USA Africa Dialogue Series - FW: CODESRIA: Democratic Governance Institute - Theme: International Regulation and Governance in Africa - Dakar, Senegal, 25 July - 12 August, 2011

Nota Bene:

CODESRIA

Democratic Governance Institute

Theme: International Regulation and Governance in Africa

Date: 25 July – 12 August, 2011

Venue: Dakar, Senegal

 

Call for Applications for the 2011 Session: Resource Persons and Laureates

Introduction

The Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) is pleased to announce the 2011 session of its annual Democratic Governance Institute. It therefore invites researchers to submit their applications for participation in this institute to be held from 25th July to 12th August, 2011 in Dakar, Senegal.

The Democratic Governance Institute, launched in 1992 by CODESRIA, is an interdisciplinary forum which every year brings together about fifteen researchers from various parts of the continent and the Diaspora, as well as some non-African scholars who are undertaking innovative research on topics related to the general theme of governance.

 

Aims

The 2011 edition is aimed at enabling laureates to:

-           Understand the interrelations between regulation and governance;

-           Grasp the mechanisms and implications of regulatory modes of governance in Africa at different levels (international, regional, national);

-           Propose analytical approaches to and tools for governance in Africa according to the regulatory rules and instruments involving governance in Africa.

 

Organization

The activities of all CODESRIA Institutes centre on presentations made by African researchers, resource persons from the continent and the Diaspora, and participants whose applications for admission as laureates have been successful. The sessions are led by a scientific director who, with the support of the selected resource persons, ensures that the laureates are exposed to a wide range of research and policy issues. Each laureate is required to prepare a research paper to be presented during the session. The revised versions of such papers will undergo a peer review for publication by CODESRIA. The CODESRIA Documentation and Information Centre (CODICE) will provide participants with a comprehensive bibliography on the theme of the institute. Access to a number of documentation centers in and around Dakar will also be also facilitated.

 

Languages

The CODESRIA Democratic Governance Institute will be held in French and in English through simultaneous translation.

 

The 2011 Session: International Regulation and Governance in Africa

For the 2011 edition of its Democratic Governance Institute, CODESRIA has chosen to give serious thought to international regulation and governance in Africa. In theory, regulation implements a set of rules and procedures which help to develop and structure a response (collective action) to factors that have led to unwanted changes of situation. Originally limited to the sphere of real economy, it has gradually embraced theories on state, institutions, development, governance, etc., because the search for non-spontaneous balance cannot ignore the establishment of some forms of regulation. Moreover, governance, as an interactive process that involves different actors on the basis of reflection, decision making and the assessment of challenges in order to achieve the construction of a collective project, necessarily refers to a regulation between these different actors. Thus, as governance implies regulation, the latter should be the subject of a new type of governance, to actually correct the asymmetries it is supposed to.

     The recent international financial crisis, which has undermined key activity sectors in many countries, shows the limits of global governance and highlights the need to break with "market fundamentalism" and to rethink regulation mechanisms that are in the heart of the neoliberal and productivist logic. It just confirmed our observation on other major crises (1929, World War II, oil shocks, etc.) which, in some way, questioned the self-stabilizing nature of the market and regulatory instruments which imposed themselves on the organization of economic recovery and reconstruction. However, in addition to controlling the market internationally, regulatory instruments serve the hegemonic neoliberal mode of governance and thus rule over the world. Indeed, the international instruments in the loss of legitimacy, such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank (WB) and the World Trade Organization (WTO), require profound changes in their global governance, not to mention the implementation of an international coordination of economic policies. One must thus master the mechanisms and instruments of this regulation in order to understand how the maintenance of structural inequalities, which it is supposed to reduce, is built.

 

     For instance, suffice to mention the influence of multinational corporations in the field of food trade to be convinced of it. Indeed, even if 90% of food products remain in the circuit of domestic economy, multinational corporations controlling the remaining 10% impose their rules by setting prices and patterns of transactions to which producers as well as consumers are subjected. Since a few firms are able to dictate their rules and control regulatory instruments internationally, the mode of governance is deeply in question.

     It has therefore become imperative to find alternatives since interactions, which are nowadays stronger and facilitated by technological progress, are putting us in a global village and making globalization a fact. This globalization is accompanied by governance at international level to regulate the geopolitical, economic and even climatic challenges which it creates. It promotes cross-border interactions between peoples and interdependence links between states. Indeed, the development of global markets for the exchange of goods, services, capital and technology and their consequences at environmental level require a global regulation of the planet. Contrary to current practice, this should be based on a democratic and solidarity-based cooperation, with the purpose of ensuring the well-being of populations regardless of the ideological orientations of the states in which they live.

     It is thus necessary to rethink the regulatory models in a holistic approach that does not underscore the economic dimension only and that especially takes account of Africa, which today leaves no power indifferent and is a key component of the global geopolitics. Indeed, the continent is attracting more than ever the global demand for raw materials because of its huge potential in natural resources of any kind, let alone the large areas that remain underexploited or even unexploited by agriculture. Thus, 30% of the global resources are in the African subsoil. However, although Africa, a major exporter of raw materials, has experienced a significant rise in its Gross Domestic Product (GDP), especially for net oil and diamond exporters, it is nevertheless undermined by the very existence of such resources, by the poor control of the latter and their low level of processing locally, not to mention the impact of the nature of regulatory instruments. Because of its economic weight/potential, Africa is to have greater say in global governance.

 

Besides the regulatory instruments imposed on Africa internationally through various mechanisms (International Monetary Fund [IMF], World Bank [WB], World Trade Organization [WTO], Economic Partnership Agreements [EPAs], etc.), sub-regional and regional economic integration is being achieved gradually through a chosen regulatory policy which is expressed in political frameworks such as the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the Southern African Development Community (SADC) or the African Union (AU). Regional integration organizations and the AU are increasingly acting as guarantors of democratic processes in countries of the continent as shown by their involvement in finding a solution to the Ivorian crisis. Without jeopardizing national sovereignty, the monitoring of electoral processes and the various forms of post-conflict arbitration has led to the development of a critical mass of shared references, forcing protagonists to dialogue and to respect democratic freedoms. Many non-governmental actors are getting involved in and imposing themselves on policy regulation by playing an increasingly stronger role in the observation of democratic processes at the continental level. This regulation, which is in the heart of governance, is yet a source of debate since it is regarded by some as an opportunity and others as a constraint, particularly when it is in the nature of a political conditionality for achieving social development goals in Africa.

 

We must therefore give serious thought to regulation choices and instruments, both economically and politically, to better understand governance and its challenges in Africa.

 

Sub-themes

The sub-themes to be addressed during the institute are the following:

- Theories on regulation and international relations from the perspective of long-term development process: implications on governance in Africa;

- Nation-states, the issue of borders and the conditions of political regulation;

- Demographic transition and the issue of demographic dividend in Africa: demographic projections, development prospects and regulation of economic growth;

- Africa, the global market, Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs);

- Multinational corporations and their influences on international regulatory institutions: their impacts on Africa (the case of agriculture and food at the WTO);

- Policy regulation instruments and provisions in Africa: observatories of democratic processes, modes of arbitration of disputes, taking stance on events in Africa;

- Intra-African trade, the African market and its regulation;

- African regional integration institutions (ECOWAS, CEMAC, UEMOA, SADC, AMU,

  IGAD, etc.): lessons learned from regional regulations by sectoral policies and budgetary instruments;

 

- Regulation through development assistance;

- National instruments of sectoral regulation;

- Self-regulation: inclusive growth, the co-production of public policies by types of actors (state, private sector, civil society, social movements);

- Coherence of public policies: comparison of governance through regulation between Africa and other continents;

- Africa, emerging countries/ powers and challenges for global governance.

 

The Director

CODESRIA has selected Professor Abdou Salam Fall, who has been conducting research for many years on issues of development, governance, poverty, to direct the 2011 Democratic Governance Institute. As director of the Institute, Professor Abdou Salam Fall will carry out the following tasks:

 

- Assist with the identification of resource persons in charge of leading discussions and debates;

- Participate in the selection of laureates;

- Design the courses for the session, including specific sub-themes;

- Deliver a set of lectures and conduct a critical analysis of papers presented by the resource persons and the laureates;

- Submit a written scientific report on the session.

 

In addition, Professor Abdou Salam Fall is expected to (co-) edit the revised versions of the papers presented by the resource persons with a view to submitting them for publication in one of CODESRIA's collections. He will also assist CODESRIA in assessing the papers presented by laureates during the Institute for publication.

 

Resource Persons

Lectures to be delivered during the session are intended to offer laureates an opportunity to advance their reflections on the theme of the Institute. Resource persons should therefore be senior scholars or researchers who have published extensively on the theme, and who have significant contributions to make to the debates on it. They will be expected to produce lecture materials which would stimulate laureates to engage in discussion and debate around their respective lectures and the general body of literature available on the theme.

Once selected, resource persons must:

- Interact with the director of the institute and laureates to help the latter readjust their research questions and their methodological approaches;

- Submit a copy of their course materials for reproduction and distribution to participants no later than one week before they deliver their lectures;

- Deliver their lectures, participate in debates and comment on the research proposals and the papers of the laureates;

- Review and submit the revised version of their lecture notes or research papers for publication by CODESRIA not later than two months following their presentation at the Institute.

 

Laureates

Applicants should be Masters or PhD students or scholars in their early career with a proven capacity to conduct research on the theme of the institute. Intellectuals active in the policy process and/or social movements and civil society organizations are also encouraged to apply. The number of places offered by CODESRIA at each session is limited to fifteen (15). Non-African scholars who are able to raise funds for their participation may also apply for a limited number of places.

 

Application Procedures

Applications for the position of resource person should include:

1.     An application letter;

2.    A curriculum vitae;

3.     Two (2) published papers

4.     A proposal of not more than five (5) pages in length, outlining the issues to be covered in their three (3) proposed lectures, including one on methodological issues;

 

Applications for laureates should include:

1.     An application letter;

2.     A letter indicating institutional or organizational affiliation;

3.     A curriculum vitae;

4.   A research proposal (not more than ten (10) pages in two copies) including a descriptive  analysis of the work the applicant intends to undertake, an outline of the theoretical interest of the topic chosen by the applicant, the relationship of the topic to the problematic and concerns of the theme of the 2011 Institute ;

 

5.     Two (2) reference letters from scholars or researchers known for their competence and expertise in the candidate's research area (geographic and disciplinary), including their names, addresses, telephone and/or fax numbers and email addresses.

 

Application Deadline

The deadline for the submission of applications is 3rd May, 2011. The Institute will be held from 25th July to 12th August 2011 in Dakar, Senegal. Selected applicants will be notified by the end of May 2011. Laureates are expected to use the month of June to carry out their fieldwork or collect information to prepare a draft research paper to be presented during the Institute. This draft research paper should be submitted to CODESRIA not later than 14th July, 2011. Laureates will be expected to work on this document (and not on the abstract of the proposal) and prepare it for publication during the Institute.

 

Submission of Applications

All applications or requests for additional information should be sent to:

Democratic Governance Institute

CODESRIA

Avenue Cheikh Anta Diop x Canal IV

BP 3304, CP 18524, Dakar, Senegal

Tel.: (221) 33 825 98 21/22/23

Fax: (221) 33 824 12 89

E-mail: governance.institute@codesria.sn

Website: http://www.codesria.org

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