The nexus between national and student politics: managing student conflicts in four African universities in an era of democratic transition

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dc.contributor.advisorIsike, C.
dc.contributor.authorMuya, Dominick
dc.date.accessioned2014-06-30T06:55:21Z
dc.date.available2014-06-30T06:55:21Z
dc.date.issued2014
dc.descriptionA thesis submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Public Administration in the Faculty of Commerce, Administration and Law , at the University of Zululand, South Africa, 2014.en_US
dc.description.abstractStudents conflict characterized by violent student versus management confrontations and inter political group violence has been a recurring decimal in African universities since the post-colonial era of the continent‟s political history. This has had dire socio-economic consequences for development in the continent. This study therefore sought mainly to establish whether the connection between national and student politics, given the historical background of liberation politics, is a major source of conflict in South African and Tanzanian universities. This is with a view to recommend evidence-based policy and conflict management practices aimed at addressing the perenial crisis of student upheavals in these countries with lessons for the rest of Africa. Using an integrated mix of research approaches and data collection methods and analysis, the study surveyed 318 respondents, conducted 97 key-person interviews and 10 focus group discusions accross 4 selected universities in study areas. These include the University of Zululand and University of Pretoria in South Africa and the University of Dar es Salaam and the University of Dodoma in Tanzania. The study found that student political organizations which often are extensions/youth wings of local/regional/national political parties in both countries are vehicles of the continuation of societal politics by other means. This is not tenable in the light of transition to multiparty democracy where the development issues that define politics today are different form the liberation issues that defined politics in the past. The study also found that although South Africa and Tanzania are still transiting democratically, there is a disparity between democratic consolidation at the national level and the lower levels of the society such as Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) where the national democratic culture is yet to be entrenched. As a result, the practice of student politics on campus is defined by student emotions instead of democratic rationality. Also, on the part of management, universities in the era of democratic transition have played very little role in mentoring students on university values and ethos as well as on the development of the leadership components of their training. Students have in turn placed their trust on politicians rather than the academic community, and have ipso facto, become vehicles of the political contestations of national/regional and local politics which often times are violent in character. The study therefore concludes that is a need to rethink the role of the SRC in a democratic era such that it goes beyond demonstrations over welfare issues to incubating future leaders for a continent in need of all-round educated leaders. In this light, the study recommended amongst others, depeening democracy in our student body politics by restructuring student governance to uphold representative democracy on HEIs campuses, and integrating conflict management measures into institutional renewal initiatives such as Institutional Transformation Program (ITP) in a bid to transform conflict and enable peace and development in Africa.en_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10530/1324
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.publisherUniversity of Zululand
dc.subjectStudents conflict -- African universitiesen_US
dc.subjectStudent politics -- African universitiesen_US
dc.titleThe nexus between national and student politics: managing student conflicts in four African universities in an era of democratic transitionen_US
dc.typeThesisen_US
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