliminate the underreporting of IPV, thereby contributing to broader initiatives aimed at achieving gender equality.

The COVID-19 pandemic that occurred in March 2020 resulted in the global economy grinding to a halt because of the various measures that were put in place by governments to stem the tide of the pandemic. While various sectors of the economy were hit hard, the micro, small and medium-sized enterprise (MSME) sector is believed to have borne the brunt of the economic shutdown that came about because of COVID. The focus of this paper is therefore to examine the experiences of MSMEs with COVID-19 in Ghana. Based on the experiences of 25 business owners in the MSME sector that were interviewed, it is argued in the paper that given that the pandemic exacerbated the challenges that MSMEs already faced, the development and implementation of various support programmes to the sector would be crucial to the economic recovery that would hopefully occur in the post-COVID period. The attempts to ensure the continued contribution of MSMEs to Ghana’s economy in the post-COVID period would be dependent on the adoption of policies that entail the provision of financial support through loans, loan guarantees and grants; and assisting MSMEs in their use of digital technology to help them with communication and marketing to their customers would be a step in the right direction.

Arguments on aid effectiveness, which are predominately cross-country analyses, remain contestable, with little attention paid to the end-users of aid. Hence, this paper makes use of survey responses from four States in Nigeria to examine the ‘perceived’ impacts of foreign aid on socioeconomic development. The findings show that arguments on aid effectiveness will remain contestable. This is evident even among end-users of aid. While people with lower socioeconomic status are more optimistic about the impacts of aid, this is not applicable across all States. Therefore, aid allocation should not be ‘a one-size-fits-all approach’. Hybrid systems that involve end-users are imperative.

This essay unpacks how Hindu nationalism has understood the concepts of caste and race through its ideologues’ textual strategies. It is divided into three sections. The initial section uncovers how Hindu nationalism’s dialogue with the colonial framework of knowledge produced several conceptual dilemmas inconsistent with its core objectives. The second part demonstrates how to counter such dilemmas proponents Hindu nationalists indulged in myriad intellectual manoeuvres to arrive at such notions of the interrelationship between caste and race, which are complimentary to its principal agenda. The final section unravels how their intellectual strategies produced a largely conservative outlook of passive reformism.

In 1926, the colonial Rhodesian state created Matobo National Park on whose shoulders Chipangali Wildlife Orphanage was established in 1974. That was followed by displacements of BaKalanga communities. By comparing livelihoods of marginalized human and animal orphans, this article provides new lens for analyzing the displacement discourse. It captures BaKalanga struggles against exclusion as orphanhood. Through ethnographically gathered narratives and animal orphan observations, it contributes to scholarship by investigating longitudinal impacts of displacement on human and animal orphan livelihoods, thereby offering a more than human displacement history. “Orphans of Matobo” captures BaKalanga characterization of their livelihoods outside ancestral land.

This study examines the economic competitiveness of South Africa’s nine provinces in terms of job creation and the role of education in enhancing economic development. Utilizing data from the 2010–2019 Quarterly Labour Force Survey and GDP Quarterly Estimates per Region Reports, regression and correlation analyses were conducted. Results revealed a significant correlation between education, economic competitiveness and employment in Western Cape, Gauteng, Mpumalanga and Limpopo. These results highlight the importance of investing in education. By prioritizing educational investments in provinces where significant positive correlations have been observed, targeted interventions can effectively drive regional economic development and job growth.

Africa has a rich culture of body markings, which is an integral part of its society, history and traditions. Body markings were and are both temporary and permanent modifications of the body, which transmit complex messages about identity and social status. In some African communities, body markings were like wearing one’s identity card on the face or having them printed on one’s skin. The study was carried out in Isiala Ngwa in Abia state, where a corpus of about 30 different body marks was documented and 20 participants were interviewed on the types, motivation, cultural significance, ranking, perception of body marks and reasons for the subsequent decline in the use of indigenous body marks in the Ngwa society. The data collection method involved semi-structured interviews, participant observation and formal conversations on the history and use of body marks in the target group. The Semiotic theory of identification was used as the basic framework for the analysis. The research findings reveal that body markings in Ngwaland are sources of traditional medical intervention, aesthetics/beautification, spiritual fortification/protection, identification, preventing death through reincarnation and warding off aggression. The work concludes that the undeniable roles of body marks in Ngwa land cannot be allowed to go into extinction, as the story of the Ngwa people would be incomplete without body marks, which is the window through which political, social and religious organizations in the past were dissected. Thus, a sociolinguistic, anthropological and documentary approach to body markings in Ngwa land is necessary towards the exploration and preservation of traditional communication patterns, identity formation and semiotic values of this aspect of embodiment.

This article explores how the informal economy of Zimbabwe has transformed from a disorganised petty trading sector to a significant economic sector, despite facing challenges. Data were collected in Norton using ethnographic methods. Results show how the sector innovated and expanded into an organised and fairly productive sector. The article debunks stereotypes about the informal economy, such as being a survivalist or low-productivity sector. It argues that the sector has become resilient and vibrant over time and grown in innovative and creative ways as it fights for a place in an economy crippled by economic crises.

By deploying an intersectional feminist political ecology analysis, this paper explores small-scale farmers’ (SSFs’) experiences and responses to agricultural drought in the uMkhanyakude District Municipality, South Africa. A mixed methods approach was employed, incorporating a household questionnaire survey, and analysed using Microsoft Excel complemented by qualitative observations and document review, both of which underwent reflexive thematic analysis. The impacts of drought were particularly pronounced in the district, affecting agricultural productivity through reduced crop growth, extensive crop failures and increased livestock mortality. In addition, the study’s findings reveal how structural aspects of gender, shaped by social and cultural norms and institutions, can exacerbate gendered experiences of drought. SSFs actively leveraged the indigenous knowledge system (IKS) for adaptation, challenging dominant Eurocentric approaches. The efficacy of IKS in agriculture and its role in enhancing SSFs’ resilience to drought underscores its indispensability in policy and adaptation programmes. Furthermore, the study highlights potential ways to address and mitigate disparities among SSFs by avoiding simplistic and apolitical adaptation measures. Instead, it advocates for nuanced and contextually appropriate adaptation measures to ensure effective and equitable adaptation.

This study investigates the relationship between foreign aid and economic growth in sub-Saharan Africa using a panel ARDL model. Data from 15 selected countries over 20 years (2002–2021) were analyzed. Findings show that institutional quality and unemployment rate are significant in the short-run (mean group (MG) estimation). In the long-run (dynamic fixed effects (DFE) model), variables such as trade openness, exchange rate, population growth, unemployment rate, institutional quality, consumption expenditure, official development assistance, and aid square significantly affect economic growth. Recommendations include strengthening institutions, promoting trade openness, addressing unemployment through skill development, maintaining price stability, and improving development assistance transparency.

Following the adoption of the Organisation of African Unity -OAU (now African Union -AU) led African-wide border arrangement, which provides for the ‘sacredness’ of the inherited colonial borders in 1964, Nigeria deployed its geographical advantage as an instrument of diplomatic relations in the continent. Drawing from field observation and data collected through key informant interviews with Nigerian border enforcement officials, the study contends that in the quest to explore the inherent benefits of the borders, Nigeria’s border diplomacy has taken two opposing outlooks of nationalism and ‘Pan-Africanism’. It argues that, albeit contradictory, the two border postures follow the same pattern of a state-centric ‘top-down’ approach, which has proven ineffective in arresting the border situation. Thus, in addressing the border challenges to salvage its national security debacle, the study submits that Nigeria must understand its borders’ dynamics while deploying a practicable border diplomatic approach from the ‘below’ that factors the dynamics of its border regions and other non-state/sub-national transborder actors in the country.

The article explores the interplay of nostalgia, scapegoating, and alterity politics within the context of China–Zimbabwe relations. Grounded in postcolonial critique, constructivism, and psychology, the paper grapples with how identities, historical narratives, memory, and the legacy of colonialism shape state behavior and policymaking. Therefore, this study interrogates the contradictions, continuities, and discontinuities surrounding the ideological frameworks, histories, and power structures as they impact Zimbabwe’s postcolonial policy praxis and maneuvers with China. Pursuant, I foreground the agency of domestic political dynamics in shaping the nature, impact, success, or failure thereof, of China–Zimbabwe relations. Overarchingly, the study brings nuance to the broader salience of identity politics in shaping the Global South relations with emerging powers either as a source of leverage or hindrance.

This study based on Dipo rites was carried out in Yilo-Krobo Municipality in the Eastern region of Ghana among 350 young people aged 15–24, using mixed methods. The findings show that girls who have not done Dipo are less likely than their initiated counterparts to have sex before marriage. The study also shows that although Dipo is an old custom, it still influences sexual behaviours among young people in the study area. The study concludes that Dipo contributes positively to maintaining young people’s healthy sexual behaviour. It is suggested awareness-raising, and sensitization efforts be intensified in light of this.

Médéa, (Algeria) was (re)founded by the Zirid governor Bologhin Ibn Ziri on an ancient fortress in the 10th century. In 1842, it was conquered by the French army and underwent major modifications for military purposes and enlarged to accommodate the successive waves of European settlers, during the 132 years of occupation. In 1962, the city was reclaimed by the local population from the Europeans who had fled the country, and underwent a new era of changes and readaptation. The article retraces the spatial changes during the three periods of its urban history and provides physical evidence in the light of post-colonialism theory.

Africa has fared well in the aspect of remittance receipts in recent years; however, the region recorded a decline in remittances amid the COVID-19 pandemic which constrained the circular flow of income significantly and ultimately economic growth. In view of this, this study investigates the economic effects of remittance inflows and investment on economic growth in Africa amid COVID-19 pandemic using a panel of 48 economies and estimated with pooled OLS and two-step system GMM. The study employed two distinct approaches for estimation; pre-COVID-19 (2010–2019) and amid COVID-19 (2010–2023). The results indicate that the behavior of remittances, investment and economic growth in Africa is not significantly different between pre-COVID-19 and amid COVID-19. That is, remittances remain a significant economic growth catalyst in Africa whereas investment is not (though with growth effect potential). Overall, the study concludes that African economic policy stakeholders and other relevant policy authorities should sustain the current remittance and labor policy frameworks with possible fine-tuning where applicable while doubling their investment efforts especially in productive sectors of the economy.

This study explores the psychosocial impact of Cyclone Idai and COVID-19 on vulnerable communities in Chimanimani, Zimbabwe. We aimed to investigate the experiences and perceptions of community members, identify factors influencing resilience, and inform strategies for advancing resilience. Findings reveal a complex interplay of factors affecting resilience, including trauma, economic instability, and social dynamics. We argue for a contextualized approach to promoting resilience, incorporating community-based initiatives, economic empowerment, and policy support. Through Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory, the research apprises adversity resilience understanding, highlighting the need for contextualized, theoretically informed strategies considering the interplay between micro, meso, exo, macro, and chrono levels.

This study involves a comprehensive survey of about 1500 micro and small businesses across three major cities in one of the smallest states in Nigeria (Ebonyi State). Based on the cross-sectional data generated, a linearized Tobit regression and a robust T-Test statistical technique are applied to comparatively examine how internal firm attributes, market attributes, and socioeconomic and macroeconomic conditions affect the growth of micro and small businesses in a typical small state and small cities. The results reveal a key challenge to be the dominance of the business space in small cities by micro and largely informal enterprises.

The African continent is vulnerable to climate variability and change due to the sensitivity of all the economic sectors to climate and its low adaptive capacity. Sporadic rainfall and increasing temperature are rapidly emerging as the most serious problems affecting agriculture and food security in sub-Saharan Africa. Field-based research was conducted in the Gutu district of Masvingo Province using the participatory climate change adaptation appraisal to determine asset-based adaptation strategies employed by the smallholder farmers in building their adaptive capacity and resilience to climate variability. Questionnaire-based surveys, key informant interviews, and focus group discussions were used to collect data. Vulnerability indices were calculated using the expert judgment approach. The research adopted a design science research paradigm to generate innovative and useful artifacts to solve real-world problems. Multistage sampling was used to sample the interviewees. Results reveal that Gutu smallholder farmers use household assets to cope and adapt to climate change and variability with financial assets being the dominant asset affecting smallholder farmers’ vulnerability.

Ethiopia is frequently facing serious political–communal conflict. Prevailing narratives attempting to identify causes often focus on presumed ‘ethnic’ groups and inequalities – a perspective crystallized especially in the past ca. 30 years. While Ethiopia as a socio-political domain existed for ages before the Emperor Menilik period (1889–1913) of incorporation of adjacent territories, the question emerges whether the ‘roots’ of recent armed conflicts are as much contemporary-political as historical, and related to an established political culture, based on resilient authoritarian values among both elites and the wider population. Ethiopia’s current unresolved conflict dynamics need a renewed analysis of not only history and ‘political economy’ but also of recent constitutional features and group politics, which strongly impacted on its political culture. On the basis of document study and interviews, I examine crucial features of such recent processes so as to re-evaluate the specific articulations of ethno-regionally based governance in Ethiopia in recent years to find causal elements fuelling the repetitive cycles of conflict.

The Sahel is a classic example of a region inundated by climate change and conflicts. The region is an ecological hotspot that is on the brink of collapse, as countries in the area are trapped in a vicious cycle of conflict, resource scarcity, and environmental threats, which increase the chances of political instability and civil unrest. Noting that there is a divergent scholarly viewpoint on the relationship between climate change and conflict, this study evaluates the climate change-conflict thesis vis-à-vis the fragility-conflict thesis. It argues that armed conflicts in the Sahel are not exclusively attributable to climate change; rather, other conventional drivers exacerbate the impact of climate change on conflicts. These conventional drivers, framed as fragility indices, play a more significant role in conflict escalation in the Sahel. To this end, this study provides a holistic perspective on conflict dynamics and underscores the intricate interplay between fragility and conflict proliferation. This study adopts a qualitative approach and analyzes secondary data, particularly journal articles, reports, briefs, and developmental indices. The findings show that conditions symptomatic of a fragile state increase the incidence and proliferation of armed conflict in the region. Thus, conflict in the Sahel is a product of amplified pre-existing socioeconomic vulnerabilities and governance challenges.

The functionality of social infrastructure in the global South is hampered by incapacitated governments, which affect people’s sense of place. This study explored co-management of social infrastructure towards creating a sense of place. This qualitative study collected data from purposively selected households and key informants using semi-structured interviews. Findings show that the co-management of social infrastructure by the Chitungwiza Municipality is top-down and crowds out residents’ participation. Most social infrastructure is none functional and unattractive to communities. Residents lacked user groups to demand improved social infrastructure. The study recommends role clarity and community empowerment to promote improved co-management of social infrastructure.

The lack of universal urban water access in the cities in the global south is a wicked problem. Using the case of Mumbai, this paper illustrates how consistently this wicked problem was chiselled and selectively problematised to turn it into a tame problem – a problem of water shortages at the city level. The chiselling included neglecting the essential aspects of urban water supply, such as supply coverage, pressure and leakages, which define the quality of urban water service received by citizens. Through chiselling and selective problematisation, the paper illustrates how the problem of providing universal urban water access in Mumbai was ignored for decades and the issues of water shortages were emphasised alone to justify and prioritise the development of dams.

There have been many attempts to use prebunking strategies to address the problem of misinformation. While extant research supports their efficacy, it also finds that they could make people suspicious even of true information. This study employs survey experiments in Taiwan to assess the effect of warning messages, with or without mentioning punishments one might incur if spreading misinformation, on people’s beliefs in false and true news, and their subsequent intention to share the information with others. The findings suggest that warning messages mentioning monetary punishments are the most effective in affecting people’s beliefs and intentions to behave.

The textile trade between Africa and India dates back to ancient times and is rooted in India’s rich heritage of textile production. India has been a significant player in African textile markets since 3000 BCE. The recognition of indigo-dyed clothes as “nīla” traced back from wrapped mummies in Egypt nearly into archaeological excavations at sites like Ingombe-Ilede in Zambia during the 14th to 15th centuries and was renowned for its superior quality as addressed by several Arab travelers. In modern times iconic Indian textiles are known for their superior quality and dynamic designs and are identified as “Kanga,” “Kitenge,” “Bleeding Madras,” and more. This research aims to find the cross-cultural connectivity through textiles by understanding the pattern from manufacturing to exports from ancient to contemporary times. Methodologically this research relies on a combination of primary sources including travel diaries, collective data gathered from colonial records, and reinterpretations of historical works alongside contemporary scholarly literature. The findings reveal the hold of Indian textiles over African markets since ancient times and the challenges faced by Indian traders in contemporary times. This study contributes to existing knowledge by giving comprehensive information about textile complexities of spinning, weaving, dyeing, and printing techniques, which have been preserved through centuries, especially for African markets. This research aims to offer valuable insights into conservation policies and practices that are crucial for safeguarding the identity of Indian textiles within an African context.