ETD Collection

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Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
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    The Lotter case : towards a discourse network of female perpetrated killing.
    (2014-07-24) Stead, Morgan
    This research uses trial data to extend previous research by Stead and Howard-Payne (2012) to examine discourse regarding Nicolette Lotter, a convicted female killer, and to proffer a preliminary theory of discursive networks. A discursive analytic approach to, and a Foucauldian Feminist interpretation of, the data was adopted to compare and contrast discursive constructions of the subject produced within the legal and media context in the interest of understanding how hegemonic understandings of femininity continue to be (re)produced in contemporary society. This report argues for a distinction between discursive construction and discursive practice, where the former is show to operate in production of the latter. It suggests further that the discourse produced in the legal context and the discourse produced in the media context align to fashion a discourse network where convergence occurs at the level of construction and divergence occurs at the level of practice. Such a discourse network arising in relation to Nicolette Lotter is shown to foster an understanding of the female killer which contributes to the fortification of gender prescriptions which are of patriarchal orientation in the interests of preserving male dominance and female subjugation.
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    Media and the city
    (2009-07-01T07:23:24Z) Cachucho, Eduardo
    No abstract
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    Corruption and reform in democratic South Africa
    (2009-06-19T10:42:30Z) Camerer, Marianne Irene
    ABSTRACT This thesis evaluates the effectiveness of public sector anti-corruption reform efforts in democratic South Africa. These reforms are contextualized within the international theory, literature and policy debate that has emerged over the past decade on the control of corruption within the context of democratic governance. To evaluate the effectiveness of anti-corruption reforms the thesis first covers a number of broad themes including: conceptions, causes and consequences of corruption; main theoretical approaches underpinning anti-corruption reforms; and methodologies to evaluate the effectiveness and seriousness of anti-corruption efforts. Specifically focusing on South Africa, the thesis looks at the nature and extent of corruption both pre and post 1994; recent legislative, institutional, and policy interventions to control public sector corruption; and, as an illustrative case study of grand corruption, an in-depth analysis of the government’s handling of allegations of corruption in the Strategic Defense Procurement Package or “arms deal.” The findings of the thesis are mixed: I argue that democracy is a necessary albeit insufficient condition for effectively fighting corruption. Although South Africa has an impressive array of institutions, laws and policies to counter public sector corruption, the most important ingredient for successful reforms, namely an indication of sustained political will, is not yet fully in evidence. The government’s mishandling of allegations of corruption in the arms deal is a case in point, suggesting chronic weaknesses on the part of institutions such as parliament to safeguard the public interest. Lack of regulation in the funding of political parties remains the “Achilles heel” of anti-corruption reform efforts. So far as concerns further theoretical framing of corruption studies I conclude that a focus on social empowerment (Johnston) in the context of democratic consolidation, including an active civil society and vigilant media, is crucial for the effective fight against corruption in new democracies such as South Africa.
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    Interactivity and democracy in online media: A case study of
    (2006-10-26T08:48:06Z) Rule, Gregory
    The simplistic, optimistic view surrounding Internet discourse suggests that because of the Net's ability to quickly and cheaply distribute vast amounts of information and facilitate communication, citizens can use digital networks to influence decision-making in society, which will lead to democratisation in communication. While there is indeed an inherent interactive capacity in the technologies of new media that facilitates discussion and debate, computer-mediated communication generally does not live up to the democratic hype. More to the point, the discursive inequalities and exclusions that result from the uneven distribution of power in society tend to be reproduced in the online environment.
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    Contested spaces: an analysis of the ANC government's approach to the promotion of media development and diversity in South Africa, with a particular focus on the policy process that led to the formation of the Media Development and Diversity Agency (MIDDA).
    (2006-10-26T08:25:00Z) Skinner, Katherine Mary Alicia
    The dissertation tracks the media development and diversity policy positions of the South African government with a particular focus on the establishment of the Media Development and Diversity Agency. It tracks the reasons for the reduction in the Agency’s funding and the curtailing of its mandate. The dissertation argues that a powerful coalition of forces including the commercial media sector and the Department of Finance (now National Treasury) impacted on the policy process to drive government thinking in a more market-driven direction. It explores the implications of this market thinking for the deepening of media development and diversity in the country. Further, the research looks at an alternative critical political economy of the media vision – firstly, in terms of how this vision was scuppered in the policy process, but also how it might be resurrected. The critical political economy of the media school argues that development and diversity issues are not unproblematically served by the market and commercially driven media systems. Critical political economists of the media call for a number of state intervention including anti-monopoly legislation, subsidies for struggling more marginalised media sectors and so forth. Also, they call for the development of a core non-commodified, citizenship-orientated and inclusive public service media sector.