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2. Social and Economic Wellbeing in Europe and the Mediterranean Basin: Building an Enlarged Human Development Indicator
- Author
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Reig-Martinez, Ernest
- Abstract
This paper calculates a human Wellbeing Composite Index (WCI) for 42 countries, belonging to the European Economic Space, North Africa and the Middle East, as an alternative to the shortcomings of other well-known measures of socio-economic development (i.e. Gross Domestic Product per head and Human Development Index). To attain this goal, different data envelopment analysis (DEA) models are used as an aggregation tool for seven selected socio-economic variables which correspond to the following wellbeing dimensions: income per capita, environmental burden of disease, income inequality, gender gap, education, life expectancy at birth and government effectiveness. The use of DEA allows avoiding the subjectivity that would be involved in the exogenous determination of weights for the variables included in WCI. The aim is to establish a complete ranking of all countries in the sample, using a three-step process, with the last step consisting in the use of a model that combines DEA and compromise programming, and permits to obtain a set of common weights for all countries in the analysis. The results highlight the distance that still separates Southern Mediterranean countries from the benchmark levels established by some European countries, and also point to the main weaknesses in individual countries' performance. Nordic countries, plus Switzerland, top the list of best performers, while Mauritania, Libya and Syria appear at the bottom.
- Published
- 2013
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
3. Is climate change abolishing descent-based slavery in Mauritania?
- Author
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Jones II, Darryl L.
- Subjects
- *
ENVIRONMENTAL degradation , *CLIMATE change , *TWENTY-first century , *SLAVERY , *HUMAN security , *PERSONAL property , *SLAVE trade - Abstract
Climate change, environmental degradation, and descent-based slavery are prevailing issues in Mauritania. The relationship between the three phenomena has rarely elicited investigation, in part due to the perception that chattel slavery is an institution of the past. Despite being the last country in the world to decree its abolition in 1981, Mauritania is alleged to have one of the highest incidences of slavery in the world today. This study explores the nexus between climate change and slavery in Mauritania. The paper seeks to elucidate how the environmental interactions of the Sahel have transformed slavery's manifestation in this multiethnic northwest African republic for more than a millennium. The author contributes to the rich literature on slavery in Mauritania by arguing that in the twenty-first century, the nexus converges on the issue of development, and that the prevalence of slavery degrades the country's precarious environment and contributes to its underdevelopment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2024
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
4. Export flux succession of dinoflagellate cysts and planktonic foraminifera in an active upwelling cell off Cape Blanc (NW Africa).
- Author
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Zonneveld, Karin A.F., Meilland, Julie, Donner, Barbara, and Versteegh, Gerard J.M.
- Subjects
DINOFLAGELLATE cysts ,GYMNODINIUM ,FORAMINIFERA ,WATER depth - Abstract
To better understand production, succession, excystment and transport of dinoflagellate cysts (dinocysts) and planktonic foraminifera in the upper water column, we investigated their fluxes during a 7-day survey in the active upwelling off Cape Blanc (NW Africa) in November 2018 with drifting traps at 100 m, 200 m and 400 m water depth. The survey covered a change from active upwelling to stratified conditions. Highest production of organic dinocysts and planktonic foraminifera was observed during active upwelling conditions and decreased drastically towards the end of the survey. Calcareous dinocysts appeared later during upwelling relaxation. Cytoplasm-bearing (full) dinocysts and foraminifera were produced in the water column above the traps (<100 m depth). Some of the empty dinocysts were resuspended, implying that sediments below the survey site contain both local and allochthonous cyst assemblages. This is the first demonstration that excystment in the upper water column is species-specific. Brigantedinium excysted in the upper water column before reaching deeper depths, whereas no upper water column excystment was observed for the other dinoflagellate species. Dinoflagellate and planktonic foraminifera associations showed a clear succession. During active upwelling, Echinidinium zonneveldiae, Brigantedinium spp., other peridinioids, Echinidinium spp., cysts of Pentapharsodinium dalei, 'other photosynthetic organic-walled dinocysts', Neogloboquadrina incompta and Globigerinella calida were collected. During upwelling relaxation, Lingulodinium machaerophorum was produced; and under stratified conditions Gymnodiniaceae cysts (G. microreticulatum, G. catenatum) and the foraminifera Globigerina bulloides and Orbulina universa were sampled. Apart from enhancing knowledge of these species, our observations allow more detailed reconstructions of upwelling history in the Cape Blanc region based on sedimentary archives using fossilized dinoflagellate and planktonic foraminifera assemblages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2022
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
5. Afrika-Studiecentrum Abstracts.
- Subjects
AFRICAN religions ,RELIGION ,CATTLE - Abstract
The article presents abstracts on topics related to religion in Africa, including "Raising the Dead: The Khosa Cattle-Killing and the Mhlakaza-Goliat Delusion," "Reinterpretation of the Historical Development of the Church and State in Lesotho's Educational Partnership," and "Reformism As a Theme in Hausa Religio-Political Poetry."
- Published
- 2008
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
6. Afrika-Studiecentrum Abstracts.
- Subjects
AFRICAN religions ,MISSIONARY medicine - Abstract
This section presents abstracts related to religion in Africa. They include "An Extraordinary Generation: The Legacy of William Henry Sheppard, the "Black Livingstone" of Africa," "Babies' Baths, Babies' Remembrances: A Beng Theory of Development, History and Memory" and "The Training of Female Medical Auxiliaries in Missionary Hospitals in Northern Rhodesia, 1928-1952."
- Published
- 2007
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
7. Sura Headings and Subdivisions in Qur'an Manuscripts from Sub-Saharan Africa: Variations and Historical Implications.
- Author
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Hamès, Constant
- Subjects
ISLAMIC literature ,ISLAM ,MANUSCRIPTS ,SUBJECT headings - Abstract
Sura headings, and the information they convey, were formulated well after the Qur'anic revelation itself. Furthermore, they were not determined by authoritative, standardising decisions, as was the case for the Qur'anic text, which has come down to us ne varietur. Given the geographical extension attained by the Islamic world in the course of its history, and in the absence of normalisation due to the disappearance of a centralised power, local variations in sura headings are only to be expected. This is, in effect, the case for Africa. The sampling of Qur'an manuscripts considered here is compared to the standard Egyptian edition of 1923, and reveals differences not only in the titles of the suras but also in the other types of information associated with them, such as indications concerning the place of revelation and the number of verses in each sura. In addition, in some areas, headings are not usually committed to writing, whereas in other local traditions, they may be quite long and contain multiple elements of information. Though these variations may appear to be minor, they are of interest in a comparative perspective, taking into account different zones and eras - especially so if one seeks to discern local identities in the presentation of Qur'an manuscripts. The ones analysed here all come from the Saharo-Sahelian zone: Mauritania (2), Mali (1), Chad (2) and Somalia (1). They are dated to the nineteenth century, with the exception of one early twentieth-century manuscript. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2013
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
8. Poetics of diaspora: Sahrawi poets and postcolonial transformations of a trans-Saharan genre in northwest Africa.
- Author
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Deubel, TaraFlynn
- Subjects
HASSANIYEH (Arab people) ,SAHRAWI (African people) ,POLITICS & literature ,AFRICAN diaspora ,AFRICAN poetry ,REFUGEES ,FOLK poetry - Abstract
The oral poetic tradition in Hassaniya Arabic emerged as a distinct trans-Saharan genre in present-day Mauritania in the pre-colonial era, fusing stylistic features of classical Arabic poetry with the musical heritage and griot1 traditions of neighbouring sub-Saharan cultures. As a popular musical art performed in a colloquial dialect, Hassani poetry is accessible to a range of social classes, and mastery of composition signifies linguistic prowess and social prestige. Drawing on ethnographic research with male and female Sahrawi poets in 2006–07, this article traces the roots of oral poetry in Hassaniya-speaking communities in northwest Africa and discusses recent shifts in modes of transmission, performance contexts, and poetic content. While the proliferation of new media has decreased the apprenticeship of younger poets, Hassani poetry has maintained an active following among mixed age groups. In the context of the protracted international conflict over the Western Sahara, the genre has gained new visibility as part of larger national projects to promote Sahrawi cultural heritage and advance opposing political agendas. Examples from Sahrawi poets in southern Morocco, Western Sahara,2 and refugee camps in Algeria demonstrate how the genre serves as a discursive strategy in critiquing modern urban culture, employing social capital, and supporting the political rhetoric of nationalist movements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2012
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
9. A Dual-track Strategy for Managing Mauritania's Projected Oil Rent.
- Author
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Auty, Richard and Pontara, Nicola
- Subjects
NATURAL resource laws ,CONSERVATION of natural resources ,NATURAL resources management ,ECONOMIC development ,RENT (Economic theory) ,SOCIOECONOMICS ,PUBLIC welfare ,SOCIOLOGY ,SOCIAL conflict - Abstract
High rent creates contests for its capture that, unless skilfully managed, degrade political institutions and distort the economy, leading to a collapse of growth if unreformed. Mauritania's projected oil stream risks such an outcome because past rent-driven growth has left a legacy of Dutch disease effects, rent-seeking and dependent social capital. This article proposes a dual-track strategy for deploying the oil rent as a politically practical means of managing social tensions and improving the economic outcome. Track one promotes a dynamic market economy in the hitherto neglected rural areas, while track two gradually reforms the rent-driven urban sector, thus postponing confrontation with established rent-seekers while the dynamic sector drives competitive diversification of the economy and builds a pro-reform political constituency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2008
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
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