<rss version="2.0"><channel><title>New titles ASC Leiden</title><description>ASC Leiden RSS feed</description><link>http://www.asclibrary.nl/rss/NewtitlesASCLeiden.xml</link><item><link>https://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0001972026101831?rft_dat=source%3Ddrss</link><title>Inclusion, exploitation or unfair advantage? The ambiguities of community participation in a South African special economic zone</title>  <source url="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/africa/latest-issue">Africa</source><description><![CDATA[This article examines the contradictory terms of &#8216;inclusion&#8217; in market-led development through an ethnographic study of the Atlantis Special Economic Zone (SEZ) on the periphery of Cape Town, South Africa. Drawing on twelve months of fieldwork and over seventy interviews with zone officials, elected community representatives and residents, it traces how unemployed people are mobilized as &#8216;representatives&#8217; in the SEZ&#8217;s community participation programme, which is meant to evidence the zone&#8217;s social licence to operate while providing little remuneration. Officials frame participation as shared value and market inclusion; participants experience it as unpaid labour and reputational risk; and residents often interpret it as an unfair channel to insider advantage. In a peripheral setting marked by chronic unemployment and long-delayed investment, these competing framings show how programmes promising inclusion demand new forms of labour &#8211; moral, affective and material work through which people seek recognition, belonging and livelihoods &#8211; yet often incur social and economic losses. Building on Africa-focused debates about market inclusion as adverse incorporation, and on the anthropology of volunteering, the article argues that contemporary inclusionary projects depend on the unwaged efforts of the poor and reproduce new forms of precarity &#8211; even as they sustain the fiction of the &#8216;inclusivity&#8217; of markets on the continent.]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 10 Jun 2026 09:55:58 +02:00</pubDate></item><item>
<link>https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14725843.2026.2666598?af=R</link>
<title>China&#8217;s image in Africa: economic engagement and the challenge of social acceptance</title>  <source url="https://www.tandfonline.com/feed/rss/cafi20">tandf: African Identities: Table of Contents</source>
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<pubDate>Tue, 09 Jun 2026 01:03:31 +02:00</pubDate>
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<link>https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1467-8268.70061?af=R</link>
<title>Economic Complexity and Income Inequality: The Influence of ICT and Human Capital Development in Africa</title>  <source url="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/loi/14678268?af=R">Wiley: African Development Review: Table of Contents</source>
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<![CDATA[ABSTRACT Building on recent economic complexity scholarship, this paper examines the contingent effects of economic complexity, ICT penetration, and human capital development on income inequality in Africa. The system Generalized Method of Moments estimator is deployed on a panel data that include 34 African countries from 1995 to 2021. The results, which are consistent with the skill-biased technological change theory, show that economic complexity unconditionally widens income inequality in Africa. However, ICT and human capital development counteract the adverse effects and help complement economic complexity in reducing income inequality in Africa. In other words, when economic complexity is conditioned on adequate human capital and ICT, income inequality narrows. The ICT components worthy of note and required to effectively complement economic complexity in reducing income inequality are the internet and fixed broadband subscriptions. Also, human capital development indicators such as secondary and tertiary school enrollments as well as secondary and tertiary school pupil&#8211;teacher ratios are relevant to effectively complement economic complexity in reducing income inequality in Africa. Relevant policy directives are provided.]]>
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<pubDate>Tue, 09 Jun 2026 01:03:31 +02:00</pubDate>
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<link>https://www.journals.ac.za/index.php/sajhe/article/view/6979</link>
<title>Funding the future: Financial aid&#8217;s role in postgraduate choices and success</title>  <source url="https://www.journals.ac.za/index.php/sajhe">South African Journal of Higher Education</source>
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<![CDATA[Background: Ensuring a pipe-line of students from undergraduate into postgraduate phase of higher education is of critical importance to most countries&#8217; post-school strategies and economic growth. While there are some insights in the international literature on the role of funding in respect of postgraduate access and success, there are limited studies in the South African context. This study examined the impact of prospective financial aid receipt on students registered at a selected South African university. Method 1: The study first analysed the financial aid receipt status and academic performance of postgraduate students on a selected sample of Commerce students of a South African university in 2019 (the last &#8216;normal&#8217; year before COVID-19 took place). The data indicates that 46 per cent of these students received financial aid. The recipients were predominantly African female full-time students. Findings 1: The empirical findings indicated that financial aid receipt was associated with a significant shorter studies completion time at Postgraduate Diploma (PGDip) level, followed by Honours level. Method 2: The study proceeded to use primary data collected from the 2023 final-year undergraduate students, as well as those in Year 1 (Honours and PGDip), and Year 2 (Masters) students of the same university on their intention to pursue the next level of postgraduate studies in 2024. A total of 159 responses were received and the results showed that 88 per cent of final-year undergraduate students; 64 per cent of first-year postgraduate students; and 45 per cent of Masters students had an intention to proceed into further postgraduate studies. Findings 2: The primary reason for not intending to pursue further studies (Masters and Doctorate) was the need to become economically active through work opportunities to provide financial support to their families. In respect of final-year undergraduate students there were two factors that would influence their decision to apply for postgraduate studies, namely meeting minimum entry requirements and receipt of financial aid. Significance of research: This research is important as it provides valuable insights on the key factors that drive the students&#8217; decision to pursue further postgraduate studies and the role of financial aid to improve students&#8217; academic success at postgraduate level.]]>
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<pubDate>Tue, 09 Jun 2026 01:03:31 +02:00</pubDate>
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<link>https://journals.uj.ac.za/index.php/The_Thinker/article/view/5178</link>
<title>Economic Diplomacy, Foreign Direct Investment, and the Path to Sustainable Development: Evidence, Barriers, and Strategic Opportunities for Guinea</title>  <source url="https://journals.uj.ac.za/index.php/The_Thinker">The Thinker</source>
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<![CDATA[Guinea occupies a paradoxical position in global investment discourse: a nation endowed with extraordinary mineral wealth, including the world&#8217;s largest bauxite reserves, substantial gold deposits, diamonds, and one of the richest iron ore deposits on earth, yet one that has historically failed to translate these endowments into broad-based economic development through foreign direct investment (FDI). Despite sustained government efforts to deploy economic diplomacy as a strategic lever for attracting capital, FDI inflows declined sharply over the past decade, undermining state revenues, employment, and development trajectories. This study critically examines the effectiveness of Guinea&#8217;s economic diplomacy in attracting FDI, identifies the principal structural and institutional barriers impeding investment, and proposes evidence- based strategies for improvement. Employing a descriptive mixed-methods design, the research draws on structured interviews with 25 key stakeholders, including diplomats at the Guinean Embassy in Pretoria, government officials, and business representatives, supplemented by questionnaire surveys and documentary analysis. Thematic analysis revealed six critical impediments: corruption (identified by 75% of participants), inadequate infrastructure (80%), political violence and insecurity (70%), bureaucratic bottlenecks (60%), language barriers (40%), and limited institutional capacity.]]>
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<pubDate>Tue, 09 Jun 2026 01:13:17 +02:00</pubDate>
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<link>https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/00020397261457156?ai=2b4andamp;mi=ehikzzandamp;af=R</link>
<title>Epistemic Hierarchies and the Marketisation of Africa Expertise: The Political Economy of Global Development Studies in British Academia</title>  <source url="https://journals.sagepub.com/action/showFeed?ui=0andmi=ehikzzandai=2b4andjc=afraandtype=etocandfeed=rss">SAGE Publications Ltd: Africa Spectrum: Table of Contents</source>
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<![CDATA[Africa Spectrum, Ahead of Print. <br>In British academia, Africa occupies a paradoxical position, highly visible as a site of humanitarian concern and policy experimentation, yet structurally marginalised in shaping research agendas and defining scholarly value. This debate piece explores ...]]>
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<pubDate>Tue, 09 Jun 2026 01:13:17 +02:00</pubDate>
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