Examines the transitions to democracy in Africa. What conditions motivate a transition to democracy? Can the dynamics of a transition influence its outcome? Under what circumstances has democracy been consolidated in Africa? This trilogy of questions has become necessary in light of the current democratic wave engulfing Africa and the rest of the world. In examining the conditions that initiate democratic transitions, this book investigates the circumstances under which democracy movements have operated between 1980 and 1990. It concludes that, contrary to dominant democratic theory, the transitions to democracy in Africa have occurred under declining levels of development. With regard to transitions, the book recognizes that they have their own dynamics. Two main types of transitions are discerned: top-down and bottom-up. The book argues that in spite of the restrictive nature of top-down transitions, they offer a better opportunity for democratic consolidation because of the consensus between elites of the pro-democracy regime and their counterparts in the authoritarian regime, a condition that is normally absent under bottom-up transitions. Finally, relying on the cases of consolidated democracies, the book derives an African democracy model. The model delineates five main conditions that facilitate democratic consolidation, including good leadership, relevant political institutions, external support, civic space, and a reasonable level of development. It cautions, however, that these are not sufficient conditions, nor are all of them necessary. Since countries have unique historical circumstances, specific countries will have to combine conditions in the model that are relevant to that society to consolidate its democracy. The right combination will depend on the specific needs of the individual country.

Transitions and Consolidation of Democracy in Africa (Global Academic Publishing)

Samuel E. Quainoo

Reference

Global Academic Publishing

Educating the Black Child in the Black Independent School

Education & Teaching

Asumah, Seth Nii

Schools & Teaching

The Crusades examines how the Crusades affected peoples and terrains; agriculture, art, and archeology; military and urban architecture; literature and music; and the attitudes of the Christian West towards the Muslim East and vice versa. In researching it, a work in progress even today, it is imperative to keep in mind the fact that one is dealing with an event in history where the right exists side by side with the wrong; the good with the bad; the beautiful with the ugly; charity, generosity, and nobility with cruelty, selfishness, and treachery--a task which is, for the historian, as difficult as working on the Holocaust while listening to Wagner.

The Crusades [Published in English]

History

State University of New York at Binghamt

Khalil I. Semaan Ear

Europe

A reminder that much of the music that drives contemporary music and world culture has Afrocentric origins. The controversy surrounding the ownership of “jazz” involves an intersection of residual “slave mentality” (that insists African Americans contribute little to world society) combined with a perpetual mode of exploitation of artistic innovations that result from African American creativity. Examining the evolution of African American music within the context of its sociocultural history makes the most salient aspects of the roots of innovative “Black” music increasingly clear. The success of “jazz” and other African American music gradually attracted the attention of people around the world. As a consequence, many Eurocentric capitalists and institutions insist upon claiming ownership and control. Racism and sexism provoke illogical responses and behavior throughout society. As a result, many people love “jazz” while refusing to acknowledge the progenitors of the music. Nonetheless, after all is said and done, the innovators of all “jazz” styles remain Scott Joplin, Louis Armstrong, Mary Lou Williams, Billie Holiday, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Ella Fitzgerald, Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Donald Byrd, Cecil Taylor, Ornette Coleman, and other African American masters.

Bigotry and the Afrocentric Jazz Evolution with CD.

Biographies & Memoirs

Karlton Hester

Hester, Karlton

Arts & Literature

From Colonials to Bearcats: A History of Binghamton University Athletics, 1946-2006

Schum, Tim

The subject matter of this book cannot be described in a simple and unidisciplinary manner. The themes of the book (mysticism, aesthetics, and cosmic consciousness) cut across the most difficult and contrasting subjects, or, in a broad sense, across the two spectrums of spirituality and the sciences. It is rather peculiar to discuss faith, beliefs, spirituality, and mysticism with the development of the sciences without confronting the controversies that have kept religion and science apart. They both come from the same source and should end up with similar, if not the same, conclusions. Their common concern is reaching the ultimate nature of things, the nature of Being and beings, the destiny of man, and finally, the ultimate truth.  Scientists and philosophers have often viewed religious beliefs, spiritual attitudes, and mystical orientation as superstition. Mystics and spiritualists consider this domain of endeavor, namely those matters dealing with the ultimate truth, to be better dealt with by a type of knowing (gnosis), i.e., intuition and revelation, rather than by logic and reason. This author takes the view of spiritualists (those not necessarily belonging to any religion); believing that spirituality and science should exist side by side, accepting complementary functions of the two as necessary for understanding man and his world. Man, the knowing subject, stands in the middle of the two, as both scientist and spiritualist.

Mysticism, Aesthetics, and Cosmic Consciousness: A Post-Modern Worldview of Unity of Being

Religion & Spirituality

Minai, Asghar Talaye

Other Religions, Practices & Sacred Texts

Jewish Biomedical Law (Jewish Law Association Studies, XV)

Twenty-first century America provides an opportunity to explore geographic re\ minders of America's race problems, and the cultural and ethnic patterns, that geographers\ have studied for centuries. There is an educational imperative to provide today's student\ s with examples and explanations of American human geography, which has never been more re\ levant than today. To illustrate the breadth of these ethnic and racial issues, we invited\ selected participants of the landmark 2004 \223Race, Ethnicity, and Place Conference\224 \ at Howard University to rewrite their research findings for an undergraduate audience. Thi\ rty-seven authors, mostly geographers but other social scientists, participated with us in\ the production of this volume. Section one of this text provides a foundation using several concepts and perspectives of \ race and ethnicity as they relate to geographic space, place, and landscapes, ranging from\ a victim viewpoint (Malcolm X) to educational policy perspective, and from the changing i\ mportance of place as an immigrant gateway to the personal perspective of a first-generati\ on U.S. immigrant. The remainder of the text contains four sections that blend historical\ geographic patterns of minorities and contemporary and emerging racial and ethnic pattern\ s across the nation. Each section deals with diverse ethnic groups that have been racially\ classified as a single group. Exploring these individually brings a greater understanding\ of similarities and differences among diverse cultures. Finally, the last section provide\ s a number of examples of increasing ethnic diversity among American minority populations,\ expression of culture and ethnicity, and the issues they create.

Race, Ethnicity, and Place in a Changing America

Politics & Social Sciences

John W. Frazier

Eugene L. Tettey-Fio

Social Sciences

The World as Aesthetic Phenomenon, Part 1: Image in Abundance

Stephen David Ross

The World as Aesthetic Phenomenon - Part I: The Image in Abundance, Part II: The Wonder of the Earth

The World as Aesthetic Phenomenon, Part II: The Wonder of the Earth

Philosophy

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