The Civil War and the Refugee Crisis in Liberia
On the eve of the twenty-first century, one of the greatest challenges and troubling phenomena facing the world is an increasing number of refugees, of whom there are about 18 million. The refugee problem has recently assumed international significance due to exploding refugee population movements. The global refugee problem is a subject of international concern as it affects Africa, Asia, Latin America, Europe, and North America. It is a particularly serious problem in Africa where the refugee population on the continent represents about 50 percent of the world's refugees, surpassing even the population of some individual African nations. In Sub-Saharan Africa, Mozambique, Angola, Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia, Rwanda, and Liberia have generated the largest numbers of refugees.
Africa’s Gender Revolution
This major research paper examines whether women's increased presence in highlevel political positions in Rwanda and Liberia impacted the socio-political empowerment of women. Rwanda provides a unique case study, as it was the first country in the world to have a gender parity parliament. Liberia, having elected the first female African president, presents an optimal example of female leadership in the continent. The research question draws on both Anna Philips's theory on politics of presence and Drude Dahlerup and Rosabeth Moss Kanter's critical mass theory. Both confirm the significance of female representation in political institutions in relation to empowerment. The paper concludes that the increased presence of women in high-level political position initiated greater parliamentary attention to gender equality issues. Yet the success of women's political empowerment in Africa has been accompanied by increasingly authoritarian and/or patriarchal institutions. Hence, women were unable to fully benefit from their increased presence in politics. This paper calls for improved targets for women in political and decision-making positions that are accompanied by determined efforts to remove all obstacles that obstruct women's effectiveness.
Refugees in Somalia
Ever since the end of the 1950's the African continent has been faced with refugee problems of enormous magnitude. At the beginning of the 1980's this continent had the largest number of refugees a ...