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THE FUTURE OF

ETHICS, EDUCATION

AND

RESEARCH

PROCEEDINGS

2017

RAIS CONFERENCE

October 16-17

THE FUTURE OF

ETHICS, EDUCATION AND RESEARCH Proceedings of the RAIS Conference

ISBN: 978-1-945298-08-0

October 16-17, 2017 Montgomery County Campus, Rockville, MD, USA

RAIS

RESEARCH ASSOCIATION for INTERDISCIPLINARY OCTOBER 2017 STUDIES

This publication presents the proceedings of the RAIS Conference THE FUTURE OF ETHICS, EDUCATION AND RESEARCH held in Montgomery County Campus, Rockville, MD, USA, October 16-17, 2017. The Conference was organized by Research Association for Interdisciplinary Studies.

The Research Association for Interdisciplinary Studies (RAIS) is an international, notfor-profit organization incorporated by the Maryland State Department of Assessments and Taxation, United States of America, and is exempt from federal income tax under Internal Revenue Code (IRC) Section 501(c) (3), with the mission of promoting human values through interdisciplinary research.

© 2017 RAIS & Authors ISBN: 978-1-945298-08-0 Edited by Ioan–Gheorghe Rotaru Cover, typesetting, layout & production: Viorica Burcea This publication reflects the views only of the authors, and RAIS cannot be held responsible for any use that may be made of the information contained therein.

The publication is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license.

Published by The Scientific Press, Cambridge, MA 4

CONTENTS THEME: THE FUTURE OF ECONOMICS AND LAW – A MULTIDISCIPLINARY APPROACH How Efficient is to Judge By Standards in a Civil Law Country? A Law and Economics Approach on Brazilian’s Precedent System EDSON ANTÔNIO SOUSA PONTES PINTO

10

Comparative Analysis about Binding Preliminary Agreements between Brazil and United States Legal Systems MARCELA CARVALHO VIEGAS

17

Testing the Semi-Strong Form of Efficiency Theory in the Nigerian Capital Market: The Input And Output Index JOHN AYODELE AJAYI

27

Juxtaposition of Eastern Management Styles and practices with Modern Management System and Concepts NIDHI KAUSHAL SANJIT MISHRA

37

Valuation models for low-income housing: How does income approach reduce ambiguity of assessing property tax?

YELIN (JENNY) LI

46

Morocco and ECOWAS: A strategic adhesion with big potential for Moroccan SMEs HAMZA EL GUILI

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Proceedings of the RAIS Conferece I 16-17 OCTOBER, 2017

Redistribution and Economic Decline SVEN R LARSON

64

THEME: THE FUTURE OF EDUCATION, MASS-MEDIA AND COMMUNICATION The Blogosphere and Political News in Nigeria: A Content Study of the Contributions of Linda Ikeji’s Blog to the Journaling of the 2015 Presidential Election Results& BONIFACE NKEM ANUSIEM

80

Etiquette of Media’s Responsibility during Crises (Kurdistan region and ‘ISIS’ as instance) HERSH RASOOL MURAD TAZHAN DLSHAD KAREEM

90

Project Sharing: Public Communication and Education as a Tool for Citizenship Guarantee TATYANE FERREIRA 101 ALZIMAR RAMALHO MÁRCIA MARQUES

Code-Switching and Mixing in Communication −A Study on Language Contact in Indian Media BARNALI CHETIA 110

Social Media and Freedom of Thought ADELA BĂNCĂU-BURCEA

Uncovering Powerful East Asian Women Politicians in News Media TSZ LAM NGAI

124

131

THEME: THE FUTURE OF RELIGION AND PEACE Utopian State, Concept and Need of RamRajya: A literary Study NEERJA A GUPTA 140

6

CONTENTS

Culture and the Contemporary Religious Dynamics in Nigeria: A Study of Soyinka’s Drama & MEGBOWON FUNMILOLA KEMI

147

UWAH CHIJIOKE

Prison Radicalization in Bangladesh Present Scenario and Threats MD. MOSTAFIZUR RAHAMAN

158

Refugees and the Future World: Fuelling conflict of Ethnicities?

MD. RAJIN MAKHDUM KHAN

169

FAIZAH IMAM

Mircea Eliade’s Research Method in the Field of the History and Philosophy of Religion STELIAN MANOLACHE 178

The Concept of Culture in Educational Management SAMUIEL BÂLC

189

The Impact of Anti-Terrorism Laws on Religious Freedom: Cameroon’s Approach in Combating Terrorism and the Role of the Church ERIC CHE MUMA 194

Religious Extremism versus Extremes of Desacralisation: Rethinking the Status of Religious Education ABDUREZAK ABDULAHI HASHI

224

THEME: THE FUTURE OF MEDICINE, HEALTH CARE AND BIOLOGICAL STUDIES Dengue Spread Modeling in the Absence of Sufficient Epidemiological Parameters: Comparison of SARIMA and SVM Time Series Models JERELYN CO, JASON ALLAN TAN 232 MA. REGINA JUSTINA ESTUAR, KENNEDY ESPINA

Patients’ motivation and health plan choice DONGWOO KO 243

7

ORGANIZING COMMITTEE Viorica Burcea, Research Association for Interdisciplinary Studies, USA Konstantin Pantserev, Saint-Petersburg State University, School of International Relations, RUSSIA Ioan Gheorghe Rotaru, ‘Timotheus’ Brethren Theological Institute of Bucharest, ROMANIA Adela Bancau Burcea, Université Paul-Valéry Montpellier 3, FRANCE Marian Gh. Simion, Harvard Divinity School, USA Denise E. Burrill (Simion), Université Paul-Valéry Montpellier 3, FRANCE Liana Rozalia Rotaru, The County Center of Resources and Educational Assistance, ROMANIA SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE Neerja A Gupta, Gujarat University, Ahmedabad, INDIA Edson Pontes Pinto, Catholic University of Rondônia, BRAZIL Muma Eric Che, Justus Liebig University Giessen, GERMANY Abdurezak Abdulahi Hashi, International Islamic University MALAYSIA Wisdom Momodu, Justus Liebig University Giessen, GERMANY Tatyane Ferreira, IESB University Center, BRAZIL Faisal Chaudhry, University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law, USA Manolache Stelian, University Ovidius, Constanta, ROMANIA Afshan Shafi, Muhammad Nawaz Shareef University of Agriculture, PAKISTAN Arpita Phukan Biswas, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, INDIA Syed Aftab Aalam, University of Sargodha, PAKISTAN Barnali Chetia, Indian Institute of Information Technology, Vadodara, INDIA Sven Larson, Hill City Skunkworks LLC, USA David Ononogbu, University of Nigeria, NIGERIA Konstantin Pantserev, Saint-Petersburg State University, RUSSIA Melouki Slimane, University of M’sila, ALGERIA Kamal Hattab, Kuwait University, KUWAIT Hersh Rasool Murad, University of Raparin, IRAQ Megbowon Funmilola Kemi, University of Fort Hare, SOUTH AFRICA Marcela Viegas, Duquesne University of Law, USA WU Chih-Wen, National Chung Hsing University, TAIWAN Ioan Gheorghe Rotaru, ‘Timotheus’ Brethren Theological Institute of Bucharest, ROMANIA Nicholas Odhiambo, University of SOUTH AFRICA Md Mostafizur Rahaman, CAMPE, North South University, BANGLADESH Causenge Cangin, James Madison University, USA Dilip Dutta, University of Sydney, AUSTRALIA

THE FUTURE THEME

OF

ECONOMICS AND LAW

A M U LT I D I S C I P L I N A R Y A P P R O A C H

RAIS

RESEARCH ASSOCIATION for INTERDISCIPLINARY OCTOBER 2017 STUDIES

How Efficient is to Judge By Standards in a Civil Law Country? A Law and Economics Approach on Brazilian’s Precedent System Edson Antônio Sousa Pontes Pinto

Professor of Law at Catholic University of Rondônia, Brazil edson@dplaw.com.br

ABSTRACT: In civil law countries, the law arises, as a general rule, from a political legislative source that, through popular legitimacy, create norms that make up the legal system, differently from the common law tradition, in which the binding precedents are acknowledged as a legal source. However, recently Brazil has structured a new system of precedents that imperatively binds all the Judiciary, in order to recognize, from here onwards, the normative force of the Brazilian’s Superior Courts decisions, in a system very much alike the judge-made law. Albeit, due to this legal innovation, the question that remains is if this is the most efficient form of judicial decision-making, or if the application and interpretation of law by the Magistrates, in an independent and individual manner, is the best way to judge. For that reason, the present essay analyzed this new Brazilian’s Precedent System on an approach of Law and Economics, considering the proper institutes of this legal doctrine, and demonstrated that the efficiency gains in this new binding system, justifies its application even if it means, for part of the jurists, the reduction of Judges liberty to adjudicate.

KEY WORDS: Precedent, Civil Law, New Civil Procedure Code, Law and Economics, Biding Decision Making.

10

Pontes Pinto: How Efficient is to Judge By Standards in a Civil Law Country?

1. Introduction The civil law countries are characterized by the use of law as a normative matrix, so that it is the instrument par excellence to bring the legal rules, leading the other sources of law to a secondary role, among them the judicial precedents formed by the Courts.

Brazil, a country classified as one of civil law, has recently adopted a precedent system in the reformation of its Civil Procedure Code, binding all judges to the understanding established by the State, Federal and Superior Courts.

Several critics were appointed to this innovation of the Code, claiming it as a way to reduce the freedom of judges to adjudicate, forcing them to follow the rulings of the Courts; or that the application of precedents would turn the judges into true automatized robots only to apply the ratio decidendi described therein; and even that the judicial understandings would be frozen since once the formation of precedents has been formed, the capacity to modify it is lost.

However, it becomes a case of true political choice by the Brazilian legislator, given that by means of the law there are procedural instruments capable of formalizing or modifying precedents, it is not a precedent culture as seen in countries such as the United States and England.

We could cite several reasons why the Brazilian judicial system is in a true qualitative and quantitative decline, however, in the perspective of the present work, it interest us to delineate that judicial precedents, as we shall see, bring stability, predictability, integrity and coherence to the judicial system, in such a way as to reduce the transaction costs of the citizens, allowing for a greater efficiency in the relations between economic agents, independently of the performance of the Judiciary, since, as we have seen, the precedent given by the standardizing Court is considered a public informational good, and from its inception, will induce or inhibit behavior in society.

The arguments presented are economic in nature, but we use them as a method of analyzing legal instruments, seeking to demonstrate the impact of this new system from an economic perspective. Let’s see.

2. The Brazilian Precedents System in the New Civil Procedure Code The valuation of precedents imposes a paradigm shift regarding the exercise of the judiciary power, in such a way that its decision is bound, by the law, to the precedents formulated by the instruments the legislator chose for such purpose.

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Proceedings of the RAIS Conferece I 16-17 OCTOBER, 2017

In this context, we consider as precedent the decision that is able to influence the judgment of future cases, so that the past guides an action in the present, and likewise lead to the solution of questions brought in the future.

Hence, to follow precedents is to decide the present based on the past, when there is the answer to standards already applied, after all, when one decides based on precedent, it is assumed in essence that the same decision has already been issued. However, in the same way, we must consider that creating precedents and following them are forwardlooking activities, given that the magistrates who today decide are the precedent setters of tomorrow (Duxbury 2008). And, in this perspective, Frederick Schauer asserts: “an argument from precedent looks forward as well, asking us to view today’s decision as a precedent for tomorrow’s decisionmakers. Today is not only yesterday’s tomorrow; it is also tomorrow’s yesterday” (Schauer 1987, 572-573).

The authority of precedents in common law derives from the ability to influence future cases, in which their ratio decidendi will be applied in similar cases, thus seeking an isonomic treatment of the cases put in court (treat like cases alike).

In this context, there is no legal obligation to apply precedent, but rather a linkage derived from the authority itself to the institute of precedent in common law within the doctrine of the stare decisis, which states the need of lower courts to apply the rationes decidendi of superior courts in identical cases, ensuring integrity and coherence to the decisions of the Judiciary, and as result, stability, isonomy, and predictability.

However, it appears that this is not the basis for application of precedents in the Brazilian system. The New Civil Procedure Code brings the instruments that will ensure the effectiveness of precedents, so that for the Procedure Code there is no binding authority of Courts precedents, but only those classified by the procedural law.

In other words, in Brazilian systematic the precedent will be formed by instruments described in law, since the Civil Procedure Code presents, as said above, a method of formulation termed as “static”, by which the precedent arises through legal instruments “that, by the will of the Legislator, serves as a formally obligatory standard for solving similar cases” (Santos 2012, 174).

The article 927 of the Procedural Code1 then lists the types of provisions that will link future cases, so that their rationes decidendi will be used as basis in equal cases, or to justify divergences when dealing with different cases by distinguishing them, or even to request its overruling or overriding, thus guaranteeing the constant oxygenation of formulated precedents. It is of interest here to assert that the judicial precedent does not therefore appear as a mere vector of interpretation of the norm, but principally it derives true normative content, and must be considered, even, in the grounds used by 12

Pontes Pinto: How Efficient is to Judge By Standards in a Civil Law Country?

the act of judging, adding itself to the other sources of law, thus modifying paradigms that until then disqualified the precedents as a legal source.

The procedural statute aims to give integrity and coherence to the understandings signed by the Courts (art. 926, CPC)2, which by their competence dictate the final word on certain matters, eliminating the casuism inherent of “lottery judgments”, ensuring that equal cases are treated in the same way, thus materializing constitutional equality.

Thus, the precedent system of the Procedural Code contains instruments that will oblige the judge to base their decision on precedents already signed by the competent courts, if the case in question is related to its ratio decidendi, in order to apply the same understanding to like cases. The solipsisms of judicial decisions in Brazil are shown both in varied treatment of equal cases, and in the lack of legal certainty, particularly of predictability, in the relationship between citizen and State, which greatly affects the daily routine of the former, as they are exposed to the elements of interpretation of the law.

For this reason, the adoption of a precedent system brings economic impacts that can be described by the economic analysis of the law, which will demonstrate the efficiency of its application as opposed to the random judgments inherent to a legal system without a binding adjucation.

3. Economic Aspects of Judicial Precedents It’s valid to emphasize the parallels between the legal cultures of civil law and common law when we compare the sources of law and the way in which it is produced in a given society. However, we maintain that the adoption of a precedent system in Brazil is not an import of the doctrine of United States precedent (stare decisis), nor is it derived from the English culture of respect and attachment to established precedents.

Instead, our reality is one of application and respect for the law, which ordains all magistrates to be bound by the precedents as they are prescribed by the hierarchically superior courts, whether at the state or federal level. But even in a system in which legislation is the supreme source of law, precedents have legal nature as a normative source, and as such can be considered a properly constituted capital stock.

By definition, the legal capital of a given society is “the set of legal rules (originally legislative or not) that the Judiciary applies to a type of case at any given time” (Gico Jr 2012, 2). As said by Landes and Posner: “We treat the body of legal precedents created by judicial decisions in prior periods as a capital stock that yields a flow of 13

Proceedings of the RAIS Conferece I 16-17 OCTOBER, 2017

information services which depreciates over time as new conditions arise that were not foreseen by the framers of the existing precedent� (1976, 3).

Thus, the Judiciary Power has a capital stock to be applied in the solution of conflicts, so that the citizens (economic agents) in knowing the rules applicable to each case, can predict the position of the magistrates and, with this, rationally organize their actions based, therefore, on the resulting legal consequences.

Therefore, this system of precedents is justified and based on two values indispensable to all judicial decisions: stability and predictability - both intrinsically linked to legal certainty. Legal certainty, as we know, is a value intrinsic to the Constitutional Rule-of-Law State, and as a fundamental right, it orders the State to protect the security by means of norms that effectively protect the citizen’s trust, after all, you cannot speak of security and predictability when lacking the legitimate trust of the citizen.

In addition, legal certainty, such as stability and predictability, is a constitutional principle whose purpose is to safeguard equal judicial treatment, thus ensuring that equal cases have equal decisions, removing the solipsisms and decisionisms, which so influence the legal praxis. Legal security is thus an important characteristic of a precedent system by allowing economic agents to distribute the risks of the conflict by allocating and guaranteeing the economic agents sufficient information to avoid legal action or to treat it in the most efficient manner.

James Buchanan, in volume VII of his work The Limits of Liberty: Between Anarchy and Leviathan, described law as a durable good to be enjoyed over time (1975, 99), so that the yield from creation of a legal rule is delayed in time, determining and inducing conduct at a future time, and allowing economic agents to know with predictability the rules of the game. That is, judicial precedents, as part of the body of norms of a society, constitute both a legal capital at the service of judges and economic agents and a durable public good.

Moreover, considering that transaction costs, as Ronald Coase (Coase 1960) teaches us, are those necessary for the use and maintenance of the property rights of a particular economic agent, we argue that a procedural system based on precedents, and therefore with stability and predictability, reduces the transaction costs required by economic agents to negotiate rights.

That is to say, transaction costs encompass several costs that involve the entire process of economic interaction, in addition to the actual gross cost of acquisition. Thus, the legal security provided by the precedents guarantees the reduction of these costs, since, among other characteristics, these procedural instruments bring information and 14

Pontes Pinto: How Efficient is to Judge By Standards in a Civil Law Country?

allow greater planning by the economic agents. Therefore, the presence of precedents also diminishes the informational asymmetry between agents, as it allows all the knowledge of the judgments, considered as a public good.

The judicial precedent, therefore, as legal capital, avoids the individualistic action of each magistrate, since it binds their actions to the standard previously formed by the Court, and with this it prevents several rights to be solved in court and opens the possibility of agreements between parties (Gould 1973, 296), since it brings stability to judicial understandings and allows for estimations by the economic agents.

4. Conclusion Considering, then, this innovation brought by the new brazilian Civil Procedure Code, the system of precedents recently adopted by the national law system contains instruments able of formulating and modifying precedents, binding the magistrates to the understandings of the State, Federal, as well as Superior Courts.

As seen, the command of article 926 is clear in determining that jurisprudence must be kept stable, with integrity and coherence, so that the State must act in a consistent manner before the citizens, bound by principles, guaranteeing the same standards of justice and fairness to all.

But beyond the principiological structure brought by the procedural system, the act of judging must be analyzed from the economic point of view, in such a way that the application of judicial precedents brings several benefits and efficiency gains, after all, it is a legal capital of the State, which provides predictability and stability to the Courts’ understanding, in the same way, that it reduces transaction costs and increases the informational symmetry among economic agents.

In addition, judge’s respect for precedents and, consequently, for the integrity and coherence of the legal system, will also be beneficial to the State, as this may reduce unnecessary judicial demands, since the understanding of every Judicial Branch will be in unison and in accordance with the Superior Courts.

Therefore, in treating like cases alike, the State will allow the citizen to foresee the legal consequences of their own actions, as well as of third parties, and the State itself, once it is clear not only what is defined in the law but especially the meaning the Judiciary derives from it (Marinoni 2010, 135). Garanteeing, since, that the right will be applied in an uniform manner to all, without casuism, solipsism and bias, is an indispensable consequence of legal certainty and, likewise, of equal treatment of citizens.

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Proceedings of the RAIS Conferece I 16-17 OCTOBER, 2017

Equality is thus an essential element in the rule of law and in securing legal certainty, so that stability and predictability, as areas of legal certainty, will lead to the equal treatment of equal cases, thus removing lottery judgment (Marinoni 2016, 107).

It is therefore a matter of efficiency of the legal system, in so that such instruments avoid the unnecessary use of public resources the moment the State provides the citizen with a faster, more stable and predictable result, respecting, as such, all the fundamental rights provided for in the Brazilian Constitution.

Notes 1

Art. 927. Os juízes e os tribunais observarão: I - as decisões do Supremo Tribunal Federal em controle concentrado de constitucionalidade; II - os enunciados de súmula vinculante; III - os acórdãos em incidente de assunção de competência ou de resolução de demandas repetitivas e em julgamento de recursos extraordinário e especial repetitivos; IV - os enunciados das súmulas do Supremo Tribunal Federal em matéria constitucional e do Superior Tribunal de Justiça em matéria infraconstitucional; V - a orientação do plenário ou do órgão especial aos quais estiverem vinculados.

2

Art. 926. Os tribunais devem uniformizar sua jurisprudência e mantê-la estável, íntegra e coerente.

References Coase, R. H. 1960. “ The Problem of Social Cost.” Journal of Law and Economics 3 (October): 1-44.

Buchanan, J. M. 1975. The Limits of Liberty: Between Anarchy and Leviathan 7. IN: Liberty Fund Press.

Gico Jr, Ivo. 2012. A Tragédia do Judiciário: subinvestimento em capital jurídico e sobreutilização do Judiciário. Tese de Doutorado. Brasília: Universidade de Brasília. Gould, John P. 1973.

“The Economics of Legal Conflicts.” The Journal of Legal Studies 2, no. 2 ( June): 279-300.

Landes, William M., and Richard Posner. 1976. “Legal Precedent: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis.” Journal of Law and Economics (September): 249-307.

Marinoni, Luiz Guilherme. 2010. Precedentes obrigatórios. São Paulo: RT. Marinoni, Luiz Guilherme. 2016. A ética dos precedentes: justificativa do novo CPC. São Paulo: RT. Santos, Evaristo Aragão. 2012. “Em torno do conceito e da formação do precedente judicial.”

In: WAMBIER, Teresa Arruda Alvim (org.). Direito Jurisprudencial. São Paulo: Revista dos Tribunais.

Schauer, Frederick. 1987. “Precedent.” Stanford Law Review 39 (February): 571-606.

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RAIS

RESEARCH ASSOCIATION for INTERDISCIPLINARY OCTOBER 2017 STUDIES

Comparative Analysis about Binding Preliminary Agreements between Brazil and United States Legal Systems Marcela Carvalho Viegas

Duquesne University of Law, USA marcelacviegas@gmail.com

ABSTRACT: During the past decades the world became one globalized market in a way that every country, with few exceptions, established economic, social and political relations among then. Consequently, new legal bonds started uprising in reason of the contracts signed to support such international relations. A lot of problems would be avoided if all the countries had the same legal system and if the same laws regulated the contracts. This is not even imaginable.

Within this scenario, this research had the purpose to analyze why preliminary agreements became a crucial tool when dealing with contracts that easily involve parties from different countries and different legal systems and that were made through a process much more complex than the idea of the two parties exchanging offers, acceptance and performance. Furthermore, this paper significantly examined and compared which kinds of preliminary agreement exist and which ones attract legal responsibilities (are binding) between different countries and different legal systems. This study focused specifically in the difference between Brazil’s, a Civil Law country, and Unites States’, a Common Law country, legal systems.

KEY WORDS: legal systems, negotiation, contract, civil cod, preliminary agreement.

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Proceedings of the RAIS Conferece I 16-17 OCTOBER, 2017

1. Introduction Development is the word of the century. Everything and everyone works and reacts based on the idea of the development of projects, books, startups, big companies, sustainable solutions, communication, among others. What no one sees, or what most people do not see, is that behind all of the development, all over the world, there is a signed contract or one to be signed.

The kind of negotiation done nowadays is very different from the one done some years ago. Today the contracts need to predict and to deal with a lot of variables that did not exist before. The idea of two parties exchanging proposals until another party forming the contract accepts an offer does not correspond to what happens in the complex processes to make a contract nowadays (Farnsworth 1987, 1).

It is very difficult to deal with all possible circumstances, as Allan Farnsworth noted in his article: “major contractual commitments are very complex and typically set out in a lengthy document, or in a set of documents, signed by the parties in multiple copies” (Farnsworth 1987, 1). This process can take a lot of time and involve a lot of people and several “rounds” of negotiation. On this long way to make a contract, it is very common that the parties prefer to make a preliminary agreement to avoid the uncertainties of the negotiation processes, so they can discuss the points with time and insurance and with the certainty that when they finally make the final contract, this contract will correspond to the best interest of the parties and will be well accepted.

The term “Preliminary Agreement” is used to refer to all kinds of documents made by the parties before the final agreement, which can be either non-binding or binding, depending on the intention of the parties, the language, the way that is made, and on a lot of other variable circumstances that the article will talk about later.

Examples of preliminary agreements are “letter of intents” [in the majority of the cases, letter of intents are not binding because they usually contain language denying the legal enforceability of the terms of the agreement], “agreement with open terms”, “agreement to negotiate with good faith”, and “preliminary contract” (Knutson 1991, 1).

2. Advantages and Disadvantages of making preliminary agreements in both legal systems It is a fact that in all agreements that involve two or more parties, no matter in which legal system, it is more than expected that each one will have his own motivation and 18

Viegas: Comparative Analysis about Binding Preliminary Agreements

objective. Considering this variable, it is necessary to focus on the outward expression that needs to be convergent (See Lucy V. Zehmer) so that the parties can put efforts together to make a contract that will satisfy them both.

Beyond the necessity of putting efforts together, in some legal systems, like the Brazilian one, good faith will be something that the parties need to have during the entire time of making a contract. In others, like the United States’ one, good faith is not a request in all stages of the negotiation and of the performance of the contract; this article is going to talk about this in other further point.

In a normal situation the parties will first exchange information and an identification of each parties’ interests and differences (Farnsworth 1987, 2), then they will go through the major points in order to get to a point in common. To get to this convergent point, most of the time, the parties need to engage in a negotiation that can take hours, weeks or even years.

For example, when Bayer agreed to buy Monsanto in a $66 billion deal, the deal had so many details, people involved, government bureaucracy and a lot of money that the final contract took years to be finalized.

A preliminary agreement is very useful for different purposes, for example to provide a summary of the results of the negotiation from time-to-time and to establish what has already been negotiated.

Beyond the fact that the parties will make sure that the terms discussed will not be discussed again, preliminary contracts can be useful as a guaranty that the other party really intends to make a final contract and is not merely wasting time on it. It is clear that, if one party rejects the preliminary agreement proposed by the other party, this party it is not in accordance with the negotiation. This means that for the parties to have successful contracts they should either intensify the negotiation or decide to terminate it (Knutson 1991, 2).

Another situation where the preliminary agreement can also be very valuable is when is related to a contract that precedes a big transaction. In this kind of situation, the companies cannot wait until all the paperwork is done to start to produce effects.

So, they make a preliminary agreement to give them the assurance they need to start acting based on a future final contract.

Apart from all the value and utility of the preliminary agreements, be it on the Brazilian or United States’ legal system, what is considered the most important consequence is that a binding preliminary agreement will, in and of itself, make sure that the property object of the contract is out of the market and assure the parties’ preferences (Knutson 1991, 3).

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Unfortunately, preliminary agreements do not bring only advantages. This is why some people and mainly some companies avoid using a preliminary agreement. Among these disadvantages is the time that is spent to make the preliminary agreements, which if used to focus on the final contract could be much quicker and easier to negotiate.

For example, in the Brazilian legal system, the preliminary agreement needs to necessarily have all the legal characteristics as the final contract does, except to be made in the format as the legal one is made. In a real transaction this means that if the parties really want to be binding and wish to have a final contract, sometimes, when all the terms are discussed it is much easier to sign the final contract, even if it means needing to take extra time to make it in the legal format.

3. What makes a preliminary agreement binding?

As known, preliminary agreement can be binding or not. The question is what makes a preliminary agreement binding and consequently enforceable? At this point, there is going to have a big difference because in Brazil the legal system is the Civil Law, and in the United States it is the Common Law. In the United States’ legal system, be that an “agreement with open terms” or an “agreement to negotiate with good faith”, the two main features important to pay attention to are the primarily reason why the parties had when they decided to make a preliminary contract and the terms existed in the agreement. The intention of the parties is set with the language and the other variables that will be used to know whether the contracts are binding or not.

Indeed, in many cases, the purpose of the parties when they do a preliminary contract is to bind the parties to such agreements. However, if one party has reasons to suspect or actually knows that the other intends not to be bound by the preliminary agreement, no contract is formed [See Restatement (Second) of Contracts 21].

One good example of preliminary agreement easily enforceable is the “Fully Formed Contract Claim”, created when the parties make a complete preliminary agreement, with all terms discussed and leave nothing opened to negotiate. In this case, even if the parties want a more formal and definitive contract in the future, the future agreement is viewed as merely desirable, not necessary ( Jeffries 2012, 6). So, the court will see the preliminary agreement as a definitive one (See Trowbridge v. McCaigue).

However, there are some cases where the parties makes a preliminary contract leaving some terms opened and some points to discuss, what characterizes an “agreement 20

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with open terms”, or an “agreement to negotiate with good faith”, which occurs when the parties just agree with the fact that they will continue to put efforts to negotiate all the terms of the final contract.

In both these situations (since there are some undefined terms and it is not clear whether the contract can be enforceable) when a breach of the contract occurs it is necessary to file a complaint. The court will then decide where the intent of the parties was bound and whether the contract can be enforceable. In order to make a decision, the court looks at the totality of the circumstances, considering objective signs of the parties’ intent and mainly the terms until then negotiated. Normally, signs of intent like the language used, outward manifestation, drafts and previous communication between the parties are less difficult for the court to analyze, although in some cases this part can be very tricky too.

In situation like that, the biggest problem of a preliminary agreement being analyzed by the court is the existence of too many indefinite terms. This situation occurs when the contract lacks so many points that the court cannot enforce the contract: “A contract is unenforceable for indefiniteness if a court cannot adequately determine what is requires, permits, of prohibits or if no remedy can be fixed” (Burton & Andersen 1995, 358).

Beyond these two types of preliminary agreements, in the United States, it is possible to use some language that will assure that the agreement will be binding (even if the indefinite of the contract prevent the enforceability), such as a specific expression of intent or an expression making the execution of the agreement subject to the occurrence of one or more events (Knutson 1991, 6).

On the other hand, on the Brazilian legal system, as a Civil Law system, the objective assumptions that decides if the preliminary agreement is binding or not, are established on the Civil Code. The article 462 on the Civil Code deals specifically with preliminary contracts and determines that in order to be binding and enforceable, the preliminary contract needs to have all essential elements that a final contract has, excepting the format.

The article 104 determines that for a contract, definitive or preliminary, to be valid it is necessary that the parties are capable of their acts (capable in this case means that the parties cannot be minors or mental incapacity); the object of the contract needs to be legal and determinable and must be made in some instrument that is allowed or not prohibited by law.

Another article that is very important when it comes to preliminary agreements is the Article 463 which determines that for a preliminary agreement be opposable against 21

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a third party, not related directly in the contract, this agreement needs to be notarized by a competent person.

These are all objective assumptions dictated by the Civil Code, but there are also some subjective principles that are very useful when the court analyses the existence of preliminary agreements. One of them is known as the “contractual nature” (Silva, 2015, 1), which means that the contract must be a consequence of the mental assent and the outward expression of the parties together in only one legal action. Another one as important as the first one is known as the “principle of the social function” that determines that the individual parties’ interests in the contract need to be in accordance with the social interest and in case of a conflict, the social interest should prevail.

Another subjective principle that is very important to be noticed when the parties are negotiating the contract or performing it, is the good faith. However, there is a big difference that needs to be explored when this principle is noticed in regards to the different perspectives between the Brazilian and the United States’ legal system 3.1 Good Faith as a duty

Good faith can be analyzed in two perspectives, both subjectively and objectively. From a subjective point, good faith means to be honest with the other party including the idea of the mutual assent of the minds. From an objective point, good faith is known as a “performance obligation [that] protects the justified expectations of one party by constraining the discretion enjoyed by the other under the contract” (Burton & Andersen 1995, 367). Considering these perspectives, good faith can be considered a duty in some legal systems more than in others.

In the Brazilian legal system, good faith is adopted more in a subjective view, it is supplemented by the objective approach and it is a duty to the parties during all the negotiations and after that on the performance of the contract. As a codified legal system, the Article 422 on the Brazilian Civil Code expressly determines that “The parties are obligated to have during the negotiations and in the performance of the contracts, the principles of probity and good faith” (Brazilian Civil Code, article 422) In an objectively perspective “the good faith has three functions: the interpretative function, based on Article 113; the integration of legal business, based on Article 412, and the control of the limits of the exercise of the right, based on Article 187.”

(Mattos 2008, 1) On the other hand, in the United States’ legal system, “good faith” (See UCC § 1-201 (19)(2016)) is used in a more objectively perspective and it is considered a duty only 22

Viegas: Comparative Analysis about Binding Preliminary Agreements

on the execution of the contract, not being necessary during the negotiations, in other words, it is applied just after the parties are bound, so they do not really influence the discussion about a contract been binding or not. Of course, it is allowed that the parties agree to such obligation including a clause that expresses the indispensability of good faith during all the phases, but this practice is not common.

4. Types of preliminary agreements In the United States’ legal system, as the law was created by the cases and the court’s decisions, two types of preliminary agreements that can attract legal responsibility were created. They are known as “agreement with open terms” and “agreements to negotiate” (Farnsworth 1987, 1) each one of these agreements is different because of some features and the responsibility process when a breach occurs.

Differently, in the Brazilian legal system, the laws are created by the legislative body and are more “fixed”. The Civil Code, published on January 10th in 2002, previews only the “preliminary contract” as an agreement to precede the final contract.

4.1 Preliminary Agreements under the United States’ Legal System

In the United States’ legal system it is difficult to know if preliminary agreements will attract legal responsibilities if a breach occurs. This happens because unless the parties make a statement expressly saying that they are bounded by the terms of the contract, only the court can decide so. The court will, only after analyzing all exiting terms of the agreement and the indefinites ones, the intention, other documents and the communication during the negotiation, decide if the preliminary agreement bounds the parties and is enforceable or not (which means that the contract is able to attracts consequences).

Some types of preliminary agreements, like the “Fully Formed Contract Claim” ( Jeffries 2012, 18) that contains all the terms and a clause that affirms the binding between the parties, are very easy to be classified by the court as an enforceable one, because there is nothing to be discussed and the intention of the parties are, normally, pretty clear. However, the majority of the preliminary agreements are not that definitive, what beget to the court the duty to analyze one by one when requisitioned.

A. Agreement with Open Terms The first thing that it is important to clear about agreements with open terms is that they can be a preliminary one or a terminate one, and this difference occurs when the 23

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parties decide that after the negotiation of the terms another definitive agreement will be made.

Agreements with open terms normally are used when the parties need to continue on the negotiation to finally get to the final contract. These are agreements that normally “sets out most of the terms of the deal, and the parties agree to be bound by these terms. But they undertake to continue negotiating on other matter to reach agreement on some terms that are left open […]”(Farnsworth 1987, 2).

As an agreement that can precedes the final one, the agreement with open terms is very useful. For example, in the situation cited before where the parties have a lot of things to negotiate and they do not want to keep coming back to the terms that are already discussed.

This kind of contract has some practically “automatic” consequences: “An agreement with open terms has two consequences. First, it imposes an obligation to carry out the deal even if the parties are unable to agree on the open terms. Second, it imposes a general obligation of fair dealing in the negotiation of the open terms” (Farnsworth 1987, 13).

On a binding perspective, the existence of “open terms” in this type of agreement can be very dangerous because the “gaps are sometimes so profound that they demonstrate the absence of the parties intent to make a commitment” (Ferriel 2014, 249). Which means that if the parties disagree about the obligation begot between them and file a complaint about it, the court is not able to “fix” it without prejudice or to create a “different” obligation. If this happens, the court will consider that the preliminary agreement is not binding.

There is another problem too. When this kind of contract is viewed on an enforceable perspective. Even if sometimes the parties’ intention to be bound is clear, for example when there is a clause that previews the responsibility, the inexistence of some terms, like the subject matter of the agreement, can make the contract totally unenforceable.

B. Agreement to negotiate in Good Faith About this preliminary agreement, it is important to do a little differentiation, between agreements to negotiate in good faith and agreements to agree. Agreements to agree are considered agreements in which the parties left some terms to be discussed in a future negotiation, usually in an indefinite one. This kind of agreement is traditionally considered completely unenforceable and unbinding (Ferriel 2014, 13).

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Viegas: Comparative Analysis about Binding Preliminary Agreements

On the other hand, the agreements to negotiate are made by the parties that commit to put all efforts to negotiate the terms of the final contract. If after several attempts they cannot reach all the terms this agreement will, normally, be considered not binding.

However, if the breach of the contract or the impossibility to get to a final contract results from a disregard of parties in negotiation or if the parties do not negotiate fairly, this contract will result in claim for damages based on the expectation of the parties (Farnsworth 1987, 21).

This difference is well by the California court: “A contract to negotiate the terms of an agreement is not, in form or substance, an ‘agreement to agree.’ If, despite their good faith efforts, the parties fail to reach ultimate agreement on the terms in issue the contract to negotiate is deemed performed and the parties are discharged from their obligations. Failure to agree is not, itself, a breach of the contract to negotiate. A party will be liable only if a failure to reach ultimate agreement resulted from a breach of that party’s obligation to negotiate or to negotiate in good faith.” (See Copeland v.

Baskin Robbins 02 C.D.O.S 2533, March 19, 2002) 4.2 Under the Brazilian Legal System

The Civil Law legal system, the one used in Brazil, is characterized as a coded system where the law and all regulations are provided by the legislative body in a writing collection which all, including judges and authorities, must follow.

The Brazilian Civil Code is relatively new, it has only thirteen years, but if all the changes that happened since the Code was published are considered, it is possible to consider it a bit obsolete. One of the points that the Code falls short is on the classification of just one preliminary agreement, known as “preliminary contract”.

Preliminary Contracts The preliminary contracts in Brazil are classified as pre-contracts, a formal instrument signed by the parties to agree with the will that will be object to a more definitive contract after all negotiations. It is a way that the parties use to be legally bound to each other without a final contract. This kind of agreement is conceptualized as a bilateral legal business, whereby the parties compromise themselves to make a final contract.

As seen in a couple point before, with the objective to make a preliminary contract, the parties must follow what the Civil Code determines. That said, to the agreement to be valid it is necessary that the parties are capable of his acts (capable in this case means that the parties cannot be minors or mental incapacity); the object of the 25

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contract needs to be legal and determinable and must be made in some instrument that is allowed or not prohibited by the law.

The problem here is that according to the Articles 462 and 104, to do a preliminary contract, that is going to be binding and enforceable, the agreement must have all essential elements that a final contract has, except the format. In a perspective of the idea of preliminary agreements, this does not make any sense because it is supposed to be quicker and to create a bond between the parties more easily.

After what was said, it is to conclude that in Brazil the practice of preliminary agreements are not very common unless the parties do not have time to wait for the formal format. Otherwise it is more prudent go directly to the definitive contract since the requirements are almost the same.

Conclusions In a world that has been classified as fast and globalized, contracts are something inevitable and, so, as stated above, preliminary agreements will definitely be very useful and valuable. Unfortunately due to its main characteristic, to be preliminary, this kind of agreement in most cases will attract open terms, doubts and uncertainties. So, it is possible to conclude that the frequently asked question of whether a preliminary agreement is binding or not, regardless of which legal system, the Brazilian one or the United States’ one, is always going to depend in the specific case, and in its majority will end being the court’s responsibility to decide.

References Burton, Steven J. & Anderson, Eric G. 1995. Contractual Good Faith. Boston: Little, Brown.

Farnsworth E, Allan. 1987. Precontractual Liability and Preliminary Agreements: Fair Dealing and Failed Negotiations. 87 Colum. L. Rev. 217.

Ferriel, Jeff. 2014. Contracts. Third Edition, LexisNexis, 250.

Jeffries, Browing. 2012. Preliminary negotiations or binding obligations? A framework for determining the intent of the parties. 48 Gonz. L.Rev. 1.

Knutson, Brightwell, Reves & Oldham. 1991. P.C, Preliminary Agreements, 29C RMMLF-INST 2.

Mattos, Karina Denari Gomes de. 2014. A aplicação do princípio de boa fé nas relações contratuais, Âmbito jurídico, http://ambitojuridico.com.br/site/?n_link=re vista_ artigos_leitura&artigo_id=2701&revista_caderno=7. (Last view Dec, 20, 2016) Silva, Murilo Santos da. 2015. Contratos Preliminares. ETIC 2015 – Encontro de Inic.

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RESEARCH ASSOCIATION for INTERDISCIPLINARY OCTOBER 2017 STUDIES

Testing the Semi-Strong Form of Efficiency Theory in the Nigerian Capital Market: The Input And Output Index John Ayodele Ajayi

PhD, Department of Banking and Finance Federal University of Agriculture Abeokuta, Ogun State – Nigeria ayodelejohayo@yahoo.com ABSTRACT: This paper examines the semi-strong form of efficiency of the Nigerian capital market. Such examination is made in the context of whether information impounded in previous stock prices reflect current prices through the input and output index. Data for the study were from secondary sources and it spanned from 2005-2013. The population for this study encompasses all the companies that traded in the period of January 1, 2005 to December 31, 2013. All these companies are ranked according to their capitalization and a random sampling technique was employed to select the companies that have the capitalization values above the average value. Thus, about 80 companies qualified for this sample size. The study made use of transfer function model to estimate the market index which is represented by the output index and the computed selected securities represented by the input index which is tantamount to published information. Findings from the paper showed that publicly published information captured by the input index commands significant effect on the stock market represented by the output index hence making the Nigerian stock market to be semi-strong inefficient.

KEY WORDS: Modified Transfer Function, Impounded information, SemiStrong, Capital Market, Input-Output.

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1. Introduction @In order to accelerate economic development and bring about capital formation which is an essential ingredient of growth in any economy, the capital market needs to be developed. However, in Nigeria, the stock market is still underdeveloped and emerging due to myriads of problems such as low level of automation, lack of adequate and timely information among others (Olowe 2011).

The Nigerian capital market is small even when compared with other emerging stock markets (Samuel and Yacout (1981), Ogwumike (1982), Umoh, (1984), Inanga and Emenuga (1996), Olowe (1996, 2011), Okpara, (2011), Oteh (2014) among others. @Apart from the above identified problems, the Nigerian stock market still has a long way to go when compared with those in some developed countries. For example, up till date, it has thirteen functional floors in different parts of the country apart from the head office in Lagos, other branches of the Exchange include; Kaduna, Kano, Ibadan, Port Harcourt, Onitsha, Abuja, Yola, Benin, Uyo, Abeokuta, Owerri, Bauchi and Ilorin with over 200 listed equities. This looks shallow when compared with the Indian Stock Exchange with about 4,344 companies or the London Stock Exchange with about 5,085 listed companies (Oteh 2013).

Adelegan and Ariyo (2008) noted that the shallowness of the market has led to many imperfections that are reflected in microstructure elements such as high transaction costs. In the face of such shallowness and imperfections, how can one assert assuredly that the Nigerian stock market is efficient?

Kukah, Amoo and Raji (2007) contended that the Nigerian stock market is thin and asserted that “one of the reasons for inefficiency may be the thin trading that characterizes Nigerian markets since stock trading in the Nigerian Stock Exchange is non synchronous causing trading volume to be low�.

The problem of thinness of the market has incited observers to conclude that the market is not perfect and hence inefficient. Such conclusions incite this empirical investigation.

Objective of the study The main objective of this study is to examine whether information impounded in previous stock prices reflect current prices.

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Ajayi: Testing the Semi-Strong Form of Efficiency Theory in the Nigerian Capital Market

Research Hypothesis To accomplish the above objective, the hypothesis below which is in null form is formulated and tested for the study.

H0: That the information impounded in previous stock prices does not reflect the current prices.

2. Literature Review Fama (1970) is the proponent of efficient capital markets. He opined that there are three main forms of market efficiency, namely, the weak-form, semi-strong form and strong form. Under a weak-form efficiency, asset prices incorporate all information from the historical record. In other words, prices in a weak-form efficient market incorporate all information about price trends or repeating patterns that occurred in the past. This proposition implies that trading strategies based on analysis of historical pricing trends or relationship cannot be used to outperform the market.

Prices in a weak-form efficiency will be unpredictable and will change only in response to the arrival of new information. In order words, this means that prices follow a random walk.

Fama (1970,1991), Kendall (1953), Osborne (1959), Yacout (1981), Ayadi (1983), Olowe (1996), Adelegan (2003), Okpara (2011) among others showed that the stock market is efficient in the weak form. These studies were arrived at in different countries.

The semi-strong form efficiency asserts that asset prices incorporate all publicly available information. The key point about this form of efficiency is that it requires only that prices reflect information that can be gleaned from public sources (e.g. newspapers, press releases and computer databases). There is both “stock” and “flow” aspect to the information-processing capabilities of semi strong-form efficient markets: first, the level of asset prices should correctly reflect all pertinent historical, current, and predictable future information that investors can obtain from public sources. Second, asset prices should change fully and instantaneously to the arrival of new information.

Ball and Brown (1968), Fama, Fisher and Roll (1969), Aharony and Swary (1980), Gupta (2003), Raja et. al (2009), Adelegan (2009) Rapulchukwu (2010), Chakraborty (2011), Ogundina, et. al. (2014), Ogege, Ogbulu and Isu (2015), arrived at different conclusions in their studies, this form the gap through which this study hinges upon.

The strong-form efficiency is the third level of efficiency where asset prices reflect all information, public and private. This extreme form of market efficiency implies that 29

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important-specific information will be fully incorporated in asset prices with the very first trade after the information is generated.

3. Model for the Study The transfer function (TF) model by Joseph (1986) is adopted for this study with some modifications. The general form of this model is stated below: Mktind(t) = f(CSind1t, CSid2t,……….CSnt) + µit………………….(3.1) Where: Mktind is the market index representing the output series; CSnt is the computed selected securities index representing nth the publicly information i.e. the input series or causor series; ut is the noise term which requires an appropriating fitting of the autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) model so as to transform it to become white noise. That is it becomes identically and independently (IID) compliant.

In financial time series, the commonest TF models are the 0 and first order TF model while the higher order TF models are really seldom and rare to encounter. I, therefore develop the 0 and first order TF model for this study. Thus: Mktind(t) = B0 CSindt-p + µ2t…………………………………(3.2) Where: p represents the number of period(s) the input series is leading the output series

B0 denotes the 0-order TF coefficient Equation 3.2 is called the 0-order TF model. However, the first order TF model can be expressed as: Mktind(t) = B0 (1- ∂1L)-1CSind t-p + µ3t…………………………(3.3) Equation 3.3 is simplified further to arrive at: Mktind(t) =

B0 CSind t-p….....µ4t………………….. (3.4) (1- ∂1L) Where: B0 and ∂1 are the coefficients of the first order TF model specification. @ 30

Ajayi: Testing the Semi-Strong Form of Efficiency Theory in the Nigerian Capital Market

L is the backward shift operator that enables us to move backward in given series whichever the case demands it. For example, a time series such as LXt can move back to become Xt-1 as I have said earlier, the expression ∂1L does not apply multiplication; but it simply means that L operates on the given time series (say Xt) to shift it backward one point at a time. Thus, LnXt = Xt-n, LnL2Xt = Xt-n-z. It means that L obeys all the laws of exponents and it can therefore take the form of positive integer like 1, 2, 3… it should be clear t at 1/ (1-∂1L) is the convergence of a infinite series. That is (1 + ∂1L + ∂12 L2 + ∂13 L3 + ∂14 L4 +……….)

Therefore, equation 3.4 becomes: Mktind(t) = B0(1 + ∂1L + ∂12 L2 + ∂13 L3 +…….) CSindt + µ5t…………(3.5) Since the L operator must obey all the laws of exponents that are routinely used in polynomial algebra, equation 3.5 can be modified as: Mktind(t)=B0CSindt + ∂1B0CSindt-1 + ∂12B0CSindt-2 + U6t ……………(3.6) Equation 3.6 shows a causal relationship between current market index and previous values of the computed securities index. Thus, the notion established here is that lag values of publicly available input series can be used to forecast or explain the current value of the output series if all the parameters are significant.

The conditions relating to this model are: That coefficient B0 is not statistically different from zero.

Those coefficients (∂1iB0)i are statistically different from zero.

On the apriori: The semi-strong form of the efficient market hypothesis (EMH) is rejected when the TF coefficients are significant or different from zero at a given level of confidence.

Looking critically in the literature, the primary aim here is to identify at least one publicly available input series with B0 coefficient that leads the output series for at least 1 day for 0 -order TF model or to identify at least one publicly available input series with significant parameter for the first order TF model that leads the output series, then, we can say that the semi-strong form of efficient market hypothesis (EMH) is unambiguously rejected.

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4. Results and Discussion Table 1.1 The Autocorrelation Function on the Series of Output Index I (0)

Autocorrelations

Lag Covariance Correlation -1 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 0 1.006230 1.00000 | |********************| 1 -0.012591 -.01251 | . | . | 2 -0.018418 -.01830 | . | . | 3 -0.021073 -.02094 | . | . | 4 -0.022200 -.02206 | . | . | 5 -0.022289 -.02215 | . | . | 6 -0.020184 -.02006 | . | . | 7 0.493224 0.49017 | . |********** | 8 -0.0039326 -.00391 | . | . |

"." marks two standard errors

Source: Summarized by the Author from SAS Window 9.1

Table 1.1 shows the result of the autocorrelation function (ACF) up to lag 8 on the series of output index. However by the rule of default, the lag length was supposed to be 24, but in this study, the length is limited to 8 for convenience’s sake. Looking at the correlation column under lag 1, the coefficient is about -0.01251. This means the correlation between the previous and the current output series is approximately -0.01; indicating an opposite movement. From lag 1 to lag 7, the correlation coefficients are found to be decaying gradually in the same direction. This is also revealed by the asterisk column, the last column by the right. Thus, evidence has emerged to reject the hypothesis that the series is stationary at level I (0).

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Table 1.2 The Autocorrelation Function on the Series of Input Index I (0) Autocorrelations

Lag Covariance Correlation -1 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 0 0.271062 1.00000 | |********************| 1 0.251841 0.92909 | . |******************* | 2 0.227292 0.83853 | . |***************** | 3 0.201178 0.74219 | . |*************** | 4 0.175323 0.64680 | . |************* | 5 0.151478 0.55883 | . |*********** | 6 0.129019 0.47598 | . |********** | 7 0.105875 0.39059 | . |******** . | 8 0.083686 0.30873 | . |****** . |

"." marks two standard errors

Source: Summarized by the Authors from SAS Window 9.1

The results of the ACF on the series of input index are reported in table 1.2. Virtual examinations of the correlation coefficients show that they all command positive values and simultaneously dissolved slowly as revealed by the asterisk column. Hence, there is overwhelming evidence that the series of the input index contains unit root at level I (0). Test of Hypothesis: That the information impounded in the previous stock prices does not reflect current prices.

Table 1.3 The Relationship between the Output and Input Index Source

Conditional Least Squares Estimation

Standard

Parameter Estimate Error t Value Lag Variable Shift

MU -0.56926 1.72271 -0.33 0 output 0 NUM1 0.61354 0.37439 1.64 0 input 0 NUM1,1 0.38297 0.55507 0.69 1 input 0 NUM1,2 -0.03740 0.55504 -0.07 2 input 0 NUM1,3 0.13230 0.37103 -0.36 3 input 0

Source: Summarized by the Authors from SAS Window 9.1 33

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The estimated values of equation 3.5 are reported in Table 1.3. The lag values of the input index are expressed as explanatory variables of the output index. The observed t-statistics for the input index up to lag 3 are 1.64, 0.69, -0.07 & -0.36 respectively while the critical t-statistics at 10 percent is about 1.29. By comparison, the t-value of the input index at order (0) is larger than the critical t-value. This means that publicly published information captured by the input index commands significant effect on the stock market (represented by the output index), thereby negating the null hypothesis of the study that the information impounded in previous stock prices does not reflect current prices.

On the contrary, the semi-strong market hypothesis stipulates that published information does not influence stock market prices; so no investor can take advantage of published information to outperform the market or make gain at the expense of other participants. Thus, our findings here provide evidence in support of semi-strong form inefficiency in the Nigerian stock market.

5. Concluding Remarks This paper sets out to investigate the semi-strong form of market efficiency of the Nigerian stock market as to whether information impounded in previous stock prices reflect current prices using the input and output index. Data for the study covered the period 2005-2013. The study made use of modified transfer function model to estimate the market index which is the output index as well as the input index represented by the computed selected securities.

A transfer function model of order zero and the first order TF was also used. The model also builds a casual relationship between the current market index and the previous values of the computed securities index in establishing the notion that lag values of publicly available input series can be used to forecast or explain the current value of the output series if all the parameters are significant. A hypothesis was formulated and tested for the study.

Results from the study showed that the t- value of the input index at order zero is larger than the critical t-value meaning that publicly published information captured by the input index commands significant effect on the Nigerian stock market thereby negating the null hypothesis that information impounded in previous prices does not reflect current prices thus making the Nigerian stock market to be semi-strong inefficient.

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Ajayi: Testing the Semi-Strong Form of Efficiency Theory in the Nigerian Capital Market

References Adelegan, J. and Ariyo, A. 2008. “Capital market imperfections and corporate investment behavior. A switching regression approach using panel data for Nigerian manufacturing firms.” Journal of Money Investment and Banking 2: 16-38.

Adelegan, J. 2009.“Price reactions to dividends announcements on the Nigerian stock exchange.”

African Economic Research Consortium Research Paper 188, July: 1-2.

Aharony, J. and Swary, I. 1989. Quarterly dividend and earnings announcements and stockholders’ returns: An empirical analysis, The Journal of Finance 35 (1), March: 1-12.

Ajayi, A. & Ogbulu, M. 2017. “Test of the semi-strong efficiency theory in the Nigerian stock market: An empirical analysis,.” Journal of Finance and Accounting 5(4): 139-146.

Ajayi, A. et. al. 2017. “Empirical test of the martingale property in stock market: Evidence from Nigeria.” Journal of Finance and Accounting 5(4): 147-150.

Ball, R.and Brown, P. 1968. “An empirical evaluation of accounting income number.” Journal of Accounting Research 6(2):159-178.

Emenuga, C. 1989. “An econometric analysis of the relationship between money supply and stock prices in Nigeria.” Unpublished M.sc Thesis, Department of Economics, University of Ibadan.

Fama, E. 1991. “Efficient capital markets: II.” Journal of Finance 46(5) December: 1575-1617.

Fama, E. Fisher, L. Jensen, M. & Roll, R. 1969. “The adjustment of stock prices to new information.” International Economic Review 10: 1-21.

Inanga, E. 1997. “Institutional traditional and asset pricing characteristics of the Nigeria stock exchange.” African Economic Research Consortium Research Paper 60, March.

Joseph, W. 1986. “An alternative semi-strong form test of the efficient market hypothesis by a transfer function approach.” Unpublished MBA Dissertation, Simon Fraser University, Canada.

Kukah, et. al. 2007. “Analytical framework and empirical analysis of transaction costs and efficiency of the Nigerian capital market.” CBN Research and Statistics Department.

Ogege, S., Ogbulu, M. & Isu, H. 2015. “Earnings and dividend announcements, semi- strong efficiency and the Nigerian stock market: An empirical investigation.” Archives of Business Research, 3(4): 104-123. doi:10.14738/abr.34.1366.

Ogundina, J. et .al. 2014. “The test of the semi-strong efficiency theory in the Nigerian capital market: An empirical analysis in the context of dividend announcements.” International Journal of Financial Economics, 3(1): 57-69.

Ogundina, A. 2015. “Empirical test of the semi-strong efficiency theory in the Nigerian stock market.” Unpublished PhD Thesis, Abia State University, Uturu.

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Ogwumike, F. 1982. “The effect of dividends and retained earnings on share prices in Nigeria.”

Unpublished M.sc Project, University of Ibadan, Nigeria.

Okpara, G. 2011. “Analysis of the efficiency and prediction power of the Nigerian stock market (1984-2009).” An Unpublished PhD Thesis, Department of Banking and Finance, Abia State University, Uturu.

Olowe, R.A. 2011. Financial Management, Lagos: Forthright Publishers.

Oteh, A. 2014. “E-payment will address the problem of unclaimed, missing dividends.” The Nigerian Punch, Friday, April 28, 2014.

Rapuluchukwu, E. 2010. “The efficient market hypothesis: Realities from the Nigerian stock market.” Global Journal of Finance and Management, 2(2): 321 -331.

Samuel, J.M. & Yacout, N. 1981. “Stock exchange in developing countries.” Savings and Development, 5(4): 217-230.

Tomasz, P. & Tomasz, S. 2012. “Empirical test of the strong form efficiency of the Warsaw stock exchange: The analysis of WIG 20 index shares.” South-Eastern Europe Journal of Economics 2:155-172.

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RESEARCH ASSOCIATION for INTERDISCIPLINARY OCTOBER 2017 STUDIES

Juxtaposition of Eastern Management Styles and practices with Modern Management System and Concepts Nidhi Kaushal

Research Scholar Department of Applied Science and Eng.at I.I.T. Roorkee, India nidhi.k3333@gmail.com

Sanjit Mishra

PhD, Associate Professor Department of Applied Science and Eng.at I.I.T. Roorkee, India sanjitmishra2001@yahoo.com ABSTRACT: This paper presents an analysis of the Indian management concepts in view of the changing world order while establishing their inter relatedness with the theories and practices developed in the West. Being followed by the leaders and entrepreneurs of the country right since the Vedic ages, the ancient Indians had developed their own management systems with the help of which they successfully carried out their business affairs. It is the hypothesis that the practices thus cultured and the concepts thus evolved, are relevant across the boundaries of time and space, and shall be immensely helpful for the organizations of the west as well. In this paper they have examined the organizational and other managerial skills in the works of spiritual- social reformers and other political leaders from India. The Indian perspective on management is based on the Purushartha (a key concept and denotes the four proper aims of a human life). It was the base model of management in ancient time which has been followed by management thinkers and leaders of India.

KEY WORDS: Culture, Entrepreneur, Ethics, Globalization, Leadership, Management, Organization.

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1. Introduction According to Ravichandran (2009), ‘Management learning in India is predominately a derivative of western management thought and practice. Occasionally, management schools draw some inferences from Indian epics, shastras and practices. It may be worthwhile to notice that management itself as a discipline has evolved from fundamental disciplines of philosophy, psychology, economics, accounting, computer science, mathematics, statistics and industrial engineering. The modern management education in India emphasizes on performance and very little on purpose. It equips the young men and women to generate wealth and does not provide them the capacity to enjoy and share this wealth. It projects the use of the information technology as an enabler to improve efficiency but not as a supporting tool in resolving large complex social issues. It motivates individuals to accomplish their objectives with or without regard to means. As a rule, management education has completely detached itself from the under managed sectors. A handful of management institutions in this country are trying to realign the management education by using a multidimensional approach.

The first dimension of this would focus on the individuals. The second dimension (of this education) would focus on the standard tools and techniques of management education. The third dimension would connect the individual to the society by compassion, entrepreneurship and social sensitivity.’

According to Devarajan (2013), ‘Art and science of management can be related to Hindu mythology - the connectivity between “ Belief ” and “ Business” and mythology is as much objective and pragmatic as the principles in management. Belief is the basis from which “sprouts every human enterprise, and every culture. But every belief is irrational and hence, a myth. Therefore, the study of stories, symbols, and rituals to decode the beliefs that they communicate is called mythology.” We used the term Business Sutra in Hindu mythology. The word Sutra means an aphorism – a terse statement.’‘The leader is a heroic individual described by Kishore (2010) of some sort who summons his followers to accomplish great things. There is a tendency to glorify leadership as an achievement or a sort of reward for one’s performance in a specific sphere of life. In other words, an individual with a greater degree of selflessness is the ideal candidate to be a leader of other human beings. A leader whose foundation is the idea of selflessness manifests this in many forms in his relationship with followers like 1. Freedom – The first ideal of such an enlightened leader would be ‘freedom’. A selfless leader would allow other individuals to operate with a high degree of freedom while providing an outline of what needs to be accomplished. A selfless 38

Kaushal & MISHRA: Juxtaposition of Eastern Management Styles and practices

leader, on the other hand, will demonstrate a lesser tendency to control simply due to the absence of any desire in him to stamp his individual personality on everything that his team produces.

2. Follower evolution centrality − A selfless leader would be constantly conscious of the specific evolutionary state of his follower, and would constantly try to raise him to higher levels of selflessness.’

1.1 The outlook of management in Indian Literature

According to Chatterji (2016), ‘Since ancient times in India, the Purusharthas has served as the road map for leading a successful and a peaceful life. They form the primary aims of the human life. The four guiding principles that are together known as Purusharthas are Dharma, Arhta, Kama and Moksha. The Purusharthas assume different meaning in different context, are non-translatable and subsume several words in one. One should pursue the right desires and perform the right actions which come under the framework of dharma. So moksha provides the vision for one’s life and Dharma provides the precise guidelines for one’s thoughts and actions and hence Moksha and Dharma are the important principles for leadership. The desire (Kama) to attain wealth and material wellbeing (Artha) is best when pursued in the framework of Dharma and Moksha.

Purusharthas defined in terms of ethical leadership is given below: Dharma = Ethics Artha = Profit/ Material well being Kama= Desire/ Ambition Moksha = Inclusivity/ Freedom from Limited identities

A proper balance among these Purushathas is required for successful leadership. So ethical leadership not only includes adhering to moral values but also develop a sense of inclusivity towards society and the environment. While ethics and moral values may bring objectivity to leadership, Moksha defined in this context, brings in the missing subjective components like happiness, contentment, agreeableness, and inclusivity, which are vital to ethical leadership.

Sthairym is the quality that indicates resoluteness or perseverance. Swami Dayand Saraswati in his book value of value says, “When it comes to applying effort towards a goal, most of us find ourselves to be ‘aarambha surah’ that is ‘heroes in the beginning.

We are the lions at first but then enthusiasm wanes.” It is in fact natural for a fledging 39

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manager to start off a mental bearing oriented to act ethically. Sthairym is the quality that can sustain and nurture this very orientation there by one in to an ethical leader.’

1.2 Application of the Purusharthas

According to Chatterji (2016),‘Application of the Purusharthas means having dharma as the foundation for the pursuit of the Artha and Kama while keeping Moksha as the vision. In other words ones’s thoughts and actions should have ethics and responsibility as the foundation and not just materialistic goals. In an organizational setting, the way to accelerate it is through the iterative process of Sarvana (listening), Manana (Contemplation) and Nidhidhyasna (integration and practice). Sarvana can happen through the education and training process wherein the individual get systematically exposed to the literature expounding the Indian principles. Manana happens when a leader engages in thinking, discussing and reefing his understanding of the principles.

Nidhidhyasana is the actual application of these principles in a live setting, fine tune based on the experiences.’

2. The role of Purusharthas described in Bhagwad Gita and its implication in ethical leadership John Maxwell, author of “The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership” defines leadership as “influence, nothing more, nothing less”. He goes on to say: “He who thinks he leads but has no-one following him, is simply taking a walk.” This is a functional definition of leadership, one that basically says that a leader is someone who has followers.

Leadership has been described by leadership educator Todd Duncan as “a total commitment to purpose, accompanied by the determination to carry it out.” This is a characteristic definition that describes the personal qualities of a leader. Bhagavad Gita describes these fundamental universal principles – as the underlying framework of the universe that reflects the purpose of the universal architect.

Leaders who align their practices with these principles will be effective leaders.

Leaders who align their goals and the goals of the organizations they steward with these principles will be authentic leaders – leaders who are empowered to create a better world. Leadership is absolutely crucial. Bhagavad Gita contains the timeless principles that will empower leaders to be effective and authentic leaders.

According to Ravindra (2015), ‘There are four primary leadership roles as per the Bhagavad Gita: 40

Kaushal & MISHRA: Juxtaposition of Eastern Management Styles and practices

Lessons of Leadership from Bhagwad Gita Strategic Leadership

Team-building Leadership

Directive Leadership

Operational Leadership

Figure1. Leadership roles according to Bhagwad Gita 2.1 Lessons of Gita for modern manager defined by Nadkarni (2016) is as follows: 1. ‘When faced with a choice what is perishable or momentary and what is enduring or lasting, choose the lasting and fight for the lasting.

2. Have a higher purpose in life. Enjoy your life but don’t get bogged down to momentary sensual pleasures. Don’t aim at quick success through tempting. Through your work, contribute to the protection or welfare of the people, for that makes your life meaningful.

3. Consciously aim at moderation and make it a habit. Neither extreme abstinence nor indulgence is good for success; they can instead be selfdestructive.

4. Mind is fickle, tempted too easily and can divert you from your higher aims. Proper management of mind is a key teaching of Gita as it leads to success and happiness in life.

5. Manage your anger as it can cloud your reasoning, lead to confusion and can divert you from your path. Try to keep it calm, cool and composed.

Steady and focused mind is great asset.

6. Be focussed on your, but take all aspects of the problem at hand.

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7. Don’t lose opportunities of fighting for a good cause, if you have the aptitude of a fighter. Cowardice is worse than defeat.

8. Learn to adjust to change in circumstances even if adverse and try to innovate by adopting novel ideas, just as you discard old worn out cloths and wear new ones. Be enterprising.

9. Depend upon what is wise without being narrowly selfish. Be cautious that even knowledge or information may be at times masked by ignorance or misinformation, resulting in confusion and misleading you.

10. Nothing inferior in work. All works and their fruits are offered to God.’

According to Shrivastava (2016),’No work of Indian literature has ever been revered as much as the sacred Bhagavada Gita; which not only continues to inspire Indians even today, but also remains admirable even to this day in the western countries. Over the years, these words of wisdom from within Bhagavada Gita has offered humans some respite from restlessness, complications and unhappiness; helping them sail into the light of calmness. The practical teachings mentioned in Bhagavada Gita has a message for every human; in fact, it is believed that an individual can seek answers to almost every question about Universe, his/her Past, Present and Future, in this holy book. The famous personalities of the world inspired by Bhagwad Gita are Mahatma Gandhi, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, Albert Einstein, Annie Besant, Hermann Hesse, Dr. Albert Schweitzer, Carl Jung, Aldous Huxley, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Rudolph Steiner, Henry David Thoreau and Sunita Williams.’

3. Bhagwad Gita as a source of inspiration According to Sen (2005), ‘Krishna’s moral position has also been eloquently endorsed by many philosophical and literary commentators across the world, such as Christopher Isherwood and T.S.Eliot. This admiration for Gita, and for Krishna‘s arguments in particularly, has been a lasting phenomenon in parts of European culture. It was spectacularly praised by Wilhelmvon Humboldt as the most beautiful, perhaps the only true philosophical song existing in any known language.’ We are analyzing the leadership and management skills of Indian leaders in context of Indian perspective of management. It is an attempt to enrich the management studies from eastern or Indian approach of management. Leaders such that, Mahatma Gandhi, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Sir Aurobindo are prominent personalities of India who lived their life according to lessons of Gita. They always 42

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inspired, motivated and strengthen themselves through reading Gita. According to Hindu (2014), ‘Many of the most prominent freedom fighters were inspired by the Bhagavad Gita. Many even went to the gallows and were executed with the Gita in their hands. The Swadeshi movement of Bengal in 1905 began with a gathering of 50,000 people on the streets on the streets of Calcutta, each with the Gita in their hands. The crowds proceeded to the Kali Temple where they vowed to boycott British goods and drive the British from their lands. We have exemplified famous Indian leader and drawing inferences of leadership and management from them.

3.1 Mahatma Gandhi a Non-Violent leader “A small body of determined spirits fired by an unquenchable faith in their mission can alter the course of history.” - Mahatma Gandhi

According to Rao, (n.d.), ‘Mahatma Gandhi exemplifies leadership and managerial capabilities in the most myriad and trying situations. One can take various lessons in Self-Management, Leadership, Emotional Intelligence, Negotiation, Strategy, Economics, Communication, Rural Development, Social Inclusion, Education, Entrepreneurship, Women Empowerment, Law, Ethics and Corporate Governance from his work and methods. Self-management and a constant strife towards improvement was the hallmark of Mahatma Gandhi’s thoughts and practices.

Mahatma Gandhi definition of Leadership –“I suppose leadership at one time meant muscles; but today it means getting along with people.”

3.1 The prominence of Bhagwad Gita in the life of Mahatma Gandhi

‘Inspirations described by Byles (n.d.) both mould and give direction to life. Sources of Inspiration could be personal and impersonal. As for personal as well as impersonal sources of Inspiration, M. Gandhi himself has said! “Three moderns have left a deep impress on my life and captivated me. Raychandbhai by his living contact; Tolstoy by his book,” The Kingdom of God is within you; and Ruskin by his ‘Unto This Last’. Besides these three personalities, Gopal Krishna Gokhale and the Gita and the Bible were lifelong sources of inspiration for Gandhi. Gandhi read the Gita for the first time in England, i.e. Sir Edwin Arnold’s “The song Celestial”, and it made a deep impression on his mind and Gandhi regarded the Gita par excellence for the knowledge of Truth and it afforded him invaluable help in his moments of gloom.

The Gita became Gandhi’s lifelong companion and guide, especially the last eighteen verses of the second chapter of the Gita. Gandhi derived the Gospel of selfless action 43

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or duty from the Gita. His commentary on the Gita reflects his life and mission.

Gandhi said that “no one is competent to offer Satyagraha unless he has a living faith in God”. And the Bhagavad-Gita, to which he would always turn for inspiration, is the allegorical description, not of a Satyagraha campaign, but of the quest of the human soul for union with the Supreme or God. Further, in the eyes of the Gita the outward work that Gandhi did in liberating India and raising the depressed classes, is of no more importance than the work of a humble scavenger, while Gandhi himself ceaselessly reiterated that no work is superior or inferior. It was this quest for God that determined Gandhi’s every action. And let us remember that when he said Truth is God, Truth did not mean only devotion to material facts. Far more important for him was devotion to the Inner Light that the rishis of India and the authors of the Upanishads told of and experienced.

It is that all work; say both the Gita and Gandhi must be offered to the Lord, or the Supreme, as a sacrifice, something to be made holy because it is done as a service to all. When the universe was created, simultaneously the law of sacrifice, the opposite of creation, was brought into being, for the universe is composed of pairs of opposites.

Gandhi says that “Sacrifice means exerting one for the benefit of others, in a word, service. Look upon all creatures as Gods.” That is to say, we must sacrifice ourselves for all, giving our work freely and asking nothing in return.’ The Tamil work Thirukurral, written by Thiruvalluvar has numerous couplets on the qualities of a leader like, ‘A person worth to be called as a king/leader who never deviates from the path of dharma, who wipes injustice from his kingdom and whose military order is never discredited.’

Hence, it is imperative that the leader cultivate the right attitudes governed by the right values to be a fit role model (Chatterji 2016).’ So the ideas and practices in the ancient Indian or eastern texts have quite distinct role in the western management concepts.

Conclusion There is a great wisdom in primeval works of writings because they were written to empower the people and act as archetypes for civilization of all kinds. The code of conducts, written centuries ago contained amply source of learning for every discipline of the studies and modern theories just a new form of them. The contemporary management styles and practices developed are assimilation of ancient texts from the east. They provide insight to the leaders, managers as well as to the organizations for ethical and smooth running of the business operations and their personal life.

The study of leaders who got insight through them strengthens this fact. This great, 44

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rich and effective writings like Bhagwad Gita inspired and always motivate modern managers and proved that our long established literature is a powerful foundation for standards of life and management.

References Byles, Marie Beuzeville. “Gandhi Through the Eyes of the Gita.” mkgandhi. n.d. http://www. mkgandhi.org/articles/Marie%20Byles.htm (accessed July 4, 2017).

Chatterji, Madhumita, Laszlo Zsolnai. 2016. Ethical Leadership: Indian and European Spiritual Approaches. Berlin, Germany: Springer.

Devarajan, R.“The word Sutra means an aphorism – a terse statement.” Thehindu. 06 May 2013. http://www.thehindu.com/books/books-reviews/an-indian-view-of-management/ article4689764.ece (accessed July 4, 2017).

Hindu History. “The Gita and the Freedom of India.” Hinduhistory. 25 January 2014. http:// www.hinduhistory.info/the-gita-and-the-freedom-of-india/ (accessed July 04, 2017).

Kishore, Mohit. “Selfless leadership – An Indian perspective.” Thehindubusinessline. 12 July 2010. http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/todays-paper/selfless-leadership-anindian-perspective/article1015759.ece (accessed July 04, 2017).

Nadkarni, M. V. 2016. The Bhagavad-Gita for the Modern Reader: History, interpretations and philosophy. Abingdon, United Kingdom: Routledge.

Ravichandran, N. “A perspective on management education in India.” Financialexpress. 12 October 2009. http://www.financialexpress.com/archive/a-perspective-on-management-education-in-india/527793/ (accessed July 4, 2017).

Ravindra, NV. “Bhagavad Gita And Its Influence On Leadership.” Thehansindia. 29 April 2015. http://www.thehansindia.com/posts/index/Life-Style/2015-04-29/Bhagavad-Gitaand-its-influence-on-Leadership/147597 (accessed July 04, July).

Sen, Amartya. 2005. The Argumentative Indian. London, England: Penguin.

Shrivastava, Shruti. “Legendary people from around the world who were inspired by Bhagavad Gita and they are not Indians.” Speakingtree. 27 June 2016. http://www.speakingtree. in/allslides/non-indians-isnpired-by-bhagavada-gita/famous-people-inspired-bybhagavad-gita-430991 (accessed July 04, 2017).

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Valuation models for low-income housing: How does income approach reduce ambiguity of assessing property tax?

Yelin (Jenny) Li

Salem State University, USA Yelin.jenny.li@gmail.com

ABSTRACT: Property tax valuation and assessment for low-income housing remain a challenge for real estate assessors, developers, property managers, and local governments. This paper reported the research findings on the use of valuation methods for real estate tax abatement in low-income properties gathered from real data. Based on data from income statements and balance sheets of client’s properties, valuation models for low-income housing versus market-price housing were proposed and the major variances were compared. From the examination of the major valuation methods used by states and localities, evidence was found to explain 1) How the fair market value method failed to apply to the tax assessment in Massachusetts that requires market-price value for property assessment purpose, and 2) why the income approach is pre-ferred in the asset valuation of low income housing. The findings showed the effectiveness of income approach in the absence of statutory mandates in the State of Massachusetts where a disparate body of case law is used. The paper shined light on valuing real estate encumbered with restrictions for assessment purposes, especially for properties vulnerable to changes in property taxes. It further suggested the need for a legislative resolution for clarity and consistency in valuation of low income housing.

KEY WORDS: valuation models, low-income housing, real estate tax assessment.

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Introduction This paper studies a low-income housing developer who appealed for property tax abatement for nine properties and received a refund of 67% of the tax value compared to the tax assessed by the city assessor. It is not surprising that the results showed a notable gap between the assessed tax by the local government and the appealed tax from the property owner. Massachusetts law requires real estate to be assessed at its fair cash value. However, the fair cash value method fails in determining the value of low-income housing in the study.

This paper examines the various case laws from the rulings of the Massachusetts Appellate Tax Board, and points out the difficulty of considering restrictions imposed on low-income housing using the fair cash method, and demonstrates the lack of precision and mathematical support associated with this method. The paper used operating data from profit and loss statements and balance sheets of nine properties.

Based on the real data, models of income approach were constructed and a comparison made between this approach and the fair cash value.

Research Methodology and Model Fair cash value approach vs. income approach The client as a low-income real estate developer, manages the daily operations of nine affordable housing, totals 262 units. Some of the properties struggled with strapped operating accounts and had to give priority to paying bills when big payments were due. When the quarterly real estate tax bills arrived, they had to submit timely tax payments. For the last 7 years of operation, the client was neither aware of the tax abatement, nor it had the ability to file for appeal until an experienced CFO landed the job. The CFO took a deeper look of the cash situation. He then analyzed the income statements and focused on the big burden of operating expenses. Then the decision was made to fill for tax abatement.

The result was amazing: the organization was able to get back 67% of the tax payment for the past quarter. The method used by the Assessor’s office was the fair cash value approach while the valuation of the client’s abatement adapted income capitalization approach. Those two methodologies were analyzed and models were built to compare the differences between them. Further analysis were made based on the nature and practice of low-income housing.

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1. Fair cash value

Fair market value is the price a willing buyer would pay to a willing seller for a specific property. Massachusetts law requires real estate to be assessed at its fair cash value.1 The assessor usually decides the “fair cash value’’ by comparing the said property to those in the same location and condition for sale at the moment. The municipal assessors make a fair cash valuation of all properties, and then determine the taxation based on the assessed valuation of the property2.

However, when fair cash value is applied to low-income housing, which usually are government subsided properties, accessors and real estate developers face significant uncertainty, as these properties are subject to different levels of restrictions by government housing agencies. Low-income housing offers tax credits to investors and provides the owners cash assistance in the form of government subsidies. Therefore, developers or owners are compliant with rent limi-tations or restrictions on the property for a set period of time, as long as 30 years (Youngman 2011).

These restrictions can be on rental income and they also bring about additional costs and expenses. Also the restrictions cause illiquidity thus, such housing projects are not easily traded for a set of period. This creates the problem that no potential buyer would be willing to pay market price to purchase such housing. So the price a buyer willing to pay is largely restricted, a fact that leads to a much lower fair cash value of the property. This is where tax disputes arise as the restrictions impose limitation on the price a potential purchaser would be willing to pay for a low-income property. It has been requested by the property owners and developers that the government rent restrictions be taken into account when assessing the property’s value for real estate tax purpose.

According to the Tax Appellate Board, there is a series of cases that show that restrictions subject to deed and lease by federal, state, and governmental agencies need to be taken into consideration. These restrictions are on the return to a property, such as the rent the company can received. Governmental restrictions on the return a property can produce must be taken into account in valuing the property.3 Rent restrictions placed by federal regulations on the rent that the company could receive from the housing project must be taken into account.4 The effect of a voluntary conservation restriction must be taken into account in determining the fair cash value of a property. 5 Accordingly, Massachusetts courts have ruled in several relatively recent appeals that when determining fair cash value for governmentally regulated affordable housing, the restrictions must be taken into account.6 Since there are restrictions that impose limitations on a property’s ability to generate income when determining its fair 48

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cash value, what model can help determine the valuation of the property? Is there a mathematical support to determine the precise value of a low-income property? Or the big ambiguity in the valuation has to stay until for another mandatory ruling?

2. Income (capitalization) approach

The income (capitalization) approach valuation method “analyzes a property’s ability to generate income and reversion and converts these benefits into an indication of present value.” 7 It directly takes the income and expense from an income statement.

By eliminating the real estate tax, it calculates the net income. For the value of the property, the “Present value is then calculated by dividing the net operating income by a capitalization rate.” 8 In Massachusetts, the income approach was also mentioned in several case laws. The Tax Appellate Board has used modified income (capitalization) approaches to ascertain the value of the property at issue.9 However, the case law ruling and the results from the city assessor usually are conflicting and are not really utilizing the methodology.10 In order to calculate the present value of the property, data have to be chosen from income statements. For low-income housing projects, income is mostly rental income, which is restricted by the governmental agency; thus largely limiting the degree of which the property can generate revenue. The vacancy rate is normally low since low-income housing units are always in high demand and people need to be on the waiting list to be approved. However, due to the renovation or rehabilitation needed for most of the affordable housing projects, there can be a period of construction that the property has to carry big vacancy. Low income and high expense don’t provide a positive picture on the revenue side of the calculation.

On the expense side, the administrative, operating and maintenance expenses consist of the expenditures related to the property’s daily operation. The administrate expenses include payroll, leasing, accounting services and other office-related expenses.

The operating expenses include utility for monthly electricity, water and sewer, and gas payments. The maintenance expenses also include payroll, repair materials, extermination, appliance repairs, decorating, trash removal, snow removal and other contract services. These three major expenses, together with property insurance, resident service fees and management fees equal the total expenses on the income statement. When calculating the net income for real estate tax assessment purpose, the expense of real estate tax is eliminated, and the replacement reserve deposit is deducted. The resulting number is then divided by the cap rate, the choice of which is in a gray area. Using the above data from the income statement of the client, value 49

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of the nine properties was calculated by dividing the net income divided the cap rate chosen. Using a cap rate of 7%, one can calculate the value of the properties [see Figure 1]. The light green bar is the value assessed by the city and the dark green bar represents the value determined by the client.

Variant gaps between the above two methods from nine properties can be seen from Figure 1. The further analysis is done by the results of [Figure 2], visualizing the value change by using fair cash value and income approach. The bars in Figure 2 depict the reduced value change when using the income approach. The income approach reached a much lower valuation for all but one (property H). The major reason is that operating costs in affordable housing are higher than in market rate housing. One can see the dramatic results shown by the nine properties. Properties B, C, E are properties operating with a good amount of cash flow with change ratio under 20%. Property H is an exception since the city reached a very close valuation with the client based on the condition and location of this unique property. The property itself is not in good condition and has to borrow from the developer to keep up with the daily operation.

Property A, D, F, G and I are properties with troubled cash flows and their valuation changed by more than 27%.

Property G is in the extreme situation since it has a change ratio of 72.84%. This particular property has taken three loans from different housing agencies and maintains a parking lot which does not generate enough income either to help with maintenance or with the repayment of the loans. A big “due to developer� account as a zero interest loan has stayed on the balance sheet and has increased each year.

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The big expenses to keep in compliance with the restrictions on low-income housing, and the huge mortgage loan payment on the balance sheet hindered the property’s ability to generate income and it had to rely on the developer to keep operating.

Without a closer look at the property’s condition itself, the fair cash value failed to reflect the real value of the property which is located in the downtown area. By providing a way to mathematically analyze the property’s operating ability, the income approach method offers a better alternative for reaching the valuation of low-income housing units.

Conclusions The client’s real estate tax appeal showed a successful model for a reasonable mechanism for appropriately valuing low-income housing units. It first demonstrated the failure of fair cash value method in the absence of the restriction consideration.

Then it used income approach to arrive at the appropriate value based on calculation.

It shows how when considering restriction on income, income approach comes into play as a support for the mathematical mechanism to value properties for real estate tax purposes. The valuation process is ambiguous and the application of appraisal techniques remains complicated and uncertain. However, the income approach provides a better calculation. Even the cap rate is still a challenge, but using comparable from other states provides mathematical evidence to shine a light through the murky sky of real estate evaluation.

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For the purpose of promoting affordable housing in Massachusetts, this study suggests that the state enact clarifying statutes to address affordable housing valuation issues.

Due to unpredictable appeal result, the state should direct resources to educate property owners on available valuation models and assessment methodologies, such as income capitalization method using actual rents, and applicable capitalization rate.

It is recommended since this method provides sufficient mathematical support for determining a precise valuation by property owners and assessors.

NOTES: 1

G.L. c.59 § 38.

2

Boston Gas Co. v. Assessors of Boston, 334 Mass. 1956. 549, 566.

3

Community Development Co. of Gardner v. Assessors of Gardner, 337 Mass. 1979. 351.

4

Sisk v. Assessors of Essex, 426 Mass. 1998. 651, 654-55.

5

Mass. ATB Findings of Fact and Reports at 1998-770; cf. Parkinson, 398 Mass. 112.

6

Assessors of Weymouth v. Tammy Brook Co. 368 Mass. 1975. 810.

7

Cascade Court LTD. P’ship, 105 Wn. App. at 565.

8

Inst . of Real Estate Appraisers, The Appraisal of Real Estate, 1992. 409-17.

9

Woburn Services, Inc. v. Assessors of Woburn, Mass. ATB Findings of Fact and Reports 1996. 565, 574.

10

Wayland Business Center Holdings, Inc. v. Assessors of Wayland, Mass. ATB Findings of Fact and Reports. 2005. 557, 595-97.

References Assessors of Weymouth v. Tammy Brook Co. 368 Mass.1975. 810.

Boston Gas Co. v. Assessors of Boston, 334 Mass. 1956. 549, 566.

Cascade Court LTD. P’ship, 105 Wn. App. at 565.

Commonwealth of Massachusetts, General Law, Section 38 G.L. c.59 § 38.

Koppelman v. Board of Assessors of the City of Amesbury. 2012. Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Appellate Tax Board, No. F314355. Available at: http://www.mass.gov/ anf/docs/atb/2012/12p950.doc [Accessed 5 Aug. 2017].

Gurge, Kenneth. 2006.A Publication of the Department of Revenue’s Division of Local Services.

Affordable Housing valuation issues, Volume 19, No.1. Available at: http://www.mass. gov/dor/docs/dls/publ/ct/2006/january.pdf [Accessed 4 Aug. 2017] 52

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Inst . of Real Estate Appraisers 1992. The Appraisal of Real Estate, 409-17.

Mass. ATB. 1998. Findings of Fact and Reports ,cf. Parkinson, 398 Mass. 112.

Loeb, Annie. 2016. Valuation of Deed and Lease Restricted Property in Massachusetts. Boston: Preservation of Affordable Housing.

Owen, Matthew et. al. 2015. Assessing the Value of Low-Income Housing for Property Tax Purposes Whether and How to Consider the Value of Low-Income Housing. Tennessee: Tax Credits. Report of the Tennessee Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations.

Available at: https://www.tn.gov/assets/entities/tacir/attachments/2015LIHTC.pdf [Accessed 4 Aug. 2017] Rosenblum, Joseph. 2006. Assessing the Value of Affordability: Ad Valorem Taxation of Properties Participating in the Low Income Housing Tax Credit Program. Chicago: John Marshall Law school fair & affordable housing commentary. Available at: https://www.jmls.edu/ clinics/fairhousing/pdf/commentary/assessing-the-value-of-affordability.pdf [Accessed 4 Aug. 2017] Sisk v. Assessors of Essex, 426 Mass. 1998. 651, 654-55.

Wayland Business Center Holdings, Inc. v. Assessors of Wayland, Mass. 2005. ATB Findings of Fact and Reports 2005-557, 595-97.

Woburn Services, Inc. v. Assessors of Woburn, Mass. 1996. ATB Findings of Fact and Reports at 574.

Youngman, Joan. 2011. The Valuation of Federally Subsidized Housing: Ten Questions for the Property Tax. Lincoln Inst. of Land Policy, No. WP11JY1.

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RAIS

RESEARCH ASSOCIATION for INTERDISCIPLINARY OCTOBER 2017 STUDIES

Morocco and ECOWAS: A strategic adhesion with big potential for Moroccan SMEs Hamza El Guili

PhD Candidate, University Abdelmalek Essadi (UAE) Tangier, Morocco hamza.el.guili@gmail.com ABSTRACT: The SMEs (Small and Medium-sized enterprises) are an essential component of the world’s economy. They represent more than 95% of the global existing companies and they largely contribute to the jobs creation inside many countries. In Morocco for example, the SMEs represent the large majority of active companies in the market (95%) and contribute to 40% of private investments and to 30% of exportations.

The aim of this paper is to perform a systematic and recent literature review to determine the different theories of the internationalization of SMEs. The selected theories are treated from three major perspectives (traditional perspective, network perspective and emergent perspective).

In addition, this paper discusses the Moroccan recent politic of integration in Africa and the eventual adhesion of the country to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). This adhesion will offer more opportunities to the Moroccan SMEs in West Africa.

KEY WORDS: SMEs, Morocco, Internationalization process, ECOWAS.

Introduction The SMEs (Small and Medium-sized enterprises) are an essential component of the world’s economy. They represent more than 95% of the global existing companies and they largely contribute to the jobs creation inside the OECD countries.

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Small and Medium-sized Enterprises are responsible for creation of most jobs, products, tax revenues, welfare, and poverty alleviation in developing economies (Ahimbisibwe et al. 2016; Kandasaami 2004; Ntayi et al, 2011; Kwesiga 2006; Kasekende and Opondo 2003).

They provide the economy with a continuous supply of ideas, skills and innovations necessary to promote competition and the efficient allocation of scarce resources (Ahmed and Nwankwo 2013; Kasekende and Opondo 2003).

In Morocco, for example, SMEs are found in all sectors ranging from manufacturing, construction, services etc. They represent the large majority of active companies in the market (95%) and contribute to 40% of private investments and to 30% of exportations.

With the Moroccan recent politic of integration in Africa, under the reign of his Majesty the King Mohamed VI, and the country’s return to the African Union after a 33-year absence, the country has made an official request to join the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

LITERATURE REVIEW 1. The traditional perspective 1.1 Uppsala model

In the Uppsala model, the internationalization process is facilitated by step-by-step decisions and following the acquisition of sufficient experience and realization of gains from domestic market ( Johanson and Vahlne 1990, 23). Johanson and Vahlne (1990, 23) further argued that internationalization involves all the activities such as exploring possibilities to start exporting to a new country, set up own exporting channels, and start its own subsidiary.

The model is founded on four core concepts: market knowledge, market commitment, commitment decisions and current activities (Forsgren 2002). This model has incorporated results of previous empirical studies of the development of international operations, seeking theoretical explanation through the behavioral theory of the firm (Cyert and March 1963).

The Uppsala model analyzes the internationalization as a gradual learning process, and this model places the experience of the manager and the organization gradually as the key to internationalization ( Johanson and Vahlne 1977). Furthermore, it 55

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integrates knowledge from this experience in foreign markets, the company supplies its decision process.

Figure 1. The Uppsala model of internationalization (Source Johanson & Vahlne, 1977)

1.2 The innovation-Related Internationalization Model (I-Model)

The term “innovation-related� comes essentially from the work of Rogers (1962, cited in Gankema et al. 2000), in which each subsequent stage of internationalization is considered as an innovation for the firm (Gankema et al. 2000).

The focus of this model is exclusively on the export development process, in particular of small and medium-sized firms (Mitja Ruzzier, Robert D. Hisrich, and Bostjan Antoncic 2006). Leonidou and Katsikeas (1996) on the basis of a comprehensive review of the most important models (Bilkey and Tesar 1977; Cavusgil 1980; Reid 1981) concluded that the models are a number of fixed, sequential stages, although the number of stages varies considerably between models, ranging from as few as three to as many as six. They also identified three generic stages: the pre-export stage; the initial export stage, and the advanced export stage.

The first two types of models (the Uppsala and Innovation-related models) have been used to analyze small, but also large, firms with the focus on explaining the development of internationalization and international activities (Mitja Ruzzier, Robert D. Hisrich, and Bostjan Antoncic 2006).

Both the U-models and the I-models can properly be regarded as behaviorally oriented (Andersen 1993). Based on the arguments by the authors, the gradual pattern of the firm’s internationalization process can mainly be attributed to two reasons. The first reason is the lack of knowledge by the firm, the second is the uncertainty associated with the decision to internationalize.

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2. The network perspective A network approach, as it is developed by same Swedish researchers in industrial marketing and international business ( Hammarkvist, Håkansson & Mattsson, 1982) is compared with the transaction cost approach associated with Oliver Williamson (Williamson 1975, 1979, 1981).

In the network perspective, Johanson and Mattsson (1993, 306) described internationalization as a “cumulative process, in which relationships are continually established, maintained, developed, broken and dissolved in order to achieve the objectives of the firm”.

This view, nevertheless, seems somewhat fragmented as it focuses exclusively on relationships (Mitja Ruzzier, Robert D. Hisrich, and Bostjan Antoncic 2006).

Assuming that SMEs operate within their natural context, the view of Johanson and Vahlne (1990, 20) developed from Johanson and Mattsson (1993) appears more concise. They define internationalization as the “process of developing networks of business relationships in other countries through extension, penetration, and integration”.

According to Coviello & Munro 1997; Coviello 2006; Musteen, Datta, & Butts 2014; Musteen, Francis, & Datta 2010, SMEs, unlike big firms, rely on their network relationships to internationalize. They found that the internationalization process of small software firms reflects an accelerated version of the stage model perspective, and is driven, facilitated, and inhibited by a set of formal and informal network relationships.

3. Emergent perspective 3.1 The International Entrepreneurship Theory (IET) & international new ventures (INV)

International entrepreneurship is the study of cross-border entrepreneurial behavior focuses on how actors discover, enact, analyze and exploit opportunities in the creation of new goods or services (Masum & Fernandez 2008). As defined by McDougall and Oviatt (2000, 903), international entrepreneurship (IE) is: ‘‘. . .a combination of innovative, proactive and risk-seeking behavior that crosses national borders and is intended to create value in organizations. . .the study of IE includes research on such behavior and research comparing domestic entrepreneurial behavior in multiple countries.’’

Oviatt and McDougall (1994, 49) defined an INV as “a business organization that, from inception, seeks to derive significant competitive advantage from the use of resources and the 57

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sale of outputs in multiple countries�. In other words, INVs’ distinctive characteristic is that they internationalize, or at least intend to do so, from inception (Alain Verbeke, M. Amin Zargarzadeh, and Oleksiy Osiyevskyy 2014).

The INV concept has been widely praised as representing a useful challenge to the validity of prior paradigms addressing the process of internationalization, especially the Uppsala model (Autio 2005; Zahra 2005).

Figure 2. Types of International New Ventures (Oviatt and McDougall 1994)

Methodology and results Trade between Morocco and sub-Saharan Africa has been on an upward trend since 2009, with an annual growth of 12.8% between 2000 and 2015.

In addition, Morocco has concluded numerous agreements with sub-Saharan African countries in the form of trade and tariff agreements, based on the Most Favored Nation (MFN) clause, or multilateral agreements.

Based on statistics of the Moroccan Foreign Exchange Office in 2015, the Moroccan Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the Sub-Saharan Africa is increasing within the last years, which explains the Moroccan Foreign policy intention.

This confirmatory research was also based on other statistics of the Moroccan Foreign Exchange Office, the World Bank World Integrated Trade Solution (WITS) and the COMTRADE, which clearly analyses the trade between Morocco and Sub-Saharan African; Thus, we closely studied a survey conducted by Inforisk, to analyze the degree of internationalization of Moroccan SMEs. 58

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Figure 3. Evolution of the Moroccan FDI in Sub-Saharan Africa between 2003- 2015 Evolution of the Moroccan Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the Sub-Saharan Africa

The flow of Moroccan FDI in the Sub-Saharan Africa in milions of dirham (left axis) Part of Sub-Sahara Africa in the global Moroccan FDI (right axis)

Trade relations between Morocco and sub-Saharan Africa are asymmetrical as they tend to benefit Morocco more than the Sub-Saharan countries. In this context, it can be explained by its trade balance with the continent which has become a surplus since 2008.

Figure 4. Trade exchange between Morocco and African countries (in billions of DH)

Billion Dirhams (DH)

Part in %

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Figure 5. Destinations of the Moroccan FDI in Sub-Saharan Africa between 2011 and 2015

The acceleration of Moroccan FDI in sub-Saharan Africa can be explained by the relaxation of investment regulations. Moroccan companies beneficiated from two main measures: The first (started in August 2014) is the liberalization of investment abroad of up to a maximum of 30 million DH per year for legal entities with at least three years of activity, provided that the company’s accounts are certified by an external auditor and that the proposed investment directly relates to the entity’s business activity.

The second (started in December 201), is the increase in the transferable amount for investment abroad to a ceiling of MAD 100 million for Africa and MAD 50 million for other continents. Furthermore, a MAD 200 million fund has been created in order to strengthen the presence of private Moroccan operators in the African market.

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Conclusion Morocco’s foreign politic has been oriented to the African continent since 2000, due to a political and an economic willingness. According to a survey of InfoRisk, only 20% of Moroccan SMEs (which represents less than 1000 firms) are currently exporting to Africa, and only 150 of them are actively present in the continent. Yet, this category of firms represents a big potential.

There are many challenges facing the exporting SMEs, such as: the lack of information in some markets, political climate, regulatory constraints etc.

The presence of several institutions available for Moroccan entrepreneurs and Moroccan SMEs, interested to go to the international, such as, “Maroc Export”, “AMDIE” and “ASMEX”, constitutes a real value for the SMEs who wish to internationalize.

The eventual adhesion to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) will give a dynamic to the Moroccan SMEs, especially in the West region of Africa.

References Alain Verbeke, M. Amin Zargarzadeh, and Oleksiy Osiyevskyy. 2014. “Internalization Theory, Entrepreneurship and International New Ventures.” Multinational Business Review 22 69–246 :)3(. doi:10.1108/MBR0023-2014-06-.

Andersen, Otto. 1993.“On the Internationalization Process of Firms: A Critical Analysis.” Journal of International Business Studies 31–209 :)2( 24. doi:10.1057/palgrave.jibs.8490230.

Directorate of Financial Studies and Forecast, “Moroccan-African relations: The ambition of new borders,” 2014.

“Export: La Peur Pesante de l’inconnu.” 2017. L’Economiste. July 15. http://www.leconomiste. com/article/1014966-export-la-peur-pesante-de-l-inconnu.

Forsgren, Mats, Ulf Holm, and Jan Johanson (eds.). 2015. Knowledge, Networks and Power: The Uppsala School of International Business. Palgrave Macmillan UK. Gankema, Harold GJ, Henoch R. Snuif, and Peter S. Zwart. 2000. “The Internationalization Process of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises: An Evaluation of Stage Theory.” Journal of Small Business Management 15 :)4( 38.

Inc, Google. 2017. “Relations between Morocco and Sub-Saharan Africa: What Is the Potential for Trade and Foreign Direct Investment?” OCP Policy Center. February 1. http://www.

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ocppc.ma/publications/relations-between-morocco-and-sub-saharan-africa-whatpotential-trade-and-foreign.

Johanson, Jan, and Lars-Gunnar Mattsson. 1987. “Interorganizational Relations in Industrial Systems: A Network Approach Compared with the Transaction-Cost Approach.” International Studies of Management & Organization 48–34 :)1( 17.

McDougall, Patricia Phillips, and Benjamin M. Oviatt. 2000. “International Entrepreneurship: The Intersection of Two Research Paths.” Academy of Management Journal :)5( 43 906–902.Mitja Ruzzier, Robert D. Hisrich, and Bostjan Antoncic. 2006. “SME Internationalization Research: Past, Present, and Future.” Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development 97–476 :)4( 13. doi:14626000610705705/10.1108.

Ngoma, Mohammed, Abaho Ernest, Sudi Nangoli, and Kusemererwa Christopher. 2017.

“Internationalisation of SMEs: Does Entrepreneurial Orientation Matter?” World Journal of Entrepreneurship, Management and Sustainable Development 113–96 :)2( 13. doi:10.1108/WJEMSD0039-2016-08-.

Oviatt, Benjamin M., and Patricia P. McDougall. 2005. “The Internationalization of Entrepreneurship.” Journal of International Business Studies 8–2 :)1( 36.

Oviatt, Benjamin M., and Patricia Phillips McDougall. 1994.“Toward a Theory of International New Ventures.” Journal of International Business Studies, 45–64.

Tarek, Bel Hadj, Mighri Zouhayer, and Ghodbane Adel. 2017. “Entrepreneurial Competitive Intelligence Between Uppsala Model and Born Global Theories in the Case of North African SMEs.” Journal of the Knowledge Economy, June, 1–22. doi:10.1007/ s13132-017-0489-6.

Zahra, S.A. 2005. “A theory of international new ventures: a decade of research”, Journal of International Business Studies, 36 (1): 20-28.

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THE FUTURE OF THEME

POLITICAL STABILITY AND HUMAN SECURITY

RAIS

RESEARCH ASSOCIATION for INTERDISCIPLINARY OCTOBER 2017 STUDIES

Redistribution and Economic Decline Sven R Larson

PhD, Hill City Skunkworks, LLC, USA sven.larson@protonmail.com

ABSTRACT: Economic activity is kept stable by means of explicit and implicit contracts. These contracts, in turn, carry the confidence of economic decision makers as far into the future as the free market will trust them. A change in the trust of an implicit contract leads to a decline in economic activity; if that decline, while unexpected, is manageable, the resulting macroeconomic downturn will be a recession. If, on the other hand, the negative changes are beyond what the present system of explicit and implicit contracts can manage, the recession can escalate into a depression. The line between a recession and a depression is more easily crossed when government fails as an above-market carrier of confidence.

KEY WORDS: decision makers, free market, recession, depression.

This paper is an abbreviated version of: Austerity and Stagnation, Part 1: A NonWalrasian Approach to Economic Stability, Available at SSRN: https://papers.ssrn. com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3037141

Introduction Confidence is the fabric that keeps an economy stable. It manifests itself in economic decisions as reference points for confidence; more specifically, explicit and implicit contracts between economic agents, determining prices, product quality and frequency of trade.

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Explicit contracts are written, legally enforceable agreements that regulate the obligations and entitlements of the parties involved. Implicit contracts are less stringent in their definition, but consist primarily of information, identifiable habits and values facilitating the successful forecast of potential gains of trade. A price sticker in a supermarket is an example: knowing that the price of a gallon of milk, a loaf of bread or a pound of pork chop will remain approximately the same from one day to the next, consumers make it a habit of shopping there.

Despite the lower level of clarity in the definition of an implicit contract, this type of contract is essential to the stability and continuity of our economy. Implicit or semi-implicit contracts are responsible for the predictable continuation of approximately 90 percent of private consumption in the United States. Implicit contracts apply to regularly purchased items, such as non-durable goods, housing, utilities and retail services.

Semi-implicit contracts are contracts where prices are either discretionally negotiated or change between occasions of consumption but remain generally within a predictable framework. Semi-implicit contracts apply to products typically purchased with lower frequency: health care, transportation services, food services and accommodations, some financial services, and education.

The categorization of consumption based on the implicit-contract definition is approximate, but it suggests how important implicit contracts are in an industrialized economy. Consumer spending under such contracts is responsible for close to two-thirds of U.S. GDP (65 percent in 2016).

The predictability of implicit contracts depends on the willingness of both parties – buyers and sellers – to continue gainful trade under present circumstances. Together, they build confidence in their ability to reap gains from trade in the future, based on a pattern of explicit or implicit contracts.

When there is a change to the conditions that permit continuation of an implicit contract, the adjustment that follows will take place on free-market terms. Since the free market is, essentially, a complex trial-and-error system, adjustment processes – during which predictability of business is limited – will commonly be temporary in nature. This is the case both at the microeconomic level, affecting individual products and markets, and at the macroeconomic level, causing recessions and growth periods in the business cycle.

Alas, in an economy with a minimal government, the free market is fully responsible for determining the length and monetary value of implicit contracts, as well as for correcting those contracts when needed. When government engages in economic 65

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redistribution, it provides vehicles for above-market confidence, in the form of explicit or implicit contracts between government and the private sector. These contracts form a framework of stability within which private citizens can engage in gainful trade.

Since government provision and production is based in taxation and legislation, its implicit contracts are rightfully perceived as superior to the confidence that can be built up and maintained by the free market. Put plainly, government is taken for granted.

Due to its superior position as a confidence provider, government can do exceptional harm to the economy by mismanaging that role. Under mismanagement, government’s contributions to stability and predictability become conveyors of instability and uncertainty.

1. Uncertainty, Confidence and Fiscal Policy The purpose with implicit contracts is to carry confidence and value through time. If implicit contracts are extended through multiple periods of time, allowing decision makers to plan their economic activities through time, then the decision maker’s confidence will extend through time as well.

However, it would be wrong to assume that implicit contracts, materialized as, primarily, price stickers, will extend linearly through time. Confidence is built by means of increased use of price stickers, but while the price sticker can technically be extended infinitely, the free market will set a finite maximum for the extension of contracts and confidence. The price sticker, the money that denominates the price sticker and the liquidity that enables the carrying of value through time, all exist within a reality that, by default, is fundamentally uncertain. Decision makers are able to make uncertainty manageable with the use of price stickers, but they do not eliminate uncertainty as such.

Since uncertainty does not go away, but is manageable, the manageability is dependent on how reliable the decision maker considers his reference points to be in the future.

Thanks to a fixed wage, a worker may be able to accurately predict his pay over the next three, six or twelve months, deriving great confidence in the future from the price sticker on his labor. But would he, with the same level of confidence, assume that his wage is going to be the same two, five or ten years hence? The price stickers on groceries at the local supermarket inspire confidence in the consumer, motivating him to predict his costs for food over the next year; at the same time, it would be prudent of him not to predict the cost of the same items two, five or ten years hence.

The possibilities of changing circumstances are simply too many. Schematically: 66

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Figure 1

Figure 1 should not be construed as a mathematical function. It is used solely for illustrative purposes, as a depiction of a causal relationship. It is not the case that decision makers strive to maximize confidence, as one could be led to believe from the shape of the curve. The downturn of the curve is not included to suggest a maximization behavior, but to point out that price stickers, and therefore the decision maker’s confidence, cannot stretch infinitely into the future. Uncertainty, still present outside of the decision maker’s path of confidence through time, eventually overwhelms any attempt at making the future as predictable as possible.

What is technically depicted as a maximum point, is in reality the state of mind of economic decision makers where “things are as good as they can be”.

Of relevance to the understanding of how confidence is built is the early segment of the curve in Figure 1. Confidence is not built linearly: the decision maker’s need for price stickers is highest when his confidence is at its lowest. At the origin in Figure 1, confidence is at zero and the decision maker lives in fundamental uncertainty.

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To quip, one reference point to hang confidence on is infinitely better than zero; two is twice as good as one.

Confidence is carried into the future on prices stickers by means of money, the universal denominator of value. The fewer price stickers a decision maker has access to, the more of his value he keeps liquid. Flexible prices never allow the decision maker to determine, beforehand, how much cash he needs to bring to the market; price stickers allow him to set aside portions of his liquidity for future spending. Furthermore, for every price sticker he can use, the decision maker grows more confident in his pursuit of other price stickers, and is thereby ready to commit more of his value to future spending.

If the decision maker can predict, with a reasonable level of confidence, his wage thanks to a wage contract; the cost of groceries thanks to price stickers in the supermarket and other regular costs of living; then he is more inclined to agree to the monthly cost of a multi-year car loan or mortgage, than if none of the basic items in his budget were foreseeable from one period of time to another.

As the decision maker expands the use of price stickers, he has less need for liquidity as a precaution against economic contingencies. His commitment to price stickers constitutes a transition away from liquidity.

It also constitutes a transition from casual, occasional interaction on markets to long-term, stable flows of economic activity. All other things equal, high levels of confidence are associated with high levels of consumer spending; high levels of value commitment by consumers, through price stickers, lead to reciprocal commitments from employers. They make long-term commitments to production resources, leading to both investments and labor hiring.

In other words, price stickers are the fabric from which confidence and, gradually, macroeconomic activity are built. Contrary to the Walrasian theory where flexible prices lead to higher use of economic resources, the Shackle-Alchian theory suggests the exact opposite: price stickers, not flexible prices, benefit high employment of economic resources.

By allowing economic decision makers to commit increasing shares of their value, price stickers provide the vehicle for macroeconomic expansion. They carry multiplied economic activity forward in time. In this capacity, price stickers successfully serve the growth in economic activity, up to the point where “things are as good as they can get�. This is the growth period of the business cycle.

Theoretically, confidence and the successful commitment of value with price-sticker support can remain at the good-as-it-gets stage forever. In practice, every growth period ends when a sufficient number of decision makers find good reasons to weaken 68

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their confidence in the future. In a reality that is fundamentally uncertain, the reach through time of the fabric that provides for confidence is always limited.

The weakening of confidence is not necessarily as smooth and gradual as its construction. Since reality is fundamentally uncertain, decision makers have a natural inclination to be cautious. In the choice between committing a portion of his value to future spending subject to price stickers, and retaining the same portion of his value as liquidity, he will by default prefer the latter unless he has explicit reason to believe that he can rely on the price stickers offered as reference points into the future. Therefore, in the origin of uncertainty (see Figure 1) a decision maker needs no new information to remain in fundamental uncertainty. By contrast, he needs regular reaffirmation in the price stickers he relies on, in order to continue to trust them as reference points for his confidence.

Because of this asymmetry between confidence and uncertainty, a decline in economic activity can be significantly more rapid than a growth period. A decline begins when decision makers have weaker reasons than before, or no reasons at all, to believe in their price stickers. As confidence weakens, decision makers move to increase the liquidity in their value, primarily by reorganizing their spending that is subject to implicit-contract price stickers.

Confidence contracts faster per period of time than it expands. It is also worth considering the consequences of “disappointment�: when decision makers have built their confidence on a pattern of price stickers, and those stickers turn out to be unreliable, or at least unhelpful in supporting their confidence, decision makers will be more cautious the next time they expand their confidence. They apply a higher threshold of reassurance before re-establishing their confidence; it is possible to explain the persistence of some economic recessions based on this confidence asymmetry.

1.1 Confidence leadership and the business cycle

The purpose of the price sticker is to construct a reference point for confidence in time and space. Confidence, in turn, is essential to the economic decision maker for the realization of gains from trade, or, in Alchian’s (1950) terms, the pursuit of positive profits. However, there are limitations to the ability of reference points to carry confidence. Markets and individuals are never isolated from the rest of the economy. If price stickers were created on just one market in the economy, the presence of uncertainty in the rest of reality would overwhelm the limited body 69

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of confidence that those price stickers could produce. They would, effectively, lose their economic meaning.

Conversely, when price stickers proliferate throughout the economy they have a multiplier effect on confidence. This is how confidence is built at the microeconomic level, but it is also the key to its aggregate, macroeconomic effects.

An economic environment filled with price stickers provides a predictable economic environment that new decision makers can accept as a given. That system is a positive externality for individual decision makers, requiring a more limited learning process than if every new consumer, worker or entrepreneur had to start in fundamental uncertainty. Instead, every new decision maker can learn to benefit from the existing system of confidence by means of “imitation” and “trial and error”. Calling this “conscious adaptive behavior”, Alchian explains imitation (1950, 218): wherever successful enterprises are observed, the elements common to these observable successes will be associated with success and copied by others in their pursuit of profits or success.“Nothing succeeds like success.”

Without explicit mention of reference points, Alchian also notes that the role of those points and of the price sticker is elevated to codify and institutionalize economic activity: What would otherwise appear to be merely customary “orthodox,” nonrational rules of behavior turns out to be codified imitations of observed success, e.g.,“conventional” markup, price “followship,” “orthodox accounting and operating ratios, “proper” advertising policy, etc.

Imitation is prevalent throughout the economy. However, to function properly, imitation requires leadership: some decision makers lead in maintaining stickeredprice relations to others; others follow by imitating the successful behavior of leaders.

In doing so they multiply confidence and thereby contribute to the positive externality that becomes the fabric of macroeconomic stability.

A successful system of reference points – price stickers, codification, economic institutions – maintains economic stability so long as it retains the confidence of economic decision makers. In line with the difference between perfect-foresight based Walrasian theory and uncertainty-based original Keynesian theory, the peak of macroeconomic activity under confidence-carried stability is not to be confused 70

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with full employment in a Walrasian system. Macroeconomic stability fosters gradual expansion of confidence up to the point where “things are as good as they can get”.

This means either that all available economic resources are employed, or that some resources are still idling involuntarily. The peak point for economic expansion is determined by: a) the level of confidence that economic decision makers are willing to place in an existing system of reference points; and b) how far they can improve that system and still reliably strengthen their confidence in positive profit from their economic actions.

Just as success of confidence building spreads through the economy, there is a multiplier effect for the disappointment in reference points. When decision makers find that they have misplaced their trust in their reference points, their reaction is similar in kind to, but faster in pace than, their reactions when they successfully build up their confidence.

The pace of change in confidence and uncertainty is in large part decided by the behavior of price leaders, or, as they are more appropriately referred to, confidence leaders. They advance to the forefront of confidence building by virtue of their reputation and proven success; confidence leaders can be expected to be more skilled than average economic decision makers at managing changes in circumstances.

So long as confidence leaders serve their purpose, economic stability prevails. The stability extends to regular recessions, accounted for and manageable by experienced decision makers. When, on the other hand, confidence leaders are faced with challenges that are sufficiently unfamiliar, their skills and experience no longer apply. At this point they have to resort to a more basic process for managing uncertainty, or “trial and error” (Alchian 1950, 219). An economic downturn that is sufficiently unfamiliar to confidence leaders, and which therefore deprives their followers of reliable reference points in their decision making, deprives all participants in the economic system of stability and predictability.

In absence of stability and predictability, a recession becomes a gateway to a depression.

Under original Keynesian theory, the depression inherent to the economic system – it is no anomaly the cause of which requires special explanations. It is inherent because its root cause is the failure of the confidence-building decision process.

Here, Walrasian economic theory stands in stark contrast to original Keynesianism.

Walrasian theory cannot incorporate depressions; even recessions are anomalous to its axiomatic foundation. When every decision maker is guided by perfect foresight, every 71

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expectable change in economic activity is immediately accounted for. Furthermore, the perfect-foresight axiom reduces the confidence leader to a contradiction in terms.

There is no need for imitation or other reliance on others for explicit or implicit decision guidance.

The combination of uncertainty and the free market renders systemic solidity to original Keynesian economic theory. The free market separates successful confidence leaders and their followers from those who fail; failed decision makers perish, and their demise allow prevailing leaders and followers to adapt and improve their decisionmaking process.

Herein lies the source of economic stability that carries the economy through growth periods and recessions. As mentioned, it also explains a depression as a phenomenon inherent to the economic system. The cause of a depression is no longer exogenous; its rationalization no longer requires dedicated theory, but is always one of the possible outcomes of economic decision making.

2. Recessions, Depressions and Government So long as successful confidence leaders retain the trust of their followers, the collective outcome of a negative change to economic circumstances will be mitigated.

An economic downturn results in a recession, but no more than that. However, if confidence leaders fail at adapting to changing circumstances, their failure will amplify the economic downturn.

The line between mitigation and amplification begins in the aforementioned quote from Keynes. The decision “not to have dinner today” is made in response to a change in circumstances significant enough to alter the decision maker’s spending habits.

The decision disrupts economic relations established under the current system of price stickers: to stay within Keynes’s example, the restaurant continues to offer its menu with fixed prices for its dinner choices, expecting in return a continuous flow of dinner guests. When some of them make the decision to cancel their eating-out plans, causing a decline in dinner sales, one side of the implicit contract between buyer and seller is broken.

It is perhaps irrelevant to talk about confidence leaders in the restaurant dinner market. Consumer markets generally do not rely on identifiable decision makers that consumers normally would trust. It is more appropriate to involve identifiable confidence leaders on the entrepreneurial side of the economy. Consumers rely instead 72

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on general information, conveyed through public sources, reporting overall economic trends and other information affecting the general confidence and mood of consumers.

If, for example, it is reported that consumers in general have reduced spending recently, and that consumer confidence in general is in decline, individual consumers may rethink their own future plans and adopt a less confident outlook on the future. In Keynes’s case, this leads to a general decline in spending on restaurant dinners; the decline is of a nature that it does not in itself promise any return to previous levels of spending at eating establishments.

Restaurateurs, initially holding out and hoping for indications of a rebound in spending, eventually respond by reducing the cost of their operations. Applied generally, this is the sequence of a recession underway.

It is not the first response by entrepreneurs to drop the price. His first response is to try to hold out and bridge over the gap that is the initial decline in revenue. This response is consistent with original Keynesianism, but antithetical to perfect-foresight Walrasian theory. There, the immediate response to the decline in demand would be an immediate drop in the dinner price.

Walrasian theory can deviate from its flexible-price response if and only if it is amended by a theory dedicated to the explanation of sticky prices. For example, menu-cost price theory suggests a delay in price cuts due to the costs of remaking price stickers (in this case, literally the menu). The menu cost is an imperfection in an otherwise perfect economic system, begging the question why perfectly rational economic decision makers have not been able to overcome the menu cost and remove this marginal imperfection from their system.

Under original Keynesian theory the restaurant maintains its menu for entirely different reasons. The menu is a promise to restaurant patrons, a promise that both parties benefit from. In return for the promise, the restaurant is rewarded with a steady flow of dinner guests. This flow makes business operations predictable and promises positive profits; decision makers can concentrate on other agreements – explicit as well as implicit – between the business on the one hand and suppliers and workers on the other.

With the restaurant menu prices as a metaphor for price stickers in general, their purpose is to provide customers with an implicit contract for their continued patronage.

It is worth some decline in sales not to break that contract. So long as the decline in business is predictable, or unsurprising, the decline is tantamount to a recession at the macroeconomic level; when, on the other hand, the drop in sales at the individual 73

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business is surprising, or unpredictable, the drop in economic activity may escalate into a depression.

The difference between a recession and a depression is determined by the interaction between confidence leaders and followers. If confidence leaders maintain the trust of followers, then even under unforeseen circumstances the overall system of price stickers will prevail and secure a mitigated macroeconomic response to the initial decline in spending. The macroeconomic reaction is still a recession. If, however, confidence leadership is disrupted, the initial decline in economic activity is amplified as economic decision makers struggle to re-establish reference points for their confidence. In this case the macroeconomic decline escalates into a depression.

Under unforeseen circumstances, the difference between a recession and a depression is determined by the point where past experience no longer applies. Even in the face of unforeseen events, past experience can prove a reliable guide back to stability and predictability. However, as Davidson explains (1978, 16), when past experience cannot be used as a base for probability judgments about the future, Uncertainty becomes of utmost importance and those actions which are the least costly to reverse may often become the most preferred as the degree of uncertainty increases. In a world of uncertainty, he who hesitates is saved to make a decision another day.

This rational self-interest is essential. It saves the price leader but weakens or eliminates the positive externality that the leadership produces. The point where rational selfinterest conflicts with the externality effect of leadership is the point where the positive effect of price leadership caps out.

2.1 Government and above-market confidence

In a free-market system with minimal government as defined by Nozick (1974), only individual decision makers will be producers of confidence externalities. Government participates in the economy only as the guarantor of life, liberty and property, and as the impartial arbiter of legal disputes, thus only providing an institutional base for the very existence of an economy.

In an economy with a minimal government, the free market puts a cap on the confidence of economic decision makers. The market becomes the final arbiter of when confidence spills over in irrational exuberance. This system of market-determined confidence leadership is disrupted when government expands its participation in the economy 74

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beyond its minimal boundaries. By engaging in activities that affect the financial conditions of individual economic decision makers, government affects confidence leadership by providing positive confidence externalities.

Because of its unique legal status, government is immune to Davidson’s rationality.

In addition to private-market borrowing, government has two unique funding mechanisms – taxation and deficit monetization – that elevate it above the free market’s confidence cap, and therefore above the restrictions on its activities that uncertainty places on private economic decision makers.

Its participation expands by means of income redistribution: • a select group of citizens, defined as eligible, receive a benefit that is defined in quality, quantity and economic value; • another select group of citizens, different than the eligible group, pay the taxes that fund the benefit.

The eligible group receive a benefit that provides confidence in the same way as price stickers do, but with the back-up of government funding. Correspondingly, taxpayers, while seeing their disposable income decline, also have a price-stickered confidence reference point with a longer life than privately created stickers.

A system of entitlement benefit programs and taxes to fund them is also known as the welfare state. Due to the removal of Davidson’s rationality, the welfare state’s price stickers are more reliable than comparable, privately provided stickers. They therefore create stronger positive externalities of confidence and move the point where “things are as good as they can get” farther into the future.

The notion of government as an above-market confidence carrier is not isolated to pure economic theory. It has been presented as a motive for the construction of the modern welfare state. Myrdal (1960) and Galbraith (1967) conclude that an elaborate welfare state has long-term positive effects on macroeconomic growth and stability.

From a mid-to-late 20th century perspective, it appeared as though their conclusions were the enduring wisdom regarding the macroeconomic role of the welfare state. An elaborate system of programs for economic redistribution would enhance confidence and thereby permanently elevate macroeconomic activity. The theory developed above helps explain their conclusions.

Consistent with original Keynesian theory, the confidence carrying function of government is a two-way street. Since approximately the late 1970s many welfare 75

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states in Europe have experienced a slowdown in economic growth. Larson (2014) suggests that this slowdown happens when the welfare state reaches a critical mass in terms of share of GDP, that the slowdown appears to be permanent and that it is intimately linked to persistent deficits in government budgets.

Without arguing for or against Larson’s proposed evidence, it is worth exploring what happens to macroeconomic stability if there is a causal relationship from the size of the welfare state to a permanent slowdown in growth and therefore in tax revenue.

Under the – again uncontested – assumption that welfare state growth eventually causes a slowdown in tax revenue growth; and that, at given spending rates, persistent deficits emerge and lead to the erosion of government credit; a negative fiscal policy reaction in the form of austerity presents a challenge to the welfare state as an abovemarket confidence carrier.

In fact, when viewed in the context of original Keynesian theory, austerity becomes a powerful driver of rapid decline in economic activity. Protracted episodes of austerity can explain both the initial decline and sustained depression of production, consumption and investments in economies such as the Greek during and after the Great Recession.

Specifically, austerity affects the confidence of economic decision makers in either of two ways: a) Reduced content, qualitatively and quantitatively, of the benefits that the entitled population has been promised; or b) Higher price of the benefits in the form of increased taxation.

The content reduction – a spending cut – affects the entitled population in many different forms. Each entitlement program plants a reference point in a decision maker’s finances. A family that enjoys government-provided daycare for their children count on the quality and quantity of that daycare to remain largely intact over the foreseeable future. Their confidence in the government program allows them to commit their workforce to employers. A spending cut shortens the time that daycare is offered, forcing one or both parents to reduce their workforce commitment. This imposes a cost on the family, disrupts some of their value commitments and thus transmits signals of weakened confidence to those with whom the family interact economically on a regular basis.

When austerity is applied generally to government spending, it has a weakening effect on decision-maker confidence across the economy. By disrupting stable 76

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economic activity, individuals signal weakened confidence, causing others to respond accordingly. To paraphrase the opening paragraph of chapter 16 of Keynes’s General Theory (1936): An act of austerity means – so to speak – a decision not to provide daycare today. But it does not necessitate a decision to provide daycare or to provide for more school funding a week hence or a year hence or to provide any other entitlement benefit at any specific date. Thus it depresses current spending without promising any future act of spending. It is not a substitution of future government spending for present government spending – it is a net diminution of such spending.

The difference between an individual’s decision not to spend money today, and a government’s decision, is the difference between an isolated, microeconomic event with some limited impact on the rest of the economy, and a macroeconomic event with immediate repercussions for the economy as a whole. If all consumers decide to reduce spending today, the effect resembles that of government cutting spending, but it does so only in its worst case; a government decision not to spend money today, as promised or as expected by habit, is always of the magnitude that constitutes a worst-case example for private-sector decision makers.

Conclusion Economic stability is the product of deliberate actions, taken by economic decision makers who are averse to uncertainty and whose explicit or implicit commitment to future economic activity depends on their state of confidence. By means of freemarket interaction, consumers, entrepreneurs and investors create a system of explicit and implicit contracts that serve as reference points for confidence. The more reliable the reference points are, the more confident economic decision makers are; stronger confidence results in higher levels of economic activity. Government is the only entity that can produce confidence above what the free market can muster. At the same time, government can also tear down confidence more thoroughly than the free market is capable of. The more deeply government is involved in the economy – by means of economic redistribution – the greater are the risks of economic instability when government fails to deliver on its confidence promises. It is a hypothesis of this paper that the original Keynesian theory explained here can significantly enhance an explanation of recent macroeconomic crises, such as in Greece. There is a rich field of research opportunities here, to follow up on this paper.

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References Alchian, Armen. 1950. “Uncertainty, Evolution and Economic Theory.� Journal of Political Economy 58 (3): 211-221.

Davidson, Paul. 1978. Money and the Real World. London: MacMillan.

Galbraith, John. 1967. The New Industrial State. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Keynes, John. 1936. The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money. London: Harcourt.

Larson, Sven. 2002. Uncertainty, Macroeconomic Stability and the Welfare State. Aldershot: Ashgate.

Larson, Sven. 2014. Industrial Poverty: Yesterday Sweden, Today Europe, Tomorrow America.

Aldershot: Gower.

Myrdal, Gunnar. 1960. Beyond the Welfare State. London: Duckworth.

Okun, Arthur. 1981. Prices and Quantities. Washington: Brookings.

Shackle, George. 1992. Epistemics and Economics. New Brunswick: Transaction.

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THE FUTURE OF ED U C AT I O N ,

THEME

MASS-MEDIA AND COMMUNICATION

RAIS

RESEARCH ASSOCIATION for INTERDISCIPLINARY OCTOBER 2017 STUDIES

The Blogosphere and Political News in Nigeria: A Content Study of the Contributions of Linda Ikeji’s Blog to the Journaling of the 2015 Presidential Election Results Boniface Nkem Anusiem

PhD & Master student, Seton Hall University, New Jersey, USA fatherbonny@hotmail.com ABSTRACT: The 2015 Elections in Nigeria is one of the most significant events in Nigerian history; at least in the recent past. Nigerians were highly disposed to the electioneering process by their active participation especially through the platforms provided by the social media. Hence, various social media outlets formulated dependable avenues for the sharing of news items connected with the elections.

Among the numerous blogs that excelled in journaling the election is Linda Ikeji’s blog; a popular blog site in Nigeria. This exposition focuses on the contributions of Linda Ikeji’s blog in the dissemination the news of the elections results. The study adopts a content analysis approach to analyze the readership of the blog within election period. The subsequent feedback from the content research aids the researcher to gauge the contributions of Linda Ikeji blog in political news journaling during the 2015 General Elections in Nigeria.

KEY WORDS: Lind Ikeji Blog, Social Media, 2015 Elections, Political News.

1. Introduction According to the Nigerian National Broadband Plan (Presidential Committee on Broadband 2014), mobile internet penetration reached the rate of 32.9% in 2013.

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Leveraging on the mobile internet, social media and social networking gradually took the communication landscape by storm and rendered most Nigerians who are now netizens to develop conscious and unconscious political antennae and thus become opinion builders in the political agora.

Apart from Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, and LinkedIn, which according to a study by Terragon Group Nigeria, are the most frequently visited and used sites by Nigerians, blogging has grown to be another trending phenomenon in social communication.

There are currently many blogs and their respective bloggers from news to fashion, from religion to gossip, from entertainment and lifestyles to education. All these and more make up the “new realm” within the new media planet called the blogosphere.

This study examines the contributions of blogging or more technically, the blogosphere in the journaling of political news in the 2015 Elections in Nigeria.

More pointedly, it looks at the contributions and involvement of Linda Ikeji’s blog site within the period.

1.1 Background to the Study

The media remains the most characteristic phenomenon at the politically charged atmosphere as most Nigerians subscribe to the conventional and social media in Nigeria for real-time updates. Beyond the traditional media, the social media with the quality of “nowness” (Zeller and Hermida 2015) excelled in political news reportage with the dissemination of the results of the General Elections through the various platforms which included but not restricted to blogs.

This work seeks to understand blogosphere as a journaling platform and its unique utility as a means of communication. It specifically examines the nature and character of blogging in Nigeria with a focus on Linda Ikeji’s blog which is one of the most widely read blogs in Nigeria. And more intensely, the study intends to analyze the contribution of the blog in the journaling of the 2015 Elections in Nigeria.

1.2 Significance of the Study

Blogs and blogging have taken productive spaces in the communication landscape in the recent past. They are among the technologies that indicate changes in the way information is created, managed, and exchanged (Armstrong and Retterer 2008). This study is significant as it undertakes an analysis of the art of blogging on the one side and audience response to blog contents on the other side. It is also a relevant study on Linda Ikeji’s blog which is on a rapid readership expansion in Nigeria and beyond.

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1.3 Scope and delimitation of the Study

The study takes an overview of the blogosphere as a blossoming social media landscape. It, however, delimits itself to Linda Ikeji’s blog as a research focus. It further examines the political blogging of Linda Ikeji’s blog and more specifically as it affected the 2015 General Elections in Nigeria. The study population exclusively involve visitors to the blog who are designated and known as LIB readers.

1.4 Study Methodology

The study uses the content analysis research approach. Content analysis is a method of analyzing written, verbal or visual communication messages. The research method of content analysis could be qualitative or quantitative (Elo and Kyngas 2008). The study tries to quantify the political news content of Linda Ikeji’s blog during the elections (Cole 1988).

2. Definition of the Basic Terms 2.1 Social Media

Social Media are the new tools of communication with internet connectivity that enable the instant sharing of information. Social media also refer to: “a group of Internet-based applications that build on Web 2.0 and allows the creation and exchange of user-generated content” (Kaplan and Haenlein 2010). More succinctly put, social media refer to those digital tools for the sharing of conversation and content (Gould 2015). The fundamental reason behind social media development and expansion is connectivity and networking. In order words, social media exist to connect people to people be it as friends or as a way like-minded people could form a community. Beyond the latter, social media serve: “to connect people to ideas, journalists to breaking news, business to customers, politicians to citizens, employees to jobs, consumers to advertisers, students to teachers, content to revenue and the global to the local” (Albarran 2013).

2.2 Blogosphere

The definition of the blogosphere would first take us to understanding what a blog is all about. A straightforward definition of a blog sees it as a frequently updated online 82

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diary or journal that appears in reverse chronology. Blogging is the virtual (online) form of personal diary or journal which, unlike the conventional personal diary or journal, is open to the public to access (I-ping, Yi-hsuan and Yu-chi 2013).

The blogosphere as a term is relatively new. It refers to the social universe where blogs exist and interact. In a more explicative way, it deals with the media landscape where blogs exit as interactive sources of information. Describing the commonality of all blogs and their affinity in the blogosphere, Alex Newson (2008) maintains that blogs have links to other websites.

2.3 Blogging in the 21st Social Media Century

Blogging has rapidly grown from being a novelty in social media landscape to being a culture in the social communication space. According to some studies, blogging started with Links.net in 1994, which was a creation of Justin Hall, a Swarthmore College student (Chapman 2011).

By 1997 the word “weblog” (logging into the web) came about and had been attributed to Jorn Barger following his earlier blog Robot Wisdom (Zantal-Wierna 2017).

However, the first formal blog on a conventional news site came with Jonathan Dube’s Hurricane Bonnie which was for Charlotte Observer.

Subsequent years saw the rapid growth and expansion of the blogging as an aspect of the social media and covering various aspects of life and disposition. In what follows, Vangie Beal (2007) provides a comprehensive list of the development of blogging or the blogosphere: Table 1. Timeline of notable Blogging Events (1994-2006) DATE 1994, January

1997, December 1998, October 1999, April 1999, July 1999, August 2002, February 2002, August

EVENT Justin Hall, a Swarthmore College student, creates what is considered to be the very first blog “Links.net.” Some industry trackers cite the first blog as belonging to David Winer, “Scripting News” (1997).

Jorn Barger coins the term Weblog.

Open Diary is founded.

Peter Merholz shortens Weblog to blog.

The first free weblog tool launches (Pitas).

Pyra releases Blogger.

Dooced” is coined.

Gizmodo launches.

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2003, February 2003, June 2003, July 2003, August 2004, December 2005, March 2005, July 2005, October 2005, August 2005, November

2005, November 2006, June 2006, August

Google buys Blogger from Pyra (1 million blogger users, with 200,000 active).

Google launches AdSense and incorporates matching ads to blog content.

MySpace launches.

TypePad (blogging and hosting service) starts.

MSN Spaces starts (which ties in MSN Messenger and Hotmail services with blogging).

AOL launches its RED Blogs service, aimed at the teen segment.

News Corp buys Intermix Media (owner of Myspace.com) for $580 million.

AOL buys blog publisher Weblogs Inc. ($25 million).

TypePad launches TypePad Mobile (mobile blogging tools).

Andrew Sullivan moves his popular blog “Daily Dish” to Time.com.

Time gets advertising revenues from the blog and Sullivan is paid a fee for his services.

DigitalGrit launches its Business Blog Service. eBay launches user blogs at its eBay Live! conference.

Google pays $900 million in shared revenue to be the exclusive search provider for MySpace.com.

Between 2006 and 2017, blogging has attained a tremendous height. According to Brandon Gaille (2017), there are about 152 million active blogs on the internet, and the number is adding on a daily basis and blogging has become a lucrative business (Rich and Enterpreneur 2014, 23).

2.4 Linda Ikeji’s Blog

Linda Ifeoma Ikeji was born on the 19th of September 1980 and raised in a Catholic family from Nkwere in Imo State, Nigeria. The one-time model studied the English language at the University of Lagos, Lagos State Nigeria. After graduation, Linda started blogging actively in 2006 with BellaNaija. She later started her blogging site in December 2010 using the “Blogger” platform.

Linda Ikeji’s blog, also known as LIB, features news, entertainment, fashion, lifestyle, sports, religion, gossips and indeed everything. It is one of the most visited blogs in Nigeria having younger people as the target audience. The blog was shut down on 84

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October 8, 2014, but restored on 10 October 2014 around midnight by Google for some reasons which some attributed to infringement of intellectual property; however, Google did not make it explicit (Onyinye 2014).

In 2016, Linda Ikeji launched “Linda Ikeji Social,” (LIS) a social networking site that gives a similar interactivity like facebook. According to Kazeem (2016), the site rewards committed users from the advertisement revenue. Another on-coming feat is the launch of Linda Ikeji TV which is already streaming online.

Linda Ikeji’s blog received the Nigeria Blog Awards NBA that took place in 2013 under Best Entertainment Blog category. Linda Ikeji’s blog (https://www.lindaikejisblog. com/) has a total of 2,933,543 profile views on 21st October 2015.

3. Blogging as diffusion of ideas Everett Rogers popularized the diffusion theory in the mid-1990s. In his epochmaking book, Diffusion of Innovations, Rogers says that diffusion is the process by which members particular community adopt an innovation. He further identifies four factors that influence adoption of an innovation: 1. the innovation itself, 2. the communication channels used to spread information about the innovation, 3. time, and 4. the nature of the society to whom it is introduced.

Innovation has to do with the introduction of new realities and values in the society or the recreation of existing phenomena (Rogers 1995, 41).

Blogging is an innovation within the social media landscape. Diffusion research, due to its broad scope, has helped to increase our understanding of the adoption process for a wide range of innovations, from ideas to social networking sites (Atkin, Hunt, and Lin 2015, 624).

4. Blogosphere and 2015 General Elections in Nigeria There are numerous bloggers in Nigeria though most of them are still coming up in the blogosphere. Our attention is directed here at political bloggers who operate within the scope of the general characteristics of social media and which includes but not 85

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restricted to: participation, openness, conversation, community, and connectedness (Mayfield 2008). The table below shows some notable blogs that took foregrounds during the elections. Notably, some of them are not by disposition political. There is no particular chronology.

Table 2. Notable Nigerian blogs Name of bloggers Linda Ikeji: Omoyele Sowore Seun Osewa Uche Eze Noble Igwe Chude Jideonwo Loy Okezie Mola Ogundele Bamidele Onibalusi Jide Ogunsanya Don Caprion Oladunni Liadi Japheth Omojuwa Stella Dimakorkus Vanguard Newspaper Punch Newspaper Laila Makinde Azeez Daily Post Premium times This Day Newspaper

Blog Sites lindaikejisblog.com Saharareporters.com nairaland.com Bellanaija.com 360nobs.com YNaija.com Techloy.com Notjustok.com wonderkid.com Ogbongeblog.com Doncaprio.com ladunliadi.blogspot.com omojuwa.com Stelladimokokorkus.com Vanguardngr.com Punchng.com LailasBlog.com Naijaloaded.com Dailypostng.com premiumtimesng.com thisdaylive.com

4.1 Linda Ikeji’s Blog and the Journaling the 2015 Elections in Nigeria

The Presidential election in Nigeria was moved from the 14th day of February 2015 to the 28th of March 2015. The reason was due to the electoral commission’s inability to perfect the functionality of the electoral card readers that the commission sets out to use for the first time in a Presidential Election in Nigeria (Benson and Madukwe, 2016).

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Nigerians were eager to get the results of the election immediately after the polls.

However, two days passed before the announcement commenced. Most people who had the benefit of power supply tuned to their radios and televisions for updates.

However, a good number of netizens opened up to the exploration of the social media.

Linda Ikeji’s blog was exceptionally active and running from the moment of the first announcement to the declaration of the winner of the Presidential polls by the chairman of INEC Prof. Attahiru Jega. From the quantitative content analysis, a total of 263,220,000 readers visited Linda Ikeji’s blog on Monday 30th March 2015 when the results started coming in their numbers from various states in Nigeria. The table below gives the breakdown.

Table 3. Showing visits to Linda Ikeji’s Blog before and during the elections.

Number of Daily Visitors to the Blog (Alexa, 2015)

Number of Visitors to the Blog on Election Results Release Day

Standard Range of Daily Comments

Number of Comments on Election Results Release Day

Total number of views before the elections

Total Number of profile views during the election

243,147

263,220 20, 075 visitors added

2,000

4,000 50% increase

2,297,783 2,823,344 About 10% increase

The study examined further variations on visits to the blog site before and during the election period. The analysis is what follows below.

Table 4. Further analysis on visits to Linda Ikeji’s Blog before and during the elections Daily time on Site Daily Pageviews/person

% of Traffic from Search Sites Linking In

Before: 7:01

Before: 3:45

Before: 3.40%

Before: 7,699

After: 12:13

After: 5:35

After: 8.00%

After: 9,050

5. Discussion and Conclusion Our inquiry leaves us with facts that justify the prior assumption that the blogosphere was a very dependable communication arsenal during the 2015 General Elections in 87

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Nigeria. Furthermore, the content analysis shows that Linda Ikeji’s blog entertained more visits, views, and comments during the period. The study also reveals that the political news from the blog was real-time with the actual events in the political scene with regards to the polls.

The study prods for more detailed research on blogging and the blogosphere in Nigeria.

Beyond the theoretical stance on the diffusion of innovations, there would be a need to consider audiences’ use and gratification of the blogosphere in Nigeria or put in another way, what readers seek in the blogosphere as active and reasonable social media users.

There is thus a possible call for a more comprehensive and expansive study on blogging and the blogosphere as well as further research on the future of political blogging.

What is left to be said could be an insight into the sources of the contents that feature on the blogs and the veracity of such sources. Verifying content sources would guide voracious blog readers to chew the material with caution. Critical analysis of content sources is most desirable in our day and age of fake news.

References Albarran, A. B. 2013. The Social Media Industries. New York: Routledge.

Armstrong, Kimberly, and Oscar Retterer. “Blogging as L2 Writing: A Case Study.” AACE Journal 16, no.3 (May 2008): 233-251.

Atkin, David, Daniel Hunt and Carolyn Lin.“Diffusion Theory in the New Media Environment: Toward an Integrated Technology Adoption Model, Mass Communication and Society,” 18, no.5 (August 2015): 623-650. doi:10.1080/15205436.2015.1066014 Beal, Vangie. “The history of blogging,” accessed August 14, 2017. http://www.webopedia. com/quick_ref/hisory_of_blogging.asp.

Benson, Dayo, and Bartholomew Madukwe. 2016. “Judiciary: Some events that shaped 2015”, Nigerian Vanguard, January 7. https://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/01/ judiciary-some-events- that-shaped-2015/.

Chapman, Cameron. 2011. “A brief history of blogging,” accessed August 24, 2017. http:// www.webdesignerpot.com Chiang, I-Ping, Chiang, Yu-Hsuan, and Lin, Yu-chi. 2013. “The antecedents and consequences of blogging behavior. Social Behavior and Personality.” An international journal, 41, no.2 ( July): 311- 318. doi: https://doi.org/10.2224/sbp.2013.41.2.311 Dijck, Jose. V. 2013. The culture of connectivity: A critical history of social media. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

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Elo, Satu, and Helvi Kyngäs. 2008.“The qualitative content analysis process.” Journal of advanced nursing 62, 1: 107-115. Doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2648.2007.04569.x Gould, Meredith. 2015. The social media gospel: Sharing the good news in new ways. Minnesota: Liturgical press.

Hansen, Ejvind. 2015. “The Positive Freedom of the Public Sphere.” Journalism Studies 16, no.

6: 767-781.

History Cooperative. “Blogging, where weblogs came from,” accessed August 14, 2017. historycooperative.org/the-history-of-blogs/.

Kaplan, Andreas and Haenlein, Michael. 2010. “Users of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of Social Media.” Business Horizons, 53: 59-68.

Kazeem, Yomi. “Nigeria’s top celebrity blogger is launching a social network and will share ad revenue with users,” accessed September 10, 2017. https://qz.com/825437/ nigerian-super- blogger-linda-ikeji-has-launched-a-social-network/ McQuail, Dennis. 1994. Mass communication theory: An Introduction. London: Sage Publications.

Muomah, Onyinye. “Why google shut down Linda Ikeji’s blog,” accessed August 20, 2017, http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/more-news/169251-why-google-shut-downlinda- ikeji-blog.html Newson, Alex, and Justin Patten. 2008. Blogging and other social media: Exploiting the technology and protecting. Burlington: Gower publications.

Presidential Committee on Broadband 2014. Nigeria’s National Broadband Plan. Retrieved http://www.commtech.gov.ng/Doc/The%20Nigerian%20National%20Broadband%20 Plan%2 02013_19May2013%20FINAL.pdf Rich, Jason and Entrepreneur Press. 2014. Start your own blogging business (3rd edition). USA: Entrepreneur Press.

Rogers, Everette. 1995. Diffusion of innovations. New York: The Free Press. Teragon Group 2014. http://terragongroup.com/case-studies/ Zantal-Wierner, Amanda. 2017. ”A brief timeline of the history of blogging”. September 10, 2017. https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/history-of-blogging Zeller, Frauke and Alfred Hamida. 2015. “When tradition meets immediacy and interaction.

The integration of social media in journalists’ everyday practices.” Sur Le Journalisme 4, no.1: 106-119.

Zeller, Frauke and Alfred Hamida. “A brief timeline of the History of blogging,” accessed September 10, 2017) https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/history-of-blogging.

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RESEARCH ASSOCIATION for INTERDISCIPLINARY OCTOBER 2017 STUDIES

Etiquette of Media’s Responsibility during Crises (Kurdistan region and ‘ISIS’ as instance) Hersh Rasool Murad

Assist. Prof. Dr. University of Raparin, Iraq dr.hersh82@gmail.com

Tazhan Dlshad Kareem

Assist. Lect. Sulaimani Polytechnic University, Iraq tazhankaram@gmail.com

Introduction Etiquette of media work is one of the sensitive and important topics as it strikes the balance between freedom of media, on one hand, and freedom of individual and community on the other hand. So discussing the topic -and the way the job is practiced in the reality on the ground- is the prior duty of experts and academics, especially when it comes to the consideration of the principles of etiquette involved in the occupation in an atmosphere of crises, complicated and sensitive situations.

The Importance of the Paper This paper is significant for it draws upon a number of interesting aspects such as the respect of the work of media with consideration of occupational etiquette principles in general and responsibility in particular. This has recently gained familiarity in Kurdish media of the Iraqi Kurdistan Region (KRG). The paper takes as a case-study the current situation in Iraq and Kurdistan Region which are involved in the war against the so-called Islamic State (ISIS).

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The Objectives of the Paper 1. Investigating the consideration level of responsibility of etiquette by media during crises and abnormal situations.

2. Knowing the consideration level of responsibility of etiquette by the Kurdish media during the war of ‘’ISIS’’ in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region.

3. Exploring the consideration level of national security, general system and social peace during the war of ‘’ISIS’’ by Kurdish media in the Iraqi Kurdistan.

4. Examining the influence of the propaganda, rumors and IS-related messages on Kurdish media in the Iraqi Kurdistan region.

5. Examining the restriction of the influence of ‘’ISIS’’ messages on Kurdish media in Iraqi Kurdistan Region as part of a psychological war at the hand of the terrorist organization against Kurdish people and Peshmarga.

Method of the research The used method in this research is analyzing texts; this is through analyzing the news and materials relevant to the war on ‘’ISIS’’ that have been published by Kurdish media in Kurdistan Region of Iraq.

Introducing and clarifying some terms

In order for the contents of this research to be clear, some terms should be clarified and expanded: 1. Ethics: its origin is Greek. Philosophically, they divided the word into three parts: Aesthetics, which is concerned with beauty and how a person can clarify beauty without depending on evidence. Epistemology, or the theory of knowledge; it was dealing with what learning consists of, and what knowledge deserve to be known. Ethics, which is research about what is good for both the individual and society.

2. Media Etiquette is some behavioral and ethical values that should be considered by journalists. These etiquettes sometimes are general and mutual between societies and sometimes they are specific for one society (Philip & Lee, 2008).

3. Media Responsibility: It is one of the most valuable basics of a journalist that should be protected by journalists during their job for a better performance.

When someone violates their job’s principles, they probably end up doing it 91

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4.

5.

6.

7.

wrong. This also applies on journalists who are not exempt from faults and whose faults may incur insulting a society or a large group of people, undermine the morale of people, seduce a generation, or confuse facts for a long (sadaqa 1999).

Crises: Social Sciences encyclopedia believes that crises are the emergence of sudden, dangerous situations amongst two or more groups (Murad 2013).

Terrorism: the term terrorism is derived from the word terror, which means system or regime. Generally, terrorism is using violence to gain a political purpose (Cambridge 2015).

Kurdistan Region: it is a geographical place governed by Kurdistan Region Government with a federal system of government within Iraq, recognized as a region by Iraqi constitution.

Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS): linguistically, many terms are used for this organization such as Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) (Kfir 2015). As a Sunni Jihadist group in Iraq and Syria, ISIS aims to bring chaos and social and political instability in the region in the hopes of establishing an Islamic Caliphate based on Islamic values and principles. Many other terrorist organizations have also joined them (Masters 2015).

The responsibility of media etiquette

Responsibility is one of the significant principles that should be considered by journalists. In addition, journalists have important roles in both media and society, especially during crises. In other words, responsibility is being dedicated to accuracy, subjectivity, equality, and neutrality in one’s writings to gain people’s trust.

Journalists are responsible for the accuracy of information; they shall not publish any news without reliable evidence, and they should be careful in publishing data.

(Media responsibility) as a scientific concept was derived from Social Responsibility Theory.

The significance of the responsibility of Media etiquette

The importance of the responsibility of media and journalists’ etiquette takes its root from the core and basic meaning of etiquette and conscience responsibility.

Hence, in light of the previous subject, we can summaries the characteristics of the responsibility of media etiquette in a few points (Mrad 2014 - 2013): 92

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1. Considering the truthfulness of news, accuracy in presenting data and information, neutrality and independency in illustrating opinions, keeping balance between various perspectives and being inclusive to thoughts and directions, avoiding preconceptions and prejudice, and remaining objective.

2. Performing an objective observational task and aiming towards the Fourth Power by monitoring the other powers and the aspects of the society.

3. Endeavoring to establish a firm, mutual responsibility between individuals and society.

4. Working towards public good and doing what is best to citizens, reinforcing the sense of nationhood.

5. Trying to eliminate any threat on the social and political landscape and the national security.

6. Consideration of humanitarian aspects, and staying away from tarnishing others’ name and reputation, from creating chaos or promoting ruthlessness and violence, from hatred and racism, and from separatism based on (gender, language, race, ethnicity, nationality, religion and belief system, ideological and political beliefs).

Crisis

Crisis or Disaster is a dangerous event that has effect on the welfare of humans or the atmosphere or reputation of the organization. It can lead to organizational malfunctioning or undesirable multi-directionality.

It can also be the turning point in a sudden stance that creates unease, and becomes a real threat to our interests and fundamental structure. It can bring about repercussions that require united, quick actions to control and confront before the expected consequences become too dangerous.

Media in Confronting Crisis

As crises increase in different types and at different levels, the role of media becomes ever more crucial, in spreading the news or taking on a reconciliatory role to solve problems.

So the communication tools have an important role in redefining all the problems affecting the world around us; by adopting an educational role to raise the public awareness in discussing the events or by covering the events (and their influence) in a dramatic way.

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Crises get the media attention and rouse public interest in media, and that is how most news get to people. Thus, the media gets more attention at times of crises as the most effective way of communication news.

In general, the media channels have a mediatory role especially by: presenting information, probing the details and the importance of an event, building social structure, yet more importantly reducing people’s anxiety and fear about the events.

Ethical Responsibility of Media in Time of Crisis

In the previous paragraphs, the concept of ethical responsibility of the media was discussed in general as applying to normal situations. However, in crisisstricken situations and at times of conflicts and worrying circumstances there is a higher level of responsibility.

Inasmuch as crisis (whatever it might be) is an abnormal, sensitive and complex situation, a higher level of consideration of the responsibilities is required, in particular, the responsibility of mass communication means, due to their impact on people and the way they perceive of the events.

Considering the ethical responsibility of media in times of crises includes accounting for state responsibility and national responsibility. More precisely, it means considering national security, public system, public health, community peace, etc. In a broader sense, freedom of speech also entails these responsibilities.

In other words, in times of war and crises, the media should be handled with more responsibility. For this end, the media would not evade the ethical responsibility for reasons such as honesty, preciseness, objectivity, neutrality and balance. That is, revealing one fact, for instance, could lead to a great deal of damage. Similarly, ‘being the first’ to make it public should not lead to irresponsibility. In such cases, preciseness would guarantee neutrality. Furthermore, objectivity, neutrality and balance do not mean disregarding the country and the citizens.

After the attack of September 11/ 2001, the footage of the building collapsing on the people in live coverage had a lot of influence on the reaction towards terrorism. By looking back at this event, we understand that the media faced a huge challenge making American people understand the events. The fallout of this appeared as reaction to war on terror. When the wave of anti-West propaganda of Osama Bin Laden, a counterattack began, led by George W. Bush, the president of United States of America (20012009). Media had the biggest role in spreading this propaganda. The political speech of leaders like (Tony Blair, George Bush, etc.), after the event of September 11, was 94

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more emotional, so the media had to filter out political propaganda characterizing the political speeches, but the media failed in doing so and rather speeded it in an attempt to mobilize the public in favor of the war on terror (Anup 2015).

Harold Lasswell believes that western politicians and governments have filled the public with fear and anxiety to the level of hysteria. It is true that a group like ISIS is well-trained and well-equipped in terms of weaponry -just as they have access to a huge financial support- but we shall not forget the fact that they have done the biggest propaganda campaign on the western societies, especially when they manage to publish professional videos of their inhumane acts on social media like their videos on YouTube and their messages on Twitter (Tracy 2014). So the media needs to be reformed and we should find a way to stop the terrorist groups publishing propaganda on it.

This puts a lot of responsibility on the shoulders of those who work in media; they should inform people about the mental war waged against them, and inform citizens about the symbol and signs of that war on the one hand, and avoid advertising for them on their programs onto the other.

Media not Considerate of the ethical responsibility

The art of convincing and persuasion with propaganda are effective historical tools that have been used in politics, especially at time of war. In general, propagating violence through the means of media leaves a lot of prolonged impacts on the classes of the community, thus benefiting the radical groups (Karen 2005).

Here it becomes clear that the publication of lots of violent content indirectly has led to the promotion of these groups and lead to these groups becoming more active and strong. This in turn brings fear and terror into the hearts of citizens.

Furthermore, it is important to know about the propaganda and gossip of the others (terrorists), to understand and probe them, to access them via different modes and messages, and to confront them, so that the falsified, distorted images the terrorists are making are destroyed and the real images are shown. Such propaganda and gossip hold in them the seed of fear and terror, and can easily enter people’s minds, if not confronted.

Media experts believe that the media in general, and the internet and social media in particular, have proven very effective mediums of spreading the propaganda of terrorists in the world. Sometimes, they use the term ‘cyber-terrorism’, to describe what is happening. Although the term was first used to talk about electronic attacks, with the increasing use of terrorists of the internet the term has become a fact (Brunst 2015).

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One of the terrorist groups that emerged in June 2014, and started another wave of violence, and inhumane images, throughout social media and even in more conventional media by showing images of human beheading, burning humans alive, and many other atrocities and images of violence, was “ISIS”. This group is still continuing their crimes and publishing them on Media. The publication of this type of violence negatively affects the society and spreads fear and terror. It can even weaken the morale of the people, thus posing a threat to the national security (Carlson 2014).

The publication of videos and images of violence by terrorist groups in the world not only affected families, children, and societies, but also become an underpinning factor of the formation of a coalition against the group. Thus, at times of uncertainty and war censoring and even filtering internet content might be reasonable to make sure the national security is intact and to prevent the spread of fear and terror (Pippa 2003).

During crises, and more precisely in war time putting temporary censor on media or filtering the images, videos, and information about the war could be a good solution to reduce the level of fear and terror in public.

This does not mean the media should abandon its main job, but can -on an ethical base-temporarily act like that until the situation calms down and certainty prevails.

This is not unusual, even developed and democratic countries allow such exceptions and considerations. For example, during the second Gulf War, the Pentagon rewrote the function of media for The United States of America in a ten-amendment package.

The package focuses on putting a lot of surveillance, and making the news more in favor of American interests, under the principle of (nationalism, defense, national security) and neglecting such types of actions as (investigation, examination, observe) in some sensitive news, trying to make them less sensitive, disallowing different opinions, limiting the connection between people and the war, making sure they do not get involved in the details of the war, and creating (white painting) about the war, undermining the term (victim), not showing blood in the coverage, showing more images than videos of horror of war, favoring short, often-repeated news about their successes to raise the morale of the people.

War of Terror and Media Coverage

Now “ISIS” is a terrorist group that is known in the world, and the world is against them. This group has created many media centers used to show their messages, videos, and images of their crimes; they even manage to indirectly use the media of opposite side for their advantage. They have so many accounts on social media such as (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc.). So these groups need media. As the British 96

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Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher (1979 - 1990) said rightly, “media campaigns are oxygen for terrorists”.

Winston Churchill in his book “Gathering Storm” explains how Hitler used media in a bad way to his own interests, and to promote his public base, concentrating his personal power and creating more enemies, and starting war. Dr. Noam Chomsky in the documentary film, Manufacturing Consent, explains this topic in more detail, saying that the media covering the Vietnam war and Gulf war used the same techniques (Achbar and Wintonick 1992).

The terrorist groups have found a good ally in mass media that can be very important in attracting public and the desires of these groups. Marshall Macluhan, one of the experts on mass media, said ‘the terrorism doesn’t exist without communication’ (Macluhan, 1978). This is a weakness of the media which has unconsciously become a medium of transferring terroristic acts.

How the Kurdish Media has been Irresponsible during ISIS War

There are some examples to see the irresponsibility of Kurdish media in details: • In order to gain more audience and money, many websites rush to publish ISIS’s videos even when sometimes YouTube deleted the videos. Still, the websites who copied the video published it again, Xendan website being an example.

• PDK Radio station, too, jeopardized the lives of Shangal Mountain’s refugees by publishing fake news claiming that the Peshmarga has taken control of the city.

• Rudaw newspaper in the last year’s August edition published an article claiming, “…exposes 100 isolated Ezidis’s places,” From the details of the article, Rudaw stated that 100 Ezidis in West of Shangal mountain known as Qandil have disappeared from the public eye and the outside world without having any possible reach to them.

• Xendan website in breaking news with an image attached to it stated, “ISIS has launched an attack in Gullalla,” and this was soon followed by an ISIS tweet about their success and courageousness. And what they published on social media is that,“The Kurdish newspaper’s website (…) in breaking news is stating that the entire Peshmarga forces are falling back in Gullalla leaving control of the area in the hands of ISIS.” • With the recapture of Makhmur by the Kurdish Peshmagra, Rudaw satellite channel interviewed a civilian who had survived ISIS’s attack. The interviewee

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•

•

•

•

• •

described the humanistic attitudes of ISIS and its leader towards the civilian to an extent that they performed group prayer together.

Kurdistan TV’s journalist and cameraman’s photo gets exposed in a way that indicates that he has gone beyond journalizing and has been holding a gun pretending to be a Peshmarga fighter.

In accordance with a report, Gali Kurdistan TV channel with a relatively big font size wrote on the screen, quoting a “A female Peshmarga fighter’’ saying ‘‘ISIS fighters are defending so hard.”

After he is released from prison, NRT channel arranges an interview with Mala Krekar, former leader of Ansari al-Islam. What was weird in the interview was that very few serious and direct questions could be asked after Mala Krekar’s responses. He used NRT’s screen for his personal advantage and his radical religious ideology. He was very careful in gaining control of the TV program and having it serve his purpose. For instance, when discussing “hard headedly in his religion,” or when says,“If I had authority and power, I would have used a cutter to cut him in the neck.” However, neither the interviewer nor the channel could resist Mala Krekar from publishing his ideology taking advantage of their screen.

The night when ISIS took over Makhmur was mainly due to the fact that people from Erbil got discouraged, publishing terrifying breaking news on people evacuating the city, posts from social media and articles on the internet here and there, and comments from terrified people.

It was shown on Rudaw channel how Peshmarga forces in the south of Kurdistan were going to Kobane city in the east of Kurdistan using detailed maps and graphs.

During this time, especially from satellite channels and social media, we were exposed to top secret military intelligence, videotapes and photographs from Peshmarga forces at frontlines. Furthermore, the types of guns Peshmarga forces were using, the numbers of Peshmarga fighters, names and numbers of military units, the name of the general, the places where Peshmarga forces settled, the arrangements of the central commanding unit, the timing of launching attack, directions of the attack and objectives of the attack and more were televised to the public.

Results After presenting a number of topics regarding the subject, after that mentioning the irresponsibility through giving some instances and reasons, the results of the study are to be presented: 98

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1. Not taking into account the etiquette responsibility and lack of a particular media coverage for war, journalists, and media specialists who are all facilitators in increasing the rate of crime and terror.

2. Being affected by the impacts of war and propagandas of violence. In other words, advertising for the movement, and discouraging Peshmarga fighter and civilians.

3. Creating an image in the subconscious minds of individuals.

4. Involving misunderstanding terminology, causing imbalance, publishing biased and fake content.

Suggestions

Taking into account the indications and reasons of ignoring Kurdish media etiquette responsibility during the terrifying circumstances of ISIS, we the paper come to a conclusion, lead by the findings of this research paper, that it is worth offering some suggestions for the Kurdish media, parliament, the government, Peshmarga commanders, and to whomever it may concern to: 1. Urgent work is needed on developing professional journalism etiquette fundamentals and a national responsible media, establishing special military media and journals.

2. There is need for a board of journalism and establishing a journalistic terms of agreement which is accepted by at least the majority of media and journalistic agents.

References Achbar, Mark and Peter Wintonick. 1992. Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media. November 6. Retrieved from IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104810/.

Anup, S. 2015. War on Terror Mainstream Media and Propaganda. Retrieved from global issues: http://www.globalissues.org/article/352/mainstream-media-and-propaganda#Mainst reamMediaNotQuestioningLeadersEmotionalAppealsandClaims.

Brunst, P. 2015. At the Max Planck Institute for Foreign and International Criminal Law. Retrieved from mpicc: http://www.mpicc.de.

Cambridge. 2015. Translation of “terrorism” - English-Arabic dictionary. Retrieved from Cambridge dictionary: http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english-arabic/ terrorism.

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Carlson, D. 2014. Violence in the media fueling ISIS. Retrieved from LC Procy: http:// lcproxy.shu.ac.uk/login?url=http://search.proquest.com.lcproxy.shu.ac.uk/ docview/1609199477?accountid=13827.

Karen, B. 2005. Media and Violence: Gendering the Debates. London: SAGE Publications.

Kfir, I. 2015. “Social Identity Group and Human Security: The Case of Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).” Journal of Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, 38.

Macluhan, M. 1978. Tempo. (w. t. newspaper, Interviewer), February 19, 1978.

Masters, Z. L. 2015. Islamic state in Iraq and Greater Syria. Retrieved from C.F.R.: http://www. cfr.org/iraq/islamic-state/p14811.

Murad, H. R. 2014 - 2013. Media etiquette and laws. Slemani: Sulaimani University.

Murad, H. R. 2013. Etiquette and law in Kurdish Media. Slemani: Sardam Organization.

Philip, P., & Lee, W. 2008. Media Ethics: Issues and Cases. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Pippa, M. 2003. Montague Kern and Marion Just, Framing Terrorism: The news media, the government and the Public. NewYork & London: Routledge.

Programme, E. c.-S. 2008. Terrorism and the Media. Netherlands, Transitional Terrorism, Security & the rule of Law, 1 - 13.

Sadaqa, d. g. 1999. Media ethics between theories and practices. Beirut, Maharat institute.

Tracy, P. J. 2014. ISIS is America’s New Terror Brand: Endless Propaganda Fuels “War on Terror”. Retrieved from global research: http://www.globalresearch.ca/ isis-is-americas-new-terror-brand-endless-propaganda-fuels-war-on-terror/5398675.

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RESEARCH ASSOCIATION for INTERDISCIPLINARY OCTOBER 2017 STUDIES

Project Sharing: Public Communication and Education as a Tool for Citizenship Guarantee Tatyane Ferreira

Scientific Researcher IESB University Center, Brasília, Brazil tatymferreira@hotmail.com

Alzimar Ramalho

PhD Prof. IESB University Center, Brasília, Brazil alzimar.ramalho@gmail.com

Márcia Marques

PhD Prof. University of Brasília, Brasília, Brazil professoramarcia@gmail.com ABSTRACT: The article presented the experiences and results of the pedagogical model developed in the project “Partilhar: Comunicação, Informação e Computação para compartilhamento da cidadania”, translated as Sharing: Communication, Information and Computing to share citizenship. The research involved four institutions: the University of Brasilia (UnB), the IESB University Center, the João Mangabeira Foundation (FJM) and the Paranoá Culture and Development Center (Cedep), all located in Brasília, capital of Brazil. The cross-cutting theme was Public Transparency - forms of monitoring, use and application of public resources. In the first stage, pedagogical materials were produced and test-workshops were applied focusing on the training of Communication and Information competences in social networks using mobile technologies. The second part consisted on the application of the workshop plan and evaluation of its results and was not yet finalized.

The objective was to inform people to use social media in a network from a citizen perspective, guiding participants to learn how they can autonomously acquire the skills and abilities necessary for the practical appropriation of the mechanisms 101

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provided by the Brazilian Transparency Law. This “teaching to learn” also proposed that learners become multipliers of knowledge, always shareable and permanently elaborated/reworked by the collective. It was based on the premise that the main obstacles to inclusion need to be overcome in an articulated way: information poverty, digital exclusion, censorship, the political use of technology, misinformation, manipulation of the media and destruction of public information.

KEY WORDS: Communication, Information and Computing (CIC), educommunication, citizenship, pedagogical model, university extension.

1. Introduction This report presents the actions carried out under the “Partilhar: Comunicação, Informação e Computação para compartilhamento da cidadania” project, translated as Sharing: Communication, Information and Computing to citizenship sharing. The initiative consists of a survey conducted collaboratively between four institutions: the University of Brasília (UnB), IESB University Center, João Mangabeira Foundation (FJM) and Culture and Development Center of Paranoá (Cedep).

Within the University of Brasília (public teaching institution), which heads the initiative, the proposal is registered as an extension project of the Communication Department. At the IESB University Center (private teaching institution), the project is developed within the scientific initiation program. The João Mangabeira Foundation acts as a partner, assisting in the preparation and financing the developed products, and the Culture and Development Center of Paranoá (Cedep) is where the educational model is being tested. All the processes are being developed in the city of Brasilia, capital of Brazil, and in the Administrative Region of Paranoá, which composes the Federal District.

The objective is to develop and test an interdisciplinary model in territorial social networks for the formation of competences in Communication, Information and Computing. This knowledge is contextualized by the transversal theme Public Transparency (access, use and dissemination of information on public policies and ways of monitoring and applying public resources). In this sense, participants are taught, in an autonomous way, to acquire the skills and abilities necessary for the practical appropriation of the Brazilian Transparency Law (Complementary Law No. 131/09, authored by Senator João Capiberibe).

The premise of the “learning to learn networking” (Marques and Ramalho 2017) states that the community becomes a multiplier of knowledge that is permanently open to sharing and restructuring by the collective, in-person or virtually. The research is 102

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based on the precept that one must articulate in order to overcome the main obstacles to inclusion: the information poverty, digital exclusion, censorship, political use of technology, misinformation, manipulation of the media and destruction of information public (López and Samek 2011).

Teachers and academics from the two educational institutions have teamed up with professionals from the areas of design, audiovisual and journalism to develop the pedagogical materials for the Sharing workshops. From the collective effort, the group developed the Eye on Transparency Collection (De Olho na Transparência in portuguese), which contains a teaching manual and two practical guides - one on public transparency and another on communication and network information. The material was produced for print and digital media, with funding from the João Mangabeira Foundation, and also featured video production and a curatorial site. As the project starts from the precept of open science, all the content produced is public and has open access, which allows all kinds of use, as long as the right to authorship is maintained.

The Cedep is an non-governmental organization managed by the community for 30 years, focusing on educational and social mobilization. The institution acts as a test group for the methodology, which will be replicated in Aracaju, in the HispanoBrazilian Seminar on Competence in Information. The project has already been presented in lectures at public and private universities in Amapá, as well as in other Brazilian states. There is also a seminar planned with councilors and deputies from the PSB (Brazilian political party), in exchange for the partnership in the production of teaching material by the João Mangabeira Foundation.

As a territorial test network, Cedep received two workshops in 2016 and 2017, focused on instrumental training in audiovisual language (9 hours) and violence against women (3 hours), both focusing on public policies, human rights and communication.

The second stage occurred in the second half of 2017 to test the 20-hour classroom model proposed in the pedagogical manual, adding the necessary knowledge to the use of the Transparency Law making use of digital media as tools for monitoring and surveillance in search of effectiveness in the application of the public resources in the community where they are inserted.

2. Theoretical Grounding The project used as base the interdisciplinary model developed in the doctoral thesis

by Márcia Marques (co-author of this paper), consisting of a communication and information action plan on networked digital and territorial environments (Marques 103

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2015). The objective is to establish the connection between Communication, Information and Computing (CIC) to enable the development of knowledge and skills for the use of information and for communication in networks in digital environments.

The model is a guide for the diagnosis and planning of actions: for the collective construction of negotiated communication relations between the participants of the network; for the creation of digital environments that propitiate learning spaces for the confrontation of information and communication; so that specialists in public communication promote the transparency of information, as provided in the Constitution and the Law on Access to Information in Brazil. A network is made up of people, whether they are digital environment or not, is made of relationships, of communication (Marques 2015).

A learning network (such as a study group, for example), needs to find links that allow it to connect researchers, funders and supporters to mobilize themselves for the construction of a knowledge that is articulated between, beyond and across disciplines (Nicolescu and Morin and Lima de Freitas 1994), enriched by the various approaches, angles, new information, financial resources, contributions etc.

In addition to the role of communication in modern information technology, it must be realized that technologies within the field of computing not only comprise hardware and software, but also the reasoning, symbols, and codes that make the devices “intelligent” and guide the relationships between machines and people, people and people, machines and machines, etc.

The model does not only include the empowerment of citizens in the use of technology, but above all the continuous training aimed at multiplying information in new groups - new configurations of networks - in search of digital citizenship, linked to human rights and citizenship for the information society (Cuevas-Cervero 2013).

To achieve this cyber-citizenship is necessary to mix the teaching, enabling individuals to gain the skills they need to enjoy the right guaranteed in Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948: “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.”

The reasoning of Paulo Freire (1999) is aligned to the proposed literacy of this project, since it is considered that each person is able to gain the intellectual tools necessary to relate to and reinvent the culture in which lives in, critically and liberating, always focusing on the autonomy of those who learn and on constant dialogue, because knowledge is not static, but complex and socially constructed, in a continuous and 104

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irregular process. This idea of autonomy rescues the self-taught imaginary, seeking to develop processes for which individual to learn to learn - get self-learning skills for the rest of life -, search, select, develop and disseminate the necessary and useful information; can professionally qualify for the use of new technologies; aware of the economic, ideological, political and cultural implications of technology in our society.

3. Methodology Using as reference the communication and information action model in network in digital environments (Marques 2015), the survey counted on the participation of the Paranoá members, especially Cedep, and researchers from the project since the conception until the definition of the communication and information action plan for the network. The training, focused on learning to learn, used mobile devices and the Internet to understand the search, access, use and propagation of information, making use of the perspective of transdisciplinary work between the areas of Information Science, of Computing and Communication.

In order to plan actions for complex networks, focusing on the formation of citizenship, it was used a model that merges methodologies. Simeão and Miranda (2013), consider meta-methodology a tool for the complexity and the confirmation that the scientific method cannot serve a single particular area. This type of methodology is mainly presented in the approach phase of the problem and in the hypothesis and testing phase, as it was done in the Paranoá network.

Although Public Transparency has been used as the theme of the test event, the proposed model can be replicated with any subject. All people interested can adapt the project based on the theme and place of interest, since it respects the culture and reality of each group, as well as their demands. The pedagogical construction process must be done in a collective way taking into consideration which platform is best adapted to the public and the content that will be worked on.

The methodology was applied in an administrative region of the Brazilian federal capital, and because it is a vulnerable place with a low-income population, there was great concern in making the initiatives be developed with the participant’s equipment such as personal cell phones. This logistics makes the proposed model easily replicable and may be appropriate, with due credit for authorship, to any institution or civil organization that wishes to develop it, as it follows the precepts of open science.

To prepare the planning of the classes that composes the pedagogical model, two workshops were held-test for evaluation in the community, and one internal, only with 105

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the scholars of the project. From the results of each of the experiments, a teaching plan with a duration of 20 hours was drawn up, distributed among four weekly meetings, held on Saturdays, with variable hours according to the theme that will be worked out at each meeting.

3.1. Step 1- Planning, production and testing

The work plan and the development of the workshops were carried out between August 2016 and April 2017, aiming to test the model in different situations, for the evaluation of the researchers. The month of August was used for the structuring of the project and the definition of the team. In September, the employees started the approximation with the community of Cedep and began to develop the theoretical literature that would accompany the project in the field of public policies and Transparency Law. The first workshop was held in December 2016 by the Professor Alzimar Ramalho, with the theme “Audiovisual Language”. This initial contact lasted nine hours, divided into three Saturdays. In February 2017, the photographer Sérgio Amaral (Esso Journalism Award in 2002), with the support from the teacher Alzimar Ramalho, gave the second workshop focused on the project grantees. Working on the theme “Photography and Reading Images”, the meeting lasted three hours. At the time, the scholars did a test of adequacy of the content and the time of workshop and audiovisual recording techniques, with two cameras, so that also the full contents of the lectures may be available in the virtual environment.

In the following month, the third workshop composed the Women’s Week programming in Cedep with a debate on violence against women in general and community level, lasting 3 hours. The guest was the teacher Kátia Belisário, professor of Organizational Communication at UnB and researcher of gender issues.

From December 2016 to July 2017, the group prepared the support material for the project: a site with content curation linked to public policies and the Transparency Law, the Eye Collection in Transparency (composed of a pedagogical manual and two guides - one on public transparency and another on network communication and information) to train multipliers and explanatory videos for complex content such as “Budget Cycle” and “Active and Passive Transparency”. The material is available at http://www.fjmangabeira.org.br/deolhonatransparencia.

The team had the participation of the PhD professors Márcia Marques (UNB) and Alzimar Ramalho (IESB University Center), Patrícia Cunegundes (Master’s degree in communication), Joyce Del Frari Coutinho and Ana Elizabeth Gomes (journalists 106

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working in public communication, being the last one the organizer of the book on public transparency). Also participated Tatyane Ferreira (journalist and scientific researcher in journalism at IESB), Carolina Cruz (journalist), Gabriel Oliveira (journalism student at the Paulista University - UNIP), Mário Benisti (recently graduated in journalism at IESB) and Francisco Morais (high school student in youth and adult education modality taught by Cedep). Francisco was invited to join the group due the interest and proactivity shown in the activities proposed in the audiovisual workshop.

The pedagogical manual provides a model of workshop planning, using as base the workshops-tests and their results, designed to be executed in four weekly meetings.

The meetings will have a maximum of 20 participants, totaling 20 classroom hours.

Within our test phase, with application in September-October, the programming was described as shown bellow.

• Meeting I - Opening: Learning to learn in a network, a proposal for citizen autonomy; presentation of the Sharing project team (UnB-IESB) and workshop objectives and planning. Presentation of participants, group work skills, course expectations and preliminary results of the completed questionnaire at the time of enrollment so that the network is recognized and established. Presentation of the cross-cutting theme: Transparency Law (LC 131/2009) and Law on Access to Information (LAI / 2011) and social monitoring of public policies.

Practical application: WhatsApp or Telegram group creation, set in accordance, with minimum rules of coexistence. During the week, students / multipliers will work on the theme Transparency: registering in photos and videos things related to some aspect of transparency and public policies in the places where they live, work or study - in this example, public equipment, such as schools, parks, health clinics, safety equipment, public defender etc; and seeking information about public works or services, in transparency portals or in person. The material should be taken to meeting II with the purpose of provoking reflections on concepts and techniques of audiovisual language, very important when it comes to communication in networks.

• Meeting II - Workshop on photographic and audiovisual language, based on the analysis of the images elaborated by the participants. Evaluation of the information obtained during the week of transparency portals and public agencies and also the step-by-step to expand the research through transparency portals. Activity for the following week: deepen the research of images, audiovisual materials and information in transparency portals and other networks.

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• Meeting III - Network communication: learning to learn collectively and collaboratively in a network, for the culture of information. The importance of personal relationships in physical and digital environments. Practical application in the use of applications for smartphone and communication networks. Supply networks by sharing information with content researched / produced in previous steps. Activity for the week: Finish the curator of an image bank photo and video with information already available under Creative Commons and raise contents to guide people in the use of portals of transparency and Access to Information Act. • Meeting IV - The place of students’ speech, the Cedep multipliers network.

Reflection on what has been accomplished and the prospects of multiplying the experience. Presentation of results and actions arising from the research on transparency and public policies in Paranoá. Closing lecture and distribution of certificates. Collective snack closing, with musical activity.

3.2. Step 2- Planned activities

Initially, the test-workshops was scheduled to be finished by July 2017, but due to administrative issues with Cedep, workshops could only be scheduled for September / October. The expectation is that in November the results analysis will be ready. Before the end of the process, new explanatory videos will also be produced.

During the workshop, a research form will be applied to support the planning of communication and information actions. The questionnaire was based on the doctoral thesis of professor Márcia Marques, and is an adaptation of the model that appears in the Pedagogical Manual. As mentioned previously, the methodology will also be replicated in Aracaju, at the Hispano-Brazilian Seminar on Information Competence, and presented at lectures at universities in other Brazilian states.

4. Conclusions The complete model, with an emphasis on cross-cutting theme “Public Transparency”, considers the CIC tripod, the Communication being present in modules on audiovisual language and social networks; the Information is contemplated in the module of research of data in transparency portals; and Computation, in this context, collaborates in the digital literacy stage for the use of transparency portals, applications for mobile devices and the interpersonal communication itself in the digital environment, 108

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considering the appropriateness of purposes. The organization of participants in virtual networks, in our understanding, is a fundamental condition for the success of territorial networks (in person).

The project can be adapted to other realities, since all decisions start from the premise of respect for the collective knowledge of each community, as well as their needs.

Only from this is it possible to jointly decide on the digital and communicational mechanisms that can serve as channels for effecting social control over the use of public resources in policies such as Health, Education, Mobility or any others that are of direct interest to the participants.

References Cuevas-Cerveró, Aurora, and Márcia Marques and Pablo Boaventura. 2014. “A alfabetização que necessitamos: informação e comunicação para a cidadania” [The literacy we need: information and communication for citizenship]. Inf. & Sociedade, v. 24, n. 2, may/ago 2014, 35-48.

Freire, Paulo. 1999. Pedagogia da autonomia: saberes necessários à prática educativa [Pedagogy of autonomy: necessary knowledge for educational practice]. São Paulo: Paz e Terra. First published 1996.

López, P. L., and T. Samek. 2011. “Inclusão Digital: um novo direito humano” [Digital Inclusion: A New Human Right]. In Alfabetização informacional e inclusão digital: modelo de infoinclusão social [Information literacy and digital inclusion: social info inclusion model], edited by Aurora Cuevas-Cerveró and Elmira Simeão, 21-37. Brasília: Thesaurus editora.

Marques, Márcia. 2015. “Modelo de ação comunicativa e de informação para redes sociais em ambientes digitais” [Communicative and information action model for social networks in digital environments]. PhD diss., University of Brasília.

Marques, Márcia, and Ramalho, Alzimar. 2017. Aprender a aprender em rede: manual pedagógico [Learning to learn in a network: pedagogical manual]. Brasília: Editora FJM. Miranda A. and E. Simeão. 2014. “Da Comunicação Extensiva ao hibridismo da Animaverbivocovisualidade (AV3)” [From the Extensive Communication to the Hybridism of Anima Verbivocovisuality (AV3)]. Inf. & Sociedade, v. 24, n. 3, sep/dec 2014, 49-62.

Nicolescu, B., E. Morin and Lima de Freitas. 1994. “Carta da Transdisciplinaridade” [Letter of Transdisciplinarity]. Accessed Set 12, 2017. http://caosmose.net/candido/unisinos/ textos/textos/carta.pdf.

Unesco. 1948. “Universal Declaration of Humans Rights.” Accessed Set 12, 2017. http://www. un.org/en/udhrbook/pdf/udhr_booklet_en_web.pdf.

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RESEARCH ASSOCIATION for INTERDISCIPLINARY OCTOBER 2017 STUDIES

Code-Switching and Mixing in Communication −A Study on Language Contact in Indian Media Chetia Barnali

PhD, Assistant Professor Indian Institute of Information Technolgy, Vadodara, India bchetia03@gmail.com ABSTRACT: In India, language is the key instrument by which we assimilate the culture. And it is a major means of identifying a set of people, nation or country.

Hinglish, a portmanteau of “Hindi” and “English”, is a hybrid of English and South Asian languages. It is a code-switching and mixing variety of these languages whereby they are freely interchanged within a sentence or between sentences. In a multilingual country like India code-mixing and switching has become a norm rather than a deviation. It is also noticed that linguists use the term code-mixing and switching interchangeably, especially in case of formal studies on syntax and morphology. Language contact is considered to be an important phenomenon, especially in a multilingual society like India. While the name is based on the Hindi language, it does not refer exclusively to Hindi, but is used in India, with English words blending with Punjabi, Urdu and Hindi. With the advent of modern technology, and the availability of popular media in finger tips, from a toddler to a nonagenerian, the very concept of language, culture and communication has undergone a huge change. Hinglish and code-mixing and switching has crept its way into advertisements, TV shows, and Bollywood movies as well as the corridors of corporate and political power in India. This paper is an empirical study of code mixed and switched utterances in the form of songs, ad taglines and jingles in Indian media which came into existence as a by product of modern technology and changed the definition of communication in Indian media. And this paper further discusses the scope of Hinglish as the lingua franca for not only the upper-class urban Indians, but also semi-urban and rural centers of the Hindi-speaking states of India 110

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where modern technology in the form of television, radio, mobile phones, internet (social networking sites) etc. has become an indispensable part of their life.

KEY WORDS: Code-mixing/switching, Technology, Hinglish, Communication, Language Contact, Media “A crucial factor in language change is adults abbreviating the machinery of a language, along a gradient of degree according to typological distance between native language(s) and acquired language, demographic proportion of learners to native speakers, and the extent to which the native version of the acquired language remains available in the genesis context over time.”

McWhorter (2005:265) Language is a social phenomenon. It is through language that day-to-day interactions and interpersonal relations are possible. Language shapes the society and culture.

Crystal (1985, 262) observes that of all the means of communication, language is the most frequently used and developed. Languages have always been influencing each other in certain ways. Normally, this interaction is reflected in language convergence, borrowing and replacement. It may also lead to the emergence of hybrid languages, such as pidgins, creoles, and other mixed languages. In Sociolinguistics, this branch of study is called language contact. Language contact is considered to be an important phenomenon, especially in a multilingual society. Many scholars have discussed sociolinguistics and have come up with several definitions based on their individual perspectives. Hudson (2001, 4) defines sociolinguistics as the study of language in relation to the society. It is the study of language as it affects and is being affected by social relations; it is also the study of language and linguistic behaviour as influenced by social and cultural factors. Fishman (1972, 9) defines sociolinguistics as the study of the characteristics of language varieties, the characteristics of their functions, and the characteristics of their speakers as these three constantly interact, change and change one another within a speech community.

Multilingualism has always been common in the human history. In today’s world of globalization, most of the people are multilingual, and not by volition but by force.

Therefore, studying the aspects of language contact and its influence is a significant matter. This paper is an attempt to assess the possible outcome of such influence in the Indian media.

Code-mixing and Code-switching Fishman (1980, 255) explains the domains of linguistic choice as the “classes of situations” suggesting that for each situation there is a variety that is preferred 111

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which can be observed directly through occurrences of code-switching. In bilingual communities code-mixing and code-switching are widespread phenomena where speakers use their native tongue (L1) and their second language (L2) in different domains. The term ‘code-switching’ refers to the alternate use of two or more languages in an extended stretch of discourse, where the switch takes place at sentence or clause boundaries. However, the term code-mixing refers to the mixing of two or more languages or language varieties in speech. A code may be a language or a variety or style of a language; the term code-mixing emphasizes hybridization, and the term code-switching emphasizes movement from one language to another. It is noticed that in the formal studies of syntax and morphology, linguists use the term code-mixing and switching interchangeably.

Several scholars have attempted to define code-switching and code-mixing. Poplack (1980, 586) opines that code-switches will tend to occur at points in discourse where juxtaposition of L1 and L2 elements does not violate a syntactic rule of either language, i.e., at points around which the surface structures of the two languages map onto each other. According to this simple constraint, a switch is inhibited from occurring within a constituent generated by a rule from one language which is not shared by the other.

Code-mixing is also called intra-sentential code switching or intra-sentential codealteration and this happens when speakers use two or more languages below clause level within one social situation. Patterns of code-switching are found to be different from one another because of several distinct processes such as ‘insertion’, ‘alteration’ and ‘congruent lexicalization’. These three processes correspond to dominant models, and approaches (Muysken 2000, 3).

Maschler (1998: 125) defines code-mixing or a mixed code as “using two languages such that a third, new code emerges, in which elements from the two languages are incorporated into a structurally definable pattern.” In other words, the code-mixing hypothesis states that when two code-switched languages constitute the appearance of a third code it has structural characteristics special to that new code.

In a multilingual country like India code-mixing and -switching has become a norm rather than a deviation. Hinglish, a portmanteau of “Hindi” and “English”, is a hybrid of English and South Asian languages. It is a code-switching variety of these languages whereby they are freely interchanged within a sentence or between sentences. While the name is based on the Hindi language, it does not refer exclusively to Hindi, but is used in India, with English words blending with Punjabi, and Hindi. Hinglish has become the lingua franca for most upper-class Indians, especially the youth. Although this is more commonly seen in urban and semi-urban centers of the Hindi-speaking 112

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states of India, it is now slowly spreading into rural and remote areas of all the states via television, radio, mobile phones, internet (social networking sites) and word of mouth thereby achieving vernacular status gradually. Radio jockeys and TV anchors deliberately mix English words with stream of Hindi sentence to sound more chique and funky. There are certain words that cannot be replaced with any regional language. Certain words like train, TV, computer, mobile, and so on, do not have similar words in any other Indian language. And even if they exist they are not used in day-to-day language.

In 2016, after a span of almost five years, Airtel India has brought back their most popular humming tune ‘Har Ek Friend Zaroori Hota Hain’ to promote its latest product features like free international calls while roaming abroad, Airtel-to-Airtel free calls and data packs. This campaign was first released in 2011 and it was the agency’s first piece of communication made for the brand. The jingle instantly connected with the youth, which was also the target of the brand. This ad by Airtel is the best example of how to deliver needs of communication, react on them and engage to Gen next. The beauty of the jingle is in the integration of simplicity and code mixed punch phrases.

Chai ke liye jaise toashota hai / Vaise har ek friend zaroori hota hai Aise har ek friend zarori hota hai / Koi subah paanch baje neend se jagaye Koi raat ko teen baje jaan bachaye / Ek teri kadki mein sharing kare Aur tere budget mein sneak in kare / Koi nature se guest koi host hota hai Par har ek friend zaroori hota hai /Ek ghadi ghadi kaam aaye par kabhi kabhi call kare / Ek kabhi kabhi kaam aaye aur ghadi ghadi call kare Gossip ka koi ghoomta phirta satellite / Koi sath rahe toh kar de sab alright Koi effortless koi forced hota hai / Lekin har ek friend zaroori hota hai Chatroom friend koi classroom friend / Koi bike pe race wala vroom vroomfriend Shopping mall wala shopping friend / Exam hall wala copying friend / Movie buddy groovie buddy / Hi buddy…. bye buddy / Joke buddy poke buddy / Gaana buddy shaana buddy / Chaddi buddy yaar buddy Kutte …… kamine / Everybody… sab buddy / A to Z Gin din ke naam bheja roast hota hai / Par har ek friend zaroori hota hai Lekin har ek friend zaroori hota hai / Guys guys principal.. principal.. principal.. la la la… la la….. / Har Friend Zaroori hai, yaar!

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There are ad jingles that are perfect examples of code-switching/ mixing. One of the earliest in this genre was the milk promotion advertisement done by FCB Ulka for NDDB. This jingle still run as one of the all time favourites in the Indian ad world.

Piyo glass full doodh, dhoodh hai wonderful / Pee sakte hai roj glass full Garmi me dalo doodh me ice / Doodh bangaya very nice Piyo daily once or twice / Mil jayega tasty surprise / Doodh doodh (5 times) Piyo glassfull doodh / Doodh hai mast in every season Piyo doodh for healthy reason / Rahoge phir fit and fine Jiyoge past charo aur mach gaya shor / Give me more / Doodh doodh Piyo glassfull doodh / Moooo

Another such jingle is by the telecom service provider Idea. The catchy jingle as stated below, shows various people, locations and situations from all across the country and depicts how Idea customers benefit from its pan-India network. The advertisement shows Indians from around the country, with varied cultural backgrounds, connecting as one big happy family humming one happy song – “Honey Bunny”. Though, there appears to be no effort in espousing any deep message in the advertisement it is nevertheless happy, catchy and appears to influence and persuade the target audience by sheer use of endearing and funny code mixing patterns.

You’re my pumpkin, pumpkin, hello honey bunny / I’m your dumpklin, dumpklin, hello honey bunny / Feeling something something, hello honey bunny, honey bunny / Toko . . . toko . . .

You’re my pumpkin, pumpkin, hello honey bunny / I’m your dumpklin, dumpklin, hello honey bunny / Feeling something something, hello honey bunny, honey bunny / Toko . . .toko . . .

How many times lady love had given me missed calls / What to tell you lazy luck no battery at all / Idhar udhar heart pouchhing like a ping pong ball ballballballballball / Tringtringtringtringtringtring . . . hello honey bunny / Feeling someting something, hello honey bunny / You’re my pumpkin, pumpkin, hello honey bunny, honey bunny / Toko . . . toko . . . / La . . . La . . .

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You’ve been such a stupid fellow that is what I thought / Making people fall in love no other work or what / Got to know him better when you enter the plot plotplotplotplotplot / Thanks to his idea, you’re my honey bunny I’m your pumpkin piya, you’re my honey bunny / Bole – tringtringjiya, you’re my honey bunny, honey bunny / Toko . . .toko . . .

I’m your pumpkin, pumpkin, hello honey bunny / I’m your dumplin, dumplin, hello honey bunny / Feeling something something, hello honey bunny. honey bunny Toko . . . toko . . .

Tringtringtringtringtringtring hello honey bunny / Feeling something something, hello honey bunny, honey bunny / You’re my pumpkin, pumpkin, hello honey bunny, honey bunny / Toko . . . toko . . .

Yet another ad jingle, which is a perfect example of code-switching/mixing, is the Coca-Cola advertisement jingle. It goes with the tagline Believe in a better tomorrow.

The ad has been designed to encourage people to not only recognize that there are reasons to believe in a better world, but to seek these reasons out, talk about them and even create them! The campaign focused on inspiring optimism and encouraging positive action. A song sung by a choir of young people singing actually makes one believe that there are many reasons to believe in a better tomorrow.

Ummeedon Waali Dhoop / Sunshine Waali Aasha Rone Ki Wajah Kamm Hai Hansne Ke Bahane Jyada Zidd Hai Muskurayenge / Khush Rehne Ka Hai Waada Umeed Wali Dhoop / Sunshine Waali Asha Tum dil se agar puchhoge / Woh khush rehna hi chahe Jab sache mann se maango / Toh khul jaati hai raahein Toh khul ke khusi lutaao Ye kya aadha-aadha Umeedon wali dhoop, Sunshine Wali asha Umeedon wali dhoop, Sunshine Wali asha

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Code mixing as seen in Advertisement taglines

PRODUCT

TAGLINES

Coca-Cola Pepsi Vicco

Thanda matlab Coca-Cola Yehi hain right choice baby Vicco turmeric nahi cosmetic Vicco turmeric ayurvedic cream Ekdum solid cooling ThandaThanda Cool Cool Ab aapki duniya open Live Life kuch zyada Andar se de spotless aura sirf so dino mein Naya Dove whitening deodorant Taste bhi, Health bhi Isko laga dala toh life zingalala Bujhaye pyaas, baki all bakwas!

Mood ko do Lemon ka lift Think Hatke Holi hamper Jeetne ka funda Ghar pe rakho Mirinda Refreshing Nimboo paani With asli lemon juice Clear hain! & Seedhi baat. No bakwaas Hungry kya?

Pal banaye magical Hum mein hain hero Kya aap Close-Up karte hain?

Look Ma, no cavities!

Life ho to aisi Dilka confidence chehre par Massore swast aur taste mein mast Ek rupiye mein full masti Kabhi bhi rasna kabhi bhi energy Ish T20 late working ka shubharambh Kuch meetha ho jaye

Bajaj Coolers HimaniNavratna Talc Tata Docomo SugarfreeNatura Ponds beauty magic Dove Maggi Noodles Tata Sky Sprite 7 up Virgin Mobile Mirinda Nimbooz Sprite Domino’s Pizza Lays Hero Moto corp Close-Up Crest Coke Lacto Calamine Colgate active salt Airtel Internet Rasna (fruit plus) Cadbury’s

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Domino’s pizza mania Pepsi Tata Docomo Coca Cola Dettol soap Colgate sensitive tooth brush Fogg deodorant Idea Bisleri 500 Cadbury’s gems Kurkure Blue

Yeh hain rishtonka time Oh yes abhi Network Harjagah, hamesha Khusiyan lutaon crazy kehlaon Ab bane har morning Goodmorning Dentist ka no.1 choice Bina gas wala fogg What an idea sirjee!

Pehle apni kharido Phir kiss karo Raho umarless Chai time Masti bole toh Kurkure At your best / Hamesha!

The first application of Hinglish in the form of code mixed and switched utterances was witnessed in the India under British, in the words of Ayodhya Prasad Khatri (1857-1905), a prominent Hindi poet. He wrote: Rent Law ka gham karen ya Bill of Income Tax ka?

Kya karen apan nahiin hai sense right now-a-days.

Darkness chhaaya hua hai Hind men chaaro taraf Naam ki bhi hai nahiin baaqi na light now-a-days.

Again, in Bollywood, Gulal (2009) was this blend of macro politics with student politics, where an apolitical new student, is involuntarily sucked into the vortex of blood, hate and violence. Piyush Mishra, as the fan of John Lennon, voice-of-conscience Rajput gifted the viewers with powerful lyrics and music that carried the narrative forward, even as they render a forceful critique of the state of the nation. The lyrics of the song ‘Ranaji’ come across as a classic case of code-mixing.

Haay raanaji mhaare gusse mein aaye, aiso balkhaaye Agiya barsaaye, ghabraaye mhaaro chain jaise dur des ke tower mein ghus jaaye re airoplane Haay raanaji mhaare gusse mein aaye, aiso balkhaaye Agiya barsaaye, ghabraaye mhaaro chain Jaise dur des ke tower mein ghus jaaye re airoplane Raanaji mhaare aiso gurraye, aiso tharraye 117

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Bhar aaye mhaaro nain / Jaise sare aam bhai Jaise sare aam iraak mein jaake jam gaye ancle sam Raanaji mhaare........

Sajani ko dear bole, tharre ko beer bole Maange hai englis boli, maange hai englis choli Maange hai englis jaipuri, englis bikaaner Jaise biseleri ki botal pike ban gaye englis man Jaise biseleri ki botal pike ban gaye englis man Raanaji mhaare........

Raanaji mhaare sautan ko ghar le aaye Puchhe toh bole friend hamaari hai haay Raanaji ne thanda chakku yuun khola Bole ke haaye thanda maane coka cola Raanaji bole goro ki basti mein hai shor raani Haay haay moro ki basti mein chor raani Hoy hoy hoy hoy moro ki basti mein chor raani Kyun ki yeh dil maange more More rani, more rani, more rani, more rani Mhaari toh bich bajariya, haay badnaami ho gayi Mhaari toh laal chunariya saram se dhaani ho gayi Mhaaro toh dhak dhak howe jo jo bite re Jaise har ek baat pe democracy mein lagane laga gaya band Jaise har ek baat pe democracy mein lagane laga gaya band Jaise dur des ke tower mein ghus jaaye re airoplane Jaise sare aam iraak mein jaake jam gaye ancle sam Jaise bina baat afganistaan ka baj gaya bhaiya band Jaise bina baat afganistaan ka baj gaya bhaiya band Jaise dur des ke tower mein ghus jaaye re airoplane ..raanaji mhaare‌

With English Vinglish (2012), female director Gauri Shinde brings her own lifetime of experience into the picture. The image of the newly confident Shashi striding down a Manhattan street, a takeout coffee in hand and a trench coat belted over her sari, makes one smile days after you have left the theater. English Vinglish springs up a sweet musical surprise, a lovable and adorable innocent feeling that not only enlightens up 118

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senses but amuses too with its simplicity and modesty. Tall skyscrapers, slick fashionstores...that’s Manhattan for the viewers! To get a kaleidoscope view of Manhattan for B-town listeners, there’s a situational track titled “Manhattan”, a number that sounds more like a “guide-map” to all luxuries and happenings of this urban city.

Clinton Cerejo’s boyish charms and Bianca Gomes’s quirky vocals exemplify it in all vivacious and boisterous loud singing modes. The striking feature is Bianca’s chirpy singing in listing out all worlds’ top-most fashion brands in her “twittering” voice; overall a cool rendezvous of code-mixing which succeeded in influencing and persuading the viewers.

Aadmi topi doop ki chhaap / Manhattan! manhattan!

Jannat tak hai baap re baap / Manhattan! manhattan!

Amber ko chhoota jahan hai / Chalta firta sapna hai Pal pal chalti hain yeh raahein / Rukti kab kahan hain...

Manhattan! manhattan! [new york] Manhattan! manhattan! [new york, new york, new york] Aadmi topi doop ki chhaap / Manhattan! manhattan!

Jannat tak hai baap re baap / Khushiyon ke naye paimaane Khwaabon ki lagi hain dukaane / Lamha-lamha sadkon par / Achraj se mulakatein T.. t.. t.. t.. to your left is prada / To your right is zara Giorgio armani, thank god it’s friday / Gucci and versace / Jimmy choo, givenchy Diesel, dior, hokey pokey, gap and bloomingdale Louis vuitton.. vuitton.. vui.. vui.. vui.. / Vuitton.. vuitton.. vuitton.. vuitton..

Moschino.. chino.. chino.. k.. k.. k.. k.. / Chino..chino..chino..

Valentino... tino... tino... t.. t.. t.. t.. /Tino... tino... tino... / Dekho..

Khushiyon ki kaana phusi ...

Masti me na kanjoosi / Maze kar Kudrat hui hai meharbaan... baan... baan... baan...

Saara shehar / Ajnabi si khamoshi / Saara shehar Thandi si garm joshi / Har ek nazar Dikhti hai tanha tanha 119

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Hai zuban par sab bezubaan hai / Saare sath to hai par juda hai Sheher ko nazar ka tika to laga do...

New york.. new york.. new york.. new york..

5,6,7,8 avenues / Million billion legs and shoes / Lots of colors, dollars dollars Sense of piddly poo / Breakfast is for all day / Straight and gay they all sway And lexington, and madison, it’s all so oooh!

Frappuccino.. chino.. chino.. chino.. / Mochaccino.. chino.. chino.. chino..

Cappuccino.. chino.. chino.. chino..

Yet another song with code-mixed and switched lyrics is witnessed in Imtiaz Ali’s Tamasha (2015), a story which starts with the protagonists incognito trip to Corsica. A story about more stories on angst, passion and life. The song Heer toh badi sad hai... is composed by A.R Rahman and sung by Mika Singh and Nakash Aziz.

Heer toh badi sad / Aajkal very mad / Heer toh badi sad Aajkal very mad / Na khaati peethi / Rona toh na mushkil Pyar ki lu mein itni jal gayi.. / Lu mein jaana mushkil hain Lu mein jaana mushkil hain / Heer ki haalat Kasam Rab ki, kasam Rab ki / Kasam Rab ki..

Aaj kal very bad hai ji / Heer to badi sad hai ji / Aaj kal very mad hai ji Heer toh badi sad hai ji / Ho ishq hain maachis dil hai diesel Dono tange dooram door / Kaante paante ankh ankh ko Sapne kar ke chooram choor / Haan baji padi band Heer ki Ab iss band pe nache kaun / Huyi bol ti bandh bandh si Kayi din o se hai woh bore / Log kahe ki sanki ho gayi..

Haan ya wo utter mad hai / Heer toh badi sad hai / Heer toh badi sad hai Aaj kal very bad hai ji /Ho mann mridang baje bedhang Udda hai rang bechare ka / Lukk mukk uppar pressure cooker Huaa dimag kunware ka / Haan tel lagaye nai zindagi / So-so ke din kaante woh Waqt ke munh pe gussa kar ke / Maarti rehti chante woh Fikr mein ab toh uska dad hai / Haan mom bhi badi sad hai Heer to very mad hai / Aaj kal very bad hai / She’s still not glad hai Na khaati peethi / Rona toh na mushkil Pyar ki lu mein itni jal gayi / Lu mein jaana mushkil hai Lu mein jaana mushkil hai / Heer ki haalat 120

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Kasam Rab ki, kasam Rab ki / Kasam Rab ki..

Aajkal very bad hai ji / Heer to badi sad hai ji Aajkal very mad hai / Heer to badi sad hai ji

With language change, there is a change in culture too. There are foot-tapping breakup songs in Hinglish for celebrating breakups in Karan Johar’s Ae Dil He Mushkil (2016), sung by Arijit Singh and Badshaah.

Breakup song, breakup song / Karde dil ki feeling strong / Saade chaar minute long Breakup song, breakup song / Break break B B.. Breakup song Break break B B.. Breakup song / Angrezi chidiya ki khaatir / Desi dil mera tod diya Maine chhod diya / Usey chhod diya / Uski kaali kartooton ne Uska bhaanda phod diya / Maine chhod diya / Usey chhod diya Dil pe patthar rakh ke / Munh pe makeup kar liya / Oh dil pe patthar rakh ke Munh pe makeup kar liya / Mere saiyyan ji se aaj / Maine breakup kar liya Mere saiyyan ji se aaj / Maine breakup kar liya / Subah savere uth ke maine Ye sab kar liya / Mere saiyyan ji se aaj / Maine breakup kar liya Humko bin bataye tune / Ye kab kar liya?

Arey humko bin bataye tune / Ye kab kar liya?

Oh tere saiyyan ji se kaahe / Tune break up kar liya / Tere saiyyan ji se kaahe Tune breakup kar liya / Subah savere uth ke maine / Ye sab kar liya Tere saiyyan ji se kaahe / Tune breakup kar liya / B b.. breakup song Kuch din to rona dhona bumper kiya / Aur phir delete uska number kiya Aansu jo sookhe seedha parlour gayi / Parlour mein jaake shampoo jamkar kiya College ki saheliyon se catch-up kar liya / Arey college ki saheliyon se catch-up kar liya Jinko mill na paayi unko whatsapp kar diya / Mere saiyyan ji se aaj maine breakup kar liya / Subah savere uth ke maine ye sab kar liya Mere saiyyan ji se aaj maine breakup kar liya Look, baby! mujhe lagta hai ki Jo bhi tune kiya hai wo very very right hai / Bhoot-kaal ko bhool ja ab tu Aane wala future very very bright hai / Main hoon na baby saath tere Party sharty honi poori night hai / Mind na karna jo thoda zyada bol doon Kyunki banda very very tight hai / Usey phone mila aur gaali de Photo jala ke karde raakh / Saale teri maa ki aankh!

Kalti hua jo saiyan stupid tera / Jeevit hua hai phir se cupid tera Baasi relationship ka label hata / Duniya ko tu hai available bata 121

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Arey mere soye armaano ko wake up kar diya / Arey mere soye armaano ko wake up kar diya / Ke tere saiyan ji se (aaha!)

Tune breakup kar liya Tere saiyyan ji se kaahe tune.. / O tere saiyyan ji se kaahe tune / breakup kar liya Tere saiyyan ji se kaahe tune / breakup kar liya B b.. Breakup song… / Karde dil ki feeling strong…

As evident from the above discussion code mixing and switching in the veil of Hinglish has crept its way into advertisements, TV shows, and Bollywood movies as well as the corridors of corporate and political power in India. Some popular movie titles which used Hinglish are Kill Dil (Kill Heart), Ek Villain (One Villain), Darr @ The Mall (Fear at the Mall), Super Nani (Super Grandma), Tanu Weds Manu (Tanu Weds Manu-no translation required), Jodi Breakers (Couple Breakers), Jab We Met (When We Met).

Over the years, Hinglish has been effectively used in Indian advertising in ad taglines, like Pepsi’s 1998 slogan Yeh Dil Maange More! (This heart demands for more!), Dominos Pizza tagline “Hungry kya” (Are you Hungry?), again the well-known hair oil brand Parachute “Gorgeous, Hamesha” (Always Gorgeous). Even “English-language” newspapers in India pepper their text with words borrowed from Hindi.

And the process is on, this trend is expanding its tentacles to the small towns and villages, resembling the British expansion in India in the eighteenth century. Hinglish has become a common household language and is used extensively, starting from texting to tweeting. These code-mixed and switched utterances have established themselves as the lingua franca for not only the upper-class urban Indians, but also semi-urban and rural centers of the Hindi-speaking states of India where modern technology in the form of television, radio, mobile phones, internet (social networking sites) etc. has become an indispensable part of their life.

It is believed that languages evolve constantly, and any language that doesn’t change according to the demands of time, will not develop. The beauty of a language lies in its ability to adapt. And Hinglish has adapted well to the cross-cultural generalizations and stereotypes of the Indian subcontinent.

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References Chatterjea, Gautham. 2005. Advertising Karma. New Delhi: Rupa and Co. Crystal, David. 1985. Linguistics. England: Penguin Books.

Crystal, David. 2004. “Future is Hinglish, not English.” The Tribune. Saturday, October 16.

Farb, P. 1973. Word Play: What Happens When People Talk. New York: Bantam.

Fishman, J. 1972. Sociolinguistics. Rowley, MA: Newbury House Fromkin.

Hornby, S. 2001. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. Oxford University Press: London. 6th Edition. 667.

Hudson, R. A. 2001. Sociolinguistics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Kazmi, N. 2009. “Gulal”. Times of India. Retrieved 2009-12-02.

Maschler, Y. 1998. “On the transition from code-switching to a mixed code.” In P. Auer (ed.), Code-Switching in Conversation. London: Routledge. 125-149.

McWhorter, John H. 2002. What happened to English? Diachronica 19:217-272.

McWhorter, John H. 2005. Dening creole. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Muysken, P. 2000. Bilingual speech. A typology of code-switching. Oxford: Cambridge University Press.

Poplack, S. 1980. “Sometimes I’ll start a sentence in Spanish y termino en español.” Linguistics 18: 581-618. Poplack, S. 1981. Syntactic structure and social function. In R.P. Duran (ed.), Latino language and communicative behavior. Norwood, N.J.: Ablex. 169-84.

Sahgal, G. 2011. “New actors in English Vinglish”. The Indian Express. Retrieved 1 January 2012. http://www.glamsham.com/music/lyrics/lagaan/o-rey-chhori/99/2563.html http://www.lyricsmaya.com/2016/10/breakup-song-lyrics-adhm.html http://www.lyricsmint.com/2012/08/english-vinglish-title-song-lyrics.html http://www.glamsham.com/music/lyrics/jab-we-met/tum-se-hi-romantic-love-songs-forvalentines-day-2015/681/1276.html http://www.indicine.com/movies/bollywood/ranaji-lyrics-gulaal/ http://www.lyricsted.com/heer-toh-badi-sad-hai-lyrics-tamasha/#ixzz4scy5PjKp http://www.exchange4media.com/advertising/airtel-brings-back-har-ek-friend-zaroorihota-hain- campaign-to-promote-new-product-features_66925.html

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Social Media and Freedom of Thought Adela Băncău-Burcea

PhD candidate, Paul Valéry University, IARSIC-CORHIS EA 7400, Montpellier, France adela_burcea@yahoo.com ABSTRACT: Freedom of thought, viewed as a natural right, has become a topic of interest in the context of the threat of human dignity by media warfare, due to the degree of globalization of the media. This fundamental right must be an essential component of any democratic information society. The general idea from which this article starts is circumscribed to the social media phenomenon and its effects on freedom. Thus, it is considered how certain aspects of this phenomenon can restrict the user’s right to freedom of thought with his own mind, in relation to democracy. One of these and the most common is manipulation, the behavior that the new media user should become aware of. A balance must be struck between the need to respect human dignity and the right to freedom of critical thinking and the need to preserve the right to store, process and disseminate information and ideas.

KEY WORDS: communication, social media, conventional media, freedom of critical thinking, manipulation, democracy.

Introduction Lately there have been major changes both in the communication strategies obviously of those who initiate the message and in the ways of transmitting the message, creating an information society where production and consumption of information are the main type of activity, and the informational environment is considered an existential one. By analyzing the flow of digital information that assaults the individual, and implicitly the phenomenon of manipulation and misinformation through social media, the question arises inevitably about the individual’s degree of freedom to think 124

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critically and to filter truthful information. In other words, does greater access to the Internet and communication 2.0 stimulate civic responsibility or does it increase social manipulation? The theme of freedom of thought in an information society and the relevant issues from a democratic perspective represent a current theme for the developing community, especially from the perspective of using new media. Because it refers to the freedom to pass the information through the filter of its own reason and in addition, because this right seems to be threatened by certain strategies of social propaganda, misinformation and psychological manipulation.

Freedom of thought in interrelation with social ethics The relationship between morality and democracy remains an extremely important topic even in the context of an information society. In other words, given that the whole social space cannot be legalized, and even more when it comes to the online space, and the ethical support of democracy is diluted, the good functioning of democracy is conditioned by a social reality with high standards of morality. Democracy and, implicitly, the values t​​ hat accompany it - the right to freedom of expression and the right to freedom of critical thinking - must be in an upward trend in the ethics behind the common sense and the legislative process. Unfortunately, reality indicates a lowering of standards and implicitly the need for regulations to regulate the behavior of those who manage online knowledge.

From a historical point of view, legal philosophy enshrines both freedom of thought and the freedom to disseminate information as natural rights. Today, these rights are regulated in the Declaration of Human Rights, which states that “every person has the right to freedom to seek, receive and disseminate information and ideas by any means and independent of state borders” (Article 19); “Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion” (Article 18). Globalization and unethical use by those who manage the information of new media show that legislative guarantees can also be minimized by a tense context.

General considerations Defining Terms In an already-formed information society, the concept of social media is already in use. It is predominantly associated with the so-called Web 2.0 125

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(Communication 2.0), which refers to “second-generation Internet services, services that offer new possibilities for communication and social interaction in the online environment.” (Guţu-Tudor 2009, 23) Lon Safko and David K. Brake state that the social media is assimilated to the online community’s activities and behaviors, namely, the creation and dissemination of information through Web 2.0. (Safko and Brake 2009, 6) Manipulation is the action by which an individual or a group is determined to think and act in a way that is compatible with the interests of the initiator and not with his or her own interests. Le Petit Larousse gives us the following definition of the word manipulation: “handling for deception. Election manipulation - Manipulation of crowds: the influence exerted on numerous groups, on opinion, through massive propaganda.”

Webster’s defines the word manipulation as “managing a situation, especially for its own advantage. Use of psychological influence on a person or situation to achieve a result.”

Manipulation does not mean a broader understanding of the situation, but the induction of an agreement in accordance with the manipulator’s intentions that remain hidden to the one who is manipulated, thing done by using unethical techniques.

Noam Chomsky notes the existence of ten new media manipulation strategies without which you cannot have an overall understanding of long-term social media effects on the user’s right to think with their own mind.

1. Continuously distracting public attention from real social issues, this in turn being captured by unimportant topics.

2. Causing problems and then offering solutions. This method is also called “problem-response-solution” (eg, the organization of attacks, then following them, the public should demand repressive laws, at the expense of freedom).

3. The strategy for the progressive implementation of a brutally unacceptable measure (eg immigration, precariousness, restriction of certain rights).

4. The action strategy with different dates (eg getting the public agreement now so as to use it in the future for an unpopular decision).

5. The direction towards superficial thinking, with predisposition to informational intoxication.

6. The target audience has to be disordered to question the existing reality and to act under the impulse of emotions.

7. Keeping in ignorance through a minimal level of education.

8. Restricting access to full and objective media, hiding credible, truthful sources.

9. Inducement of individual sense of guilt. Replacing revolt with blame.

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10. The system knows the average individual better than he knows himself, it knows the psychology of the individual and the crowd, having control over them. (Timsit 2010)

The informational war has entered a new stage with the emergence of new media.

Special media warfare programs have been launched, centered on the informational mistrust of broadcasting and the subordination of their messages to precise ideological and social targets.

Few people using the new media are aware of how important the role of those who disseminate information is, and how much they can influence the formation of public opinion beliefs and the perception of the reality by the Internet user.

The idea of ​​freedom and democracy runs counter to any form of misinformation and manipulation, of any act of intrusion into an individual’s mind to form an opinion or to induce an attitude without him being conscious and giving his consent. That is why there should be an honest and transparent relationship between the Power, those who administer the information, and the citizen, and there should be no justification for such behavior using a lie. The contrary limits freedom and democracy.

Online media torrent, with the multitude of non-identifiable source or non-verifiable information, can modify the online community’s mentis stage later on to the detriment of critical thinking. And history confirms the fragility of keeping things under control when it comes to manipulation and propaganda, misinformation and fake news, and hatred-sending messages. Social media can always lead to incitement to intolerance and violence, to the restriction of certain freedoms and racism, to murder and wars. In the context of becoming aware of such a reality, one realizes that, in fact, the greatest freedom of man is thinking.

The impact of new media on society Major changes in the media are irreversible, leading to the formation of an information society, where production, processing and consumption of information are the main type of activity, and the informational environment is considered an existential one. Clearly, such a society has undeniable advantages. For example, Henry Jenkins (2006) notes that members of these online communities can migrate from one community to another, depending on the interest they have at that time and can exchange knowledge. ( Jenkins 2006) Going in the same direction, Pierre Levy launches the concept of “collective intelligence” when he analyzes the new types of knowledge that appear in cyberspace: “No one can know everything, everybody knows something” (Levy 1999, 26).

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If we were to think about the advantages, new media enhances the possibilities of direct communication by sharing things or information like decoding and encoding signals in messages or as expressions or life experiences that we attach the same meaning to.

It also facilitates secure interaction and creates a free environment for the individual to share their views with other individuals with the same views. “The Internet generates a framework of direct interaction with citizens, putting into practice one of the ideals of Athenian democracy, namely direct participation.” (Momoc 2014, 45) Jeff Jarviss also points out that “when we open up to the world on the Internet, we gain new chances to learn, experiment and collaborate. Through tools such as TripAdvisor or Wikipedia, Google’s search or Facebook share, we benefit from the wisdom of the crowd … Google has become our personal memory and our universal bookstore.” ( Jarvis 2011, 86) The use of new media enables individuals to react and engage in conversations.

Mădălina Botan argues that “instruments such as blogs constitute a new form of democracy”, as public participation is needed, based on equal access to information (in the Policy Area, 15).

On the other hand, one cannot deny or overlook the disadvantages of creating an information society, the risks posed by the media war inherent in it and the negative influences of these new media on the freedom of critical thinking, privacy and even security.

“The unlimited possibilities of the online environment for anyone with a computer and an internet connection considerably increase security risks, all the more so as anonymity and false identities have begun to manifest themselves more and more pregnant.” (Şerban 2016, 35) “The individualized or `enclosed`content consumption of new media reduces the number of common experiences that heterogeneous media audiences have had. The consequence of isolation in exclusive online communities, where members listen to the echo of their own voices, is called social fragmentation, cyber-Balkanism: in a social and cultural heterogeneous society, it will be harder for people to understand and accept each other.” (Momoc 2014, 33).

In postmodernism, especially through technological evolution and as a result of the formation of an information society, through social media, the individual is minimized and quite easy to manipulate. The society induces a sense of impotence, of self-deprecation, which he can hardly control. In this way, the individual becomes a well-established target of information experts. The desired effect is to manipulate his views with socio-political-economic goals.

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In the information society, due to fierce competition, it is extremely difficult to have an excessive media presence ( in the search of which are the opinion makers, for example) to be supported only by real-time storytelling, so it is quite difficult to make the difference between the plan of reality that of opinion about reality. For example, there are countless sites specifically designed to disinform and manipulate, especially in election campaigns, sponsored by certain political groups. Obviously, they are not impartial and have the exact purpose of cosmetizing reality and issuing and promoting conspiracy of all kinds.

This media influence can be limited by the critical thinking of the individual using social media. As a protection, the individual has the power to distinguish the truth from misinformation; he still has the ability to select true information and to own it. He still has the dignity to use reason to accept what is convenient and in principle coherent with already accepted ideas, filtered by a logic. He is left, in fact, with the freedom to think.

The ability to filter information is determined by several factors: the level of education, the influence of the group the individual belongs to on the perception of the individual who accesses the digital information and also the opinions already acquired. These complex factors are speculated by political parties for electoral gain or other entities or people for well-defined purposes.

Conclusions Although the coincidence of inventions in public space presents a risk and sometimes minimizes the importance of the notion of democracy through misinformation and manipulation, all these must be seen as the response of the society at the present time - the freedom to reason critically.

The information society represents a new stage of human civilization, with a major social impact, causing new consequences for society, the most important being the process of globalization. And critical, selective thinking that makes a distinction between truth-based and false-based information is more and more difficult to accomplish, though not impossible, given the free will with which man has been endowed with to enable creation and the moral scriptural merit.

However, the current challenges in social media remain of major importance, requiring vigilance and sustained effort as well as solidarity in order to continue to respect human dignity and the right to critical thinking and fundamental freedoms for man.

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I personally like it when the philosopher Gabriel Liiceanu talks about the Madness of thinking with your mind – “the art of living freely in the horizon of your own thought.”

Madness consists of a thought that is detached from what has already been thought of, from what has already been processed. “It is not this thought that is ‘crazy’, but the whole journey that leads to it, the desideratum of thinking something not necessarily unimaginable, but with a thought that has surpassed its freedom. Madness is both a form of courage and promptitude, insofar as this thought involves meeting with oneself, with one’ s own” (Liiceanu 2016, 30).

This freedom of critical thinking cannot exist without respecting the laws that protect it and the norms of common sense. Freedom is a fundamental right of man. To live free is actually to submit to your own reason, to think with your own mind.

References Momoc, Antonio. 2014. Comunicarea 2.0. New media, participare și populism. Iași: Adenium.

Levy, Pierre. 1999. Collective Intelligence: Manking`s Emerging World in Cyberspace. New York: Basic Books.

Jarvis, Jeff. 2011. Public Parts. How Sharing in the Digital Age Improves the Way We Work and Live. NY: Simon ans Schuster.

Jenkins, Henry. 2006. Converce Culture. Where Old and New Media Collide. New York and London: New York University Press.

Boțan, Mădălina. 2009. „Blogosfera ca discurs de vizibilitate public.” Sfera politicii, no. 135. www.sferapoliticii.ro. Accessed in 25 sept. 2017.

Declaration of Human Rights, art. 19. http://www.ohchr.org/EN/UDHR/Documents/ UDHR_Translations/eng.pdf. Șerban, Gh. Teodora. 2016. Social media – o nouă dimensiune a raporturilor dintre securitatea societal și mass-media. PhD diss. Bucharest.

Timsit, Sylvain. 2010. „Top 10 Media Manipulation Strategies”, în Pressenza, Paris, 21 sept.

Guțu-Tudor, Dorina. 2009. New Media. Bucharest: Tritonic.

Safko, Lon, David K. Brake. 2009. The Social Media Bible: Tactics, Tools and Strategies for Business Success. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Hoboken.

Liiceanu, Gabriel. 2016. Nebunia de a gândi cu mintea ta. Bucharest: Humanitas.

Dictionnaire Encyclopédique Le Petit Larousse. 1995. Paris: Larousse.

Webster’s New World College Dictionary. Accessed August 25, 2017. http://websters. yourdictionary.com/ 130

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Uncovering Powerful East Asian Women Politicians in News Media Tsz Lam Ngai

University of Cambridge, United Kingdom natalietszlam@gmail.com

ABSTRACT: This article investigated the media representation of women politicians in mediated political communication in the context of Hong Kong, China. It attempted to supplement the previous feminism scholarship on media representation of women activists, which largely situated in Western contexts, with the example from East Asia. Contrary to the studies worldwide which argued that women politicians were confined to the trivialized topics in news media, this article demonstrated that the East Asian women politicians in Hong Kong, a special administrative region of China which was colonized by Britain, were visible in a larger variety of topics than their male counterparts in newspapers and they were more often directly quoted than the male politicians. Also, the number of editorials women politicians wrote to the mainstream press was significantly higher than the men did. Despite these, those articles the women are in occupied latter sections.

A subtler analysis also discovered that the promising trends applied only to a few celebrity women politicians. These findings were based on a content analysis of 946 news articles in four Hong Kong newspapers. The conclusion discussed how the findings could inform readers about the stereotype towards East Asia as a highly patriarchal culture influenced by Confucianism in contemporary mediated political communication.

KEY WORDS: media representation, politics, gender, women in power, celebrity, East Asia.

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1. Introduction Mass media is crucial for the circulation of political discourse among a wider audience especially in Hong Kong, which has a high level of media consumption. There are 55 registered newspapers in Hong Kong and the city has one of the highest newspaper readerships in Asia (HKSAR Government 2015). Yet, research on politics, media and gender in the context of Hong Kong is very limited. The Global Media Monitoring Project (GMMP), the largest international study on gender and media since 1995, has not included Hong Kong, not even China, until 2015. Research on women-in-power in Hong Kong is still by large limited to descriptive statistics like the proportion of women leaders (e.g Cheung and Lee 2012, 191-223). Only one qualitative study by Lee (2004, 207-25) argued about the ‘perfect women’ representation of women politicians is found. There is a lack of robust study on women representation of women-inpower in the context of Hong Kong while this area of study has already developed a sophisticated scholarship in the West, which found that powerful women appeared less significant in news media (Luenenborg et al. 2011, 57-75; Ross and Cynthia 2013, 1148-165; Sreberny and van Zoonen 2000, 5-20). This pattern of trivializing powerful women by media was found also in democratizing countries and regions (Kasoma 2014, 70-83). It is hence of urgent need to conduct an empirical research on media representation of women politicians in Hong Kong.

2. Method Content analysis is employed to examine the media visibility of women and men politicians across four newspapers which can represent an array of political approaches and mainstream journalistic style of newspapers in Hong Kong (Lee and Chan 2010, 67). These are Apple Daily, Ming Pao, Oriental Daily and Wen Wei Po. Articles published and dated 29/9/2014 - 16/12/2014 during the occupation period of the Umbrella Movement, with the names of 40 directly-elected legislators of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong (LegCo) mentioned, are selected for content analysis from the database Wisenews. Only articles with 250 words or above devoted to the legislators are included in the final sample, which consists of 274 articles for the 11 women legislators and 672 articles for the 29 men legislators. In this article, four variables are focused including ‘Topic’ and ‘Placement’ of the articles, as well as ‘Role’ of the politicians and ‘Attribution of Speech’ when citing politicians’ words in the particular articles. The significance level for the following statistical analyses is 0.05.

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3. Results Women have been mentioned in more diverse topics than men as represented by the more colorful pie chart in women (Figure 1). Still, men are more dominant compared to women in terms of placement as illustrated in Figure 2. Only men (n=20) but no woman have been mentioned on ‘Front Page’.

Figure 1. Distributions of topics within each gender 133

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Figure 2. Article distributions in different sections of newspapers

A regression analysis confirms that the words of women are more likely to be quoted than that of men when they are mentioned in media (Table 1). When ‘N/A’ (no word is quoted from the legislator) is set as the reference category, all p-values are lower than 0.05 and all B values (man over woman) are negative. It is statistically significant (p<0.05) that men are less likely than women to be quoted by ‘Direct Quotation’, ‘Paraphrase’ and ‘Mixed’ when they are compared with ‘N/A’ (no words are quoted) respectively.

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Table 1. Multi-nominal logistic regression results of ‘Gender’ against ‘Attribution of Speech’ Attribution of Speech

Sig. (p-value)

Direct Quotation

B Value (man over woman) -1.420

Paraphrase Mixed

-0.410 -1.043

0.046* 0.000***

0.000***

(The reference category is N/A; *p<0.05, **p<0.01, ***p<0.001) Women politicians also write more to the press than their male counterparts, with 60% of the articles written by politicians in the sample are women authors. A regression analysis also supports this as it is statistically significant (p<0.05) that men are less likely than women to be represented as ‘Writer’ over ‘Protagonist’ (p-value is 0.000 and B value is -1.361), while the application of this trend to other roles over ‘Protagonist’ is statistically inconclusive (Table 2). In sum, it confirms that ‘Writer’ is a distinctively feminized role. (‘Protagonist’ is set as the reference category in the test since the observed gender proportion of ‘Protagonist’ (men 27.8%: women 72.2%) is closest to the expected gender proportion of media visibility (men 27.5%: women 72.5%) among roles.)

Table 2. Multi-nominal logistic regression results of ‘Gender ’against ‘Role’ Role

Sig. (p-value)

Event Participant

B Value (man over woman) 0.322

Commentator Reference

-0.079 0.414

0.666 0.086

Writer

-1.361

0.000***

0.191

(The reference category is Protagonist; *p<0.05, **p<0.01, ***p<0.001)

Notwithstanding the overall promising findings, the media visibility is concentrated on individual legislators regardless of gender as demonstrated by the large standard 135

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deviations and ranges (Table 3). For example, the highest count of articles for women is devoted to Regina Ip (n=102) and the lowest is Starry Lee (n=8).

Table 3. Distributions of media visibility among legislators with different genders Women

Men

Standard Deviation

26.8

24.9

Range

94

112

Conclusions Contrary to the studies which showed that women politicians were confined to the trivialised topics in media, the findings here reveal that women politicians in Hong Kong are mentioned in a larger variety of topics in newspapers than men, the words of women are more likely to be quoted whenever the lawmaker is mentioned, and women politicians write more to the press. Despite that women do not show up in prior news agenda when compared to men, women politicians are not only represented as speaking subjects in news but they can actively influence public opinion by writing columns.

One reason for the general promising trend is the wider scope of this research.

Unlike the studies that usually focus on only important ‘hard’ news like coverage of an election or a campaign (Devitt 2002, 445-63; Ross et al. 2012, 3-20), this research recruits sample on the basis of politicians such that it considers the articles that mentioned them including the peripheral issues and genres across different news events. For example, seldom did previous studies look into women politicians as writers and that is a distinctively feminized role as found here. In other respect, the antithesis of politics and femininity manifested in Western media (van Zoonen 2006, 287-301) could not be taken for granted, as Lee (2004, 207-25) also found that women politicians in Hong Kong were represented in media as the ‘perfect women’ who could succeed in both politics and family and consisting of both rationality and compassion. The perception towards East Asia as a highly patriarchal culture influenced by Confucianism that have relegated women to an extremely subordinate position is hence dubious (Chiu and Wong 2005, 73-94; Lee and Clark 2000, 4).

Nevertheless, it should be noted that the overall promising trend towards the media representation of women can only be attributed to only a few politicians in Hong 136

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Kong. It agrees with other studies which suggested media tends to concentrate on a few ‘superstars’ and a large group of qualified women are neglected in other contemporary contexts (van Zoonen 2005, 69-86). Noteworthy also is the phenomenon of personification applies to all gender as found here.

References Cheung, F. and Lee, E. 2012. “Women in Power and Decision Making.” In Women and Girls in Hong Kong edited by S. Choi and F. Cheung, 191-223. Hong Kong: The Women’s Foundation.

Chiu, Sammy, and Victor Wong. 2005.“Hong Kong: from familistic to Confucian welfare.” East Asian Welfare Regimes in Transition: From Confucianism to Globalization, 73-93. Bristol: Policy Press.

Devitt, James. 2002. “Framing gender on the campaign trail: female gubernatorial candidates and the press.” Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 79(2): 445-63.

Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Government. 2015. “Hong Kong: The Facts.” Accessed Sep 13, 2017. http://www.gov.hk/en/about/abouthk/factsheets/docs/ coming_hk.pdf.

Kasoma, Twange. 2014. “Zambia women MPs: An examination of coverage by the Post and Zambia Daily Mail.” Women in Politics and Media: Perspectives from Nations in Transition, edited by Raicheva-Stover & Elza Ibroscheva, 70-83. London: Bloomsbury.

Lee, Francis L.F. 2004. “Constructing Perfect Women: The Portrayal of Female Officials in Hong Kong Newspapers.” Media, Culture & Society, 26.2: 207-25.

Lee, Francis L.F, and Chan, Joseph Man. 2010. Media, Social Mobilisation and Mass Protests in Post-colonial Hong Kong, 67. Hoboken: Taylor & Francis.

Lee, Rose Jungja, and Clark, Cal. 2000. Democracy and the Status of Women in East Asia.

Boulder (Colo.): L. Rienner.

Luenenborg, Margreth, Roeser, Jutta, Maier, Tanja, Mueller, Kathrin Friederike. 2011. “Gender analysis of mediated politics in Germany.” Gendered Transformations. Theory and Practices on Gender and Media, edited by Tonny Krijnen, Claudia Alvares, and Sofie Van Bauwel, 57-75. Bristol/Chicago: Intellect.

Ross, Karen, and Cynthia, Carter. 2011. “Women and News: A long and Winding Road.”

Media, Culture & Society, 33.8: 1148-165.

Ross, Karen, Evans, Elizabeth, Harrison, Lisa, Shears, Mary, and Wadia, Khursheed. 2012.

“The gender of news and news of gender: a study of sex, politics, and press coverage of the 2010 British general election.” The International Journal of Press/Politics, 18(1):3-20.

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Sreberny, Annabelle, and van Zoonen, Liesbet. 2000. Gender, politics and communication.

Cresskill, N.J: Hampton Press.

Van Zoonen, Liesbet. 2005. Entertaining the citizen: When politics and popular culture converge, 69-86. Rowman & Littlefield.

Van Zoonen, Liesbet. 2006. “The personal, the political and the popular: A woman’s guide to celebrity politics.” European journal of cultural studies 9.3: 278-301.

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THE FUTURE OF THEME

RELIGION

AND

PEACE

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Utopian State, Concept and Need of RamRajya: A literary Study Neerja A Gupta

PhD & Principal Bhavan’s Arts and Commerce College, Khanpur, Ahmedabad​, Advisor and Coordinator Study Abroad Program and Diaspora Studies, Gujarat University, Ahmedabad, Global Chair Academic Council, GOPIO, USA Syndicate Member Gujarat University, Ahmedabad drneerjaarun@yahoo.com Rajya is a political cannon and Ram stands for kalyan (a state of welfare). One should wonder how the concept of a welfare state can be well defined through literary writings. The term literary Ramrajya, in that context may seem vague and absurd. Ram-Rajya makes a concept of a utopian state. When Gandhi presented his aspiration of Ram-Rajya, it was a sort of political arrangement leading to social happiness. But, the hypothesis of Ram-Rajya is better propagated in his and others’ literary writings than in political ideas. So much so that political revolutionaries and leaders, when turned authors, they too brought the idea of utopian state, away from their own political module. The reason is that culture resides in literature. It has been projected, propagated and applied through writings right since the ancient days. Some writings are to reassert, others to instruct, still others to remind us of those wonders which lie about us every day. And then there are some which haunt by the very fact that their insights, dark and unsettling though they are, have been tested on the pulse and proven true. Oddly enough, there’s something in the measure of these lines, something in the dignity with which they state this elemental fact of nature that Literature is a powerful tool to project the larger design.

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Literature not only projects ideal state but also brings forth the realistic backdrop.

An uttered word can be deceptive but a written one is open to multilayer meanings hence it’s easy to draw the utopian values from literary ideas from the same political identities who have turned authors. Literature projects effectively the deep yearning for ending of suffering and bringing in much desired state of happiness. Literature also argues the different shade of utopia as it shifts from one culture and society to another. It also justifies the variety of welfare state as desired by time and place.

For the present purpose three such writings have been taken up which have been written by those authors where their political thoughts were equally important. The idea of Ram-Rajya is much more vocal and realistic in their writings than in their political ideology. Gandhi asked for Poorna Swaraj only as a preliminary stage to conceptualized Ram-Rajya. Hind Swaraj was a preliminary attempt to the later call of Poorna Swaraj. This shows that the idea was very much there, which matured after he arrived at the ground zero. His assertion was a happy society which was more accomplished with spiritual wealth. During his visit to Bhopal in 1929, on the on invitation of Prince of Bhopal, Gandhi, while commenting upon his simplicity mentioned in ‘Young India’: “I was prepared to find here the same regal splendor, the same wasteful blaze of luxury as one comes across in our other present day Indian State. But to my agreeable surprise I found His Highness living in a “palace” which could be called as such only by courtesy…” YI

The comment was not on simplicity; his admiration is led further by conceptualizing that the simplicity of the living shown by the Prince is a consistent and easy transition to the evolution of Democracy. This further is led to Gandhi’s praise for princely states, which he now entertained as hope of democratic Swaraj which he often interpreted as Ramraj. Being conscious of the fact that he is commenting upon Ramraj in a Muslim state he corrects himself by explaining further as what he means by Ramraj: “I warn my Musalmaan friends against misunderstanding me in my use of the words ‘Ramraj’. By Ramraj I don’t mean Hindu Raj, I mean by Ramraj Divine raj, the Kingdom of God.” YI

Gandhi’s assertion of a welfare state is a truly democratic society. His assertion for Utopia is much more than any religion and its principles. The truth and righteousness as to be its pillars. The author Gandhi is projecting Gandhi the politician. The article becomes the preamble to the future Indian system of rule when he further writes: 141

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“Whether Ram of my imagination ever lived or not on this earth, the ancient ideal of Ramraj is undoubtedly one of true democracy in which the meanest citizen could be sure of swift justice without an elaborate and costly procedure.” YI

The other and very different concept of utopia comes from such authors, who aspire for the possibilities of resolution of conflicts in their national and international societies. Apart from the rational, intellectual and political approaches, a major approach has been found through aesthetics when the others proved insufficient.

One such attempt of finding reconciliation of Arab-Israeli conflict has been carried out at an international poets meet.

Israel exists in the state of conflict. Apart from physical, the spiritual turmoil is much complicated and grave. It has faced violent dimensions. Women have been living in claustrophobic environment. For Arab-Israeli society the true meaning of utopian state shifts from righteousness and truth to peace. The artistic media plays a proactive role in achieving Peace. In the interesting exhibition recently exhibited at Haifa University, there was a painting: the painting of the Chessmen and the mutilated Chessboard.

The well known artist, Samuel Bak, while explaining said: “the Chessmen stands for Rationalism. They speak of the absurdity of war, and the failure of the rational approach to prevent war and poverty” (Ahorani, Songs 17). So to Arab-Israeli society what is much needed is not only peace but also its awareness at ideological, emotional and psychological levels. The horrors of war can be well exposed through literature.

Ada Ahorani plays a dynamic role in creating the atmosphere of peace. She writes in ‘Metal and Violets in Jerusalem’: In a time of pomegranates And yellow balloons, Why are your looks So bronze-like?

Deep in you A valve is locked, And even a warm Yearning clasp Cannot unlock The metallic clasp.

How can I unpuzzle Your dreams?

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I wish I could sow Violets under your pores Until their scent Melted your metal Into mine (Ahorani,108)

Ada Ahorani speaks of honey laden decades as teddy bears as exchange for guns.

These guns are the terror and the same time they are the weapon of protection, thus less scary and more realistic. Her utopian state is not a gun-less society, but a fully equipped society where each age lives its own worth. Where children don’t die before turning into youth. A society which is more civilized. A state free from studs, guns and stones. She challenges both the oppressors and the rulers in ‘Teddy Bears for Guns’: My man of the year Is the wonderful, wise one Who sat himself in the midst Of the West with a huge box Of chubby Teddy Bears On New Year’s Day, Attracting an endless Queue of cheering kids Holding guns He playfully showed With a smile and a wink And a Teddy Bear hug It could be the beginning Of a honey-laden decade In a brave new world By wisely, joyfully trading (Guns For Teddy Bears)

Her most alarming suggestion comes in the poem ‘Bridge of Peace’ which starts with: ‘They shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree, and none shall make them afraid” (Bible, Micah 4.4)’ and ‘“He who walks in peace, walk with him.”

(Koran, Sura 48)’.

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Her direct address to the Arab society gives a call for peace thou artistic media: My Arab sister, daughter of Abraham, Let us build a sturdy bridge From my orange world to yours, Above the boiling pain of acid rain And hold human hands high Full of free stars of twinkling peace. (Ahorani, 16)

The freedom given in a welfare state and the basic demands of equality are not only well worded but also express strong connotations: I do not want to be your oppressor You do not want to be my oppressor, Or your jailer, or my jailer, We do not want to make each other afraid (Ahorani, 16)

Her suggestions donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t come abruptly, rather they pose the solutions. The image of a peaceful society invites action. Her use of motherly symbols brings peace to a feminine state. The poem ends at a universal note: Under our vines and under our fig trees Blossoming on a silvered horizon Above the bruising and the bleeding Of poisoned gases and scuds.

So, my Arab sister, letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s build a strong Bridge of jasmine understanding Where each shall sit with her baby Under her vine and under her fig tree And none shall make them afraid.

And none shall make them afraid! (Ahorani, 16)

The third author taken for the present study is the past Prime Minister of India, Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Troubled with a difficult neighbor he felt while ruling that the country has suffered pains of disturbed state. Negativity from neighbors and fanatic rigidness within the country has led the poet inside to talk about that long shadow of tree which itself burns out in hot sun. His literary projections are less idealistic and 144

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more obligatory. He wrote in the language which his political position didn’t allow him to speak in public. His conception of Ramraj is an all inclusive state which has a rightful existence above party line. He talks of hierarchy with a sense of history: There are ten or twenty men in each person Check many times, whomsoever you check. (81)

He has varied concept of good governance starting from Rajdharma. His sense of history and Ramraj mingles in one of his famous writings: यही आग सरयू के तट पर दशरथ जी के राजमहल में घन समूह में हल चपला सी प्रकट हुई प्रज्ज्वलित हुई थी शकित मन-मन, त्रसित विपर, आकुल मुनिवरगण बोल रही अधर्म की तूती , दुस्तर हुआ धर्म का पालन तब देश की रक्षार्थ देश का सोया क्षत्रित्व जागा था रामरूप में प्रकट हुई यह ज्वालाजिसने असुर जलाये, देश बचाया (162)

(There was a rising once due to the misappropriation of system in king Dasharatha’s kingdom. Unethical environment prevailed. Then came Rama, epitome of protection, who not only saved the land from evil spirits but also established ideal system.)

His concept of ideal rule is by giving: We are such trees which give shelter to other And stand in the sunny sun with a longing for a little shelter. (63)

He prolongs the argument inner freedom and dignity to all: सत्य का संघर्ष सत्ता से, न्याय से लड़ता निरंकुशता से, अँधेरे ने दी चुनौती है, किरण अंतिम अस्त होती है.... दांव पर सब कुछ लगा है, रुक नहीं सकते, टूट सकते हैं, मगर हम झुक नहीं सकते (164)

(Truth is in perpetual war with might. Anarchy prevails. In the dark hours one has to sacrifice everything to correct the system. One may die but can’t be stopped by force.)

Vajpayee never used poetry as an artistic expression only. His symbols stand for a system that he wished to bring into the society. His warnings are clear and reveal the bruised state of affairs of his contemporary times.

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राजपथ पर भीड़, जनपथ पड़ा सूना पलटनो का मार्च , होता शोर दूना शोर में डूबा हुआ स्वाधीनता का स्वर रुध्ह वाणी, लेखनी जड़, कसमसाता उर. (165)

(The Kings celebrate while the common people suffer. Rulers rule by force and try to subdue the right to freedom. No one is allowed to speak freely, there are restrictions on pen and the hearts are suffocated.)

Only love for one’s culture, peace and neighbor can attain and preserve good for all.

Whether harsh or mild, the words can bring in the ultimate effect that no policy or leader or call can bring in: Koran or Bible or a martyr’s soul, A church or a temple or a kaaba stone, All these and more my heart can bear, Since my religion is love alone. (152)

As the theory of liberation, equity and sameness, the center argument of Ram-Rajya is visualized through literature with the backdrop of mysticism. The present paper shall discuss the issues of equality with relation to the literature written by social reformer turned politician Mahatma Gandhi, a politician turned poet Atal Bihari Vajpayee and a bio-political poet Ada Ahorani.

References Ahorani, Ada. ed. 1993. A Song to Life and to World Peace. Jerusalem: Posner and Sons.

Ahorani, Ada. 1994, 1997. From the Nile to the Jordan. Tel Aviv, Israel: Eked.

Ahorani, Ada. 2002. Women: Creating A World Beyond War. Haifa: M. Lachman.

Ahorani, Ada. 19-9-1929. Peace Flower: A Space Adventure. Haifa: M. Lachman. 1994, 1996 Gandhi M. K.: YI, p. 305.

Prabhu, R. K. & Rao U.R. ed. 1960. The Mind of Mahatma Gandhi. Ahemadabad: Navajivan Mudranalaya.

Vajpayee, Atal Bihari: 1998. Meri ikyavana kavitaem. Evam Samskarana. Nayi Dilli: Kitaba Ghara.

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Culture and the Contemporary Religious Dynamics in Nigeria: A Study of Soyinka’s Drama Megbowon Funmilola Kemi

PhD candidate and graduate Research Assistant Department of English and Comparative Literature University of Fort Hare, South Africa kemimeg@gmail.com

Uwah Chijioke

University of Fort Hare, South Africa cuwah@ufh.ac.za ABSTRACT: The role of religion and culture in socio-economic development cannot be underestimated. Coupled with socio-economic advancement, the postcolonial and contemporary African society is characterised by unprecedented rise in the level of religious movements with diverse contradicting beliefs championed by so called spiritual and religious leaders. The overwhelming socio-economic downturn in the society has meant that people have turned to religion for solutions to their problem but the church has not really lived up to expectation which writer like Soyinka portrayed in his text. Considering the above mentioned, this study textually analysed Wole Soyinka’s The Trials of Brother Jero from a postcolonial theoretical perspective with the aims of exploring religious dynamics vis-à-vis cultural /moral degradation as portrayed in the text. It further resonate the place of culture in the contemporary religious environment. Moral degradation is captured from the characters of brother Jero, the old prophet, Jeroboam and the drummer boy where lack of respect for elders, covetous exploitation by spiritual leaders, materialism, falsehood and deceit are exemplified in religious setting as depicted in the text. All these delinquencies are contrary to indigenous cultural and moral values of the 147

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traditional Nigeria society. With the above highlighted current delinquency trend, the study concludes that the place of culture in the future of religion cannot be underplayed. This is so because indigenous cultural values place high emphasis on uprightness, truth, contentment, respect, which are needed in making contemporary religion worthy to practice, religious leaders more respected and peoples trust on their leaders justifiable.

KEY WORDS: Religion, Postcolonial, Materialism, Merchandise, Politics.

1. Introduction Culture and religion are two main fibers sustaining the continued existence of a community. Religion and culture occupy a crucial position in Africa societies, these two are interwoven such that each does not really exist alone. Culture refers to the cumulative deposit of knowledge, experience, beliefs, values, attitudes, meanings, hierarchies, religion, notions of time, roles, spatial relations, concepts of the universe, and material objects and possessions acquired by a group of people in the course of generations through individual and group striving (Hofstede 1997). Biggs and Moore (1993) state that culture is the sum total of the ways of life of a people, which is transmitted from one generation to anotherâ&#x20AC;? (Biggs and Moore 1993).

Religion, on the other hand, is an organized system of beliefs, ceremonies, practice and worship that centers on one supreme God or the value of the deity that provides groups of men with a solution to the question of ultimate meaning (Bhatt 2012). It is the strongest element in traditional African culture, which exerts great influence upon the conduct of the African people. Religion is closely bound up with the traditional way of African life, hence religion shapes the lives of Africans; at the same time, life shapes religion as well (Omobola, 2014). Visalo (2002) notes that religion indicates that spirituality is a part of human nature that needs to be fulfilled. It is, therefore, difficult to separate the word religion from culture since religion is defined as a collection of cultural systems.

The contemporary African society has found itself is an age of intense social, cultural and economic integration which has bought about great exposure leading to creativity, diversities and dynamics in social, cultural and religious lifestyles of African people.

The challenges that came along with these integration cannot be under estimated and ignored. Some of these are conflict among religious faithful and bodies/organizations, religion influenced political agitations, terrorism, materialistic oriented lifestyles, and lack on contentment. Moreover, the economic difficulties and tyranny that also came along with African societyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s integration has made the consultation of religious 148

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leaders inevitable since religion and religious leaders are considered by Africans as a means reaching the creator of the world (God) who has solution to life challenges.

Unfortunately, religious actors who are supposed to provide good offices and serve as mediators according to Appleby (2000), are instead merchandising religion.

As is the case with most other African countries, Nigeria places high premium on religion as solution to many of life’s challenges. Nigeria has the largest population in African and is one of the most religious countries in the world (Lenshie and Abel, 2012). Religion in Nigeria is heterogeneous, however Christianity, Islam and African Traditional religion are dominantly practised ones and it is an important part of the socio-economic and political life of the country. The economic downturn of the late 80’s exacerbated by the IMF conditionality created an economic meltdown, which drove millions of Nigerians to seek solace in religion. The mushrooming of churches created a gap for false prophets and charlatans to manifest.

Considering the aforementioned and the fact that literature mirrors the reality of a society, the present study examines culture and contemporary religious dynamics using Soyinka’s The Trials of Brother Jero.

2. Synopsis of Soyinka’s The Trials of Brother Jero The play begins with the eponymous character, Brother Jero himself giving us some background information on how he came into priesthood by taking advantage of his appearance- thick long hair and beard. He reveals how he became fond of the trade. He further makes known how the trade has become fashionable and how professionals in the trade try to outsmart one another in acquiring lands on the beach and attracting ignorant and gullible members. He goes on to expose the scheme he employs to acquire land by the beachfront for his master, the old prophet, who ignorantly thinks Jeroboam schemes all other competitors out solely for him- not knowing that Brother Jero helps no one but himself. For this singular reason, his master places a curse on him that daughters of Discord will be his ruin and downfall. Therefore, the play is based on the near-fulfilment of the curse placed on Brother Jero by his master.

The play thus goes on to reveal a couple named Chume and Amope. Amope, a petty trader, sells a velvet cape to Brother Jero who promises to pay three months earlier but defaults. Her husband, Chume, a Chief Messenger at the Local Government office, serves as Brother Jero’s apprentice on the beach in his church. Jero is able to explore and exploit the ignorance, stupidity and materialistic tendencies of his followers as he deceives them with visions of better life and promotion in their various quests.

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Due to the nagging nature of his wife, Chume has long wanted to beat her, Amope, so that she can desist from her annoying behaviour. However, Brother Jero prevents him from beating her; not for Chume’s benefit but for himself to keep Chume in perpetual enslavement.

Interestingly, the cat is let out of the bag when Chume realizes that Brother Jero has been fooling him all the while having invalidated all Jero’s claims that keep him in bondage after it dawns on him that Brother Jero finally allows him to beat his wife, Amope, in order to rid himself ( Jero) of his creditor (Amope). Being a comical and satirical play, as Chume’s sense of reasonableness later dawns and seeks revenge from Brother Jero, Soyinka introduces the of unreasonableness and ignorance prepared by no other person but Brother Jero himself.

Contemporary religious dynamics as portrayed in the texts are highlighted and discussed below: This dynamics are viewed from the perspectives of religious practises.

2.1 Misrepresentation of alien Religion

The coming of the White to African brought many things that are alien and strange to the African people. The White, as Ngugi wa Thiong (2012) noted, came with the Bible on his left hand and gun on his right hand. The White, not only introduces his culture and tongue but also his religion to the African people who succumb to him and all he stands. African being religious, they sheepishly fall for the Whiteman and his religion which they, Africans, hardly understand fully like his tongue. This, hence, makes misconceptions, misrepresentations and misinterpretations abound in practicing the alien religion. Soyinka portrays this misrepresentation of alien religion and it adherents through the character of Brother Jero with his followers and other prophets, though unheard, in the play. Brother Jero’s introduction is revealing and it will be illuminated the more as the same is being seen in the contemporary Nigerian society below: JERO: I am a prophet. A prophet by birth and by inclination... I was born a prophet.

I think my parents found that I was born with rather thick and long hair. It was said to come right down to my eyes and down to my neck. For them, this was a certain sign that I was born a natural prophet. (Soyinka 1998)

Furthermore, from the excerpt above, misinterpretation and misrepresentation is vivid. Jero’s parents ignorantly assume that since their son is born with thick and long hair that automatically qualifies and validates him to be a prophet. It can be said that 150

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this is an ignoramus allusion to Samson whom the Bible records to be a Nazarite to God in Judges 13: 4. Samson was born with long and thick hair which the angel forewarned his mother and father never to let any razor touch. This religious trait is thus transferred to Jero because of his long and thick hair. The contemporary Nigerian society is full of many false prophets who assume outlandish religious connotations for the purpose of deceiving gullible followers.

2.2 Religion and Merchandise According to Appleby (2000), religious leaders are to provide good offices and serve as mediators. Instead they merchandise religion. Due to biting and debilitating economic realities, many Nigerians have taken to surviving through religion. Religion sells like premium motor spirit (PMS) in Nigeria. Because of unemployment, some men/ women in the society have turned themselves into men/women of God overnight.

This has therefore turned religion, especially Christianity into a trade. As Jero puts it: And I grew to love the trade (prophet profession). It used to be a very respectable one in those days and competition was dignified, but in the last few years, the beach has become fashionable, and the struggle for land has turned the profession into a thing of ridicule (Soyinka, 1998).

From this, the contemporary Nigerian society is laden with many social maladies and religion has not been able to proffer solutions to the problems. As evident in a capitalist market, competition amongst religious leaders in some churches have become the order of the day with morality finding itself at the lowest ebb of the society and cultural values being lost on daily basis. These religious professionals, in getting customers (p.20), take to various means and schemes in outsmarting one another. With fake, rehearsed, prepared and choreographed miracles, they now easily hoodwink ignorant and miracle-seeking members of the public irrespective of their social standing and class.

Soyinka uses Brother Jero in pushing this contemporary nature of the religious professionals forward. First, he employs six dancing girls from the French territory, all dressed as Jehovahâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Witnesses (p.10). Secondly, he affirms I am glad I got here before any customers â&#x20AC;&#x201C; I mean worshippers â&#x20AC;&#x201C; well, customers if you like. I always get that feeling every morning that I am a shop-keeper waiting for customers (Soyinka 1998).

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2.3. Religion Falsehood and Materialism

The contemporary Nigerian society is a society that is being run on deception, falsehood and hypocrisy from the religious leaders to the followers. Honesty, faithfulness and truth have become and are becoming increasingly scarce day by day. Everybody is now involved in the game of deception, falsehood and hypocrisy – from the family being a microcosm of the society to the religious space and political arena – deception is enthroned. The hunger for wealth and material things by religious leaders now cannot be compared in its magnitude to what the traditional society stood for where there was constant checks and corrections and where relative desert one whose hands are known to be unclean. The society has been said by social commentators and analysts to be on the brink of failure. As it stands in Nigeria, kidnapping is the now the other of the day. Although kidnapping has always been in the traditional Nigerian society most especially when Oro, Yoruba cult, festival is being held and its victims are always consequently killed in appeasing the gods of the land. But the present-days kidnappings are mainly for money and acquisition of material things. Bribery and corruption have become clogs in the wheel of progress in the land. In the play, virtually all the characters are materialistic and in their quest to satisfy their material lust, they get deceived, schemed and exploited. Jero reveals this: JERO: My Master, the same one who brought me up in prophetic ways staked his claim and won a grant of land... I helped him, with a campaign led by six dancing girls from the French territory, all dressed as Jehovah’s Witnesses. What my old Master did not realise was that I was really helping myself (Soyinka 1998).

Also, in Brother Jero and Amope’s encounter in Scene Two of the play, Jero is revealed not only as a debtor but also a liar cum deceiver.

JERO: Yes, thanks be to God. I-er-I hope you have not come to stand in the way of Christ and his work.

AMOPE: If Christ doesn’t stand in the way of me and my work.

JERO: Beware of pride, sister. That was a sinful way to talk.

AMOPE: Listen, you bearded debtor. You owe me one pound, eight and nine. You promised you would pay me three months ago but of course you have been too busy doing the work of God. Well, let me tell you that you are not going anywhere until you do a bit of my own work.

JERO: But the money is not in the house. I must get it from the post office before I can pay you (Soyinka 1998).

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In order to forever keep his followers within his imposed-confinement and to make them constantly dependent on him, he boldly declares “Strange, dissatisfied people. I know they are dissatisfied because I keep them dissatisfied. Once they are full, they won’t come again” (Soyinka 1998). Chume, Jero’s prophetic apprentice is not left out of his schemes and manipulations as Brother Jero continuously restrains him from beating his wife, Amope, because beating her will make him to be contented and will therefore not need Jero again. This has become the way of religious professionals and politicians in the land who keep promising better life and standard of living to their followers but their promises have never come to reality. Jero explores greatly the materialistic nature of humanity to bring them into his prepared slavery. Also, Amope is seen as a nagging wife who verbally abuses her husband frequently and is always pushing him to do more for her. Although she claims that it is for her husband’s good, her intent, however, is revealed as her latter words betray her former claim. She said: He doesn’t realize it is all for his own good. He’s no worse than other men, but he won’t make the effort to become something in life. A Chief Messenger. Am I to go to my grave as the wife of a Chief Messenger? (Soyinka 1998).

More so, it is clear that the prayer of the contemporary religious leaders is always directed towards materialistic cravings and better life. Nobody seems to care about moral uprightness and righteousness but material-led prayers in reducing the insatiable wants of humans. This is portrayed in Chume’s prayer. He prays: ...Tell our wives not to give us trouble. And give us money to have a happy home. Give us money to satisfy our daily necessities. Make you no forget those of us who dey struggle daily.

Those who be clerk today, make them Chief Clerk tomorrow. Those who are Messenger today, make them Senior Service tomorrow. Yes Father, those who are Messenger today, make them Senior Service tomorrow. Those who are petty trader today, make them big contractor tomorrow. Those who dey sweep street today, give them their own big office tomorrow. I say those who dey walka today, give them their own bicycle tomorrow. Those who have bicycle today, they will ride their own car tomorrow. I say those who dey push bicycle, give them big car tomorrow. Give them big car tomorrow. Give them big car tomorrow, give them big car tomorrow (Soyinka 1998).

For repeating “those who are Messenger today, make them Senior Service tomorrow” twice and “those who have bicycle today..., give them big car tomorrow” five times shows that though at the surface level, Chume is seriously praying for the congregation, but the repetition of those lines of prayer reveals, at a deeper level, where he belongs and in essence he is only praying for himself.

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In addition, Brother Jero is able to deceive the Member of the Parliament even though he occupies an exalted and privileged position in the society because he fuels and befriends his (Member) materialistic and positional quest. Member falls so cheap to Jero’s schemes and antics. As the play ends, he ignorantly declares his allegiance to Brother Jero calling his Master (p. 44). All these are consequently pointing to the contemporary Nigerian society as materialistic, deceptive and selfish.

2.4. Religion and Curse

As the traditional Nigerian society greatly believed in the destructive power of curse, the contemporary Nigerian religious leaders also shares the same beliefs even though with modern touches and modifications. It has been established that the Yoruba people and by extension other Nigerian tribes not to place a curse(s) on someone without the person doing anything worth being cursed. Curse is mostly employed when the victim cannot directly fight his/her oppressor or victimiser/cheater. Thus, curse is critically linked with superstition. One of the Yoruba proverbs is eni da eeru ni eeru nto (meaning: whosoever pours ashes away will the ashes follow). It is generally believed among Yoruba people that when someone offends genuinely and the person is cursed, the curse placed on the offender will definitely come to fulfilment.

The play, as implicit in the summary, is based on the near-fulfilment of the curse placed on Brother Jeroboam for hoodwinking his master, the Old Prophet, to believe that the piece of land got from the Town council through six disguised ladies from the French territory as Jehovah’s Witnesses: OLD PROPHET: Ungrateful wretch! Is this how you repay the long years of training I have given you? To drive me, your old Tutor, off my piece of land...telling me I have lived beyond my time. Ha! May you be rewarded in the same manner. May the wheel come right round and find you just as helpless as you make me now... (Soyinka 1998).

OLD PROPHET: Ingrate! Monster! I curse you with the curse of Daughters of Discord.

May they be your downfall. May the Daughters of Eve bring ruin down on your head!

(Soyinka 1998).

2.5. Religion and Rituals

Ritual killing is also observed to be carried out in today’s religious society in Nigeria.

It is known that majority of those who claim to be pastors, prophets, evangelists, etc. in the contemporary Nigerian society are opposite of what they profess to be as the 154

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case of Brother Jero in the play. Many of these self-acclaimed men/women of God have been caught with human parts in their vehicles, churches, and homes; amongst other incriminating allegations and criminalities (PM News, 2017; DailyPost, 2017). There was a case of a so-called man of God in Nigeria who was stopped by the policemen at a checkpoint for checking. Like Jero, he declared, â&#x20AC;&#x153;I am a pastorâ&#x20AC;? but when he was searched, human parts were found in his car. He was subsequently whisked away by the police. This is the situation of the contemporary Nigerian society. These selfprofessed men/women of God are only men/women of their bellies: I am a prophet. A prophet by birth and by inclination... I was born a prophet. I think my parents found that I was born with rather thick and long hair. It was said to come right down to my eyes and down to my neck. For them, this was a certain sign that I was born a natural prophet (Soyinka 1998).

3. Discussion Considering the dimension of dynamics of contemporary religious environment in Nigeria as discussed above it can been relatively inferred that contemporary religion, religious leaders and religious practices lack the moral aptitude to change the other aspect of the society because religion in its entirety that is considered to be sacred has been greatly corrupted. Hence, without doubt, the place of traditional Nigerian cultural values cannot be overemphasized. Traditional Nigerian culture like that of other African countries is embedded in strong moral considerations. It has a system of various beliefs and customs which every individual ought to keep in order to live long and to avoid bringing curses on them and others. In traditional Africa, a shared morality used to be the cement of society. These shared traditional, cultural and social values and morals as mentioned by literature include; Charity, honesty, truthfulness, and respect for and fear of supernatural realities (Kinoti 1992). Motlhabi (1986) also draw attention to the fact that equivalents of the Ten Commandments in the Holy book (Bible), like prohibitions to steal, murder, commit adultery, telling lies or deceit, are encountered in the traditional concept of a virtuous life. Furthermore, Nigerian traditional values has a moral code that forbids doing harm to a relative, a kinsman, an in-law, a foreigner and a stranger, except when such a person is involved in an immoral act Adultery, stealing and other forms of immoral behaviour are strongly discouraged and whenever a suspected offender denies a charge brought against him, he would be taken to a soothsayer or made to take an oath for proof of innocence. Moreover, the traditional African ethics can be described in terms of; communalism (i.e. means that an individualâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s image will depend rather crucially upon the extent to which his/ 155

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her actions benefit others rather than him/herself, not by coincidence but by design); humanistic or anthropocentric (i.e. traditional cultural morality virtue is not about obeying the will of a god or pleasing him, but about obeying the will of the community and seeking the well-being of human beings), pragmatistic and utilitarian, tribalistic, and shame-oriented. It is important to note that these values are inextricably bound together and are to be comprehended in their totality as African cultural values.

4. Conclusions Religion in Contemporary Nigeria society was introduced by westernization with all its attendant temptation. For this reason it is open to abuse because many of the practitioners have taken advantage of the poor economic situation to deceive people and rob them of their belongings as exemplified in the play understudy. Soyinka had always advocated for a return to African traditional values and he creates character that serve as caricature to buttress his point. In the Lion and the Jewel Soyinka creates the character of Lakunle who is confused and shuffles between his culture and westernization which he hardly understands to make the point to Africans of the importance to remaining steadfast in their culture. In the Trials of Brother Jero, Soyinka used the same artistic device in advocating for a return to traditional values in our quest for societal regeneration. Cultural values are fundamental in all human societies which should be displayed in all human actions and activities. It is very important for these values to flow into religion and imbibe by the religious leaders. With the above highlighted current delinquency trend, the study concludes that the place of culture in the future of religion cannot be underplayed. This is so because indigenous cultural values place much emphasis on uprightness, truthfulness, contentment which are needed in making contemporary religion worthy to practice, religious leaders more respected and peoples trust on their leaders justifiable.

References Akinwumi, Akinbola. 2005. (Un) Making place, displacing community: the ‘transformation’ of identity in a Russia–Poland borderland. 2005: 951-956.

Appleby, Scott. 2000. The ambivalence of the Sacred: Religion, Violence, and Reconciliation. New York: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.

Biggs, John and Moore, Patience. 1993. The process of learning 3rd. ed. Australia: Prentice Hall.

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Bhatt, Chetan. 2012. “Secularism and conflicts about rights.” In Secularism, Racism and the Politics of Belonging, 6-9. London: Runnymede.

Hofstede, Geert. 2004. “Personality and culture revisited: Linking traits and dimensions of culture.” Cross-cultural research 38, no. 1: 52-88.

Kinoti, Henry. 1992. “African morality: past and present.” In Mugambi, J.N.K. & NasimiyuWasike, A., eds. Moral and ethical issues in African Christianity. Nairobi: Initiatives.

Lenshie, Edward and Abel, Johnson. 2012. “Religious Fundamentalism and Problem of Normlessness: Issues in Value System in Nigeria.” Global Journal of Human-Social Science Research 12, no. 9-C. Motlhabi, M. 1986. “The concept of morality in African tradition.” In Tlhagale, B. & Mosala, I., eds. Hammering swords into ploughshares; essays in honour of archbishop M.D. Tutu. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans.

Ngugi Wa Thiong’o. 2012. Weep not, child. NY: Penguin.

Omobola, Ojo. 2014. “Influence of Yoruba culture in Christian religious worship.” International Journal of Social Science and Education 4: 584-595.

Soyinka, Wole. 1998. Plays: The Trials of Brother Jero, Jero’s Metamorphosis, Camwood on the Leaves, Death and the King’s Horseman, Madmen and Specialists, Opera Wonyosi. Vol 1.

London: Methuen Drama.

Visalo, Phra. “The Dynamics of Religion in the Age of Globalization: Lessons from Indonesia, Philippines, and Japan.” The Asian Face of Globalisation: Reconstructing Identities, Institutions, and Resources 2003: 25.

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RESEARCH ASSOCIATION for INTERDISCIPLINARY OCTOBER 2017 STUDIES

Prison Radicalization in Bangladesh Present Scenario and Threats Md. Mostafizur Rahaman

Program Manager CAMPE & Associate Professor (Adjunct), Development Studies Department North South University, Dhaka, Bangladesh smostafiz_r@yahoo.com ABSTRACT: Prison radicalization is a global concern particularly in the moderate Muslim countries those are under threat for violent extremism by Islamist militant.

Though the aim of prison is to protect society by confining offenders in facilities that are supposedly safe, humane and secure and to ensure that offenders are actively participating in programs that will assist them in becoming law abiding citizens when they return to their communities. But prison settings present both risks and opportunities with respect to violent extremist offenders. Poorly managed detention facilities of any types could become potent incubators of radicalization though it is not the only place where violent extremist radicalization occurs. Bangladesh is one of the countries which is facing threat by Islamist militant. The law enforcement situation, democratic practice, injustice and discrimination among the different classes are setting fuel to become people radicalize. The prison situation of Bangladesh is very worse and it may become a hub for recruitment and brain wash place for Islamist militant. The key objective of the study is to assess the realities of prison radicalization in Bangladesh and the effectiveness of deradicalization programs. Based on the objectives the study has designed on qualitative approach.

The data was collected via using a semi structured questionnaire exploring the concept of radicalization, prison radicalization, process, key factors and ways to prevention from both from primary and secondary sources. The paper will give a real scenario of prison of Bangladesh, problems, management system of captured Islamist militants and interventions for deradicalization.

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KEY WORDS: Bangladesh, Islam, Islamist, Prison, Radicalization, Violent extremism, law enforcement.

Prison Radicalization Prison aims to protect society by confining offenders in facilities that are supposedly safe, humane and secure and to ensure that offenders are actively participating in programs that will assist them in becoming law abiding citizens when they return to their communities. But poorly managed prison of any type could become potent incubators of radicalization. It is not the only place where violent extremist radicalization occurs. Prisons have on many occasions been acted through individual deradicalization and disengagement and contributed towards reversing the process of radicalizations and undermined terrorist campaign on the outside.

Prisons are often said to be the breeding grounds for radicalization. Throughout history, prisons have served as recruitment centers and headquarters for ideological extremists, where they used their time behind bars to develop extremist philosophies and recruit others into their mode of thinking (Golam B, 2010). It plays an enormous role in case of radical and militant movement in the modern period.

There has also been a sharp rise in popularity of Islamic conversion in prisons, which is worth noting. Many of these conversions have a positive effect with inmates generally looking for a new direction in life. However, there has also been a rise in radical young inmates ganging together, idolizing terrorism and viewing terrorist association (real or imagined) as status. In the U.S. in 2006 there were 162,000 prisoners incarcerated in the federal prison system and six percent of the population seeking Islamic religious services. The number of converts to Islam in prison is estimated to be between 300,000 and 350,000 each year. At present prison radicalization has already spread out in many countries e.g. Afghanistan, Algeria, Egypt, France, Indonesia, Israel, Jordan, Morocco, Netherlands, Pakistan, Philippines, Saudi- Arabia, Singapore, Spain, UK, USA, Yemen etc.

One of the examples of prison radicalization is Abu Muhammad Al –Maqdisi who is one of the most important living Jihadi ideologues. He was imprisoned in Jordan in 1995 for 15 years and during his time in prison he sought out new recruits. His most famous recruit in prison was Abu Musab Al Zarqawi who became the leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq. Another case - Jail to Jihad of Indonesia highlights it duly. Afif was an inmate in a high-security Indonesian jail when he transformed from aspiring radical Islamist to soldier for Islamic State (ISIS), ready to sacrifice his life for a group based thousands of miles away in the Middle East. Afif ’s graduation from jailbird to jihadist 159

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shines a light on a (Indonesian) prison system where staff shortages, overcrowding and corruption have allowed extremists to mingle and emerge as determined killers in the name of Islam (Reuters 2016).

Radicalization in Bangladesh The trend of radicalization in Bangladesh does not have a long historical precedent.

A form of radicalization was rooted after the changes in political situation in 1975.

Successive governments after ‘75 tried to make civilian alliance under a military auspicious. Migrant workers particularly who went to the Middle East were exposed to a particular of Islam, namely Wahabi Majhab and more conservative Arab culture were another factor of this kind of Islamization in Bangladesh. Flow of money from Middle East in disguise of different aid or charity played an important role to strengthen different Islamic political parties.

The history of violent Islamist religious extremism goes back to the mid-1990s. First generation extremists were the Soviet-Afghan war returnee and created Harkat-ulJihad al-Islam (HUJI) in Bangladesh. The second generation appeared in 1996 with the advance of the organization named ‘Qital Fi-Sabilillah’. This organization transformed in to ‘Jamayat-ul-Mujahedin’ known as JMB in 1998. It was deeply connected with HUJI. The third generation of Islamic radicalization started from 2001, through the group known as Hizbut Tahrir. It had a direct linkage with an international movement on-going in other countries. The fourth generation commenced in 2007 through the group known as Jamatul Muslemin which later began to function as ‘Ansarulah Bangla Team’. They were influenced by Anwar Alwaki and presently claim to represent AlQaida at Bangladesh with the name Ansar Al-Islam. Presently Bangladesh is going through the fifth generation of this trend. Emergence of ISIS has hatched the fifth generation. This generation feels affiliated with the ideology of ISIS. In 2015, the JMB was divided into two groups, one was the older JMB and the new one who left the JMB for some ideological reason is known as Neo-JMB. This new group claims that they belong to the Bangladesh chapter of IS. The fifth generation is an educated young group, to be pursuing their objective of establishing an Islamic state in Bangladesh (Riaz 2016). Last year they led the most unprecedented savagery in Bangladesh during the month of holy Ramadan in 2016. That brutal incidence was realized in a restaurant at Dhaka by a group of 7 young attackers which extinguished the lives of 29 people, including 20 hostages (18 foreigners and 2 locals). All of the attackers were also killed during the rescue operation conducted by the Bangladesh Army. It was found that all of the attackers 160

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who were radicalized (to be jihadis) were educated and were from well to do families.

The flow chart of militant activities could have described as Liberal Islam Fundamental Islam Radical Islam Violent Islam

Methodology

The required data was collected both from primary and secondary sources. The major methods of data collection were existing research reports, program reports, publications relevant to prison radicalization and extremist violation in Bangladesh and countries like Bangladesh, Key Informant Interviews and Case Study. The key informants were selected from the different governmental and non-government organizations i.e. government officials who were directly or indirectly linked with prison, former Inspector General (IG) of Prisons, Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Prisons, and security analysts, lawyers (those who deal with prison related issues), academics etc. The data was also collected by using a semi-structured questionnaire exploring the concept of radicalization, prison radicalization, process, key factors and ways to prevention.

Prison of Bangladesh The prison system is one of the largest citizen welfare systems in Bangladesh, being managed by the Department of Prisons under Ministry of Home Affairs. The prison system follows a legal basis from the British colonial rulers framed in the 19th century (1894). It has altogether 9027 staff across the country including in 68 prison establishments - 13 Central Jails and 55 District Jails (Bangladesh Prison 2016).

Though most of the prison population is Muslims, no post of Official Imam in Prison mosque was found in the organogram of Department of Prisons. Prison officers and staff are not recruited with appropriate skills or trained adequately to encourage reform though trainings are provided to them through Prison Training Institute and Prison Training Academy.

Law Enforcement and Extreme Violence in Bangladesh Despite relative peace on the streets, the country was yet to emerge from its cycle of political violence. The governmentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s heavy-handed, repressive response to challenges from the political opposition and to national security from extremists provokes violent 161

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counter-responses, aggravating pressure on police and judiciary which is undermining rather than buttressing the rule of law. A resurgent extremist threat, symbolized by the killing of secular bloggers and foreigners and attacks on religious minorities in 2015 and in April 2016, adds to the security challenges. (ICG 2016) A staggering 5300 people, including 85 members of suspected militants and banned militant outfit Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh ( JMB) while one of Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT) were arrested in the first 3 days of a week-long special crackdown operated ( June 2017) throughout the country in the wake of a string of targeted killings, especially the murder of Superintendent of Police Babul Akter’s wife in Chittagong.

Although the nationwide operation was to deal with militants and other criminals, a number of BNP-Jamaat activists were among the arrestees. (Daily star 2016)

Vulnerability of Prison in Bangladesh Delays in Criminal Justice System Proceedings: The criminal justice system in Bangladesh operates with wide-ranging problems, including a lack of cooperation between the different criminal justice bodies and has resulted in an enormous backlog of cases in the courts, while the prisons remain severely overcrowded. Consequently, countless pre-trial detainees, most of them very poor, spend long periods in prisons waiting for their cases to be resolved.

A report referred to Judge Abu Ahmed Jamadar, Joint Secretary (Opinion) in the Law and Justice Division of the Bangladesh Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs (MoLJPA) who made following comment about the dire situation of Bangladesh’s criminal justice system. ‘In my five years at the Ministry, ‘I have watched the court case load increase day by day. At the end of 2011, there were 2.13 million cases pending before the Bangladesh Supreme Court and subordinate courts; at the end of 2012, that number rose to 2.45 million; end of 2013, it was 2.8 million’ (GIZ 2016).

Irregularity in Prisons: Corruption is also alleged to be rife among criminal-justice agencies. The ‘briefing session’ in Amdanikhana, a hall room where all the newly admitted prisoners are rounded up for it and to be allotted to the specific wards and cells is the “reception process” in prisons right from the start, according to an inmate who spent three terrible months in Dhaka Central Jail.

However, one needs to send taka 4,000 inside that jail so that the recipient gets taka 3,600. The taka 400 is the commission for the jail gate staff. In this way a prisoner in Dhaka Central Jail has to spend a minimum of around taka 30,000 a month for food and other services which the state is supposed to provide for free. (Daily Star 2016) 162

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According to a former inmate, ‘they can get any undue and illegal privileges by bribing the guards.’ For example, using mobile phone inside the prison or getting alcohol or narcotics, like marijuana or methamphetamines are not a problem at all.’ Availability of narcotics inside the jail has been a very old and well-known subject.

Overcrowding in Prisons: Prisons in Bangladesh are so overcrowded that “200 prisoners could be observed to be sleeping in a 40 square meter cell”. There is even a news report that 65 prisoners were crammed into a room suitable for 20 at most. They had no place for sleeping. They could only sit with their legs almost touching their chests.

This massive overcrowding makes it impossible for Bangladesh prisons to deliver UN defined minimum standards of adequate light, air, decency and privacy (GIZ, 2011).

The number of prisoners in all prisons of Bangladesh (as of 27/11/2016) is 79,034 where under-trial prisoners are 59,732 and convicted prisoners are 19,302 while the capacity of these prisons is only for 36,614 prisoners (Bangladesh Prison 2016).

Recurrent Engrossment of Islamic Militancy: There is a quick growth of Islamic militant groups in Bangladesh for over a decade. Although law enforcement authority sent many of them for trial, the growth is in its due course. At the early stages, only the people of religious institutions who formed extremist groups were engaged in radicalism. Recently it has been found that educated young minds have been radicalized and betrothed to create fear-provoking environment in the country as part of their interventions.

Militants out of Prisons on Bail: Some 800 militant suspects arrested in anti-militant drives in the last five years (up to April 2016) have secured bail from different courts.

Most of them were members of banned militant outfits such as JMB, Ansarullah Bangla Team and Hizbut Tahrir. After getting released on bail, they were allegedly carrying out gruesome attacks in different parts of the country. This refers to ‘weak investigation, slow trial’ (Daily Sun 2016).

Lax Surveillance over militants: According to a report published in a daily newspaper about an intelligence report submitted to the Ministry of Home Affairs, the accused militants, who subscribe to similar ideologies, manage to communicate with one another through various means since they have been staying in the same jail for quite a long time. The identities of the persons, who meet the militants claiming to be family members, are not properly verified. The report showed, “Gaining unfair advantages, the militants are keeping their networks operational beyond the prison walls.” It means that prison walls are failing to contain a thriving terror web as militants behind bars apparently take advantage of lax surveillance to discuss ideas 163

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and make plans and keep their networks operational outside through visitors. There are over a hundred accused militants in Kashimpur jail. Of them, more than 50 remain in the high-security unit (Daily Star 2016).

Lack of Policy Transformation: Prisons in Bangladesh are managed following Jail Code which consists of Prisons Act 1894, Prisoners Act 1900, Identification of Prisoners Act 1920, Rules made under Section 59 of the Prisons Act 1894 and Rules made under Section 60(a) of the said Act of 1894. This system has not been upgraded though we had farsighted recommendations for prison reform made by the Jail Reform Commission in 1980.

Rehabilitation and Deradicalization in Bangladesh The concept of rehabilitation is not explicitly mentioned in the constitution of Bangladesh. The essence of some articles can be extended to cover the rehabilitation issue, such as in article 14 and 35(1). Volume I (Part I) of the Bangladesh Jail Code Rules for the Superintendence and Management of Jails in Bangladesh (Revised edition 2006) mentioned the word – “rehabilitation” at least 11 times. First and foremost, it needs to grow the consensus that “Hate the wrong, not the wrongdoer” that might contribute to rehabilitation works where punishment fails.The rehabilitation of prisoners and ex-prisoners is a relatively new topic in Bangladesh, but one that is very close to the heart of Brigadier General Syed Iftekhar Uddin, the Inspector General of Prisons. As he explains, ‘a significant number of ex-prisoners re-engage in criminal activities after they are released due to a lack of proper rehabilitation facilities and failure to reintegrate into the society’ (GIZ 2016).

Some income generation skill development and education programs were taken for prisoners in Moulavibazar Central Jail. A garment factory having 26 knitting machines was established in the Dhaka Central Jail aiming towards skill development and rehabilitation of the prisoners. Bangladesh does not have any specific prison based deradicalization program (no viable information was found in the study or nothing was mentioned by any of the key informants). After 2005 a grass roots program was implemented mainly in the three regions historically known for violent extremism, recruitment to militant groups, crime and violence: Cox’s Bazaar, Bogra and Sylhet.

The program did not focus on rehabilitation of convicted extremists but was rather a broader-based, society-wide motivational program, targeting village madrassas, mosques, imams and religious leaders with a strong local following. ‘Bangladesh offered cash to lure militants away from terrorism’ who had ‘chosen a dark path’ and realized their ‘mistake’, and ‘surrendered’. A report revealed referring to the Chief of 164

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the Rapid Action Battalion-Benazir Ahmad, “If the militants want to come to the normal life, we will help them”. In this regard one of the key informants of this study said, “This strategy has been undertaken in other places such as Saudi Arabia and Indonesia as well.”

Conclusion and Recommendations The key finding of the study is the existence of Bangladeshis prisons as a space of extremely high vulnerability to extremist (and Islamist) radicalization. The major reasons for this high level of vulnerability includes; over-crowding (the number of actual prisoners was found to be over double than the capacity of the prison system), de-humanization of entrants into the prison system (due to highly prevalent prisons crimes and corruption), corruption in the prison system (creating inequality in treatment of prisoners), and so on. Moreover, the study also found that the dysfunctional criminal justice system is another major reason for radicalization of prisoners. The violence which is perpetrated in the name of “remand in custody” and prosecution of innocents through the justice system creates sufficient inducement for radicalization in the prisons. In that respect, the reforms of the prison system, without a reform and operation of safeguards within the constitutional scheme and criminal justice will have very little impact in reducing radicalization in prisons.

The paper failed to find the existence of any deradicalization programs within the prison system. This is primarily because the key informants have never heard of “deradicalization”. Moreover, there is no segregation of those charged and/or convicted under the anti-terrorism laws from the other prisoners. If the already radicalized elements were not identified within the prison system, it is unclear how deradicalization programs could be implemented exceptionally. However, there is a possibility that deradicalization programs are implemented as a part of other existing reform programs in the prisons.

Nevertheless, the question remains, can a complex programe like deradicalization be undertaken with prison staff who have very little knowledge about it.

Recommendations Prisons are not just a threat-prison may play a positive role in tackling problems of radicalization and terrorism in society. Hence, the prison system should continue to explore the root causes of inmate subculture, extremist interpretations of religious doctrines and how they lead to hatred and violence and the vulnerability of inmates to radicalism and launch proper deradicalization programs. Some possible ways in going about improving deradicalization programs could be by: 165

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• Improving and enforcing effective rules and procedures to ensure prison management and staff accountability as a way to reduce opportunities for prison radicalization; • Attuning staff capacity and leadership in prison as a way to help address prison radicalization; • Arranging a safe environment in prison where violent extremist radicalization can be identified early on and terrorist recruiters have less opportunity to target vulnerable individuals; • Utilizing all legal resources for gathering information on what is happening within prison as a way to identify potential violent extremist radicalization in prison; • Intensively monitor all forms of communication in prisons in order to detect any violent extremist radicalization, activities, plans including increasing surveillance and imposing restrictions on sending militant inmates’ to courts, their meetings with outsiders and their treatment at hospitals etc.; • Initiating rehabilitation and deradicalization effort in prison following the example of experienced countries that have already been successful; • Conducting risk assessment in order to determine risks of prison inmates’ susceptibility about terrorist ideology; • Furthering in-depth study on radicalization, prison radicalization and deradicalization in Bangladesh may be carried out with access to prison.

Finally, deradicalization programs have the potential to be of enormous benefit. Indeed, successful programs can encourage formerly dangerous individuals to stay away from terrorism and radical organizations. Innovative approaches to rehabilitation and deradicalization efforts in or out of prison should be initiated following the example of experienced countries those have already been successful in this regard. But all the time it should not be regarded as a panacea because there is a notion that “one size fits all”.

References Al-Lami, M. 2008. Studies of radicalization: State of the field report. England: University of London.

Aldoory, L. 2001. “Making health connections meaningful for women: factors that influence involvement.” Journal of Public Relations Research, 13(2), 163–185.

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Alexander, Y. 1999/2000. “Terrorism in the Twenty- First Century: Threats and Responses.“ DePaul Business Law Journal 12(291): 59-75.

Alexander, Yonah, 1992. International Terrorism: Political and Legal Documents. Dordrecht, Boston: M. Nijhoff.

Asch, S. E. 1955. “Opinions and social pression.” Scientific American 193, 31-35.

Asthana, N. C., and Anjali Nirmal. 2001. Terrorism, Insurgencies and Counterinsurgency Operations. Jaipur: Pointer Publishers.

AVID (General Intelligence and Security Service). 2006. Violent Jihad in the Netherlands. The Hague.

Bin Laden, others sign fatwa to ‘kill Americans’ everywhere. ( February 1998). Al-Quds al-Arabi.

Blanchard, C.M. 2008. Islamic religious schools, Madrasas: Background. (Order Code RS21654).

Congressional research service: The library of congress. Retrieved from http:// fpc.state. gov/documents/organization/61473.pdf.

Borer, Douglas A. 2000. Superpowers Defeated: A Comparison of Vietnam and Afghanistan.

London: Frank Cass Publications.

Calvert, J. 2010. Sayyid Qutb and the Origins of Radical Islamism. New York: Columbia University Cilluffo F, Saathoff G. 2006. Out of the shadows: Getting ahead of prisoner radicalization.

Washington, DC, USA: Homeland Security Policy Initiative.

Daily Star. 2015. retrieved from www.dailystar,net/star-weekend/spotlight/rotting-behindbars-137293 on 19/10/2016) Dearey M. 2010. Radicalization: The life writings of political prisoners. New York, NY, USA: Routledge.

Dwyer, J., D. Kocieniewski, D. Murphy and P. Tyre. 1994. Two seconds under the world: Terror comes to America the conspiracy behind the world trade center bombing. New York: Crown Publishers.

Enders, W. and T. Sandler. 2005. “Transnational Terrorism 1968-2000: Thresholds, Persistence and Forecasts.” Southern Economic Journal, Southern Economic Association, 71(3): 467-482.

Federal Bureau of Investigation Counterterrorism Division. The radicalization process: From conversion to Jihad. Available from: http://cryptome.or/fbi-jihad.pdf (accessed on 18/10/2016) Fernandez, L. 2009. “Organized crime and terrorism: From the cells towards political communication, a case study.” Terrorism and Political Violence 21 (4):595-616.

Guetzkow (Ed.) Groups, Leadership and Men. Pittsburgh, PA: Carnegie Press.

Gupta, R., 2004. Terrorism, communalism and other challenges to Indian security. Delhi: Kalpaz Publication.

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Hamm M. 2007. Terrorist recruitment in American correctional institutions: An exploratory study of nontraditional faith groups final report. National Institute of Justice. Available from: http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/220957.pdf.

Harrigan, J. 2012. “The rise of religious-based radicalism and the deradicalisation programme in Bangladesh.” In El-Said, H. De-Radicalizing Islamists: Program and their Impact in Muslim Majority States. London: Routledge.

Hassan, R. 2008. Inside Muslim Minds. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press.

International Crisis Group (ICQ). 2007. Islam and identity in Germany, report Europe 181.

Isma3 - listen: National consultations on eliminating prejudice against Arab and Muslim Australian.

Johnson, A., Carrell, S., & McGirk, J. 2003. “The war on terror: Is this the first evidence of a suicide bomb plot in Britain?” Independent on Sunday.

Kabir, N. A. 2007. “Muslims in Australia: The double edge of terrorism.” Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 33 (8), 1277-1297.

Trujillo, H. M., Jordan, J., Gutierrez, J. A., & Gonzales-Cabrera, J. (2009). “Field research in 25 Spanish Prisons.” Terrorism & Political Violence 21(4): 558-579.

Key Informants Interviewed 1.

Professor Dr. Ali Riaz, Chairman, Department of Politics & Government, Illinois State University, Illinois, USA

2.

Major General Abdur Rashid, Security Analyst and Executive Director, Institute of Conflict, Law & Development Studies (ICLDS)

3.

Brigadier General Shahedul Anam Khan ndc, psc (Retd), Editor, Op-Ed and Strategic Affairs, the Daily Star

4.

Air Commodore Ishfaq Ilahi Choudhury, Treasurer of Asia Pacific University, Bangladesh

5.

Mr. Amjad Hossain, Left Movement Activist and Former Political Inmate

6.

Brigadier General Zillur Rahman (Retd.), Former Inspector General of Prisons, Government of Bangladesh

7.

Barrister Muniruzzamn, Deputy Attorney General (Death Reference), Government of Bangladesh

8.

Anonymous, Deputy Inspector General, Department of Prisons, Government of Bangladesh

9.

Dr. Shahdeen Malik, Advocate, Supreme Court of Bangladesh

10.

Prof. Dr. Mizanur Rahman, Former Chairman, National Human Rights Commission of Bangladesh.

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Refugees and the Future World: Fuelling conflict of Ethnicities?

Md. Rajin Makhdum Khan

Bangladesh University of Professionals rajin_drmc@yahoo.com

Faizah Imam

Bangladesh University of Professionals faizah_imam.89@gmail.com ABSTRACT: This dissertation focuses on identifying the nature of the future world in respect to the advent of extended number of refugees. Refugee migration and crisis in outside the original countries owing to a deluge of refugees is an important phenomenon happening throughout the world currently. With the case study analysis of current refugee migration events in Asia, Middle East, Africa and the Americas, the paper tries to find out the future nature of the smallest unit of analysis for a long time â&#x20AC;&#x201C; nation state. All features of economic, religious, ethnic and cultural aspects taking into account, the core argument centers around whether the influx of refugees into outer or neighbor countries is increasing the possibility of ethnic conflict throughout the world making the future world a world full of feuds and conflicts. The dissertation also tries to find out the true aspects of Samuel Huntingtonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Clash of Civilizations theory and if the theory is going to be signified in a future world full of feuds and conflicts. With historical and contemporary analysis of the various cases of refugee influx, the paper also tries to measure the economic consequences of refugee migration and influx. Do globalization and liberal economies tend to survive or does the refugee influx prevent cooperation among ethnicities and states? The dissertation also attempts to find out whether refugee crisis would instigate ethnic nationalism and if the neoliberal world order would fall apart owing to the problems originated by huge refugee influx and migration.

KEY WORDS: Refugees, Influx, Ethnicity, Migration, Conflict, Nations, Clash.

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1. Introduction As we stand in the twenty-first century, the world remains apathetic to its ongoing events and ‘civil war’ has become a destiny of the world. Sectarian conflicts, ideological movements and revolution in warfare – all these things have made the world’s happenings much more complicated. While the post World War II world order aimed at preserving peace, the world is quite on the path to turn itself into another battlefield in Africa. Africa is more like the new Europe with its huge number of ongoing clashes with very similar characteristics like the pre WWII Europe. The decolonized states of Asia, South America and Central America does not exempt from having this clashes. Although these three continental countries do not have the events of war and heavy battles, persecution on the basis of religion or ideology has been a continual feature of these regions. John Berger has previously pointed out that ‘the twentieth century’ had been ‘the century of departure, migration, exodus and disappearance (Gatrell 2013, 1). As things are going on, the early twenty-first century is not walking on a much different path than its predecessor. The twentyfirst century’s beginning has been encircled with the influx of refugees. As Peter Gatrell points out, by the end of 2012, there has been an existence of nine million refugees in refugee settlements (Gatrell 2013, 1).

The forced migration of persecuted people in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Horn of Africa and the Great Lakes Region is a solid example that this century is not very different from its predecessor one in the aspect of refugee influx (Gatrell 2013, 1). Refugees had been, are and will be a constant reality of our living world. As globalization and intercommunication alongside interconnectedness increases by time, refugees and forced migration also seemingly increase. This constant reality throttles the harmonious society in many aspects. The argument therefore needs to cover the constructed social and psychological aspects and the stubborn persecution by the majorities or the rulers.

2. Who Are the Refugees?

The 1951 United Nations Convention relating to the Status of Refugees defines a refugee as a person‘who is outside the country of his nationality, owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality and membership of a particular social group or political opinion’ (Koser 2007, 71). However, this definition is criticized because it does not cover the aspects of environmental refugees who have 170

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fled their country of origin owing to the force of climate change and other natural disasters (Koser 2007, 71). The other criticism of this definition is that it does not count women or gender as a specific or different categorization of group or subject of forced migration (Koser 2007, 71).

Before the advent of the Refugee convention, a severe scarcity and difference in the perception of refugees seemed to occur. For instance, the Russians were willing to identify the people who were forced to leave their place of origin due to the decision of administrative resettlement or war strategy as forced migrants where the spontaneously leaving place of origin was counted as refugeedom (Gatrell 2013, 30). Another example is found in the interpretation of the Austro-Hungarians (Gatrell 2013, 30).

They preferred the term ‘evacuees’ for the people who were forced to migrate where ‘refugee’ was the term for people who willingly migrated to some other place rather than being forced.

In order to eradicate all these confusions, the refugee convention in 1951 was proclaimed. As it has grown old now, according to some scholars, this convention needs a revision for new amendments. According to Khalid Koser, one argument against this convention is that it needs amendment concerning the emergence of new type of events (Koser 2007, 71). Despite all these debate, arguments and criticism, the definition above is an indispensable one owing to its global application.

3. Constructivism: The Conflict of Perceptions Constructivism is also perceived as social constructivism. As we will discuss further, it is to be learned that constructivism merely depends on the structure of the society, social norms and social regulations that have been previously set up in the society and therefore influences the individual in many ways. Constructivists emphasize on normative and ideational structures as the instruments of shaping the social identities of political and individual actors (Reus-Smit 2001, 217).

Social Constructivism or, Constructivism, predominantly sheds a spotlight on the interaction and interrelationship between structure and agency through the regulation and occurrence of norms, ideas and interests (Steans et al. 2010, 183). The themes that are explained by the constructivist theoretical framework include the construction of national interests, human rights stretching, and international organizations’ role on state identities (Steans et al. 2010, 183). Constructivism in these explanations therefore do not interpret voluntary acts rather it proposes a social process run by the 171

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structural framework on a person bereft of a single person or individual’s influence than a collective effort (Steans et al. 2010, 183).

The constructivist agenda implies the role of constructed knowledge on the policy making of a country or a society (Steans et al. 2010, 191). This is where the event of the refugee influx and its impact takes place. As the refugees are persons who were forced to flee from their motherland or place of origin with a well-founded fear and panic of being persecuted, according to constructivism, this fright is to haunt them forever.

Even when they land at a new land where the norms and regulations are different than what they had experienced before and what they want from their constructed idea, they are caught in a dilemma again. The dilemma is a two-way traffic in this case.

Their place of origin persecutes them for being a minority or because of belonging to a particular group where they are alienated by their distinct cultural fruition and practice. Their new shelter also denies them with a fear of alien ideas and norms that they might inflict into the new area.

This idea is explained by Slavoj Zizek as the Europeans perceive the Middle Eastern and African refugees as a threat to their peaceful life owing to a constructed idea that these refugees are radical Islamists who might infect serious harm to their lives and the society (Žižek 2016, 1). They are caught in a double blackmail situation as said by him. They are being maltreated and hounded by a counter ideological force because of the difference in ideas and in the new shelter they are again faced with the similar problem. Constructivism extensively focuses on subjectivity and thus explains the conflict of perceptions and ideas. Identity is the key factor in the making of policies.

Identity is a solid characteristic that cannot be easily altered (Steans et al. 2010, 197).

Constructivism also identifies another problem of this refugee influx’s future. The persecution and forced fleeing makes the refugees experience brutal and despondent events that makes them individually dejected forever. The brutality affects their ideas and their perception of the world which makes them violent in the future and this can be attributed to the radical Islamist attacks by the Muslim refugees or the migrants.

Suppose a Syrian refugee who takes refuge in Vienna might feel an antagonistic feeling in future to the culture and norms of Vienna which are fundamentally very different than that of Syria. When he perceives this as a threat, the brutality endured by him might sway him to commit a violent attack on Christian Vienna citizens as his constructed idea of the misery he endured pursues him to do. In this case, we will eventually see whether the two-way traffic of fear for each other (permanent citizens and refugees) is evident and actually true.

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4. The Refugees of Twenty-First Century Since 1945, the worldwide refugee number is counted as 21.3 million whereas the people who cannot cross the international border but are forced to be internally displaced may constitute to an amount of 65.3 million (Betts and Collier 2017, 25).

UNHCR measured that about 8.4 million refugees lived in this world at the end of the year 2005 (Koser 2007, 75). The number of refugees has lessened through years from that of 17 million refugees in 1990 owing to the dramatic return of massive refugees to their home from that time being (Koser 2007, 75).

The largest contributor to the number of refugees is perhaps Afghanistan. The country had a number of 2 million refugees in 2005 mainly living in Iran and Pakistan (Koser 2007, 75). The other countries that created a massive influx of refugees owing to their internal political turmoil and violence include Sudan, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Somalia (Koser 2007, 75). Although Afghanistan has the shame of having the highest number of refugees, the continent mostly affected by political turmoil and persecution alongside brutal violence is Africa (Koser 2007, 75).

Refugees seek their asylum mostly in the industrialized countries in Europe. The United Kingdom is an exemplary country of allowing a good number of refugees or asylum-seekers (Koser 2007, 87). About 10 to 20 percent of the people were allowed to have asylum in the UK after cavernous observations (Koser 2007, 87). The United States of America has so far granted the maximum number of refugees or asylumseekers (around 54,000) where Canada (10,400) and Australia (11,700) were just behind the USA, although by a great amount of difference in the aspect of resettled refugees (Koser 2007, 75).

The protracted civil wars have contributed a lot to the massive influx of refugees.

UNHCR anticipated 38 different protracted persecution or fearful situations in countries owing to political or ideological clashes and therefore causing brutal civil wars producing about 6.2 million refugees in total at the end of 2003 (Koser 2007, 79). The Bhutanese refugees in Nepal, Afghan refugees in Pakistan and Iran, Somali refugees in Kenya, Yemen, Ethiopia and Djibouti are some examples of these protractedly settled refugees (Koser 2007, 79). During the civil war owing to a revolution in want of Muammar Gaddafiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s removal from the throne of the country, Tunisia accepted refugees from Libya in 2011 (Gatrell 2013, 290). By the end of 2005, the number of worldwide refugees was measured as 9.2 million (Castles 2006, 13).

Stephen Castles points out that â&#x20AC;&#x153;Refugees mostly come from the countries where wars, violence and human rights violations are taking place and the top ten statistically measured countries of origin of refugee population are identified as Afghanistan, 173

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Sudan, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Palestine, Somalia, Iraq, Vietnam, Liberia and Angola whereas the top ten host countries of refugees are Pakistan, Iran, Germany, Tanzania, the USA, China, Serbia, the UK, Saudi Arabia and Armenia.”

(Castles 2006, 13) The Rwandan Civil War, African World War, 20th Century Balkan civil wars and civil war in Chechnya have also generated a good number of refugees (Castles 2006, 19). Stephen Castles also identifies Azerbaijan as a protracted refugee situation country (Castles 2006, 20).

Persecution of Rohingyas in the Rakhine state of Myanmar has generated a huge amount of Rohingya refugee influx to Bangladesh and other countries (Southwick 2017). The official account of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh through registered report measures the number to be over 30,000 (Kabir 2017). Although the actual number is much higher than the official one, the official account does not provide enough faith on the fact that it is a minor issue. All these violent events and the huge influx of refugees have put the future of this century to a great dubiety. This century looks more likely walking on a similar path that of the twentieth century – the century of refugeedom.

5. Huntington’s Clash of Civilizations Samuel P. Huntington envisaged a new world order based on civilization (Huntington 2003, 20). The western idea of being universal was supposed to clash with the others (Huntington 2003, 20). His idea was based on a broad range of statistical measurements where the Muslim world was counted as a unified one civilization or group actor. But was his assumption really true? Muslims are fighting with each other in the Middle East. Are they really a unified single actor?

The Syrian refugees are the result of a sectarian conflict of the Muslims. Although he propounded that Muslims would have to stop fighting between themselves first and a core Islamic state (a leader in other words) would have to be established in order to counter the western civilization (Huntington 2003, 264-265). His core idea was however to the western approach and belief of being universal would further lead it towards a feud with the Islamic or Sinic civilization (Huntington 2003, 20).

This discussion would get prolonged if the whole book is to be summarized here.

Rather the focal point of refugees is to be taken into account for this discussion. The constructed brutality and violent outlook on life is the core idea that the refugees are to contain within themselves. If they are enraged and angered by the existence of an opposite ideology of what they have conceived forever, it is highly likely that 174

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they might fear their existence threatened again. Huntington put up the discussion of immigration as being a key trigger of the fear of the western people concerning radical Islam (Huntington 2003, 202-203). Refugees might become an evidence for Huntington’s argument that the Muslim civilization will confront the western civilization. The two-way traffic and the double blackmail, both are the core effects here. The brutality experienced in Syria or Libya can ultimately make a Muslim baby very much dejected about the world. This dejection only gets fueled if the western people try to prevent the Muslims from entering into their country, practicing their rituals and religious norms alongside criticizing their religion for being too much rigid. If this cannot be resolved, Huntington’s prediction might see a green light in the near future and refugees might ultimately fuel various conflicts of ethnicities in different western regions.

6. The Myth of Nation-State There has been nothing called a nation-state from a very long time in the world. In a modern globalized world, the idea of nation-state is as volatile and as vague as the air.

It can be felt in the mind and in the heart owing to the brain’s stubborn sticking to the idea but if anyone wants to physically witness whether there is a single nation-state, none can find it. The Germans have always been very proud of being Germans, but the country of Austria has been a forever loophole since the German reunifications.

Austria is also a German speaking language. Then what does prevent Austria from being a part of Germany? Germany’s identification as a nation-state can also be elaborated as a vague concept with the example of its national football team.

In 2010, more than half of the team consisted of children of at least one immigrant parents (Connolly 2010). Mesut Ozil, Sami Khedira, Jerome Boateng, Lukas Podolski, Miroslav Klose, Mario Gomez – all of these players are ethnically Turkish, Tunisian, Ghanaian, Polish or Spanish who were representing the national football team at that time. Germany has received more number of North African immigrants; specially Turkish and Tunisian migrants whereas France, Spain and Belgium have also received Algerian, Moroccan and Tunisian population. “The United States has always been a country of immigrants” – Samuel P. Huntington (2003, 202) insisted in his argument.

Michael Samers and Michael Collyer’s statistics of immigrants shows us that there can be no unilaterally purified nation-state in Europe (Samers and Collyer 2010, 24). All these aspects provide us with ample arguments that forced migrants newly entering the countries are not a new trouble for the countries when there has already been a huge amount of immigrants living. But the constructivist argument shows us the only 175

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counterargument – the violent experience and in turn – violent behavior might change the whole course of traffic and eventually turn into a devastating accident.

7. Conclusion: A World with No Harmony?

Nationalism is not a good spirit for an economically interdependent world order and specifically in this era of massive globalization. Nationalism can negatively create conflicts inside the state with its vague and volatile conception. Creation of enemies, glorification of the state in times of turmoil, overlapping with religion, and discrimination against minorities – all these can take place in a state owing to the spirit of nationalism (Cox 1998, 34-36). The economic consequence of refugee migration is another aspect why people want to prevent the influx of refugees. When new people come to a place, the job market of that place gets some new offering laborers. With increased number of laborers, the job market gets overloaded and threatens the job security of the people who have been living in that place for a long time. This makes the market efficient with a competition among labor-sellers but hurts people’s income and earnings. There can be debate regarding this among people, but it is more than evident that without earning, a man cannot live his life. Economic aspect of life becomes more dominant when the proper scarcity is faced. The refugee migration thus provides new contests for the ethnic people living in that region through challenging them in the market.

The old number of immigrants does not make us fearful of a conflict between the migrants and the local populace and it should be realized that they have already got integrated with the locals. This argument, however, insists on giving the new refugees more time for being integrated with the locals. But the constructivist agenda aforementioned and the economic threat the refugees throw towards the local populace makes a confrontation between each makes a confrontation between each much more believable than the existence of a peaceful atmosphere. With security and economic threat in the mind, a peaceful action should not be expected from the locals although a sensible government can always find a way to make things work out.

References Betts, Alexander, and Paul Collier. 2017. Refuge: Transforming A Broken Refuge System.

London: Penguin Books.

Castles, Stephen. 2006. “Global Perspectives on Forced Migration”. Asian And Pacific Migration Journal 15, no. 1: 7-28. doi:10.1177/011719680601500102.

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Connolly, Kate. “Germans Celebrate The Diversity Of Their ‘Multiculti’ World Cup Team”. The Guardian, 2010. https://www.theguardian.com/football/2010/jun/27/ german-football-team-ethnic-diversity.

Cox, John K. 1998. “Nationalism”. In Introducing Global Issues. Boulder, Colorado: Lynne Rienner Publishers, Inc. Gatrell, Peter. 2013. The Making of The Modern Refugee. 1st ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Huntington, Samuel P. 2003. The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order. New York: Simon & Schuster.

Kabir, Arafat. “Bangladesh should recalibrate its Rohingya policy”. East Asia Forum, 2017. http:// www.eastasiaforum.org/2017/02/21/bangladesh-should-recalibrate-its-rohingya-policy/.

Koser, Khalid. 2007. International Migration: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Reus-Smit, Christian. 2001.”Constructivism”. In Theories of International Relations, 217. Scott Burchill, Richard Devetak, Andrew Linklater, Matthew Paterson, Christian Reus-Smit and Jacqui True, 2nd ed. Hampshire: Palgrave.

Samers, Michael, and Michael Collyer. 2010. Migration. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.

Southwick, Katherine. 2017.” A turning point in the Rohingya crisis”. East Asia Forum. http:// www.eastasiaforum.org/2017/03/15/a-turning-point-in-the-rohingya-crisis/.

Steans, Jill, Lloyd Pettiford, Thomas Diez, and Imad El-Anis. 2010. An Introduction to International Relations Theory: Perspectives And Themes. 3rd ed. Essex: Pearson Education Limited. Žižek, Slavoj. 2016. Against the Double Blackmail: Refugees, Terror and Other Troubles with the Neighbors. Allen Lane.

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Mircea Eliade’s Research Method in the Field of the History and Philosophy of Religion Stelian Manolache

PhD, Assist. Prof. University Ovidius, Constanta, Romania stelian81stely@yahoo.com ABSTRACT: As a historian and philosopher of religions, a gifted narrator and talented essayist, with a fascinating work of articles, studies and research volumes (Eliade 1991, 93), Mircea Eliade must be discovered and decrypted in a religious key, leaving aside the confusion ethnic – aesthetic. Thus, Eliade affirms his own credo, writing that inside the same ethnical mass, the culture is produced not by the ethnic fibre, it is produced by a bouquet of nuclei developed spiritually, most of the time by religion (Eliade 1990, 40; David 2010, 27) ... the mystic experience – the functional actualisation of the religious reality – being the only effective one (Eliade 1990, 52). In this context, his friend Petre Ţuţea, wrote that Eliade must be thought/ understood inside the existential triangle God-human-nature, a triangle ruled by the category of the archetypal sacred and of the symbol (David 2010, 108), meaning the All-including Real, the unique cause of all things (Țuțea 2013, afterword).

His research approach on sacred and profane, also on the religious behaviour, is a complete method of the religious thinking (Țuțea 2013, 15), establishing a dialogue between science and religion for the sake of the Absolute Truth. Occasioned by the celebration of 110 years from the birth of Mircea Eliade, we will discuss in our paper this method included in the dialogue between science and religion, its originality, translated not only with the access to the Significance of the Truth through Revelation (Țuțea 2013, 15), but also with the freedom of thinking and aspiring to the immortality of the soul.

KEY WORDS: homo religious, sacred, profane, Emile Durkheim, Wilhelm Schmidt, Sigmund Freud, Carl Gustav Jung, Georges Dumezil.

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Preliminaries The beginning of the 20th century is characterised by the appearance of new historicalsocial-ethnological methodologic and phenomenological-psychological reductionist approaches in the research field of the sacred and the profane as well in the field of the behaviour of the religious man. From this perspective, the year 1912 is a turning point for the history and philosophy of religions, because, in an exceptional research coincidence, several works were publishes, while, during the second half of the century, they will be the premises for the development of a new research methodology for the religious phenomenon. The research published in 1912 starts with the appearance of The elementary forms of the religious life, written by the sociologist Emile Durkheim.

In his opinion, the sociologist must offer privilege to the religious phenomena, because religion contains from its origins the elements that will give birth, through transfiguration, to various manifestations of the collective social life, as science, art, poetry and morality.

For Durkheim, religion is an integrative social phenomenon, a natural manifestation of the human activity, an emanation of the collective consciousness, a universal and eternal objective cause of the religious experiments inside the society, also an a priori absoluteness aiming to manage the Sacred. In his research, the key concept is the notion of collective consciousness, meaning the sum of beliefs and feelings common to the members of the society.

This collective consciousness, transcending the individual consciousness, is present in religion and may be seen as a natural manifestation of the human activity, while the society is a superior metaphysical reality transcending the individual. A step further is taken by the priest Wilhelm Schmidt, author of The origin of the idea of God, bringing another method for the research on the origin and the life of religion, this time from a Christian perspective, an ethnological-historical-cultural perspective, highlighting the thesis of the primordial monotheism, the ancestral and universal character of the religion/religiosity based on the relation with a unique mighty Supreme Being. Also in 1912, Sigmund Freud finishes his work called Totem and taboo, starting his research on the origin and the being of religion from the idea of parricide of the father by the son. Another researcher, Carl Gustav Jung, publishes Transformations and symbols of the libido, also promoting the research of the human subconscious from the perspective of the psychoanalysis.

Raffaele Pettazzoni and his work Primitive religion in Sardinia configure a new perspective on the approach of the history of religions, by integrating the strong points of the previous scientific methodologies, and highlighting the historicity of each particular analysed religious phenomenon, revealing the complementary importance of the sociological, ethnological and psychological approaches â&#x20AC;&#x201C; all offering the necessary and opportune 179

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contextualization for a more adequate understanding of homo religiosus and the judicious understanding of his behaviour. Raffaelo Petazzoni shows that, for reaching a maximum of cognitive efficacy, the research of the religious phenomena must be performed according to the historical method, without minimising the contribution of new domains as archaeology, philological analysis, the critique off the written and oral traditions or the integrated analysis of the myths/mythologies and of the rituals, whose specialised contribution cannot be ignored.

A step further is made by Georges Dumezil, who considers that the research on the nature and the functions of the sacred, on finding the origin of the religions and on decoding the religious behaviours must be based on a double knowledge, a knowledge of the religious phenomena combined imperatively with a knowledge on the circumscribed institutional contexts.

Applying this working method with comparative historical and philological elements, Georges Dumezil intended to obtain an exact cognitive image of a prehistorical determined religious system, which generated directly or indirectly the religious systems historically accredited. He is interested mostly not in the religious ethnology and sociology, but in the effective architectural structure of the religious systems, and their functional infrastructure and mechanisms.

Based on these observations, after 50 years of research, the French researcher will publish his monumental work Myth and Epic (Dumezil 1993), where, analysing a series of particular socio-religious systems and highlighting their convergent elements, Georges Dumezil concludes on the existence of some well-determined tripartite hierarchical structure of a doctrine ideological and ritual-cultic content of each religious phenomenon.

This tripartite structure includes: 1. the magical and juridical power coming from the power of the god who establishes and justifies the divine law; 2. the physical force, used inclusively in the armed conflicts; 3. the fecundity, dutiful to the first two, but indispensable for their development.

These marks, specific to the archaic Indo-European populations may be found in time also in the western Christian world, in spite of the long historical metamorphosis. Here, between the 9th and the 13th century, the tripartite structure is highlighted in the poem written by Adalberon of Loan for Robert the Pious, a poem that presents the triad composed of oratores, bellatores and laboratores, a continuation of the old Hindu social categories: 1) the caste of the nobles and priests, 2) the caste of the warriors and 3) paria.

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The fundaments of Eliade’s thinking Born in 1907 in Bucharest, Mircea Eliade spends his childhood in various towns with military basis, as Râmnicu Sărat or Cernavodă, where his father a military professional works by contract; he returns in Bucharest in 1914 (Ţurcanu 2007). After finishing the primary school, he is admitted by the College Spiru Haret, where he is drawn by the study of natural sciences and chemistry. He starts during this period to publish a lot of articles, reaching a number of 100 articles in 1925 (Eliade 1991, 105). After obtaining the baccalaureate degree, he attends the Faculty for Philosophy, where he is amazed by the courses of the professor Nae Ionescu. His publishing activity continues in 1926 with the establishment of “Revista Universitară” and the cooperation to “Cuvântul”, where he starts to come closer to religion, especially to Orthodoxy. Similar to the ideas of Nae Ionescu, Eliade writes that: the orthodoxy is for us the authentic Christianity (Eliade 1990, 52).

We, the young generation, will be – no matter how late – Orthodox Christians. There will be present all those that previously have tasted the metaphysical meaning of life (Eliade 1990, 59). It is the period when he is drawn to the research of the History of Religions, through the works of some important names in the field as Raffaele Pettazzoni, Max Muller and Edward Tylor. Eliade is not much interested in the philological analysis of the religious texts of Max Muller, and in the evolutionist anthropology of Edward Tylor, but more in the ideas of Pettazzoni, who proposed the overcoming of the reductionist intellectual dualism by emphasizing the historical reflections (Ţurcanu 2007, 92), by researching the compared religions and by finding new research methods in the field of History and Philosophy of Religions. It is the time when, reading the works of Rudolf Otto, Tucci and Rene Guenon, Eliade begins to be interested in studying the universal character of the religions, generating his travel to India in 1928.

For three years, in Calcutta, he studies with a grant the Indian spirituality under the guidance of the eminent professor Dasgupta. He returns to Romania in 1933 and begins to teach at the University of Bucharest and to research religions, an activity confirmed in 1936 by the PhD thesis called Yoga, an essay on the origins of the Indian mysticism. With precursor as Emile Durkheim, from whom he uses the syntagma of sacred-profane; Rudolf Otto – highlighting the nature and the function of the sacred/das ganz andereand the contribution of the religious man to the act of the religious knowing of numen and of the phenomenology – in three stages of mirror, tremendum, fascinans – explaining the experiences through their connections; Gerard Van der Leeuw – from whom he uses the explanation of the inner structures of the religious phenomena, the religion and its two facets – the mystery and the lived experience; and Raffaele Pettazzoni – for a more adequate understanding of homo religiosus and the judicious aspect of the behaviour from 181

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a historical perspective, Mircea Eliade brings his own methodological orientation, a new and profound one, in the field of the history and philosophy of religions.

Due to his multicultural opening, he is appointed in 1940 as cultural counsellor to the Romanian Embassy in London and later in Lisbon. After the end of the World War II, he remains in Paris and later in Chicago, where he spends the last part of his life, until his death in 1984. Similar to his friend Georges Dumezil, Mircea Eliade will observe the essential role of the researcher â&#x20AC;&#x201C; historian of religions must give to the structures and the mechanisms of the religious thinking in generating ideal/doctrine contents of the beliefs, as well as interdependence relations created between the religious myths and rite/rituals.

Mircea Eliade will be interested in the binomial religious man vs. natural ma, the first category adopting a specific behaviour related to a transcendent factor called sacred, to which it relate and according to which it creates, based on faith, a certain religious life.

From this perspective, in the Treatise of History of Religions (1949), the Romanian researcher will aim to impose new research directions/methods for the history of religions, religious myths and symbols, sacred and homo religiosus. After researching the Indian religions and the beliefs of the peoples with no system of writing and after the meeting and the discussion with Gustav Jungon the problem of the religious archetypes and symbols, during the famous conferences from Eranos/Switzerland, Mircea Eliade will draw some fundamental conclusions: 1. the religious man tends to return periodically to the archetypal pattern, understood as example, paradigmatic model (Eliade 1946, 140), 2. these archetypes are placed on three levels: conscious, subconscious and transconscious; 3. by appealing to the symbol, the archetype takes various forms/morphologies. In the subconscious, it takes the form of dreams, hallucinations and reveries, and in the trans-conscious it takes the form of esthetical, ritualist or mythological visions; all these archetypes are to be found in the structure of the human conscious as a given and not as a historical-cultural acquisition of the time; 4. when the religious phenomenon reaches a critical level of intensity, the religious images and symbols â&#x20AC;&#x201C; treasured consciously or unconsciously by the man under the form of the archetypes â&#x20AC;&#x201C; become manifested/transfigures in a quantifiable manner, so the religious phenomena will be nothing more than the infinite dense expressions of the religious experiences lived in illo tempore.

For Mircea Eliade, this will be the priory orientation that must be assumed by the historian of religions and the specialised research should aim first on religion and not 182

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on history (Eliade 1952, 36). This is a total hermeneutics/interpretations (Eliade 1971, 115) as called by Mircea Eliade, one that is destined to decode and explain any meeting/connection of the religious man with the sacred. It represents, in fact, a search for original/ primary meanings, so the researcher will have, according to Mircea Eliade, a triple complementary responsibility: historical, phenomenological and hermeneutical.

We will discuss this triple responsibility as follows.

The historical perspective For Mircea Eliade, the historical research represents the first component of his research method, because no historian of religions can renounce to the historical context; the religious phenomena manifests during history, in well determined historical contexts. Thus, the historical perspective is necessary to reconstruct the evolution in time and space of the religious forms, of the concrete manner in which the cultural and economic-social factors influenced and modelled them. The archaic religions, as well the primitive religions or those less or not at all conceptually established, require this analytical perspective, as well as the big religions of the world, because they cannot be separated from their historical context without the risk of diminishing the correctitude of the diagnosis. In fact, any religious phenomenon can be seen as a historical act, because, as Mircea Eliade writes, “we know very well that we deal with religious phenomena and, by the simple fact that they are phenomena, in other words that they discover themselves, reveal to us, they are like a medal embedded in time, for the historical moment that gave birth to them” (Eliade 1952, 39).

In the same time, the Romanian researcher shows that the historian of religion should not substitute the work of the specialists from other domains, being obliged to keep the pace with the progresses in all the fields connected to his interests: “Certainly, there is no pure religious phenomenon, because religion is something human, and, implicitly, is also social, linguistic and economic” (Eliade 1948, 11). The information from the connected research fields will be corroborated with the information specific to the history of religions and will lead to a richer possibility of decoding, understanding and explaining correctly and integrative the religious systems, divine characters or religious rituals.

The phenomenological perspective If the religious phenomenon may be understood correctly only in social, economic, political and historical context, we must understand in the same time that “the historian 183

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of religions did not end his work by reconstituting the history of the religious forms or by extracting their social, economic and political content; he also must understand their significance” (Eliade 1971, 18-19). Thus, to be understood correctly, any religious phenomenon must be seen beyond its historical content and delimitations, in other words, it cannot be explained only using the means of the history and of the historiography, because they do not operate to a spiritual level. In his specific content, the relation with the sacred and the spiritual life step outside the area of a simple historical investigation. Eliade reproaches, in this context, to some researchers the fact that they reduced the history of religions to the desacralizing “isms” of the sociology, psychology or history, falling into sociologism, psychologism of historicism.

All these perspectives, for him, lost the essential fact that the religious acts are the sui generis experience of a meeting between the human and the sacred, an experience on three levels1. Thus, the Romanian researcher highlights the symbolical and spiritual force of the religious phenomenon, its inner coherence, taking from the work of Rudolf Otto–Das Heilige–the conclusions of the description and analysis of various manner of expressing the numinous, understood as fascinans, mirror, tremendum and sanctum.

If Mircea Eliade understood from Rudolf Otto the important of the specific feature of the religious experience, relating to the work of Van der Leeuw, Eliade will extend his research of the religious phenomenology seen as a study of the infrastructure of the religiousness.

Although appreciating a lot the work of Vand der Leeuw, Mircea Eliade reproaches to him the he reduced the ensemble of the religious phenomena to only three elements of structure: dynamism, animism and deism. Eliade’s progress in researching the religious phenomenology is to bring under an integrated vision the operationalisation of the systematic steps destined to decode exhaustively the religious acts/phenomena, correlated with profound diagnosis of the religious reality (Eliade 1971, 115). In parallel, Mircea Eliade is not satisfied only by analysing the historical manifestations of homo religiosus; he tries to understand deeper its significances.

The phenomenological approach put him in the situation to decode the religious acts in an attempt to transcend the temporality and to come into contact with a last reality; thus, the fundamental role of the historian of religions is to deduce and decode the historical and cultural contexts that made possible a certain religious act/phenomenon (Eliade 1962, 242). For this, Mircea Eliade uses an adequate terminology, that of kratophany/hierophany/epiphany - a quantifiable manifestation of the sacred – trying not only to reconstruct its manifestation – related to rite, myth, cult or god – but also to make possible/intelligible the manifestation of the sacred into the world2.

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This is the centre of Eliade’s research method, because he assumes the mission of identifying the presence of the transcendent in the human experience, in what is more reducible and original in the construction of the man: before writing the history of one thing, it is necessary to understand well the thing in itself and for itself (Eliade 1952, 36).

The sacred as hierophany manifests as an objective reality, revealed from an order different from the natural one, an active entity making its presence known and showing to the human in many ways (Eliade 1948, 24). The so-called das Ganz andere becomes recognisable: (a) in a multitude of veiled forms, from the symbolical practices of production to the productive types of works and the ritualist sacrifices and concrete wars or (b) in the mythical acts of various gods, the actualization of their acts becoming examples of survival the daily life of the believers (Eliade 1948, 15-16).

In conclusion, the sacred manifests as a reality belonging to a level different from the natural one, is never in a pure state, but it is and remains always the same; the sacred manifests in something, through something and with (next to) something, every time in a direct correspondence with the numinous world.

In other words, the kratophany/hierophany as a manifestation of the sacred covers inside the phenomenology the field of the subjectivity and the field of the objectivity in the same time. What is specific to these manifestations is their content structured on three levels: 1. the natural object – a “house” of the sacred 2. the invisible reality – the sacred per se and 3. the mediator object of the revelation (Ries 1978, 80).

While the natural object remains what it is, because the sacred stone remain as stone, and the sacred tree remain as tree, the invisible reality designates the opening to the transcendence, to the world of the gods, the third element, the mediator element, represent the central factor because, inside any element or common being, there is embodied all that is something else, the biggest mystery, the sacred as totality, but one that is self-limited and historicised.

The hermeneutical perspective For Mircea Eliade, the merit of the phenomenological method resides in the identification and the morphologic and typological classification of the religious 185

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phenomena, but, beyond this major and incontestable results, it permits no progress for knowledge, because the fact that a myth or a ritual is always historically conditioned does not explain the appearance and the existence of that myth or ritual. In other words, the historicity of the religious experience cannot tell us what is it and its fundamental significance (Eliade 1971, 107), as well as we may observe the sacred in its manifestations, without their study revealing us what the sacred is or the metaphysical essence of the religious experiences.

In this context, the role of the specialist in hermeneutics becomes decisive for a deeper knowledge in the field of the history of religions; while the role of the phenomenologist is to observe the absolute reality and highlight the presence of the mediator agent, the hermeneut has the difficult mission to deliver the content of the message revealed through the mediator agent.

For Mircea Eliade, this message is closely connected to the experience of discovering the sacred space a primary religious experience. The sacred space opens above, intermediated by the symbol, which connects the phenomenal world and the numinous world, the divine world are, on one hand, imago mundi, and, on the other hand, axis mundi, “uniting” the celestial with the earth. Mircea Eliade underlines that “…the appearance of the sacred not only projects a fix point in the amorphous middle of a profane space [...], but it also creature a level rupture, opening the communication between the cosmic levels and making possible the ontological passage from a way to another one” (Eliade 1971, 107).

In the heterogeneous profane space, the “level rupture” generates the centre/ axis of the world used for the communication with the transcendent. The role of the hermeneutics is to perform the exegesis of the religious acts, to compare and order them from the most significant perspective, explaining in the same time their revealed message and extracting the trans-historical content from the historical and phenomenological acts: “I think that it is useful to repeat that homo religiosus represents the total man; thus, the science of the history of religions must become a total science […]; it is not enough to observe the significance of a religious phenomenon from a given culture, because its message must be decoded, one that has a cipher as all the religious phenomena have” (Eliade 1971, 107).

In this context, Mircea Eliade insists on the capacity of the hermeneutics to put the man in contact with the spiritual world, a superior contact from the point of view of the metaphysical content: “in the end, the history of religions is a total hermeneutics 186

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called to decode and explain the meetings of the man with the sacred, from ancient times until our days” (Eliade 1971, 30-31). Due to the hermeneutics, the history of religions becomes rigorous and exact, beyond its strictly intuitive valences. For the risk of ignoring or vulgarizing the religious forms or their significances, the hermeneutics brings the solution of the possibility to decode religious meanings and messages, otherwise inaccessible, translating them into a common language and preserving their intrinsic value, without substituting “the history of religions to the religious experiences or to the experience of the faith” (Eliade 1971, 19&124-125), because, highlighting the last mentioned, we could dilute or even compromise the significance and the scientific content of the science.

Conclusions For Mircea Eliade, the history of religion is a total science; thus, it must be approached from a triple perspective: historical, phenomenological and hermeneutical. If the historical research places all the religious phenomena in a well delimited temporal frame from social, political, economic, etc. points of view, and extracts conclusions derived from this type of contextualization, the phenomenological perspective treats the religious phenomenon as a unique experience, through the type of experience created by the meeting between the human and the divine in a well delimited historical context and generates a certain behaviour for the one experiencing the contact with the divinity. Implicitly, the phenomenological vision will permit the scientific inventory of various religious behaviours, and, in the same time, their morphological and typological evaluation.

Based on the achieved accumulations, the hermeneut will interpret and order the religious phenomena and behaviours, decoding their trans-historical perennial message. The triple perspective approached by Mircea Eliade has as centre of its preoccupations the man with religious behaviours, homo religiosus, who, through the natural revelation, intuits the reality of the sacred, of the divinity, even he is able to understand it only symbolical, incomplete and diffuse.

Thus, the man experiences the presence of the sacred as a mystery bursting from the transcendence and coming into contact with the immanence, because the most physiological acts – hunger, sexuality, survival in a world dominated by the terror of the history – can be put in symbolical connection with the divinity through the ritual. In fact, the man searches continuously to relate to the sacred, by any mean or method, seen as legitimate in the absence of the access to the supernatural revelation; understanding this aspect, the historian of religion has to decode the manner the 187

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man acts in the name of the divine face he was created after and whom he wears in any circumstance.

Notes The first level is the concrete historical one, where the religious act seem to be very complex and heterogenous; the second level is the psychic-mental one, specific to the private religious experience, relevant from a phenomenological and hermeneutical perspective; the third level is the level of the “spirit”, where the sacred resides, its manifestations forming what is called in phenomenology a religious act or phenomenon. The first level permits us to investigate the religious phenomenon under the aspect of 1) the sacred itself; 2) the sacred acts and 3) hierophanies. The second level reveals the meanings of the religious experience lived as a manifestation of the sacred. Finally, the third level sends us to the ultimate, transcendent and incomprehensible, reality. Cf. Cristian Petru, Natura şi cunoaşterea faptului religios în religiologia fenomenologică, in ***, Raţiune şi credinţă, Bucureşti, Editura Ştiinţifică şi Enciclopedică, 1983 p. 243.

2 Eliade, Traité de l’histoire des réligions, p. 12; p. 19. Per se, the revelation of the sacred is a mysterious act, belonging to a reality which is not part of the natural world. Cf. Idem, Sacré et profan, translated by Brînduşa Prelipceanu, Bucureşti, Humanitas, 1995, p. 15.

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References David, Dorin. 2010. De la Eliade la Culianu. Cluj Napoca: Eikon.

Dumezil, Georges. 1993. Mit şi epopee, trad. Francisca Bălticeanu, Gabriela Creţia, Dan Slusanschi. Bucureşti: Ed. Ştiinţifică.

Eliade, Mircea. 1948. Traitéd’histoire des religions. Paris: Payot.

Eliade, Mircea. 1952. Images et symboles. Paris: Gallimard.

Eliade, Mircea. 1962. Mephistophélès et l’androgyne. Paris: Gallimard.

Eliade, Mircea. 1971. Nostalgie des origines. Paris: Gallimard.

Eliade, Mircea. 1973. Fragment d’un journal. Paris: Gallimard.

Eliade, Mircea. 1990. Profetism românesc. Bucureşi: RozaVânturilor.

Petru, Cristian. 1983. Natura şi cunoaşterea faptului religios în religiologia fenomenologică. In vol. *** Raţiune şi credinţă, Bucureşti: Editura Ştiinţifică şi Enciclopedică.

Ries, Julien. 1978. L’Expression du sacredans les grandes religions, Louvain-la-Neuve. Ţurcanu, Florin. 2007. Mircea Eliade. Prizonierul Istoriei. Bucureşti: Humanitas. Ţuţea, Petre. 2013. Mircea Eliade. Cluj Napoca: Eikon.

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RESEARCH ASSOCIATION for INTERDISCIPLINARY OCTOBER 2017 STUDIES

The Concept of Culture in Educational Management Samuiel Bâlc

PhD, Assistant Professor Bucharest Baptist Theological Institute, Romania samybalc@gmail.com ABSTRACT: There can be no effective education if it fails to present to those involved in the education process a clear vision of God and life, starting from the aspirations and needs of those in a particular cultural context and depending on them to organize the learning process. Such education, without a prospect based on the teaching of Sacred Scripture and without adaptation to the cultural context, would be a vain attempt and promotion of empty values.

Those involved in Christian education must be prepared to confront contemporary pluralism, to take into account the cultural context and to affirm without reservation the Absolute Truth, which is the Word of God. In order to do this, we need welltrained people, able to understand the current context and willing to engage actively in the formation of tomorrowâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s generation. To take an attitude of indifference to what is happening in these times means to abandon the mandate that was entrusted

by Christ to all who are called Christians (Matt 28: 19-20).

This article will present the role of culture in the management of education, emphasizing the impact it has in the educational process. The experience of the past in education must inspire caution and reserve towards the new theories, thus avoiding the present pedagogical chaos.

KEY WORDS: person, culture, education, value, behavior.

It is known that each person is the bearer of ways of thinking, feeling and manifestations acquired throughout life. All these individual peculiarities come from the social environment in which that person grew and gained life experience. The term defining this aspect is that of culture.

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According to Barnouw, “culture is a whole complex of knowledge, beliefs, art, legislation, morals, customs, and any capacities and skills acquired by a person by identifying him as a member of a particular society” (Barnouw 1963, 5). The definition presented by UNESCO in 1982 in Mexico, at the World Cultural Policy Conference, highlighted the following: By culture, we now understand all the distinctive, spiritual, and material, intellectual and emotional traits that characterize a society or a social group. It includes, in addition to art and literature, the modes of living, the fundamental rights of the human being, the systems of values, traditions and beliefs (Weber 2003, 101-102).

E. Schein defines culture as “a set of fundamental norms that a given group has invented, discovered, or built to solve problems of adaptation to its environment and internal integration” (Schein 1983, 13-28). On the other hand, Bouyer defined culture as “the coherent set of common attitudes of employees in the context of their productivity” (Bouyer 1984).

One of the definitions of culture, which is most often referred to in literature, belongs to Hofstede. According to him, “culture is a collective program of the mind that distinguishes members of a group from categories belonging to another group or another category” (Ciascai and Marchiş 2008, 8).

Culture includes significances, values, beliefs, norms, and artifacts. In addition, Liliana Ciascai and Iuliana Marchiş stated: “culture is the core of individual and social identity and is a major component of the reconciliation of group identities in the context of social cohesion. The analysis of culture refers to all the factors that shape the individual modes of thinking, behavior, feeling and action (of individuals as members of society) (Ciascai and Marchiş 2008, 9).

The term culture is therefore a collective phenomenon that develops over time and implies a fluid past-present-future. It represents “the total knowledge, skills, and common patterns of behavior that they have in common and which the members of a society transmit” (Ralph Linter).

Any effective management must take into account several dimensions of culture, namely: • Objective culture the totality of cultural values ​​that determine the style of a period • Institutional culture comprising the State, the Church, the School • Personal culture is related to the attitude and behavior of each one towards culture 190

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Although defining and understanding culture is important, how it shapes us as people is more important. In this respect, Aurelia Balan stressed that: The real value of culture is stated in its relationship with civilization, [...] the substance of culture is formed by its spirit, its needs, while the substance of civilization is the matter: the biological and the satisfaction of its requirements and needs [...] The two components of history, culture And civilization, must be constantly in an interaction, similar to that between the soul and the body, to be mutually dependant. [...] The civilized man is indeed the one who is educated, the cult man, self-mastery and noble behavior, a nobility acquired through culture, not only through the simple family descendence, with noble blood (Bălan-Mihailovici 2001, 11).

Regardless of how culture is defined, more specific elements can be identified, as evidenced by the majority of specialists in the field: • Culture is a collective intellectual phenomenon. It consists of a set of values, behaviors and symbols that distinguish the members of a group from those of another group. It is acquired through learning and experience and characterizes man as a social being. It is the spiritual reflection of the inter-human relations and of the relations between society and nature. It is transmitted on the background of gradual accumulations from one generation to the next. It changes over time, adapts gradually and continuously, even if the individual or social forces are trying to oppose change.

• Culture is influenced by the action of several factors, which clearly delimit the spheres of culture: • National culture - defined by reference to a determined national space, interacts with regional and subregional cultures, geographically defined, historical, political and economic factors, language and religion • Industrial culture - highlights the specificity of a branch or sub-branches, being determined by factors such as the nature of the decision-making process, the technological dynamics, the degree of innovation, etc.

• Functional culture - it expresses the values o​​ f a certain functional splicing within the organizations: production, accounting, marketing, financial, etc.

• Professional culture - expresses how the person is educated, trained, trained and motivated to achieve a specific work effort • Organizational culture - is determined by a system of beliefs and values ​​shared by all members of an organization that is formed within it and guides the behavior of employees 191

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• Culture must be regarded as an integrated one, as a multi-level system.

• On a first level are the symbols, that is, those expressions, images, objects that have a specific significance for those belonging to a particular culture.

• Another level consists of behavioral norms, such as address/greeting formulas, ways of achieving interpersonal relationships, traditional habits, rules to be observed in intergenerational relationships.

• On a deeper level, the values, respectively the knowledge acquired and assumed in a community, are placed on the basis of which the members interpret the reality and define their social behavior.

A successful educational management will therefore also take into account the concept of culture, given the impact it has in the educational process. Christian education must pursue the preparation of man both for this life and for eternal life. To achieve this, the emphasis should not only be on information but also on training. Despite the aggressive invasion of humanistic thinking, Christian education must focus on Christian values based ​​ on a living relationship with God, on a biblical view of the world and life, and on living in accordance with Christian principles and values ​​in the current cultural context.

Christian education must be based on well-defined finalities aimed at a well-defined outcome. Depending on these goals, the values t​​ o be transmitted will be determined; the most suitable methods, organizational strategies will be chosen to best transmit and receive these values, and the most effective evaluation methods will be chosen to determine the degree of assimilation of these values.

The way people choose to express themselves can, therefore, bear the fingerprint of the culture that determined their education. Personal experiences, the family and collective framework, the culture in which a person develops as an individual, etc., will determine the type of behavior. The complex processes of organizing society in different human communities cannot be understood without taking into account the aspects of cultural integration. The culture of a society is its memory; it constitutes the totality of the values ​​that must be transmitted from generation to generation.

As can be seen, education cannot be dissociated from culture, with human behavior developing and expressing itself in various socio-cultural contexts. In this respect, in order to understand how culture influences the educational process, the similarities and differences existing in intercultural relations must be analyzed and understood starting from the identification of the essential elements, but also from the way of organizing each cultural system.

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References Barnouw, V. 1963. Culture and Personality. Homewood, Ill: Dorsez Press.

Bălan-Mihailovici, Aurelia. 2001. The History of Christian Culture and Civilization. Bucharest: Oscar Print.

Bouyer, F.1984. “Cercles de qualité et culture d’entreprise.” Revue francaise de Gestion, Nr. 47-48, September-October.

Ciascai, Liliana & Iuliana Marchiş. 2008. Intercultural and Media Education. Cluj-Napoca: Cluj University Press.

Schein, Edgar. 1983. The Role of the Founder in Creating Organizational Culture, Organizational Studies.

Weber, Raymond. 2003. “An Overview of Cultural Policies.” Contrafort Magazine 3-4 (101102) Cultural Policies, March-April, Chisinau. http://www.contrafort.md/2003/101102, Accessed on 16. 05. 2013.

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RESEARCH ASSOCIATION for INTERDISCIPLINARY OCTOBER 2017 STUDIES

The Impact of Anti-Terrorism Laws on Religious Freedom: Cameroon’s Approach in Combating Terrorism and the Role of the Church Eric Che Muma

LL.B, DIPL, LL.M, PhD Candidate Justus Liebig University Giessen, Germany meeteric2@yahoo.com ABSTRACT: Recent developments in international human rights law have revealed that humanity is at great risk of instability and a likely effect of World War III, which may result from Terrorism; the world’s most challenging problem and the biggest threat to international peace and security. The world at large and Cameroon in particular, has suffered from great atrocities caused by terrorist groups. One of such groups is Boko Haram in the Northern part of Nigeria. In a similar vein as Nigeria, Kenya, Chad, United States of America, Belgium, France, Turkey, Britain, Germany and just to name a few, have also been affected by militant groups such as Alshabab, al-Qaeda and ISIS. The devastating effects now echo negatively on fundamental human rights and freedoms, most especially on religious freedom and migrationrelated issues. Cognizant of its impact and with the aftermath of the 11 September 2001 terrorist attack in the United States, several States, if not all, in an attempt to protect national security, have developed measures to fight against this outrageous act-terrorism. In an attempt to protect national security and curtail terrorism, states have gone beyond their obligations to take steps in line with their constitutional processes by intruding in some basic freedoms. What remains questionable is whether counter-terrorism laws adopted by states are applied for the purpose for which they are intended. The significance of this paper is to critically analyze and assess the impact of anti-terrorism measures on religious freedom (human rights) with Cameroon’s approach in a comparative perspective and the role of the church in peace building and policy making for a better world and development.

KEY WORDS: religion, terrorism, countering terrorism, human rights, church, politics.

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1. Introduction Although the issue of human rights protection is a product of long history of the struggle for peace and the rule of law, serious efforts to legally recognize and protect human rights against terrorism in the world is very much a recent phenomenon.

Terrorism as the term connotes, is the worst form of threat to the long lasting peace humans have suffered for since the aftermath of World War II and the September 11 terrorist attack in the United States.1 A day characterized by an unprecedented shock and sufferings in the history of mankind and the United States in particular.

Since then and in 2013 the world at large and Cameroon in particular, have suffered great atrocities caused by terrorist groups. One of such groups is Boko Haram in the Northern part of Nigeria.2 In a similar vein as Nigeria, Kenya, Chad, United States of America, Belgium, France, Turkey, Britain, Germany and just to name a few, have also been seriously affected by militant groups such as Alshabab, al-qaeda and ISIS. The devastating effects left behind far reaching consequences on human rights and fundamental freedoms, most especially on religion and migration related issues. This may have resulted from religious diversity, the quest or desire for power or continuous stay in power and economic interests. As a consequence, several attempts have so far been made by states in general and Cameroon in particular in countering terrorism and violent extremism or radicalization through the adoption of Anti-terrorism laws or legislation, the establishment of border control and restrictions.3 Whether these measures are in line with their human rights obligations and in respect for fundamental freedoms (freedom of religion) and provides sufficient guidance to those charged with their execution to enable them to ascertain what sorts of freedoms are properly restricted and what sorts are not, when and how, is a matter of great attention.

Although the ultimate aim of every state is to protect national security, anti-terrorism measures are more often than not, misused by states at the detriment of fundamental liberties. This paper examines the impact of anti-terrorism laws on religious freedom as a fundamental human right with case study on Cameroon to ascertain the extent to which anti-terrorism laws may help to promote respect for peace, human rights and fundamental freedoms.

This paper starts by considering the scope of freedom of religion as a fundamental human right, its global and regional legal framework for protection under international law and the national legal framework for protection in Cameroon. The Obligations of states will be given due consideration. It will further address Terrorism and the impact of Cameroonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s anti-terror law on religious freedom as a framework for the protection of national security and peace. A comparative analysis of the compatibility of national 195

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counter-terrorism measures adopted by states will be taken into consideration to demonstrate how other states address this problem and the significant role of the church in peace building, countering terrorism and the promotion of religion or human rights. The paper concludes that despite the absence of a fixed and global or unified definition of terrorism, such studies show that there is no perfect anti-terrorism law in Cameroon and that Cameroon should review its anti-terrorism law and learn from the experiences of other nations in a globalised and increasingly interdependent world.

2. Freedom of religion as a fundamental human right One of the most fundamental freedoms and liberties inherent to everyone from birth is the right to freedom of religion. The term religion or freedom of religion literally means the right to adhere to any form of religion or none, to practice or abstain from practicing religious beliefs, and to be free from governmental interference.4 The right to freedom of thought, conscience, religion or belief (hereinafter freedom of religion) is intrinsically linked to other fundamental freedoms such as freedom of expression, association and assembly. It is commonly described as an indispensable right of man and a foundation for democratic society.5 It is also one of the most vital elements that make up the identity of believers and their conception of life. Religious freedom is primarily a matter of individual thought and conscience, which is absolute and unqualified but its manifestation may have an impact on others. Freedom of Religion has gained international recognition thereby making it a very significant element of the modern perception of human rights. Before the development of international law, freedom of religion had gain considerable recognition in domestic laws of some states.

For instance, the First Amendment to the US Constitution points to the fact that, Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.6 The establishment of religion clause of the First Amendment, according to Black J in Everson v Board of Education of the Township of Ewing7 means that, neither a state nor the Federal Government can set up a church. Neither can pass laws which aid one religion, aid all religions, or prefer some religion over other or can force nor influence a person to go or remain away from church against his will or force him to profess a belief or disbelief in any religion . . . In the words of Jefferson, the clause against establishment of religion by law was intended to erect â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;a wall of separation between church and stateâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. In addition, in his second state of the Union address in 1941, Franklin D. Rooseveltâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s, pointed out that freedom of religion is the freedom of everyone to worship God in his own way . . . everywhere in the world.8 This, however, 196

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demonstrates the extent to which freedom of religion is fundamentally important to everyone and the extent of it absoluteness. In other words, every state must remain neutral and separate from religion.9 The 1948 declaration did not only guarantee the right of citizens but also prevents governments from interfering with and unfairly discriminating practices on religious freedom. The scope of its protection seems very wide and covers diverse practices. According to David Saperstein, Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom (IRF) ‘‘there is an absolute and unequivocal need to give voice to the religiously oppressed in every land afraid to speak of what they believe in; who faced death and live in fear, who worship in underground churches, mosques or temples, who feel so desperate that they flee their homes to avoid killing and persecution simply because they love God in their own way or question the existence of God.’’10 Though, not legally binding, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (hereinafter UDHR),11 in clear language proclaims that, ‘‘everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.’’12 The scope of what constitute freedom of religion is guarantee to everyone and recognizes religion as a fundamental human right which must be given considerable respect by all states without interference most especially during their constitutional processes and in the realization of their respective human rights obligations.

This is also clearly affirmed in the EU guidelines on freedom of religion13 which point to the fact that, freedom of thought, conscience, religion or belief, applies equally to all persons. It is a fundamental freedom that includes all religions or beliefs, including those that have not been traditionally practiced in a particular country, the beliefs of persons belonging to religious minorities, as well as non theistic and atheistic beliefs. The freedom also covers the right to adopt, change or abandon ones religion or belief, at one’s own free will. Like freedom of opinion, conscience and religion, freedom to change ones religion or belief is absolute and is not subject to any interference by the state.14 The expression ‘‘right to freedom of thought and conscience’’ implies the right of everyone to develop an autonomously thoughts and a conscience free from limitations from external or state influence. It forbids a state from interference through brainwashing and indoctrination.15 States are obliged to respect the individual’s freedom of conscience both positively and negatively by taking reasonable and appropriate measures to protect the rights of the conscientious objector and by refraining from actions which punish the objector or discriminate against him or her. The fundamental nature of freedom of religion proves beyond all 197

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reasonable doubt that, freedom of religion is a non derogable right which deserves greater protection free from states interference or political influence. Its protection has gained far-reaching consequences both globally and regionally and in the domestic laws of every state or nation.

3. International Legal Framework For Protection Since time immemorial, freedom of religion has gained considerable protection under international law and in the domestic laws of some civilized nations or states. Amongst which are global treaties, regional and the domestic constitutions of state parties.

Notwithstanding the different levels of protection, the principles of universality, interdependence and indivisibility, equality and non-discrimination still play a very prominent role to enable individuals or states to invoke any of the frameworks when faced with issues on religion.

3.1 Global Framework

The global framework for the protection of the right to freedom of religion sparked up just after the adoption of the UDHR which incorporated two sets of rights into a single document. It entrench religion under part one as a fundamental and substantive right with great certainty. In spite of this, the declaration is a soft law which has no binding effect. Few years after, the International Covenant on Civil and Political rights (ICCPR) was adopted with one hundred and sixty eight states or parties.16 Like article 18 of the UDHR; article 18 of the Covenant guarantees freedom of thought, conscience and religion to everyone with great certainty and clarity but religious manifestation is subject to restrictions.17 What seems to have made article 18 of the covenant very special from article 18 of the UDHR is the fact that it contains a special provision which gives special powers to parents and legal guardians to ensure the religion and moral education for their children.18 In addition, the Covenant prohibits discrimination based on religion.19 In a similar vein, the United Nation Declaration on religious intolerance also guarantees freedom of religion and prohibits religious intolerance and discrimination.20 The International Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Racial Discrimination also prohibits all forms of discrimination in the exercise of the right to freedom of thought conscience and religion.21 It imposes an obligation on state parties to undertake measures to guarantee the enjoyment of religious freedom.22 198

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The UN Convention on the rights of the child though made purposely for children also guarantees freedom of thought, conscience and religion and prohibits all forms of discrimination based on religion.23 The Vienna Declaration and programme of Action24 further added that, all human rights including religion, are universal, indivisible, interdependent and interrelated. It however emphasis that the international community must treat human rights globally in a fair and equal manner, on the same footing, and with the same emphasis and, that the significance of national and regional particularities and various historical and religious backgrounds must be borne in mind and, to promote the right of persons belonging to religious minorities.

3.2 Regional Framework

In an attempt to promote human rights at the national level, states have also adopted regional treaties in addition to global conventions to enforce their human rights obligations. The impact of their commitments towards human rights saw light in African, Europe and America with the adoption of the African Charter on Human and Peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Rights (AChPR),25 the European Convention on human Rights (ECHR),26 the American Convention on Human Rights (ACHR),27 and the Arab Charter on Human Rights (ACHR).28 The African Charter was adopted purposely for all African states including Cameroon.29 It guarantees freedom of conscience, the profession and free practice of religion and prohibit discrimination based on religion.30 Reaffirming the fundamental principles of non discrimination in article 2 of the Charter on Human Rights, the protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples rights on the rights of women in Africa in its preamble prohibits discrimination on the grounds of religion.31 Similar to the Covenant, the ACHR also entrenched religious freedom and prohibits all forms of discrimination based on religion and other opinion.32 The ECHR which acted as a model to the two international Covenants obliges state parties to the Convention to protect religious freedom as a fundamental human right.

Article 9 of the convention analogous to article 18 of the Covenant guarantees freedom of thought, conscience and religion and prohibits all forms of discrimination on the exercise of this right in terms of religion.33 The protection afforded by article 9 ECHR is much broader and applies to all personal, political, philosophical, convictions of all kinds with the express mention of a personâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s religious beliefs and their own way of apprehending their personal and social life. In addition to the convention, the Charter on Fundamental Rights of the European Union though not legally binding and a universal document like the ECHR also protects freedom of thought conscience and religion in the same terms as the convention and prohibits discrimination on religion 199

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or belief and to members of national minority.34 It also guarantees parents the right ‘’to ensure the education and teaching of their children in conformity with their religious, philosophical and pedagogical convictions … in accordance with the national laws governing the exercise of such freedom and right’’.35 The above treaties prove beyond doubt the commitments of states in ensuring a universal respect for human rights and freedoms. But what remains unclear is whether states in general and Cameroon, in particular, is meeting up to these commitments as required by international law.

An attempt to address Cameroon’s domestic legal framework for religious freedom may clarify this doubt.

3.3 Legal Framework for Religion in Cameroon

After the ratification of international treaties, states are bound to take steps, in accordance with their Constitutional processes and other measures to give effect to the right to freedom of religion and other fundamental rights. Most liberal Constitutions seem to have followed the detailed formulation of the freedom of religion in the Universal Declaration. The Constitution as mentioned is the supreme law of every democratic society upon which all other laws depends on for their validity. For instance the Penal Code,36 the anti-terrorism law, the Criminal Procedure Code37 and other municipal legislation derived their validity from the Constitution. It is apparent that the post colonial era in Africa sparks up the desire or aspirations for constitutionalism so as to guarantee democracy, the rule of law and fundamental human rights. The impact of colonialism and independence in Cameroon was the introduction of a Bill of rights which structures the functioning of state activities and human rights protection.

As a state party to the ICCPR,38 the right to freedom of religion is spelled out in the preamble to its Constitution.39 It states inter-alia that freedom of religion and worship shall be guaranteed. In a similar direction, the Penal Code guarantees freedom of conscience in the public and prohibits discrimination, violent obstruction of the ministry by threat, disturbances of public worship and contempt of minister of religion by strikes.40 Analogous to the constitution is the 1990 Law on Freedom of Association which governs the relationship between the government and religious groups.41 The Law leaves everyone with the right to set up an association and to belong to any religious association.42 In spite of this positive affirmation, the law leaves the president and other administrative authorities (state) concerned with a broad discretionary power to dissolved religious groups or associations whose activities are contrary to the Constitution, laws and good morals, as well as acting in a way that tends to affect national integrity, unity and the security of the state.43 However, in Eitel MOUELLE 200

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KOULLA, Jehovah Witness v The United Republic of Cameroon, the Supreme Court emphasized that the law restrict freedom of belief only to public order grounds.44 Though the Constitution imposes a mandatory obligation on the state to guarantee religion, it however guarantees individual freedom of religion and worship separately from conscience in the Penal Code. The Constitution further protects this guarantee through an additional clause which provides that, the state shall be secular and government should remain neutral and independent with regard to religion in order to further the respect for all religion and to prohibit discrimination based on religion or beliefs.45 Even though the Constitution does not make explicit the three key concepts which differ from one another, the secular concept according to Charles Manga encompasses at least three main notions.46 The first is the idea of liberty, which also includes the freedom not to believe. These imply that no one must be forced in the domain of religion or basic faith. The second is the idea of equality between peoples of different faiths or basic beliefs, which means that no religious denomination should enjoy a privileged position vis-Ă -vis other religious denomination and no religion should be adopted as the official religion of the state and that the state should not be in the business of imposing or advancing the interests of a particular religion. The third is the idea that all religious denominations without distinction should be involved in the process of determining what society is about and how it should go about realizing its goals. For instance, engaging in peacemaking processes through dialogue and policy reformulation. This also means that the state will not be bound by any religious laws or principles. In principle, the word neutrality and independence requires that a democratic state is supposed to keep equal distance from all religions by not taking a stand and interfering on religious matters, favoring or disfavoring a position or a group or organization standing for such position. The principle of neutrality of a state in the exercise of different religions, faiths and beliefs is conducive to public order, religious harmony and tolerance in a democratic society.47 Cameroonian religious secularism, neutrality and separationism has not completely removed the state from religious matters but rather led to a form of pragmatic cooperation and accommodation under rather complex circumstances where interand intra-denominational dynamics, ethnicity, geographical location and political opportunism have come into play.48 In Refah Partisi(The Welfare Party) and Others v Turkey, the European Court of Human Rights(ECtHR) acknowledged that, a neutral state is prevented from manifesting a preference for a particular religion or belief and constituted the foundation of freedom of conscience and equality between citizens before the law. Intervention by the State to preserve the secular nature of the 201

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political regime had to be considered necessary in a democratic society.49 Cameroonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s domestic framework on freedom of religion attest beyond doubt the existence of this right but the extent to which it is being enjoyed by the people in practice remains somehow debatable due to the fact that religious manifestation or exercise is subject to administrative tolerance and public policy.50

4. Obligations Of States The widely and deeply felt outrage about the human calamity and its aftermath caused by terrorism created an appeal to, and a determination on the part of state authorities to take effective preventive measures for the future. States authorities have the primary responsibility for preventing terrorist attacks, and naturally tend to wish greater powers in order not to be found wanting in a crisis. In their desire to be seen as taking effective measures against terrorism, certain governments if not all, for instance, Cameroon, UK, Germany, France, USA, Turkey, Belgium, Ethiopia, Kenya etc responded by adopting new domestic rules and procedures or changing the interpretation and application of existing procedures, which are often seen as standing in the way of an effective prevention of, and fight against terrorism. International norms are also put in place, imposing obligations on States to introduce changes in criminal law and procedure.

Many of these changes seem to have resulted in a weakening of the rule of law and human rights. This one-sided focus on security concerns also brought about a number of particularly invasive measures which severely threatened human rights: extraterritorial abductions, extreme delays in indicting arrested individuals, obtaining confessions through interrogation techniques that amount to torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment of detainees, trials before organs falling short of a properly constituted court of law or in which normal procedural protections was reduced or denied.51 These are just a few among many measures which have had an adverse effect on traditional rights of the accused, such as the right to liberty and security, as well as the right to a fair trial and freedom from inhuman treatment and religion.

It is of trite standard that the security of the state and its democratic institutions, and the safety of its population, is vital public and private interests that deserve protection, if necessary at high costs.52 States are even obliged to provide protection to everyone subject within its jurisdiction.53 These duties, in other words, imply the obligations to respect human rights, protect human rights and the fulfillment of human rights.54 As rightly stated by the ECtHR, 202

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the protection of the right to life ‘‘may also simply in certain Well-defined circumstances require a positive obligation on the authorities to take preventive operational measures to protect an individual whose life is at risk from the criminal acts of another individual.’’55 States do not only have the duty to protect State or national security, and the individual and collective safety of their inhabitants; they also have the duty to protect the (other) rights and freedoms of those inhabitants. Real security means that everybody in society can exercise his or her basic human rights and freedoms without being threatened by violence; maintaining security is meant to be in the interest of ensuring human rights, and thus should respect those rights.

As argued by the Venice commission, State security and fundamental rights are, consequently, not competitive values; they are each other’s precondition which in the long run, security is best protected by the enhancement and not by a weakening of the rule of law, democratic principles and the protection of human rights.56 In a similar line of contention, the UN Security Council Resolution 2178/2014 and the Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy notes that, effective counter-terrorism measures and the protection of human rights are not conflicting goals, but complementary and mutually reinforcing.57 This implies that in fulfilling their duties, States must ensure that any measures taken to combat terrorism comply with their obligations under international law, in particular human rights law.58 Notwithstanding, the fact that states have been left with a very broad margin of discretion (leeway) under the Covenant-ICCPR, ‘‘to adopt laws and other measures as may be necessary’’ to give effects to the right to freedom of religion, does not however implies that they should adopt legislation that will limit or put the right to freedom of religion in jeopardy. Even though subject to restrictions,59 freedom of religion is a non derogable right which demands absolute protection from states. But how states respond to religion during terrorism, war or public emergency is a matter of great concern.

4.1 Freedom of Religion: A Non Derogable Right

Unlike other rights and liberties, freedom of religion, although it depends on freedom of expression, association and assembly for its exercise and enjoyment is a non-derogable right (Lex Specialis).60 Article 4 of the Covenant constitutes the legal foundation which allows states to derogate from most of their obligations under the covenant ‘‘in time of war or other public emergency threatening the life of the nation’’.61 However, some fundamental rights and freedoms are declared non-derogable by the Covenant.62 These are so called absolute rights, amongst which is the right to life, the prohibition of torture and human and degrading treatment or punishment, slavery, 203

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religion and the nullum crimen nulla poenae principle. This is important to emphasize, since State practice shows that these rights may be under severe threat in situations of a proclaimed state of emergency. The right of derogation can be invoked only in time of war or other public emergency threatening the life of the nation. To establish the natural and cultural meaning of ‘‘public emergency threatening the life of the Nation’’, the ECtHR in Lawless v Ireland states that, it is ‘‘an exceptional situation of crisis or emergency which affects the whole population and constitutes a threat to the organised life of the community of which the State is composed”.63 The court in its opinion, on the protection of human rights in emergency situation, laid down the following characteristics of a situation that will justify such emergency: (1) It must be actual or imminent; (2) Its effects must involve the whole nation; (3) The continuance of the organised life of the community must be threatened; (4) The crisis or danger must be exceptional, in that the normal measures or restrictions, permitted by the Covenant or Convention for the maintenance of public safety, health and order and the protection of the rights and freedoms of others, are plainly inadequate.64

However, the Court further stressed that there must be a “threat to the organised life of the community.65 Looking at the national legislation of member states to the covenant for instance Cameroon, the Constitution and the 1990 Law on Freedom of Associations permit restrictions for freedom of religion and other fundamental rights and liberties. These restrictions, to some extent, may apply to rights and freedoms of both those who have committed or are suspected of having committed a terrorist act and also to possible victims of terrorist acts.66 In order to comply with article 4 of the Covenant, article 9 of Cameroon’s Constitution states that the president, ‘‘where the circumstances so warrant’’, may declare a state of emergency or state of siege by decree and ‘take any measures as he may deem necessary’’. The only check on the use of power by the president is the requirement that he should ‘‘inform the nation of his decision by message’’. This excessive use of power and discretion has been described as a carte blanche given to the government to take whatever measures it considers necessary to deal with a crisis situation within the state.67 So whenever anti-terrorism legislation constitutes a derogation of one or more human rights, it is therefore required that the measures in question comply with all the conditions of application of derogations set out in international human rights treaties or in the covenant; in particular, that they are exceptional, temporary, strictly necessary and proportional to the imminent threat to the nation.68 204

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Their necessity and proportionality as required by law must be subject to domestic and international supervision and in the keeping in force of the legislation concerned.69 When an emergency situation pertains and a contracting state wishes to use its power to derogation, it is imperative for the state in question to make a formal derogation under article 4 of the covenant indicating the rights and the territory to which the derogation applies. In case of such derogation, the covenant demands the state concerned to immediately inform the other States Parties to the present Covenant, through the intermediary of the Secretary-General of the United Nations, of the provisions from which it has derogated and of the reasons by which it was actuated and the measures that it has taken and as well as of the moment these measures have or shall ceased to operate.70 It is within this backdrop that restrictions on some rights including religious freedom by states during war or time of emergency that result from terrorism will be permissible or justifiable.

5. Impact Of Terrorism As commonly noted, national security and fundamental freedoms are mutually reinforcing and indivisible concepts or rights which imply that the protection of one necessarily requires the protection of another. One of the most recent challenges and threat to peace and development is Terrorism. This has increasingly drawn the attention of many states, if not all towards its eradication as it impacts negatively on human lives. Though many people still doubt what might often be the cause, past experiences have proven that religious discrimination, unresolved conflicts, lack of a rule of law or trust in law; violations of human rights, political injustice, socio-economic marginalization, dehumanization of victims of terrorism, and poverty are some of the roots causes of Terrorism. This outrageous act most often than not, affects the lives of civilians either directly or indirectly. In Cameroon like in other states(Nigeria, Kenya, Chad, France, Germany, United Kingdom, United States, Belgium, Turkey, Ethiopia) for instance, Terrorism has lead to high rate of migration, abduction, lost of lives, rape, homelessness, separation of families, forced marriages, arbitrary arrest, kidnapping, destruction of properties and other related factors.

According to Denis Tull, Boka Haram kidnapped the wife of the deputy Prime Minister in the North of Cameroon alongside French and Chinese citizens demanding large ransom payments in compensation.71 These devastating effects on human rights and freedoms have pushed the international community to reflect on sanctioning Terrorism. Though there is no universally legally accepted definition of terrorism, the term in common parlance, refers to acts of violence that target civilians in the pursuit of 205

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political or religious aims.72 In spite of this short coming, the international community has set a pace within which states could actually follow or be guided in the course of drafting measures to fight against terrorism and violent extremism. These two terms are often used interchangeably and without a clear distinction. Unlike terrorism, violent extremism is extremism in a wider category of manifestation.73 The United Nation Security Council in its Resolution 1566(2004), referred to Terrorism as ‘‘criminal acts, including against civilians, committed with the intention to cause death or serious bodily injury, or taking of hostages, with the purpose to provoke a state of terror in the general public or in a group of persons or particular persons, intimidate a population or compel a government or an international organization to do or to abstain from doing any act, which constitute offences within the scope of and as defined in the international conventions and protocols relating to terrorism.74 The above definition seems to be the most commonly accepted definition worldwide though with no binding force. It states out clearly the material and mental elements that constitute terrorism and which must be taken into consideration by states in adopting counter-terrorism laws. Alex however, argues that, in the context of fundamental freedoms, the definition of terrorism ought to be restricted to violent crimes that are designed to advance an ideological, religious, political or organized criminal cause and to influence public authority by inflicting terror on the public.75 In his report, the Special Rapporteur, Martin Scheinin, affirmed that the model definition of terrorism implies an action that is ‘’intended to cause death and serious body injury to one or more members of the general population or segments of it’’ and should not include property crimes.76 Although some states have gone beyond this limit, any restrictions need to be justified by means of necessity and proportionality.

Since the aftermath of the September 11 attack in the US, several states if not all, have developed counter-terrorism measures to prohibit acts contrary to national security so as to enhance peace and human rights. But why adopt these measures? Undoubtedly, the absence of peace necessarily signifies violations and the non respect for and the enjoyment of human rights. In attempt, some states for instance Cameroon, United Kingdom, Ethiopia, Kenya, and just to name a few vaguely or broadly define such acts as being concerned with terrorism while in some other countries, the definition of terrorism in national laws may be so broad that it encompasses a wide range of acts differing gravity. These definitions to some extent carry a risk that certain crimes or offences are incorporated in the category of terrorist act that, by nature do not belong there. The lack of a universally binding legally accepted definition for terrorism amongst states has hampered the effective enjoyments of certain rights and freedoms including freedom of religion, the right to life, freedom of association and freedom of speech. This 206

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to a greater extent has a consequential effect on the lives of individuals either directly or indirectly. In order to take a stand on whether an anti- terrorism law adopted by a state or states comply with the framework for national security and human rights requires a critical assessment of it scope, content and clarity of it protection.

5.1 Anti-Terrorism Laws: A framework for protection

In every democratic society, national security is a necessary condition for the well being of citizens. The respect for freedom of religion and other fundamental freedoms has a crucial role to play in ensuring democracy and sustainable human development, as well as in promoting international peace and security.77 One of the most substantial threats to humanity today is terrorism and states have taken several measures to counter that threat. They have a positive duty to protect people within their jurisdiction. Such measures, however, must be taken within the framework set out by international human rights law.78 Nowadays, states or governments have the tendency of restricting fundamental rights and freedoms for the aim of national security. The UN Human rights committee has noted that, extreme care must be taken by state parties to ensure that anti-terrorism laws, treason laws and similar provisions relating to national security, whether described as official secrets or sedition laws or otherwise, are crafted and applied in a manner that conform to the strict requirements of articles 18 and 19 paragraphs 3 of the Covenant.79 So when a state party invokes a legitimate ground for restriction of freedom of religion, it must demonstrate in specific and individualized fashion the precise nature of the threat, and the necessity and proportionality of the specific action taken in particular by establishing a direct and immediate connection between the right and the threat.80 As rightly argued; ‘‘terrorism can and must be fought with means that fully respect human rights and the rule of law, excluding all forms of arbitrariness.

Injustice breeds terrorism and undermines the legitimacy of the fight against it’’.81 The African Commission guidelines and the UN Declaration recommend that states ‘‘shall not use the concepts of ‘‘violent extremism’’, ‘‘extremism’’ and the combating of terrorisms as a pretext to restrict fundamental freedoms, including freedom of religion and conscience, expression, association, assembly, and movement, and the right to privacy and property with due regards to non derogations and restrictions on human rights and freedoms.’’82 It is only in exceptional circumstances may states restrict certain human rights and freedoms. In an attempt to counter-terrorism, states have developed anti-terrorism measures to fight against religious radicalization or extremism and terrorism without giving an overall definition of terrorism within 207

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national laws. These measures, to some extent have gone far beyond the obligations to take necessary steps, in accordance with their constitutional processes and in line with the covenants provisions. Although states have been given the margin of discretion under the Covenant to adopt legislation within their territory to counter terrorism, this however does not give room for them to go beyond what the Covenant is aimed at protecting. A case in point is Cameroon with the adoption of its anti-terrorism law.83 The Venice Commission also recalls that,84 when states adopt anti-terrorism laws, they should conform to three fundamental principles of criminal law which represent the pre-condition for the protection of the rights of the accused: that any new offence must be introduced by an ordinary law, discussed and approved by Parliament through normal legislative procedure, and not by mere acts of the executive, without Parliamentary control; must address actual facts which must be possible to ascertain materially and objectively; must relate to facts which are committed after the entry into force of the new law. It is for the judiciary and the Constitutional justice â&#x20AC;&#x201C; national and international â&#x20AC;&#x201C; to assess whether the legislative responses to terrorist threats comply with the principle of legality, and if need be, to declare the legislation introducing the new offences inadmissible or non applicable, depending on the specific features of the relevant legal order. In attempt to ascertain or evaluate whether the Cameroonian anti-Terror law complies with the principle of legality, it will be necessary to take cognizance of the definition and laws or measures adopted and applied by other states for instance United Kingdom and Germany. The adequacy of this legislation will depend on their legal certainty and the extent to which they provide adequate protection on human rights and freedoms.

5.2 Cameroonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Anti-Terrorism Law in a Comparative Perspective

One year after the invasion of Cameroon by a terrorist group Boko Haram, the devastating effects were very much felt in the Northern part of the Country, a border between Cameroon and Nigeria. This was seen by the ruling party as a threat to national security and the long lasting peace which the new (deal) government has fought for or build since 1982.85 A desire to give his nationals the continuous trust in preparation for a new wake come 2018 (Elections) inspired the government for increased security within the Country to fight against terrorism and a continuous maintenance of a long lasting peace in Cameroon. Alongside security increase, the state adopted a law that will punish, prevent and guide legislators in cases of terrorism.

According to section 2 of this law: 208

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(1).Whoever, acting alone as an accomplice or accessory, commits or threatens to commit an act likely to cause death, endanger physical integrity, cause bodily injury or material damage, destroy natural resources, the environment or cultural heritage with intent to: (a) Intimidate the public, provoke a situation of terror or force the victim, the government and/or a national or international organization to carry out or refrain From carrying out an act, adopt or renounce a particular position; (b) Disrupt the national functioning of public services, the delivery of essential services to the public to create a crisis situation among the public; (c) Create widespread insurrection in the country; (d.) Shall be punished with the death penalty.

Like article 1 of the UK anti-terrorism law,86 article 2 of the Cameroon anti-terror law is very broad on the definition of terrorism. They criminalize not only acts that are widely understood to be ‘terrorist’ in nature but also lawful gatherings and demonstrations as well as many forms of behavior that cannot be regarded as terrorism.

Looking at the scope of protection, article 2 of the Cameroon’s anti-terror law extends to anyone who disrupt the functioning of public services, the delivery of essential services to the population, or create a situation of crisis among the public is sanction with death sentence.87 Although it sets out a demarcation line between what may constitute terrorism, the law appears to be unconstitutional. This is because it include death sentence as a sanction to terrorism and violates the right to life guarantee in the preamble to the Constitution. Even though Cameroon unlike UK and Germany is not a state party to the second optional protocol to the abolition of the death penalty,88 a mere inclusion of this sanction in its national law does not in any way serve as a deterrent, and as such, is unconstitutional and unjustifiable. In addition, the scope as to what constitute terrorism under the two laws is too broad. Unlike in the German anti-terrorism law,89 the UK and Cameroon’s anti-terror laws include property as a constitutive element of Terrorism.

This gives room for those in power to limit any group (associations) that may rise to protest against the incumbent regime for the act of terrorism. According to ARTICLE 19, article 1 of the UK anti-terrorism law is too broad so much so that it triggers executive powers that are very restrictive on human rights, often with reduced judicial oversight.90 In a similar line of contention in Cameroon, Civil Rights Defenders pointed out that the so-called anti-terror law has a chilling effect on civil society and the human rights community in Africa.91 Article 2 of Cameroon’s antiterror law also applies to a crisis situation. One may be tempted to question whether a ‘‘crisis’’ situation is similar to a ‘‘war’’ situation? According to the Guidelines of the Committee of Ministers, the word ‘crisis’ as mentioned in the above provision is not limited to wars, terrorist attacks, natural and man-made disasters but also extends to 209

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situations in which freedom of religion is threatened.92 The expression ‘‘time of crisis’’ however, is not equivalent to the ‘‘time of war or other public emergency threatening the life of the nation’’ as formulated in article 4 of the Covenant. This implies that a declared national state of emergency might sometimes justify temporary restrictions on fundamental freedoms including religion but a crisis situation should not serve as an excused for imposing limitations on freedom of religion beyond those prescribed in article 18(3) of the covenant.

Unlike in Cameroon and UK, Germany seems to have developed a more succinct approach towards terrorism.93 Sections 89(a)(b) of the German Criminal Code proclaim that whoever prepares, attempt, or commits a serious violent offense endangering the state shall be liable for imprisonment from six months to ten years.94 A critical observation of this provision will affirm that it differs completely from that of Cameroon and UK. This distinction can be seen both in its material and mental elements and the sanctions attached to terrorism. Unlike in Cameroon, the German Anti-terrorism law sets out the foreseeability for any commission by stating clearly the acts that may constitutes terrorism and the sanctions awaiting any possible commission. This is a clear indication that, during adjudication process, Cameroon judiciary will need to look left and rights so as to learn from the examples of it counter-parts on how such laws should be formulated and interpreted. Even though it’s national laws or Constitution does not give express room for this, the state cannot in anyway avail itself from comparative interpretation cognizance of globalization and internationalization in human rights law. To make certain this point of contention, it will be appropriate to assess the legality of the Cameroon’s anti- terrorism law so as to enable those subject to it to understand how and when it is necessary to justify a claim for any breach.

5.3 Assessing the legality/Character of Cameroon’s Anti-Terrorism Law

According to article 18(3) of the ICCPR, any restriction on the right to freedom of religion must be ‘‘prescribed by law’’ and must be ‘‘necessary in a democratic society’’.95 ‘Necessary in a democratic society’, according to the European Court of Human Rights amounts to ‘‘a pressing social need.’’96 It implies in particular that, the measures taken for the restriction of fundamental freedoms must be effective and that the scope and effects of the resulting limitation must be proportional in relation to the importance of the interest to be protected.97 The expression provided by law however, implies that a limitation on freedom of religion must be laid down in law, sufficiently transparent and accessible legal provision. The Phrase ‘‘provided by law’’ also known as legality 210

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(nullum crimen nulla poena sine lege) is a very important guarantee of the rule of law.98 The word ‘‘law’’ in this context has an autonomous meaning. According to Black’s,‘‘it is the regime that orders human activities and relations through systematic application of the force of politically organized society, or through social pressure backed by force.’’99 It includes for instance written and unwritten laws such as the Constitution, AntiTerrorism law, Criminal Law and so on. According to article 18(3) of the Covenant, the expression provided by law also implies that any restrictions on freedom of religion must adequately specify the permissibility of a given interference by states enforcement organs.100 This in other words implies that for a norm (Anti-Terrorism Law) to be characterized as a law, it must be well formulated and explicit so as to guide the society on how and when to exercise their fundamental freedoms and must be compatible with international human rights law. Such laws to an extent will be vital in framing the discretion granted to authorities. The OSCE/ODIHR guidelines further point to the fact that, for a norm to be characterize as a law, it must be compatible with international human rights standards and be sufficiently precise to enable an individual to assess whether or not his or her conduct would be in breach and as well as a likely consequences of any such breaches.101 The UN Human Rights Committee as an interpretative guideline,102 also observed that, for a ‘‘norm’’ to be characterized as a ‘‘law’’ it must be formulated with sufficient precision to enable an individual to regulate his or her conduct accordingly and must be made accessible to the public. A Law may not confer unfettered discretion for the restriction of freedom of religion on those charged with its execution. Laws must provide sufficient guidance to those charged with their execution to enable them to ascertain what sorts of expression or freedoms are properly restricted and what sorts are not. Laws must not violate the non-discrimination provisions of the covenant and must not provide for penalties that are incompatible with the Covenant.103 The Human Rights Committee further highlighted that offences as “encouragement of terrorism” and “extremist activity “as well as offences of “praising”, “glorifying”, or “justifying” terrorism, should be clearly defined to ensure that they do not lead to unnecessary or disproportionate interference with fundamental freedoms.104 In a similar vein, the African Commission guidelines while countering terrorism in Africa, even though a soft law with no binding force stressed that any criminalization of, or other punishment for acts of terrorism must abide by the principle of legality and as such states must ensure that their laws criminalizing acts of terrorism are accessible to the public, defined by clear and precise provisions in the law, non discriminatory, non-retroactive and must be directed only against acts done knowingly and with 211

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intent and in accordance with international law, including human rights.105 In Sunday Times v United Kingdom, supra the ECtHR further determines the clarity of precise norms or legislation by upholding the opinion of the Human Rights Committee. It states clearly that: A norm cannot be regarded as a ‘‘law’’ unless it is formulated with sufficient precision to enable the citizen to regulate his conduct: he must be able-if need be with appropriate advice-to foresee, to a degree that is reasonable in the circumstances, the consequences which a given action may entail.106

According to the Court, laws which are not formulated with sufficient precision are considered vague. Why? This may be so because vague or broad provisions (like article 2 of the Anti-Terror Law) are susceptible to wide interpretation, by both authorities and those subject to the law. Consequently, they are an invitation to abuse and authorities may seek to apply them in situations which bear no relation to the original purpose of the law. Vague provisions also fail to provide sufficient notice of exactly what conduct is prohibited. Ben Emmerson, Special Rapporteure on the promotion of human rights and freedoms while countering terrorism argued that, vagueness of concept could lead to its use against members of religious minorities, civil society, human rights defenders, peaceful separatist and indigenous groups and members of political opposition parties.107 Vague legislation on religious issues can also create tensions and problems rather than solve them. Consequently, they exert an unacceptable chilling effect on fundamental human rights and freedom of religion.108 The principle of accessibility requires that laws should be intelligible, clear and predictable. Although the ECtHR in Feldek v Slovakia109 acknowledged that law should not be excessively rigid so as to permit it ‘to keep pace with changing circumstances’, the provision of a given law requires a sufficient elevated degree of legal precision so that the possibility of commission of an offence is foreseeable.

Undoubtedly, the Cameroonian anti-terror law is unconstitutional, imprecise and too wide and applied to unintentional acts done unknowingly and not in accordance with international law and fundamental freedoms. It seems to accord greater protection to the rich more than the poor and crackdown on those who are against the incumbent government. In his opinion on the law, Ni John Fru Ndi Chairman of the Cameroon Social Democratic Front-SDF argues that, the Anti-Terror Law is designed to terrorize the people and kill their Freedoms.’’110 According to Amnesty international reports, the law infringes on many basic rights and freedoms protected in the Cameroonian Constitution and international human rights law.111 However, 212

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the National Commission on Human Rights and Freedom-NCHF also pointed out that it is feared that the security situation in Cameroon could provide grounds for the application of the law, or encourage public authorities to use their powers to suppress public demonstrations.112 Without fear of any contradiction, the drafters had the intension at the time of its adoption to restrict fundamental human rights vaguely guaranteed in the Constitution. Consequently, article 2 of the law is vaguely formulated with regard to the definition of terrorism, disproportionate penalties and provisions for only military courts to try terrorism cases and hence risk stifling freedom of the press. This can also be seen as an intension to maliciously categorized human rights abuses as an apology for terrorism. For instance, in 2015 Ahmed Abba a Radio France International Correspondent was charged with complicity and non-denunciation of terrorist acts while in 2014 Fomusoh Ivo Feh, was arrested in Limbe for forwarding a sarcastic text message about Boko Haram and charged for non-denunciation of a terrorist act. This is contrary to the 1990 Mass Communication Law which protects the confidentiality of journalists’ sources.113 There is therefore an urgent need for a new Anti-Terrorism Law in Cameroon and the sanction of death penalty should be wiped out. This is because failure to do so is likely to result to war or instability. A second though to engage religious or church authorities during its drafting phase will be a bold step towards the respect for democracy, rule of law and fundamental freedoms in Cameroon.

6. Role of the church Past experiences have shown that many people if not all, direct blames for terrorism on religion most especially to Islamic religion or sates. During terrorism which is often seen as the most challenging moments in human life, the church is an essential moral touchstone and regulator of human rights. Apparently, the devastating effects caused by terrorism are felt by almost every sector of the population including the church. This has resulted in the loss of lives as well as church and state properties.

A recent case was seen in France and Egypt following the death of a Catholic priest (Father Jacques Hamel)114 and twenty eight other Egyptian Christian pilgrims in a bus bomb attack in Egypt.115 In response to the acts of terrorism against humanity and the attack on the Catholic priest in France, Pope Francis pointed out that,116 no religion has a monopoly on violence, and his own experience in inter-religious dialogue has shown that Muslims seek ‘‘peace and encounter.’’ It is not right and just to say that Islam is terroristic. He further argues that, terrorism grows when there is no other option, and as long as the world economy has as its center the god of 213

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money and not the person. According to the Popes point of contention, the world seems to have focused more attention on money than on humanity and that the time has come for states to focus great attention on humanity and peace building so as to save the entire world from terror attacks and injustice. These devastating effects on peace and human dignity have not only attracted the attention of states in the fight against terrorism but also that of the church through every day preaching. The role of the church in the fight against terrorism is very instrumental in peace making and democracy. In doing so, Religions, religious leaders, and religious organizations need to assist the strengthening of state power at the expense of their activities in the sphere of spirituality, insofar as strong authorities have wide-ranging possibilities to provide for freedom of belief and freedom of religion. The church plays a prominent role in peace-making through interreligious dialogue, law making and policy reformulation, fight against discrimination, promotion of human rights, development and poverty reduction.117 This intention tallies with the 2030 UN Development Goals,118 that states aim at fostering peaceful, just and inclusive societies which are free from fear and violence.

This is because there can be no sustainable development without peace and no peace without sustainable development. This is a clear affirmation to the fact that without peace, development and human rights will be at risk. The Church preaches against discrimination and encourages states to promote and enforce non-discriminatory laws and policies so as to enhance development using, religious dialogue as their main tool for peace. According to Marko Kuhn, interreligious dialogue has been very high on the agenda of religious leaders and institutions for many years.119 The role of the church in peace building and dialogue can be clearly seen for instance, in Cameroon during the uprising or crisis between the government and English Southern Cameroonians where several joint letters and memorandum were sent to the Head of State by religious authorities emphasizing on a continuous dialogue.120 In addition, the transitional phase in power in the Republic of Congo between Joseph Kabila and the opposition party or leaders was calmed by religious authorities. In Central African Republic, the church was part of the mediation for a long lasting peace.

These are just a few amongst many contributions. Thus the role of the church in the fight against terrorism and peace building cannot therefore be underestimated or over emphasized. This is because, in some states most especially developing states, religious authorities have been forced to participate fully in politics despite the demand for neutrality in politics or by states authorities in religious matters. The great desire for states to respect religious rights and authorities within their respective scope of influence will better the world if they are made to become part of policy and law 214

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reformation against terrorism. This is because the scope of religion is better known by religious authorities who have great or long term experiences within this domain.

Had it been Cameroonian legislators included religious authorities during the drafting process of the anti-terror law, it would have been better off than what it is today.

7. Conclusion In fact, every state has the obligations to adopt legislation to protect national security as a means to counter-terrorism. Like other states, Cameroon undertakes this authority since its ratification of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in 1984. This gives the state the powers to take steps to adopt laws or other measures as may be necessary and in accordance with its Constitution taking cognizance of the rights in the Covenant. Though the protection of national security is necessary to enhance the enjoyment of other rights, this to some extent can only be achieve if such measures are adopted in respect of other rights and freedoms. As rightly said, human rights are interdependent and indivisible of which the enjoyment of one, may necessarily leads to the other. Freedom of religion and other fundamental human rights are indivisible concepts, so to national security. But the nature of religion and state relations in Cameroon in many respects reflects the latent tensions that exist in a complex multi-ethnic, multicultural and multi-religious society facing challenges of economic social, cultural and political development.121 One of such is open conflict with government on the recent crisis in Anglophone Cameroon. Despite some challenges, religious denominations have increasingly filled the void by speaking out and trying to influence the pace of changes in the Country. Indeed, Counter-terrorism measures adopted by states require some clarity and certainty both in scope and in content to enable foreseeability and accessibility. Such legislation should be subject to parliamentary approval and should be under independent review for their legality, necessity and proportionality.

A critical observation of article 37(3) of Cameroon’s Constitution will affirm that, the judiciary in Cameroon is not an independent institution.122 A court which is not independent from the executive may not be impartial towards parties, if one of them is the state. In Campbell and Fell V United Kingdom, the ECtHR observed that the requirement of independence entails safeguards relating to ‘‘the manner of appointment of judges, the duration of their office, the existence of guarantees against outside pressures and the question whether the body presents an appearance of independence.’’123 This gives room for excessive discretion for those in power against the interest of the majority concern.

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The law-Anti-Terror itself leaves national authorities with a broad margin of appreciation to make national and international supervision practically meaningless.

This to a greater extent has helped to weaken the enjoyments of human rights within the country and limit the individuals from absolute enjoyments of their basic freedoms in general and religion in particular. In addition, the lack of an independent and effective national supervisory body to promote the effective and speedy enjoyment of fundamental freedoms has spark up the desire for a new Constitution and a counter-terrorism measures that will guarantee the rule of law within the Country and in conformity with the principle of legality, necessity, proportionality and non discrimination.124 In spite of the aspiration for legal review, parliamentary control and internal executive checks, judicial review thus remains of the utmost importance, with extra guarantee supervision measures against terrorism by an international independent tribunal. To wipe out this outrageous act, the world in general and Cameroon in particular will need to replace instability with stability, hostility with friendship and animosity with alliance. In order to achieve its goal of human rights protection, Cameroon is therefore in great need of good policies and effective legislation and should engaged church authorities in the law making process, reduce poverty and unemployment, review the anti-terrorism law and all other legislation that contradict fundamental freedoms, respect for politics, law, democracy and good governance. Only when this has been put into practices that the aspiration for its vision for 2035125 emergence plans for poverty reduction, economic growth, acquiring the status of a newly industrialized Country, reinforcing national unity, consolidating the democratic process, and employment strategy will be realistic.

Notes 1

The 9/11 Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States September 11 World Trade Center and the Pentagon, 2001. http://govinfo.library.unt.edu/911/ report/911Report_Exce.htm. Accessed 15 June 2017.

2

Denis M Tull, Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik und Sicherheit (ed.) Cameroon and Boko Haram: Time to Think Beyond Terrorism and Security, Berlin 2015 (SWP Comments 42/2015)1 <http:// www.ssoar.info/ssoar/bitstream/handle/document/44590/ssoar-2015-tull Cameroon_and_ Boko_Haram_time.pdf?sequence=1> [accessed 15 June 2017]; Amnesty International Report, The State of the Worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Human Rights-Cameroon (Amnesty International 2016/17)106-107.

3

Law No.2014/028 of 23 December 2014 on the Suppression of Act of Terrorism.

4

Bryan Garner A (ed)..2001. Blackâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Law Dictionary, 2nd edn, West Group Publisher. 295.

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European Union Guidelines on the Promotion and Protection of Freedom of Religion or Belief, adopted by the Council of Europe, Luxembourg 24 June 2013, para.1.

6

United States Constitution, Amendment 1(1791); See also Sect.116 of the Common Wealth of Australian Constitutional Act(The Constitution) adopted, 4 September 2013, which states that the Commonwealth shall not make any law for establishing any religion, or for imposing any religious observance, or for prohibiting the free exercise of any religion.

7

Everson v Board of Education of the Township of Ewing 330 US 1(1947)15-16 quoted in Iain Currie & John de Wall, The Bill of Rights (5th edn, Juta 2005)346.

8

Morsink Johannes. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights Origins, Drafting and Intent (University of Pennsylvanian Press 1999)1; Glendon Mary A, A World Made New. Eleanor Roosevelt and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Random Publishing Group 2001)10-11; Thomas Buergenthal et al (ed), International Human Rights in a Nutshell(3rd edn, West Group 2004)27-28.

9

See the preamble to the Constitution of the Republic of Cameroon, 1996.

10

Human Rights and Labour, International Religious Freedom Reports-Cameroon (Bureau of Democracy 2014)1 <https://conultations.worldbank.org/Data/hub/files/executive_summary_international_ religious_freom_ report_for_2014.pdf> [accessed 18 June 2017].

11

Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the United Nation General Assembly Resolution 217A (III) of 10 December 1948.

12

Art. 18 UDHR.

13

European Union Guidelines on the promotion and Protection of freedom of religion (n.5), para.10.

14

Art.18 (1)(2) ICCPR 1966.

15

Manfred Nowak, UN Covenant on Civil and Political Rights: CCPR Commentary(2nd edn, N.P Engel Publisher 2005) 412-413.

16

UN Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, adopted 16 December 19966, entered into force 23 March 1976: 999U.N.T.S. 171

17

Art. 18(3) ICCPR, 1966.

18

See art.18(4) of the Covenant.

19

Art. 2 ICCPR 1966; Art.2 UDHR 1948.

20

Arts. 1, 2 and 6 of the UN Declaration on Religious Intolerance adopted by the UN General Assembly Resolution 36/55 (1993).

21

Art.6 International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, adopted 7 March 1966, entered into force 4 January 1969: 660 U.N.T.S. 195.

22

Art. 2 CERD.

23

Arts. 2 & 14 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, adopted 20 November 1989, entered into force 2 September 1990: 1577 U.N.T.S.7.

24

Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, adopted by the World Conference on Human Rights in Vienna A/CONF.157/23, 25 June 1993, paras.5 and 25.

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African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights, adopted 27 June 1981, OAU Doc.CAB/ LEG/67/3rev.5,211.L.M: 58(1982; entered into force 21 October 1986.

26

European Convention on Human Rights, adopted 4 November 1950, entered into force 3 September 1953: E.T.S No.005, 213 U.N.T.S. 221.

27

Organisation of American States, American Convention on Human Rights, adopted at San Jose Costa Rica 22 November 1969, entered into force 18 July 1978, O.A.S.T. No. 36, 1144 U.N.T.S. 123 (herein after American Convention).

28

Arab Charter on Human Rights, adopted in Cairo on 15 September 1994.

29

The African Charter on human rights was ratified by Cameroon on 20 June 1989.

30

See art. 8 and 2 of the Charter; see also article 9 and 3 of the African charter on the rights and welfare of the Child adopted in 1979.

31

Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights on the Right of Women’s in Africa adopted in Ethiopia by Resolution AHG/Res. 240 (XXXI), 1995.

32

Arts. 1 & 12 American Convention on human Rights.

33

Arts. 9 and 14 of the ECHR.

34

Arts. 10 and 11 of the Charter on Fundamental Rights of the European Union 2000/C364/01.

35

Art. 14(3) of the charter; Art. 2 Protocol No. 1 to the ECHR; See also arts.2 &15 of the Canadian Charter on Rights and Freedoms 1982.

36

Law No. 65-LF-24 of 12 November 1965 introducing the Cameroon Penal Code and Law No.90/16 of 19 December 1990 to amend certain provisions of the Penal Code as Amended by Law No: 2016/007 of 12 July 2016.

37

Law No.2005/007 of 27 July2005 on the Criminal Procedure Code-CPC.

38

The ICCPR was acceded by Cameroon on October 17, 1980 and ratified on 27 June 1984.

39

Preamble to the Constitution of the Republic of Cameroon, 1996. It should be noted that since independence, Cameroon has had so far three Constitutions followed with several constitutional amendments. But what is applicable now is the 1996 revised Constitution.

40

Sects. 269, 242,271,272 and 270 of the Cameroon Penal Code 2016.

41

Law No. 90/053 of 19 December 1990 on Freedom of Association.

42

See Art. 1 of the Law relating to Freedom of Association, 1990.

43

See arts. 4 and 16 of the 1990 Freedom of Association Law in Cameroon.

44

Eitel MOUELLE KOULLA, Jehovah Witness v The United Republic of Cameroon, Judgment No. 1/A of 9 January 1975.

45

See Recital 13-14 of the Preamble to the 1996 Cameroon’s Constitution.

46

Charles Manga F, State Religion and Law in Cameroon: Regulatory Control, Tension, and Accommodation (2013) (57)1 Journal of Church and State, 30-33.

47

Andras Sajo & Renata Uitz, ‘Freedom of Religio’ In Michel Rosenfeld & Adras Sajo (eds) The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Constitutional Law (1st edn, Oxford University Press 2012) 912-914.

218

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William Schabas, The European Convention on Human Rights: A Commentary (1st edn, Oxford University Press 2015)438.

48

Charles Manga F(n.41) State Religion and Law in Cameroon 2.

49

Refah Partisi (The Welfar Party) and Others v Turkey Application No.41340/98, 41342/98, 41343/98, 41344/98(2003), para.25.

50

See Preamble to the Constitution 1996.

51

Iain Cameron et al, Report on Counter-Terrorism Measures and Human Rights-CDL-AD(2010)022 (Venice Commission 2010), para.10.

52

Iain Cameron et al, Report on Counter-Terrorism Measures and Human Rights, para.11.

53

Art. 2 of the ICCPR 1966.

54

UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights(OHCHR), Fact Sheet No. 32, Human Rights, Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism, July 2008, No.32 <http://www.refworld.org/ docid/48733ebc2.html> [accessed 18 June 2017].

55

Osman v The United Kingdom, Application No.87/1997/871/1083(1998), para.115.

56

Iain Cameron et al(n.45), Report on Counter-Terrorism Measures and Human Rights para.12.

57

UN Security Council Resolution 2178/2014 adopted by the Security Council at its 7272nd meeting, S/RES/2178(2014); para.7; UN Global Counter Terrorism Strategy, adopted by Member States on 8 September 2016, part. IV.

58

UN Global Counter-Terrorism strategy, part IV, para.2.

59

See art. 18(3) of the Covenant which states that freedom to manifest a religion or beliefs may be subject to such limitations as are prescribed by law and are necessary to protect public safety, order, health or morals or the fundamental rights and freedoms of others.

60

Art.4(2) of the ICCPR; 1966.

61

Art. 4(1) of the Covenant states that, In time of public emergency which threatens the life of the nation and the existence of which is officially proclaimed, the States Parties to the present Covenant may take measures derogating from their obligations under the present Covenant to the extent strictly required by the exigencies of the situation, provided that such measures are not inconsistent with their other obligations under international law and do not involve discrimination solely on the ground of race, colour, sex, language, religion or social origin. See also Art. 15 of the ECHR 1950.

62

No derogation from articles 6, 7, 8 (paragraphs I and 2), 11, 15, 16 and 18 may be made under this provision.

63

Lawless v Ireland, Application No. 332/57(A/3) (1961), para.28.

64

CDL-AD(2010)022; PARA:15, Guide on Article 15 of the European Convention on Human Rights Derogation in Time of Emergency(European Court of Human Rights; 2016), paras.8-9 <http:// www.echr.coe.int/documents/Guide_Art_15_ENG.pdf> [accessed 14 June 2017]

65

Guide on Art. 15 of the European Convention on Human Rights-Derogation in Time of Emergency, Para,10.

66

See also art.2 of the 2014 Cameroon Anti-Terrorism Law.

219

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Charles Manga F, Cameroon’s Emergency Powers: A Recipe for (Un)Constitutional Dictatorship?

(2001) (48)1 Journal of African Law 68; Charles Manga F, African Bills of Rights in a Comparative Perspective (University of South African Press-UNISA 2011)51.

68

CDL-AD(2010)022, para.18.

69

See Art.. 18(3), and 19(3) ICCPR.

70

Art. 4(3) of the ICCPR.

71

Denis M. Tull (n.2) Cameroon and Boko Haram: Time to think beyond Terrorism and Security 1.

72

Fact Sheet No.32 (No.48) Human Rights, Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism, 5.

73

Ben Emmerson, Report of the Special Rapporteure on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms while Countering Terrorism, A/HRC/31/65(2016), para.13.

74

UN Security Council, Security Council Resolution 1566(2004)[Concerning Threats to International Peace and Security Caused by Terrorism], 8 October 2004, S/RES/1566(2004), para.3.

75

Alex Conte, Human Rights in the Prevention and Punishment of Terrorism Commonwealth Approaches: The United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand (Springer 2010)25-32.

76

Martin Scheinin, Report of the Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms while Countering Terrorism, ‘‘Ten area of Best Practices in Countering Terrorism‘‘, A/HRC/16/51(2010), paras.13-15.

77

Goal 16 and Preamble to the UN Agenda of the 2030 Sustainable Development, UN General Assembly Resolution 70/1(2015); United Nations Millennium Declaration adopted by the UN General Assembly Resolution 55/2(2000), principle I(4).

78

United Nation Millennium Declaration, Principle II(9).

79

UN Human Rights Committee(HRC9; General Comments No.34, Art.19, Freedom of Opinion and Expression, 12 September 2011, CCPR/C/GC/34, para.29 <http://www.refworld.org/ docid/4ed34b562.html> [accessed 18 June 2017].

80

UN Human Rights Committee General Comments No. 34, para,35.

81

Resolution 1634(2008) on the ‘‘Proposed Law on forty-Two-day pre charge detention in the United Kingdom’’ quoted in Iain Cameroon et all (n.45), Report on Counter-Terrorism Measures and Human Rights, para.21.

82

Principles and Guidelines on Human and Peoples Rights While Countering Terrorism in Africa (2015)14-15; Joint Declaration on Freedom of Expression and Countering Violent Extremism, 4 May 2016, Recommendation 2(c).

83

Law No.2014/028 of 23 December 2014.

84

CDL-AD(2010)022, para.34.

85

The Year 1982 marked the beginning of Biya’s Regime commonly referred to as the New Deal Government.

86

Art. 1 UK Anti-Terrorism Act 2000 defines Terrorism as follows: (1) In this Act “terrorism” means the use or threat of action where- (a) the action falls within subsection (2), (b) the use or threat is designed to influence the government or an international governmental organisation or to intimidate

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the public or a section of the public, and (c) the use or threat is made for the purpose of advancing a political, religious or ideological cause. (2) Action falls within this subsection if it- (a) involves serious violence against a person, (b) involves serious damage to property, (c) endangers a person’s life, other than that of the person committing the action, (d) creates a serious risk to the health or safety of the public or a section of the public, or (e) is designed seriously to interfere with or seriously to disrupt an electronic system. … (4) In this section- (a) “action” includes action outside the United Kingdom, (b) a reference to any person or to property is a reference to any person, or to property, wherever situated, (c) a reference to the public includes a reference to the public of a country other than the United Kingdom, and (d) “the government” means the government of the United Kingdom, of a Part of the United Kingdom or of a country other than the United Kingdom.

87

Art.2(b)(c ) 2014 Anti-Terror Law.

88

Art.1 Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights aiming at the Abolition of the Death Penalty, adopted 15 July 1989, entered into force 11July 1991, 1642 U.N.T.S. 414.

89

See Generally Section 89 of the German Criminal Code 2013.

90

ARTICLE 19, The Impact of UK Anti-Terror Laws on Freedom of Expression (London, 2006)4.

91

Civil Rights Defenders, The Misuse of Anti Terrorism Law sin Africa, Undermining Civil Society, Eroding Human Rights Jailing Dissent, Parallel event at the 28the Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council 12 March 2015, 1.

92

Guidelines of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe adopted by the Committee of Ministers 26 September 2007 at the 1005th Meeting of the Ministers’ Deputies, 1-2.

93

See Sect. 89 of the German Criminal Code 2013.

94

Sects.89 (a) to 89(b) of the German Criminal Code.

95

Art.18(3)ICCPR; 29 UDHR; 9(2)ECHR; 12(3)ACHR.

96

Sunday Times v United Kingdom, Application No.6538/74(1991), para.59.

97

Ibid.

98

See art. 15 ICCPR; 7 ECHR, and 7(2) UDHR.

99

Bryan A. Garner(ed), Black’s Law Dictionary (2nd edn, Wes Group Publisher 2001)400.

100

Immaculate Joseph et al v Sri Lanka, Communication No.1249(2004),para.7.2.

101

OSCE/ODIHR, Guidelines on Freedom of Peaceful Assembly (2nd edn, strabourg 2010)16.

102

UN Human Rights Committee Gen. Comment No.34, para.25-26.

103

UN Human Rights Committee Gen. Comment No.34, para.25-26.

104

Gen. Comment No. 34, para.46.

105

African commission on Human and Peoples Rights Principles and Guideline on Human and people’s Rights while countering Terrorisms in African(2015)27.

106

Application No.6538/74(1979), para.49.

107

Ben Emmerson (n.66), Rapporteure on Fundamental Freedoms while Countering Terrorism, para.21.

221

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Toby Mendy & Eve Solomon, Freedom of Expression and Broadcasting Regulation, Communication and Information (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization-UNESCO 2011) 12-13.

109

Feldek v Slovajia, Application No.29032/95(2001),para.56.

110

Ngala Killian C, Cameroon Anti Terrorism Law-Reversal of Human Freedom (2014). <http://www. ipsnews.net/2014/12/cameroon-anti-terrorism-law-reversal-of-human-freedms/>[accessed 19 June 2017].

111

Amnesty International Reports, Human Rights Under Fire: Attacks and Violations in Cameroon’s Struggle with Boko Haram (Amnesty International Publication 2015)18.

112

National Commission on Human Rights and Freedoms, Report on the State of Human Rights in Cameroon (Messie Publisher 2015)19.

113

Art.50 of Law No.92/052 of 19 December 1990 Relating to Freedom of Mass Communication.

114

Thegaurdian, Powerful Tributes at funeral of Priest Killed in France Terrorist attack, 2 August 2016 <https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/aug/02/thousands-expected-funeral-priest-killed-infrance-terror-attack>[accessed 20 June 2017].

115

Catholic News Agency-CNA, Dozens of Egyptian Christians Killed in Bus Attack; 26 May 2017, <http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/dozens-of-egyptian-christians-killed-in-bus-attack62949/>[accessed 20 June 2017].

116

Pope Francis; Capitalism is ‘‘Terrorism Against All of Humanity’’ 23 December 2016 <htt:// www.collective-evolution.com/2016/12/23/pope-francis-capitalism-is-terrorism-against-all-ofhumanity/> [accessed 20 June 2017].

117

Jolanta Ambrosewicz-Jacobs, Reports of Member of the OSCE/ODIHR Advisory Panel on Freedom of Religion and Belief, In the Role of Religion and Belief in the Fight Against Terrorism’ OSCE Conference on the Role of Freedom of Religion and Belief in a Democratic Society: Searching for Ways to Combat Terrorism and Extremism Baku, Azerbaijan, 10-11 October 2001, 58-59.

118

Preamble to the UN 2030 Development Goals.

119

Marko Kuhn, ‘‘Interreligious Dialogue in Ethiopia-an Example Illustrating the Chances and Challenges’’ In Marko Kuhn (ed.) Facing Africa’s Future in a Global Era: The Power of Higher Education and Research (Alexander Von Humboldt Stiftung/Foundation & Katholischer Akademischer Ausländer Dienst-KAAD 2011)107-119.

120

Bamenda Provincial Episcopal Conference, Memorandum presented to the Head of State, His Excellency President Paul Biya, By the Bishops of the Ecclesiastical Province of Bamenda on the Current Situation of Unrest in the Northwest and Southwest Regions of Cameroon, 22December 2016, <http://www.mission.universelle.catholique.fr/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2017/01/ BAMENDA-PROVINCIAL-ESPICOPAL-CONFERENCE.pdf> [accessed 21 June 2017].

121

Charles Manga(n.41), Religion and Law in Cameroon: Regulatory Control and Accommodation18.

122

Art. 37(3) of the Constitution states that, the President of the Republic Shall Guarantee the Independence of Judicial Power. He shall appoint members of the bench and for the Legal Department.

He shall be assisted in this task by the Higher Judicial Council which shall give him its opinion on all

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nominations for the bench and on disciplinary action against judicial and legal officers. The organization and functioning of the Higher Judicial Council shall be defined by law.

123

Campbell and Fell v United Kingdom, Application No.7819/77(1984), para.78.

124

This desire started with a strike action in Anglophone Cameroon(North West and South West regions) by Lawyers and Teachers following the ‘marginalization of Anglophone Cameroonians’ and the gradual dissolution of the Common Law system by the French Civil Law system. This calls for a nationwide strike action both in and out of Cameroon by English Speaking Cameroonians (a minority group) demanding for a regime change, non discrimination and a federal system of Government. The Impact of the strike action was arbitrary arrest among which the leaders of the Anglophone Civil Society Consortium representing or acting on behalf of the people were arrested.

Those arrested are currently facing trial on terrorism charges at the Military tribunal at the Capital city Yaoundé since January 2017, What remains questionable is whether civilians are to be tried at the military Court and whether those arrested are really terrorist or not? This can only be answered by the outcome of the verdict of the Military court which is still pending before the court.

125

International Monetary Fund Country Report, Cameroon Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper(IMF Publication 2010)17-26 <https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/scr/2010/cr10257.pdf> [accessed 20 June 2017].

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RESEARCH ASSOCIATION for INTERDISCIPLINARY OCTOBER 2017 STUDIES

Religious Extremism versus Extremes of Desacralisation: Rethinking the Status of Religious Education Abdurezak Abdulahi Hashi

PhD Associate Professor, Department of Biotechnology, Kulliyyah of Science, International Islamic University Malaysia hashi@iium.edu.my ABSTRACT: Religion has been part and parcel of human history and heritage.

It has served as a useful companion to man in the journey of intellectual growth, which has in most of the cases, helped humanity to answer, in various forms, the basic questions of life. Though religion has been a useful companion to man, yet religious thought has never been without challenges. There have been instances in which religion is challenged by strong tendencies of secularism and the process desacralisation of politics, ethics and values, in which traditional territories of religion in life are rolled back. On the contrary, religious extremism has been another challenge of religious life, in which violent act were committed in the name of religion.

Modern proponents of extreme secularism have equated religion to infantile and childish expressions of man which functions as obstacle to the scientific mind of man, therefore they say in the age of science; religion should disappear once for all.

However, contemporary religious extremists exhibit the behavior of imposing their religious thoughts violently; they do so by demonize other religious faiths as well as ideologies and philosophies other than their own, and thus feel justified to use violent behavior against those who hold different beliefs and ideas. The question is, other than denying “the value of religion in life” or “demonizing other faiths”, can there be other intellectual positions towards religion? This paper uses analytical method to address common trends of intellectual extremism for or against religious education; be it in the form of secular or religious thought. It re-examines the status 224

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of religious education in modern times, and the challenges posed by intellectual extremisms against the function and the role of religious education in life.

KEY WORDS: intellectual extremism, religion, challenges, exposition.

1. Introduction Extremism reflects the quality of being extreme and the tendency of advocating opinions that are beyond the established norms. In the world of ideas, politics and beliefs, this term is often used to identify those who promote an ideology and practices that are considered to be far outside the mainstream thoughts and attitudes of established schools of thought or institutions. In this paper though, secular extremism is understood as those intellectuals and activists whose writings do not only reflect separation of religion from public life, but anticipate the demise of religious faiths, and thus disappear once for all. Religious education is faced by a number of difficulties including the challenges of desacraliztion and religious extremism. The former aims to eliminate religious traditions from public arena and replace it with humanism or human generated ideas. The practices of the later exceed the boundaries of religion, whereby the noble aims of religious traditions are not appreciated.

2. Religious education and the challenges of religious extremism Religious extremism is understood as the religious perspectives that demonize those with different religious faiths, or with the opposing viewpoints, and characterize people as either “fully for” or “fully against” the own group’s religious views, and identifying certain people outside the religion or the group as having less innate value on basic human level (Alex Zorach 2010). Religious extremism should not however be confused with religious conservativism and fundamentalism. The former is marked by commitment to the traditional values and ideas with some sort of opposition to innovations, while the later reflects the attitude of seeking the roots or the foundations of their religious beliefs. Regardless of the causes of religious extremism (Colonel Ahmad Al-Thagafi 2008; Iannaccone 1999), be it lack of purpose, spirit and essence of knowledge, or occupation with side issues with observable negligence of religious essence, excessive extension of prohibitions, misunderstanding of certain textual narrations, or assuming the infallibility of scholars, religious extremist are often associated with deviation from the teachings of the mainstream of given religious tradition or school of thought that they belong to. With fanatic dogmas and narrow-mind, religious extremists see themselves as holier-than-thou and condemn the religious practices of the society with 225

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dogmatic certainty, promoting themselves as having a monopoly of the religious truth.

Not only that religious extremism tend to demonize those with other religious view other than their own, but religious extremists are often associated with intolerance and aggressive behavior towards others, in which they seek to impose their religious or ideological views on others. For religious extremism is often marked by uncritical zeal, with obsessive admiration of one’s own religious opinions, religious extremists often deviate from the essence and ultimate aims of the religious teachings. Regardless of its forms and causes, religious extremism constitutes a real challenge to the functions and roles of religious education in life. This is so because, while learned scholars of given religious traditions often argue that religion aids or complements human mind, with religious extremism religious education loses its true sense and purpose.

3. Religious education and the challenges of desacralisation Back in the early modern history particularly, during the age of European Enlightenment, and in the subsequent periods, tendencies of rolling back religious territories in life have emerged. In this tendencies, the validity of revelation, the traditional source of religious teachings were questioned, while ideas and thoughts that are derived from human reason and scientific knowledge were very much anticipated. With the mind that science and reason are enough to explain life and thus solve the problems of humanity, calls to diminish and possibly illuminate religious influences in public life, were made, a process which is known as secularization. It begins as an intellectual position that is concerned “only with questions, the issues of which can be tested by the experience of this life” (Holyoake 1896, 61). With the mind that reason, experiment and observation of natural cause and effect relationships in the natural world are the ways to understand life, secularism is driven by the process of desacralizing public life.

Desacralization involves two interrelated steps; firm refusal of acknowledging the traditional authority and functions of divine teachings in philosophy, ethics and politics. It also tends to eliminate divine teachings from public domains (Max Webber d.1920) (Weber 2009; 1993). Though the initial phase of desacralization was very much driven by the tendency of managing state affairs and public life based on the dictates of human reason, without making reference to the divine sources, in the 18th and 19th centuries on words, desacralization tendencies were very much strengthened.

Philosophers like, Karl Marx (d. 1883), Nietzsche (d.1900), Charles Darwin (d.1882), Sigmund Freud (d. 1939), and others, adopted philosophies and interpretations of nature in which religious traditions played little role, and in some aspects were seen as merely an irrational human product, which lacked the necessary rational consistency 226

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and intellectualism. Towards the end of the 19th century, the West experienced the rise of atheistic philosophies, which announced their independence from belief in God. Modern philosophers like Karl Marx, Friedrich Nietzsche and Sigmund Freud, categorically presented scientific interpretations of life, in which not only was the idea of a creator God was absent, but some of these philosophers were deliberately calling for the death of God, who must forth disappear forever from life. These ideas have gradually spread throughout the materialistic and positivistic traditions of modern philosophy. For instance, philosophers like (Schopenhauer d.1860), argued that, in the age of science, man does not need to believe in the existence of God for the reason that God, if he existed, would be evil. (Further readings about Arthur Schopenhauer’s conception of religion and human nature is found in Schopenhauer 2015).

On his part, German linguist, Nietzsche loudly announced that “God is dead, and He remains dead. And we have killed him” (Nietzsche 1974, 119-120) he equates religion to an infantile idea and crime against humanity, hence in the age of science, God should disappear from life once and for all (Nietzsche 1974, 119-120). Karl Marx equated religion with “social opium” (Marxists Internet Archive 1843), and a tool of “social alienation” (Marxists Internet Archive 1843), while in his book The Future of an Illusion, Sigmund Freud (1989, 39), equated religion to illusory myths and superstitions, which have no future in the face of science.

Regardless of the intensity and depth of the works of these scholars, religious communities have always resisted, and most of the cases brushed aside the conclusions of these approaches about religious traditions. This is because, in the eye of religious communities, these hostile approaches are marked by an observable intellectual extremism towards the validity and functions of religious thought with severe methodological shortcomings, and thus their conclusions about religious traditions are not worthy.

4. Rethinking the Status of Religious Education For religious communities, as well as observers of religion and for every individual who wants to be informed about the world around, religion is an intensely inquisitive phenomenon that calls out for positive understanding of life. Hence, given the presence of religious traditions in today’s societies and their cultures, the author is of the view that denial of religious traditions’ right to exist or anticipations of the demise of religious tradition, as reflected in the extremes of the tendencies of desacralization, is counterproductive and would certainly prevent us from understanding the proper meaning and the role of religious teachings in life. Religious extremism too surely does 227

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not help us to appreciate the true meaning and the value of religious teachings. Hence, other than the extremes of secularism and religious fanatics, can there be other ways of appreciating the true role and functions of religious teachings in life?

In the search for proper answer to this question, we must bear in mind few realities about religious traditions; first, regardless of our intellectual positions about the function and the value of religious traditions in life, we must admit the fact that religion is present in all aspects of human life; in politics, in culture, in knowledge, in thoughts, in values, in music, in arts, in global issues and conflicts.

Second, not only that religion is present in our life, but despite the modern secular contentions of isolating religion from the domains of the public life, religious traditions hold an observable degree of influence on worldviews and ways of life, particularly in the categories of thought by means of providing answers to the basic inquires about the origin, the nature and the ultimate goals of life to the most of the global societies of the present age, and will certainly provide the same in the future.

Third, unlike conventional ideologies, religious teachings provoke strong convictions, heartfelt commitment, eloquent expression, forthright action, and thus play a significant role to shape the basic categories of our conceptions of life and features of cultural identities (Hashi 2014, 123). Throughout history, religion “has expressed the deepest questions human beings can ask, and it has taken a central place in the lives of virtually all civilizations and cultures. As we think all the way back to the dawn of human consciousness, we find religion everywhere we turn”(The American Academy of Religion 2004).

Fourth, proponents of desacrilization, like Bertrand Russell have argued that, with the rise of science and the expansion of technology, the age of religion is coming to an end, whereby science will replace religion. However, the fact that “more than three-quarters of the world’s people identify with one or more religions” (Van Voorst 2015, 9) presumably implies that religious beliefs are not fading away, rather religion is persistent and shows no signs of disappearing; hence suggestions of the demise of religion seem to be premature rumours.

Fifth, religious teachings are not “scientific” facts which could be coldly examined in the manner of biological or chemical samples; and thus, to a limited extent, the rites, ritual and organized institutions of religion, as well as their development and history can be studied in this way (Al-Faruqi 1967, 4). Unlike scientific facts in which the researcher could remain an outsider and keep a ‘cold’ distance from the phenomenon under study, to gain an insight into the ‘life-fact’ of a religion, we must imagine and allow our understanding to be touched and informed by them. The longer we can 228

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sustain this effort of imagination, the deeper will be our experience of the religious teachings, and the deeper (and more reliable) our insights are into it. This is to say that religion is a combination of two things; “life” and “facts”; on the one hand, religious teachings cover life experiences, ideas, thoughts and inspirations, while it also covers observable facts, on the other hand. Hence, “unless and until we are willing to be with and inside the ‘life-facts’ we are studying, they will not yield their meaning to us” (AlFaruqi 1967, 4).

5. Conclusion Extremisms of desacralization and religious fanatics constitute significant challenges of appreciating the proper functions and roles of religious education in life. Both of these extremes are presenting unrealistic views about the meaning and the value of religious traditions in life. Hence, unless and until the challenges of religious extremism and that of desacralization, towards religious thought, are duly addressed and solved, religious education would not be duly appreciated.

References Al-Faruqi, Isma‘il Raji. 1967. Christian Ethics: A Historical and Systemic Analysis of its Dominant Ideas. Montreal: McGill University Press.

Colonel Ahmad Al-Thagafi. 2008. Causes and Possible Solutions to the Middle East Terrorism.

USAWC CLASS OF 2008, Carlisle Barracks, PA: US Army War College. file:///C:/ Users/iium.Pc/Downloads/ADA481469.pdf, retrieved 08/10/2017.

Freud, Sigmund. 1989. The Future of an Illusion. Translated and edited by James Strachey. New York: Norton.

Hashi, Abdurezak A. 2014. The Study of Religious Traditions. Kuala Lumpur: IIUM Press.

Holyoake, George Jacob. 1896. English Secularism: A Confession of Belief. Chicago: The Open Court Publishing Company.

Iannaccone, Laurence R. 1999.“Religious Extremism: Origins and Consequences.” Contemporary Jewry. December 1999. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/225744337 _ Religious_extremism_Origins_and_consequences, retrieved 08/10/2017.

Marxists Internet Archive. 1843. “Works of Karl Marx, A Contribution to the Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right.” Proofed and corrected by Andy Blunden, February 2005, and corrected by Matthew Carmody in 2009. https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/ works/1843/critique-hpr/intro.htm, retrieved 03 September, 2015.

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Nietzsche, Friedrich Wilhelm. 1974. The Gay Science: with a Prelude in Rhymes and an Appendix of Songs. New York: Vintage Books.

Schopenhauer, Arthur. 2015. On Human Nature. Translated by T. Bailey Saunders, M.a., (web edition published by eBooks@Adelaide. South Australia 5005: The University of Adelaide Library. https://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/s/schopenhauer/arthur/human/ titlepage.html, retrieved 03 September 2015.

The American Academy of Religion. Why study Religion? http://studyreligion.org/site/about. html. Retrieved: 30/09/2017.

Van Voorst, Robert E. 2015. Relg: World 2. USA: Cengage Learning.

Weber, Max. 1993. The Sociology of Religion. Boston: Beacon Press.

Weber, Max. 2009. From Max Weber: Essays in sociology. New York: Routledge.

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THE FUTURE OF MEDICINE, THEME

H E A LT H C A R E , A N D BIOLOGICAL STUDIES

RAIS

RESEARCH ASSOCIATION for INTERDISCIPLINARY OCTOBER 2017 STUDIES

Dengue Spread Modeling in the Absence of Sufficient Epidemiological Parameters: Comparison of SARIMA and SVM Time Series Models Jerelyn Co1,

Research and Graduate Assistant MS Computer Science, Ateneo de Manila University

Jason Allan Tan2, Ma. Regina Justina Estuar3, Kennedy Espina4 Ateneo de Manila University jerelynco@gmail.com1, jasonallantan@gmail.com2 restuar@ateneo.edu3, kespina@ateneo.edu4

ABSTRACT: Dengue remains to be a major public health concern in the Philippines, claiming hundreds of lives every year ( Jaymalin 2017). Given limited data for deriving necessary epidemiological parameters in developing deterministic disease models, forecasting as a means in controlling and anticipating outbreaks remains a challenge. In this study, two time series models, namely Seasonal Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (SARIMA) and Support Vector Machine (SVM), were developed without the requirement for prior epidemiological parameters. Performances of the models in predicting dengue incidences in the Western Visayas Region of the Philippines were compared by measuring the Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) and Mean Average Error (MAE). Results showed that the models were both effective in forecasting Dengue incidences for epidemiological surveillance as validated by historical data.

SARIMA model yielded average RMSE and MAE scores of 16.8187 and 11.4640, respectively. Meanwhile, SVM model achieved scores of 11.8723 and 7.7369, respectively. With the data and setup used, this study showed that SVM outperformed SARIMA in forecasting Dengue incidences. Furthermore, preliminary investigation of one-month lagged climate variables using Random Forest Regressorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s feature ranking yielded rain intensity and value as top possible dengue incidence climate predictors.

KEY WORDS: SARIMA, SVM, Dengue Fever,Time Series Modeling, Feature importance.

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Dengue Spread Modeling in the Absence of Sufficient Epidemiological Parameter

1. Introduction Dengue is a mosquito-borne viral disease transmitted to humans by female mosquitoes primarily of the species Aedes aegypti and, to a lesser extent, Ae. albopictus. It has been a major public health concern across the tropical and subtropical regions of the world, imposing great burden on populations, health systems, and economies in the affected countries (World Health Organization 2012). The virus is now endemic in more than 100 countries, significantly affecting Southeast Asia and Western Pacific.

The reports published in 2016 showed that there were 375,000 suspected cases of Dengue in the Western Pacific Region, where 176,411 cases were reported from the Philippines (World Health Organization 2017).

The first recorded epidemic in the Southeast Asia came from Manila, Philippines in 1954. Since 1958, Dengue has been a notifiable disease in the country (Dominguez 1997, 41-47). From 2008 to 2012, the Philippinesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Department of Health (DOH) reported 585,324 cases with a Case Fatality Rate (CFR) of 0.55 or 3,195 deaths (Edillo et al. 2015, 360-66). In 2011, the country was ranked 4th in the highest incidences of Dengue in the list of Association in the Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member-countries (Mateo 2017). An endemic disease in the Philippines, Dengue is still considered to be one of the top priority communicable diseases in the Philippine Health Agenda 2016-2022 (Cabral 2016, 1-11).

Figure 1. Reported Dengue cases (left) and deaths (right) (Bravo et al. 2011, 1-11)

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Mathematical models and tools have been developed to model and forecast the disease dynamics in population (Andraud et al. 2012, 1-14; Shen 2014, 1-68; Lima et al. 2016, 1-21). However, constructing such models require prior information on the epidemiological parameters which are not easy, if not impossible, to obtain due to limitation in data and high requirement for disease understanding. Several mathematical models have been proposed in describing the dynamic behavior of dengue transmission ( Johansson, Hombach, and Cummings 2011, 5860-68).

Dengue, having a complex nature, is expected to have varying and several parameters to approximately capture its dynamics.

Figure 2. SpatioTemporal Epidemiological Modeler (STEM) Dengue Full Model (Kaufman 2014)

Figure 2 shows an example compartment model made for the Spatio-Temporal Epidemiological Model software. This model has 51 compartments with around 12 epidemiological parameters to search for (Kaufman 2014), which considers the immunity rate brought by Dengueâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s serotypes. Other examples are from Yingyun (2014) and Derouich et al. (2003), which employ less number of compartments but with around the same number of parameters (Shen 2014; Derouich, et al. 2003, 1-10). Complexity of compartment models are often attributed to their specificity.

For example, a study by Shim (2016) went further to the age-dependency nature of the disease transmission (Shim 2016, 1137-47). Using these compartment models, apart from creating the compartments and formulating the Ordinary Differential 234

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Equations (ODEs), each of the parameters must be estimated and adjusted from literature and validation.

To develop models with less parameter requirements, this paper will apply two known time series methods in forecasting real Dengue incidence data in the Western Visayas Region of the Philippines. The first method is based on statistical modeling Seasonal Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (SARIMA), and the second method is based on machine learning-based modeling Support Vector Machine (SVM). Using several validation measures, this paper aims to discuss and compare the performance of the two methods. For multivariate study, feature importances of climate variables to dengue incidences will also be investigated.

2. Literature Review Time series modeling methods have been attracting researchers over the last few decades. Particular to health, some of the applications are on physiologic studies, critical care medicine, epidemiology, environment, demographics, and health services (Zeger, Irizarry and Peng 2006, 56-79).

These methods have long contributed to epidemiologic studies of both infectious and chronic diseases for the purposes of predicting future values for surveillance (Gran et al. 2009, 221-39; Ture and Kurt 2016, 41-46). Some of the most known and used method in this area are the Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) model and machine learning-based models, such as the Support Vector Machine (SVM).

2.1 Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA)

Statistical methods have been extensively adopted for time series forecasting. These methods assume that future values of the time series result based from past values as well as to past errors.

ARIMA, being a popular time series modeling technique, has been frequently used in disease spread forecasting. ARIMA can model historical information by using the autoregressive (AR) stage to consider past values and moving average (MA) stage to consider the current and previous residual series (Zhang et al. 2014, 1-16). It has been used to predict incidences of various diseases including hepatitis, hemorrhagic fever, and malaria (Li et al. 2012, 364-70; Ture and Kurt 2006, 41-46; Abeku et al.

2002, 851-57) .

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2.2 Support Vector Machine (SVM)

With the rise of Machine Learning methods, Artificial Neural Networks have been successfully applied for modeling infectious diseases due to its nonlinear mapping ability, an advantage to the linear statistical method ARIMA. Following Neural Networks is SVM with the same property and a few more advantages in endemic forecasting (Zhang et al. 2014, 1-16).

SVM was originally developed for pattern recognition to improve the generalization property of Neural Networks. There are two main categories for SVM: Support Vector Classification (SVC) and Support Vector Regression (SVR). With its ability to solve nonlinear regression estimation problems, the SVR, shows great potential in time series forecasting (Okasha 2014; Msiza, Nelwamondo, and Marwala 2007, 638-43).

SVM works by mapping the dataset into a high-dimensional feature space and including a penalty term in the error function (Chen, and Lee 2015. 99-116; Basak, Pal and Patranabis 2017, 203-24). The idea of SVM is to separate the dataset and find the hyperplane that maximizes the margin. In regression problems, a linear learning machine learns nonlinear function in a kernel-induced feature space (Msiza, Nelwamondo, and Marwala 2007, 638-43).

3. Methodology Several datasets were obtained from the respected departments of the country for this study. First is the Philippines Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response (PIDSR) data for years 2012 to 2016 of the Department of Health which holds the incidence count for numerous diseases including dengue. For the Western Visayas Region, PIDSR has incidence records from 122 municipalities/cities which were the subject of this study.

Another dataset is the climate data from the Advanced Science and Technology Institute (ASTI) of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) consisting measures for wind speed and direction, rain amount and duration, temperature, pressure, and humidity for six municipalities/cities in the same region. For preliminary analysis of climate variablesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; contribution to dengue incidence, Random Forest Regressorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s feature importance measures of the climate variables were derived by applying the regressor on one-month lagged climate variables in predicting dengue incidence data.

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3.1 Models Development A requirement in time forecasting is to transform data into its autocorrelated form.

This means that if the input time series data is {x1, x2,.., xn} and {xt} is the goal value for forecasting, then {xt-1, xt-2,..., xt-p} should be the correlated value where p is the embedding dimension or the number of lags. To accommodate wide range of seasonal data, seasonal ARIMA (SARIMA) was used. Additions to ARIMA to form this seasonal ARIMA are the seasonal terms. Identifying the model orders for both nonseasonal (p, d, q) and seasonal level (P, D, Q) was based from the investigation of Akaike’s Information Criterion (AIC). For SVM, since there is no standard optimal embedding value p, experiments were performed using values p={1,2,3,4,5}.

Additionally, for every experiment, 5-fold cross validation was performed to determine the best combination of parameters, and C. 3.2 Forecasting A dataset split of 80% and 20% of the total number of rows per municipality or city were used as the training and testing sets, respectively. Forecasting future incidences was based on recursive strategy, where a single model is trained to perform one-step ahead forecast which subsequently becomes the input for the next forecast. Sixmonth ahead forecasts were obtained from the models. To compare the two models’ performances, Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) and Mean Average Error (MAE) were computed using the predicted and true values on the test set.

4. Results and Discussion Figure 3 shows time series plots of Iloilo City and Isabela for both SARIMA and SVM models. Included in the plots are the municipality/city’s true, predicted, and 6-month ahead forecast incidence value, respectively.

(a) SARIMA for Iloilo (RMSE: 111.78, MAE: 65.5)

(b) SVM for Iloilo (RMSE: 70.21, MAE: 59.24)

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(c) SARIMA for Isabela (RMSE: 19.22, MAE:11.01)

(d) SVM for Isabela (RMSE: 21.74, MAE:13.20)

Figure 3. Dengue Incidence plots using SARIMA and SVM From figure 3, SVM tightly fit with the actual values for the time period with minimal variation, while SARIMA performed with slightly higher errors. For the spike nearing the end of 2016, however, SVM consistently underestimated the prediction, while SARIMA was closer to the actual values for Figure 3a. This inconsistency in performances then results to differing model of preference per municipality/city.

Evident from the same figure, SVM performed better for Iloilo City with RMSE and MAE difference of 41.5 and 6.26, while SARIMA performing marginally better for Isabela with the difference of 2.52 and 2.19, respectively.

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Figure 4. (left) RMSE and (right) MAE bar charts for SARIMA and SVM

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Dengue Spread Modeling in the Absence of Sufficient Epidemiological Parameter

Supporting the finding from figure 3, figure 4 shows variations of RMSE and MAE for the two models using 30 municipalities / cities. There are municipalities/cities where SVM model performed better, while there are some that SARIMA performed better.

Overall, computing the average scores for the two models resulted to SVM models performing better than SARIMA models for this specific application. SVM model achieved average RMSE and MAE scores of 11.8723 and 7.7369, respectively.

Meanwhile, SARIMA model yielded average scores of 16.8187 and 11.4640, respectively.

Figure 5. Feature Importances Scores of Climate Variables Figure 5 shows the feature importances chart of the climate variables. Prominent on the chart is the high importance scores of rain intensity and rain value, following with a large gap are air humidity, rain duration, and wind direction.

Conclusion Disease spread mathematical modeling, although a well established technique, has high development requirements such as epidemiological parameter values. The problem, however, is that these parameter values are not always easily accessible. To present alternatives, this study proved and compared the feasibility of two models, namely SVM and SARIMA, in dengue incidence forecasting. For this specific purpose, 239

Proceedings of the RAIS Conferece I 16-17 OCTOBER, 2017

averaging the municipality/city error scores led to SVM generally performing better than SARIMA with RMSE and MAE differences of 4.9464 and 3.7271, respectively.

Results also showed that model choice may differ depending on the time series, municipality/city incidence in this case, the model was fitted to. This suggests that instead of sticking to just one of the techniques, a model with the better performance may be chosen for each of the municipality/city. For future studies, preliminary results of feature importances scores using Random Forest Regressor for climate variables showed that rain intensity and rain value are the top predictors of dengue incidence.

Furthermore, a hybrid of direct-recursive forecasting strategy may be performed to include the newly predicted values in the model.

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Andraud, Mathieu, Niel Hens, Christiaan Marais, and Philippe Beutels. 2012. “Dynamic Epidemiological Models for Dengue Transmission: A Systematic Review of Structural Approaches.” PloS One 7 (11): e49085. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0049085.

Basak, Debasish, Srimanta Pal, and Dipak Chandra Patranabis. 2007. “Support Vector Regression.” Neuronal Information Processing - Letters and Reviews 11 (10): 203–24. doi:10.4258/hir.2010.16.4.224.

Bravo, Lulu, Vito G. Roque, Jeremy Brett, Ruby Dizon, and Maïna L’Azou. 2014.“Epidemiology of Dengue Disease in the Philippines (2000–2011): A Systematic Literature Review.”

PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases 8 (11). doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0003027.

Cabral, Esperanza I. 2016. “The Philippine Health Agenda for 2016 to 2022.” Phillippine Journal of Internal Medicine 54 (2): 1–11.

Chen, Thao-tsen, and Shie-jue Lee. 2015. “A Weighted LS-SVM Based Learning System for Time Series Forecasting.” Information Sciences 299. Elsevier Inc.: 99–116. doi:10.1016/j. ins.2014.12.031.

Derouich, M, A Boutayeb, EH Twizell, HW Hethcote, EA Newton, P Reiter, L Esteva, et al. 2003. “A Model of Dengue Fever.” BioMedical Engineering OnLine 2 (1): 4. doi:10.1186/1475-925X-2-4

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Dominguez, Ma. Nerissa. 1997. “Current DF / DHF Prevention and Control Programme in the Philippines.” Dengue Bulletin – 21: 41–47.

Edillo, Frances E., Yara A. Halasa, Francisco M. Largo, Jonathan Neil V Erasmo, Naomi B. Amoin, Maria Theresa P Alera, In Kyu Yoon, Arturo C. Alcantara, and Donald S. Shepard. 2015. “Economic Cost and Burden of Dengue in the Philippines.” American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 92 (2): 360–66. doi:10.4269/ajtmh.14-0139.

Gran, J.M., L. Wasmuth, E.J. Amundsen, B.H. Lindqvist, and O.O. Aalen. 2009.“Growth Rates in Epidemic Models: Application to a Model for HIV/AIDS Progression.” Statistics in Medicine 28 ( July 2006): 221–39. doi:10.1002/sim.

Jaymalin, Mayen. “More dengue deaths recorded in 2016.” Philstar.com, 10 Feb. 2017, www. philstar.com/headlines/2017/02/10/1670758/more-dengue-deaths-recorded-2016.

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Johansson, Michael A., Joachim Hombach, and Derek A T Cummings. 2011. “Models of the Impact of Dengue Vaccines: A Review of Current Research and Potential Approaches.”

Vaccine 29 (35). Elsevier Ltd: 5860–68. doi:10.1016/j.vaccine.2011.06.042.

Kaufman, James. “Dengue Disease Transmission Model.” Dengue Disease Transmission Model - Eclipsepedia. April 2014. Accessed September 10, 2017. https://wiki.eclipse. org/Dengue_Disease_Transmission_Model Li, Qi, Na Na Guo, Zhan Ying Han, Yan Bo Zhang, Shun Xiang Qi, Yong Gang Xu, Ya Mei Wei, Xu Han, and Ying Ying Liu. 2012. “Application of an Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average Model for Predicting the Incidence of Hemorrhagic Fever with Renal Syndrome.” American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 87 (2): 364–70. doi:10.4269/ajtmh.2012.11-0472.

Lima, Tiago Frana Melo de, Raquel Martins Lana, Tiago Garcia de Senna Carneiro, Claudia Torres Codeco, Gabriel Souza Machado, Lucas Saraiva Ferreira, Lilliam Caesar de Castro Medeiros, and Clodoveu Augusto Davis Junior. 2016. “Dengueme: A Tool for the Modeling and Simulation of Dengue Spatiotemporal Dynamics.” International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 13 (9): 1–21. doi:10.3390/ijerph13090920.

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Shen, Yingyun. 2014. “Mathematical Models of Dengue Fever and Measures to Control It.” Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations. http://diginole.lib.fsu.edu/etd/9093.1Shim, Eunha. 2016. “Dengue Dynamics and Vaccine Cost-Effectiveness Analysis in the Philippines.” American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 95 (5): 1137–47. doi:10.4269/ajtmh.16-0194.

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RESEARCH ASSOCIATION for INTERDISCIPLINARY OCTOBER 2017 STUDIES

Patients’ motivation and health plan choice DongWoo Ko

Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, South Korea ABSTRACT: Previous studies have shown that Medicare beneficiaries tend not to switch their prescription drug plans (Part D) even though they can largely save drug costs by plan switching. To explore why this so called “plan stickiness” happens, the present study focused on the concept of social exclusion, which is one of the most important characteristics of the elderly. This study compared the impact of two types of social exclusion on an association between psychological cost and plan switchingpassive (or rejected) social exclusion and active (or ignored) social exclusion.

These two types are known to differently influence consumers’ motivation and decision-making process. The 2007 Prescription Drug Study supplement to the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) data were used for analysis. We investigated the individual- level willingness to switch across multiple levels (individual level of psychological costs and group level of passive and active social exclusion) using a Hierarchical Linear Model (HLM). The findings suggest that passive social exclusion is associated with uncertainty cost. Study findings will help policymakers better understand the elderly’s plan decision- making process and promote their informed plan decisions.

KEY WORDS: Medicare, Beneficiaries’ Non-Switching Behavior, Psychological Cost, Hierarchical Linear Model (HLM).

The full paper is not available for this article.

243

Proceedings of the RAIS Conferece I 16-17 OCTOBER, 2017 INDEX OF AUTHORS A

AJAYI, JOHN AYODELE 27 ANUSIEM, BONIFACE NKEM 80 B

BÂLC, SAMUIEL 189 BĂNCĂU-BURCEA, ADELA

124

BARNALI, CHETIA 110 C

CHIJIOKE, UWAH CO, JERELYN 232 E

EL GUILI, HAMZA 54

ESPINA, KENNEDY 232 ESTUAR, MA. REGINA JUSTINA 232 F

FERREIRA, TATYANE 101 FUNMILOLA, KEMI MEGBOWON 147 G

GUPTA, NEERJA A 140 H

HASHI, ABDUREZAK ABDULAHI IMAM, FAIZAH 169

224

K

KAREEM, TAZHAN DLSHAD 90

KAUSHAL, NIDHI 37 KHAN, MD. RAJIN MAKHDUM 169

244

INDEX OF AUTHORS

L

LARSON, SVEN R 64 LI, YELIN (JENNY) 46 M

MANOLACHE, STELIAN 178

MARQUES, MÁRCIA 101 MISHRA, SANJIT

MUMA, ERIC CHE 194 MURAD, HERSH RASOOL 90 N

NGAI, TSZ LAM 131 P

PONTES PINTO, EDSON ANTÔNIO SOUSA R

RAHAMAN, MD. MOSTAFIZUR RAMALHO, ALZIMAR

10

158

101

T

TAN, JASON ALLAN 232 V

VIEGAS, MARCELA CARVALHO

17

245

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