Most studies agree that the feminization of institutions matters to explain gender bias in participation in debates. However, studies are yet to pinpoint which institutions – parliaments or parties – play a larger role in driving such gender bias. Additionally, the effect of feminization on women participation in debates is still unclear: some studies find no effect, others find a negative effect, others a positive effect. This study advances existing discussion by testing two hypotheses. First, it tests whether increased presence of women in parties and parliaments increases women participation in debates (access). Second, it tests whether this effects changes when women attain positions of leadership and seniority in parliament (bonus). The paper draws on original datasets of parliamentary speeches in Ghana (2005-2023) and South Africa (1999-2023); two democracies with distinct political institutions and history of women representation in parliament. Our preliminary findings reveal that gender bias in speechmaking is generally driven by the parties, rather than parliaments. Furthermore, female MPs have no bonus – in terms of increased opportunities to speak – when they attain higher positions in parliament.
O Conflito de Casamansa no novo contexto senegalês: Uma resolução pacífica definitiva ou uma solução militar? Este é o tema do projeto de pesquisa da autora, com uma pequena alteração, tendo em conta o novo contexto político senegalês. Sobre este tema cujo a pesquisa decorre no Centros de Estudos Internacionais – CEI-Iscte, já foram realizadas diversas atividades e publicações científicas pela autora, citando como exemplos: Conferência Internacional intitulado “O processo de paz do conflito de Casamansa”, em 2019; “O conflito de Casamansa e as relações de poder na Senegâmbia,” Cadernos de Estudos Africanos, nº 38/2019;” “O difícil processo de resolução do conflito de Casamansa: Uma mediação é possível ter êxito?”, Cadernos de Estudos Africanos, nº42/2021 e Coordenação pela autora do Cadernos de Estudos Africanos nº42/2021.
Com este tema pretende-se analisar as dinâmicas de “guerra e paz” em Casamansa, as perspectivas do diálogo para a paz, as hipóteses de resolução pacífica definitiva, ou não, tendo em conta várias iniciativas
locais que envolvem (autoridades tradicionais e religiosas, organizações da sociedade civil e particularmente, organizações femininas). Conhecer a posição do governo no novo contexto político senegalês, após as eleições Presidenciais de março de 2024, em que foi eleito Bassirou Diamaye Faye, atual Presidente do Senegal.
A abordagem do tema é interdisciplinar com base na conjugação do método (qualitativo e quantitativo), com subsídios de diferentes áreas disciplinares, que permita uma análise abrangente para dar pistas sobre eventual resolução pacífica ou solução militar. Prevê-se a realização de várias atividades científicas (publicações de artigos, workshop, conferências regional e internacional).
Palavras-chave: Conflito de Casamansa, resolução pacífica, mediação, solução militar
The aim of this essay, as a part of a contextualising introduction to the analysis of denial in recent Portuguese historical novels related to the plantation system, is to present a set of crucial historical elements on the Portuguese-Brazilian slavocrat social formation of the seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. This essay challenges the representations of the Africans as subjects who accept passively the deep injustices of the slave condition under the Portuguese plantation system of so-called patriarchal rule. The essay reminds us of the historical context of both the terror and the permanent resistance, ever since the deportation, and contradicts both the way the Portuguese system is depicted as harmonious and the way that the slaves are presented as unable to question or overcome their objectified status. This incapacity, in the texts of imperial revivalism, appears directly related to the assumption that abolition was a struggle and an achievement of late eighteenth century enlightened sectors of European societies. The essay concludes that the reification of inequality, injustice and lack of agency is directly projected on the colonized descendants by present-day discursive forms of coloniality which shape contemporary Portuguese multicultural society.
En un context marcat per l’abús de poder, la colonització occidental i la guerra que malmet les relacions entre pobles, sorgeixen iniciatives de complicitat, solidaritat i suport que tenen impacte a llarg termini tant en la defensa dels drets humans com en la construcció de vincles diferents.
Andalusia i el Rif han mantingut vincles històrics i culturals a través dels segles. No és estrany veure sorgir iniciatives que es decanten per la unió de pobles en contra de la colonització. Aquestes iniciatives abarquen tant el període colonial com el postcolonial. Tenim l’exemple del Hirak del Rif que rep la solidaritat andalusina. Diferents episodis demostren aquest caminar dels pobles cap a una entesa en peu d’igualtat.
– El primer tingué lloc al 1882 quan el revolucionari anarquista exalcalde de Cadis Fermín Salvochea es va fugar del Peñón de la Gomera al Rif on era presoner de l’Estat Espanyol trobant refugi i ajut entre els rifenys.
– El segon episodi transcorre al segle XX, a l’agost del 1923 a Málaga quan diversos regiments de soldats es van negar a embarcar-se cap a Melilla per a participar a la guerra colonial del Rif.
– El darrer episodi transcorre com a conseqüència de les revoltes pacífiques del poble rifeny del 2016/17 que va originar grans actes de solidaritat encapçalats per l’Ateneu Llibertari Fermín Salvochea.
En la present comunicació es tracta de relatar i analitzar aquests episodis de solidaritat entre els pobles rifeny i andalús, des de finals del segle XIX fins l’actualitat des d’una perspectiva descolonial i de drets humans. Es tracta també de mostrar com la mirada eurocèntrica inferioritzant d’occident cap als pobles que colonitza topa amb una realitat diferent de pobles que tenen veu, intervenen activament en la seva vida i volen tenint-ne els regnes.
This thesis involves firstly, an in-depth analysis on exertion of African Agency by the new governments of Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso that emerged to power through recent coups d’etat, for which the analysis of African Agency is used as a framework. Secondly, the thesis analyzes the historical context of French foreign policy, known as "Françafrique," and investigates whether France's reactions to the coups indicate a continuation of its imperialist legacy through a postcolonial Foreign Policy Analysis (FPA) framework. The core task of this study will be to identify the impact of the reactions and sanctions, mainly from France, on the developments of agency exerted by African actors. Based on that, the findings of this thesis will provide policy recommendations for national leaders and political elites that could be considered both a contribution to the challenges policy makers are facing due to this French-African policy crisis and a contribution to the postcolonial approaches through African Agency centered frameworks on these recent developments. This research enriches the understanding of African Agency in the context of regional power dynamics and seeks to inform future policy directions addressed at foreign policy makers of France, the Sahel states and regional institutions.
