Democratisation via elections in an African 'narco state'?

Recent development cooperation with Guinea-Bissau, focussing on good governance, state-building and conflict prevention, did not contribute to democratization nor to the stabilization of volatile political, military and economic structures. Both the portrayal of Guinea-Bissau as failed ‘narco state' as well as Western aid meant to stabilize this state by multi-party elections are based on doubtful concepts and assumptions. Certainly, the impact of drug trafficking could endanger democratization and state-building if continued unchecked. However, the most pressing need is not state-building, facilitated by external aid, yet poorly rooted in the social and political fabric of the country, but nation-building from below as a pre-condition for the creation of viable state institutions.

An ASsessment of Relationship between Students' Perception of Social Studies and their Academic Performance in Colleges of Education in Kaduna State

The objective of this study was to find out the relationship between students’ perception of Social Studies and their academic performance in the subject in Colleges of Education in Kaduna State. The respondents of the study comprised NCE 2 and NCE 3 students of Social Studies at the Federal College of Education in Zaria and the Kaduna State College of Education in Gidan Waya. The data for the study was collected using a questionnaire with reliability coefficient of 0.87. The Pearson’s Product Moment Correlation Coefficient was used to test the hypotheses formulated for the study. The hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance with df = 232. The findings were as follows: 1. The Social Studies students in colleges of education in Kaduna State do not record high academic performance in the subject. 2. Students’ perception of the Social Studies curriculum does affect their academic performance in the subject 3. Students’ perception of relevance of Social Studies education has no bearing on their academic performance in the subject. 4. Students’ perception of public attitude towards Social Studies has no impact on their academic performance in the subject. 5. Students’ general perception of Social Studies does not affect their academic performance in the subject. Based on these findings the following recommendations were proffered for Social Studies researchers and policy makers. a. There is need for further research in order to determine the actual cause of students’ failure to display high performance in Social Studies. b. The NCE Social Studies curriculum should be reviewed in terms of volume and difficulty.

Appraising and selecting strategies to combat and mitigate desertification based on stakeholder knowledge and globalbest practices in Cape Verde Archipelago

Cape Verde is considered part of Sahelian Africa, where drought and desertification are common occurrences. The main activity of the rural population is rain-fed agriculture, which over time has been increasingly challenged by high temporal and spatial rainfall variability, lack of inputs, limited land area, fragmentation of land, steep slopes, pests, lack of mechanization and loss of top soil by water erosion. Human activities, largely through poor farming practices and deforestation (Gomez, 1989) have accelerated natural erosion processes, shifting the balance between soil erosion and soil formation (Norton, 1987). According to previous studies, vegetation cover is one of the most important factors in controlling soil loss (Cyr et al., 1995; Hupy, 2004; Zhang et al., 2004; Zhou et al., 2006). For this reason, reforestation is a touchstone of the Cape Verdean policy to combat desertification. After Independence in 1975, the Cape Verde government had pressing and closely entangled environmental and socio-economic issues to address, as long-term desertification had resulted in a lack of soil cover, severe soil erosion and a scarcity of water resources and fuel wood. Across the archipelago, desertification was resulting from a variety of processes including poor farming practices, soil erosion by water and wind, soil and water salinity in coastal areas due to over pumping and seawater intrusion, drought and unplanned urbanization (DGA-MAAP, 2004). All these issues directly affected socio-economic vulnerability in rural areas, where about 70% of people depended directly or indirectly on agriculture in 1975. By becoming part of the Inter- State Committee for the Fight against Drought in the Sahel in 1975, the government of Cape Verde gained structured support to address these issues more efficiently. Presentday policies and strategies were defined on the basis of rational use of resources and human efforts and were incorporated into three subsequent national plans: the National Action Plan for Development (NDP) (1982–1986), the NDP (1986–1990) and the NDP (1991–1995) (Carvalho