Peter Vondoepp
Biographic Data
| ID | 129832 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Peter Vondoepp |
| GIVEN NAMES | Peter |
| FAMILY NAME | Vondoepp |
| SIGNATURE | VONDOEPP P |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Vermont |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-4260-7436 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 17 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 142 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 15 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 2 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1996 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2023 |
| H-INDEX | 8 |
Elite rhetoric, media professionalism and popular support for media freedoms in Sub-Saharan Africa
Resisting Democratic Backsliding
Why does collective resistance to democratic backsliding emerge in some contexts and not others? The experience of Malawi in 2011-2012 offers an opportunity to explore this question. In the face of attacks on democratic rights and institutions, large-scale popular and civil society mobilization challenged the government's authoritarian tendencies. Drawing on collective action theories and comparing Malawi's experience to that of Zambia, VonDoepp …
Routledge Handbook of Democratization in Africa
This volume explores the issues and debates surrounding the ongoing processes of democratization in sub-Saharan Africa, illuminating the central dynamics characterizing Africa’s democratic experiments, and considering the connections between democratization and economic, social, and cultural developments on the continent
The Promise, Challenge, and Foundations of Media Collective Action
This paper examines collective action by “media sectors” in the defense and promotion of media freedoms. Much of the literature on media freedoms has focused on structural and contextual determinants of those freedoms, with little attention to the roles played by the individuals, firms, and organizations of the media sector. Yet the record from a number of sub-Saharan African countries indicates that collective action by the actors of the media s…
Holding the state at bay
Focused on democratic and hybrid regimes in sub-Saharan Africa, this article explores the factors and conditions that dissuade or restrain governments from clamping down on press freedoms. We suggest that governments might hesitate to interfere with the media for three reasons: they may face excessive political or legal costs for such interference; they might have limited options available to them to curtail media freedoms, and, finally, under so…
Assaults on the Fourth Estate
A common threat to democratic politics in developing countries is state interference with the independent media. Despite the importance of this, we know very little about when and why governments attack the media. In this study we explain media harassment in Africa with a theory focusing on varying government incentives to control information over time. We propose that media harassment will increase when governments face threats to maintaining po…
Reworking Strategic Models of Executive-Judicial Relations
Context-Sensitive Inquiry in Comparative Judicial Research
Research on the behavior of the Namibian judiciary highlights the importance of context-sensitivity in comparative courts research. Drawing from strategic understandings of judicial behavior, the analysis examines the extent to which political influences are affecting the behavior of judges in Namibia. The findings indicate that, for the most part, Namibia's judges have exercised high levels of independence in their decision making. Yet deference…
Politics and Judicial Assertiveness in Emerging Democracies
Focused on High Court behavior in Malawi and Zambia, this article examines the factors affecting judicial assertiveness vis a vis other power-holders in the state. Drawing from strategic understandings of judicial decisionmaking, the analysis focuses on whether and how political factors shape judicial behavior. The findings lend support for those who have emphasized such factors, in particular by indicating that judicial assertiveness is somewhat…
The Fate of Africa's Democratic Experiments
Does democracy have a future in Africa?
Party Cohesion and Fractionalization in New African Democracies
The Problem of Judicial Control in Africa's Neopatrimonial Democracies
Journal Article The Problem of Judicial Control in Africa's Neopatrimonial Democracies: Malawi and Zambia Get access Peter Vondoepp Peter Vondoepp PETER VONDOEPP is assistant professor of political science at the University of North Texas. He is coeditor (with Leonardo Villalon) of The Fate of Africa's Democratic Transitions: Elites and Institutions. His articles on democratization processes in Africa appear in several journals and edited volumes…
Malawi's Local Clergy as Civil Society Activists? The Limiting Impact of Creed, Context and Class
This article seeks to enrich understandings of civil society in Africa by examining the political activities of Catholic and Presbyterian clergy in Malawi. Although local clergy are well placed to promote citizen empowerment and state responsiveness at the grassroots level, research revealed that clergy in Malawi have been disinclined to engage in activism toward these ends. The article argues that this limited activism can be understood by devot…
Liberal visions and actual power in grassroots civil society
Research from a community study in rural Malawi speaks directly to contemporary debates about civil society. Investigating the role of local churches in empowering citizens, the study found that the local Catholic church was more effectively fostering a nascent sense of political efficacy among women than were local Presbyterian churches. Explaining this finding, the article presents two issues that expose problems in the liberal understanding of…
The Survival of Malawi's Enfeebled Democracy
[T]he image of sure-footed democratic progress must be placed against the picture that emerges from other dimensions of Malawi politics, a picture that presents a more disturbing view and that suggests the prospects for democratic stability and longevity are in question
Ethnicity Kills? The Politics of War, Peace and Ethnicity in Sub Saharan Africa
List of Tables, Figures and Maps Preface Abbreviations Notes on the Contributors PART I: INTRODUCTION Ethnicity Kills? Social Struggles for Power, Resources and Identities in the Neopatrimonial State E.Braathen, M.Boas & G.Saether The Politics of War: A Meditation V.Y.Mudimbe PART 2: ETHNICITY AND CIVIL WAR The Somali Catastrophe: Explanation and Implications A.I.Samatar Causes of Civil War in Rwanda: The Weight of History and Socio-Cultural Stru…
Political transition and civil society
Assaults on the Fourth Estate
A common threat to democratic politics in developing countries is state interference with the independent media. Despite the importance of this, we know very little about when and why governments attack the media. In this study we explain media harassment in Africa with a theory focusing on varying government incentives to control information over time. We propose that media harassment will increase when governments face threats to maintaining po…
Reworking Strategic Models of Executive-Judicial Relations
Politics and Judicial Assertiveness in Emerging Democracies
Focused on High Court behavior in Malawi and Zambia, this article examines the factors affecting judicial assertiveness vis a vis other power-holders in the state. Drawing from strategic understandings of judicial decisionmaking, the analysis focuses on whether and how political factors shape judicial behavior. The findings lend support for those who have emphasized such factors, in particular by indicating that judicial assertiveness is somewhat…
Party Cohesion and Fractionalization in New African Democracies
The Fate of Africa's Democratic Experiments
Does democracy have a future in Africa?
Holding the state at bay
Focused on democratic and hybrid regimes in sub-Saharan Africa, this article explores the factors and conditions that dissuade or restrain governments from clamping down on press freedoms. We suggest that governments might hesitate to interfere with the media for three reasons: they may face excessive political or legal costs for such interference; they might have limited options available to them to curtail media freedoms, and, finally, under so…
Ethnicity Kills? The Politics of War, Peace and Ethnicity in Sub Saharan Africa
List of Tables, Figures and Maps Preface Abbreviations Notes on the Contributors PART I: INTRODUCTION Ethnicity Kills? Social Struggles for Power, Resources and Identities in the Neopatrimonial State E.Braathen, M.Boas & G.Saether The Politics of War: A Meditation V.Y.Mudimbe PART 2: ETHNICITY AND CIVIL WAR The Somali Catastrophe: Explanation and Implications A.I.Samatar Causes of Civil War in Rwanda: The Weight of History and Socio-Cultural Stru…
Resisting Democratic Backsliding
Why does collective resistance to democratic backsliding emerge in some contexts and not others? The experience of Malawi in 2011-2012 offers an opportunity to explore this question. In the face of attacks on democratic rights and institutions, large-scale popular and civil society mobilization challenged the government's authoritarian tendencies. Drawing on collective action theories and comparing Malawi's experience to that of Zambia, VonDoepp …
The Problem of Judicial Control in Africa's Neopatrimonial Democracies
Journal Article The Problem of Judicial Control in Africa's Neopatrimonial Democracies: Malawi and Zambia Get access Peter Vondoepp Peter Vondoepp PETER VONDOEPP is assistant professor of political science at the University of North Texas. He is coeditor (with Leonardo Villalon) of The Fate of Africa's Democratic Transitions: Elites and Institutions. His articles on democratization processes in Africa appear in several journals and edited volumes…
Liberal visions and actual power in grassroots civil society
Research from a community study in rural Malawi speaks directly to contemporary debates about civil society. Investigating the role of local churches in empowering citizens, the study found that the local Catholic church was more effectively fostering a nascent sense of political efficacy among women than were local Presbyterian churches. Explaining this finding, the article presents two issues that expose problems in the liberal understanding of…
Routledge Handbook of Democratization in Africa
This volume explores the issues and debates surrounding the ongoing processes of democratization in sub-Saharan Africa, illuminating the central dynamics characterizing Africa’s democratic experiments, and considering the connections between democratization and economic, social, and cultural developments on the continent
Political transition and civil society
Context-Sensitive Inquiry in Comparative Judicial Research
Research on the behavior of the Namibian judiciary highlights the importance of context-sensitivity in comparative courts research. Drawing from strategic understandings of judicial behavior, the analysis examines the extent to which political influences are affecting the behavior of judges in Namibia. The findings indicate that, for the most part, Namibia's judges have exercised high levels of independence in their decision making. Yet deference…
Malawi's Local Clergy as Civil Society Activists? The Limiting Impact of Creed, Context and Class
This article seeks to enrich understandings of civil society in Africa by examining the political activities of Catholic and Presbyterian clergy in Malawi. Although local clergy are well placed to promote citizen empowerment and state responsiveness at the grassroots level, research revealed that clergy in Malawi have been disinclined to engage in activism toward these ends. The article argues that this limited activism can be understood by devot…
Political transition and civil society
The Survival of Malawi's Enfeebled Democracy
[T]he image of sure-footed democratic progress must be placed against the picture that emerges from other dimensions of Malawi politics, a picture that presents a more disturbing view and that suggests the prospects for democratic stability and longevity are in question
Ethnicity Kills? The Politics of War, Peace and Ethnicity in Sub Saharan Africa
List of Tables, Figures and Maps Preface Abbreviations Notes on the Contributors PART I: INTRODUCTION Ethnicity Kills? Social Struggles for Power, Resources and Identities in the Neopatrimonial State E.Braathen, M.Boas & G.Saether The Politics of War: A Meditation V.Y.Mudimbe PART 2: ETHNICITY AND CIVIL WAR The Somali Catastrophe: Explanation and Implications A.I.Samatar Causes of Civil War in Rwanda: The Weight of History and Socio-Cultural Stru…
Malawi's Local Clergy as Civil Society Activists? The Limiting Impact of Creed, Context and Class
This article seeks to enrich understandings of civil society in Africa by examining the political activities of Catholic and Presbyterian clergy in Malawi. Although local clergy are well placed to promote citizen empowerment and state responsiveness at the grassroots level, research revealed that clergy in Malawi have been disinclined to engage in activism toward these ends. The article argues that this limited activism can be understood by devot…
Liberal visions and actual power in grassroots civil society
Research from a community study in rural Malawi speaks directly to contemporary debates about civil society. Investigating the role of local churches in empowering citizens, the study found that the local Catholic church was more effectively fostering a nascent sense of political efficacy among women than were local Presbyterian churches. Explaining this finding, the article presents two issues that expose problems in the liberal understanding of…
The Fate of Africa's Democratic Experiments
Does democracy have a future in Africa?
Party Cohesion and Fractionalization in New African Democracies
The Problem of Judicial Control in Africa's Neopatrimonial Democracies
Journal Article The Problem of Judicial Control in Africa's Neopatrimonial Democracies: Malawi and Zambia Get access Peter Vondoepp Peter Vondoepp PETER VONDOEPP is assistant professor of political science at the University of North Texas. He is coeditor (with Leonardo Villalon) of The Fate of Africa's Democratic Transitions: Elites and Institutions. His articles on democratization processes in Africa appear in several journals and edited volumes…
Politics and Judicial Assertiveness in Emerging Democracies
Focused on High Court behavior in Malawi and Zambia, this article examines the factors affecting judicial assertiveness vis a vis other power-holders in the state. Drawing from strategic understandings of judicial decisionmaking, the analysis focuses on whether and how political factors shape judicial behavior. The findings lend support for those who have emphasized such factors, in particular by indicating that judicial assertiveness is somewhat…
Context-Sensitive Inquiry in Comparative Judicial Research
Research on the behavior of the Namibian judiciary highlights the importance of context-sensitivity in comparative courts research. Drawing from strategic understandings of judicial behavior, the analysis examines the extent to which political influences are affecting the behavior of judges in Namibia. The findings indicate that, for the most part, Namibia's judges have exercised high levels of independence in their decision making. Yet deference…
Reworking Strategic Models of Executive-Judicial Relations
Assaults on the Fourth Estate
A common threat to democratic politics in developing countries is state interference with the independent media. Despite the importance of this, we know very little about when and why governments attack the media. In this study we explain media harassment in Africa with a theory focusing on varying government incentives to control information over time. We propose that media harassment will increase when governments face threats to maintaining po…
Holding the state at bay
Focused on democratic and hybrid regimes in sub-Saharan Africa, this article explores the factors and conditions that dissuade or restrain governments from clamping down on press freedoms. We suggest that governments might hesitate to interfere with the media for three reasons: they may face excessive political or legal costs for such interference; they might have limited options available to them to curtail media freedoms, and, finally, under so…
The Promise, Challenge, and Foundations of Media Collective Action
This paper examines collective action by “media sectors” in the defense and promotion of media freedoms. Much of the literature on media freedoms has focused on structural and contextual determinants of those freedoms, with little attention to the roles played by the individuals, firms, and organizations of the media sector. Yet the record from a number of sub-Saharan African countries indicates that collective action by the actors of the media s…
Routledge Handbook of Democratization in Africa
This volume explores the issues and debates surrounding the ongoing processes of democratization in sub-Saharan Africa, illuminating the central dynamics characterizing Africa’s democratic experiments, and considering the connections between democratization and economic, social, and cultural developments on the continent
Resisting Democratic Backsliding
Why does collective resistance to democratic backsliding emerge in some contexts and not others? The experience of Malawi in 2011-2012 offers an opportunity to explore this question. In the face of attacks on democratic rights and institutions, large-scale popular and civil society mobilization challenged the government's authoritarian tendencies. Drawing on collective action theories and comparing Malawi's experience to that of Zambia, VonDoepp …
Elite rhetoric, media professionalism and popular support for media freedoms in Sub-Saharan Africa
Political science (17 works) · Law (16 works) · Politics (14 works) · Sociology (13 works) · Law (12 works) · Political economy (9 works) · Democracy (8 works) · Economics (8 works) · African studies and sociopolitical issues (6 works) · Development economics (5 works)