http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/362 A collection of journal articles including pre-prints, post-prints, working papers, published and unpublished by students, staff and faculty. Fri, 17 Jul 2026 11:02:29 GMT 2026-07-17T11:02:29Z http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/547 Trust – an essential element & pillar of Micro Finance SAPOVADIA, Vrajlal Thu, 01 Jan 2015 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/547 2015-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/546 The state and the rebel: Online nationalisms in Niger ALZOUMA, Gado The advent of new information and communication technologies (ICTs) particularly the internet and associated networks have made it possible to express previously repressed nationalist sentiments, forbidden languages, ethnic loyalties, and new identities free from the control exerted between the boundaries of the state. New forms of nationalistic conflicts (that take place in what Arquilla and Ronfeldt (1996, 2001) call ‘netwars’) are now being waged along the lines of multiple forms of loyalties (civic, state-induced, or ethnic or subversive). Since the advent of democracy in Francophone Africa, the state has lost its monopoly over the media and now cannot control actors (particularly diasporic communities scattered around the world) who are disputing its hegemony and legitimacy. Citizens who no longer live in the national territory are fighting back against divisive and subversive tendencies in the name of national cohesion, unity, territorial integrity, and democratic governance. For example, in Niger since the beginning of 2007, two rebel movements led by Tuareg insurgents have been fighting the government on both the military and the virtual fronts. They have invaded existing virtual networks such as discussion forums and online media websites and created their own websites and chat rooms. In the name of national unity and peaceful development, they are being countered by the state as well as other citizens of the diaspora. This article analyses how Tuareg identity has been framed over time by colonial anthropologists and administrators in Niger and how this identity is now being expressed online by current Nigerien Tuareg rebels in the context of conflicting nationalisms involving the state and its opponents. The discussion argues that, contrary to the deterministic role attributed to ICTs, it is the ‘external’ social and political conditions that determine the online contours of nationalistic expressions and conflicts. This article falls within the framework of the ‘structuralistconstructivist’ theory devised by Bourdieu; consequently, it approaches such conflicting nationalisms as ‘symbolic struggles over the power to produce and to impose a legitimate vision of the world’ (Bourdieu 1989, 20). The topic here is limited to the Nigerien Tuareg movements and does not address in any way the Malian Tuareg movements or the pan-Amazigh movement. Where necessary, however, references will be made to the one or the other Thu, 01 Jan 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/546 2009-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/545 The Rhetoric of Mobile Communication for Development (M4D): A Critical Analysis ALZOUMA, Gado Increasing access to mobile phones in Africa has sparked a reformulation of the ICT and development discourse. In previous decades, abundant literature has argued that access to computers and the Internet will make leapfrogging development possible; today, scholars’ attention is shifting away from those devices to focus instead on the potential of the mobile phone for development. A new rhetoric centered on mobile communication for development (M4D) and building on the old premises is now emerging. Its core ideas are: a) the adoption of the mobile phone is unique in the history of technology in Africa; b) the mobile phone has an all-encompassing character; c) the mobile phone has a leveling effect; d) mobile leapfrogging is possible. The purpose of this paper is to identify and critically assess the underlying assumptions and a priori conclusions that form the fabric of this rhetoric constructed around those four pervasive and repetitive themes in the literature devoted to ICTs for development. I argue that this rhetoric obscures social inequalities by overemphasizing mobile phones’ physical availability and the technological side of development at the expense of many other conditions that should be met for technology use to have an effect on social development. Wed, 01 Jan 2014 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/545 2014-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/544 The intergovernmental relations and fiscal decentralization in India SAPOVADIA, Vrajlal Sun, 01 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/544 2012-01-01T00:00:00Z