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1. Mojeed Olujinmi A. Alabi and Wahab Olasupo Egbewole (eds.) Perspectives on the Legislature in the Government of Nigeria (Kingdom of Morocco African Training and Research Centre in Administration for Development, 2010).

Author:
Alexander B. Makulilo
Publication Date:
02-2012
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Central European University Political Science Journal
Institution:
Central European University
Abstract:
The legislature remains an important institution of democracy worldwide. It is the home of the elected representatives of the people and often largely responsible for law making, budgeting as well as overseeing the powers of the executive. In Africa, as elsewhere in the Third World, parliaments have had a checkered history. The executive arm of the government, more often than not, has monopolized political space, normally through excessive ruling party discipline, thereby undermining the powers of legislatures. Yet some countries in the region have experienced a history of military coups with the consequence of halting democratic practices and the functions of legislatures. Nigeria is one country in which military coups became the order of the day. With the restoration of democratic governance in Nigeria, the newly instituted legislature is a clear symbol that distinguishes democratic governance from the authoritarian past. Perspective on the Legislature in the Government of Nigeria is a much needed study to understand how this institution functions in a nascent democratic nation like Nigeria.
Political Geography:
Africa, Nigeria, and Morocco

2. Larbi Touaf and Soumia Boutkhil (eds.), The World as a Global Agora: Critical Perspectives on Public Space (Newcastle Upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2008).

Author:
Viktoria Potapkina
Publication Date:
02-2012
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Central European University Political Science Journal
Institution:
Central European University
Abstract:
Public spaces have for centuries played an important role in the formation and development of societies, both as a physical space for gathering and debating, as well as a symbolic notion representing the core values of democracy. Such places have developed in a way that reflects the beliefs, public values, as well as the culture and a sense of community for the inhabitants of many areas. Public spaces remain a crucial concept in many developed and developing societies, as well as a vital component of the more traditional communities around the world. Nevertheless, as our ever more globalizing and liberalizing planet continues on its path of economic commercialization, privatization and subtle fragmentation, public spaces begin taking on new appearances. As public spaces form and deform under the influence of the present day media and information technology, they seem to morph into a new concept, slowly losing their initial shape and purpose, while nonetheless remaining a fundamental principle of participatory democracy and an essential component of public life, regardless of what shape they take. Modern developing and traditional societies all tend to continue valuing the symbolic significance of public space, as it is grounded in the “collective socio-political consciousness as the basis for a general sense of civic action.” (pp. xi). This is the common denominator for the essays on architecture , sociology, gender, and literary criticisms that place themselves around the debates about the concept of public space presented in The World as a Global Agora: Critical Perspectives on Public Space. The essays presented in the book originate from a two- day conference on public space, held at the Faculty of Letters at Mohammed I University in Oujda, Morocco in 2007, in itself a significant event as it was being held in a country with no historic precedents of such institutions.
Political Geography:
Morocco