Thomas Molony
Biographic Data
| ID | 643790 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Thomas Molony |
| GIVEN NAMES | Thomas |
| FAMILY NAME | Molony |
| SIGNATURE | MOLONY T |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Edinburgh |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-7336-5527 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 14 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 20 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 14 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2007 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2023 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Can domestic observers serve as impartial arbiters
With international election observation subject to increasing criticism, this article evaluates how effectively domestic observers can play the role of impartial arbiters relative to their international counterparts. It reviews academic arguments about the strengths and weaknesses of domestic and international observers, with a focus on 1) their methodologies, resources, and reporting practices; and 2) their credibility. It presents a case study …
The Reception of Covid-19 Denialist Propaganda in Tanzania
In June 2020, the government of Tanzania declared that Covid-19 had been eradicated from the country. As the figures released by Tanzania’s Ministry of Health since March 2021 show, this was not true. Taking this claim as an example of authoritarian propaganda, this article tackles the issue of ‘reception’ by asking if Tanzanians believed the government. Data from a nationally representative survey conducted close to the 2020 general elections su…
Why have so many African leaders died of Covid-19
This paper provides evidence that the COVID-19-related mortality rate of national government ministers and heads of state has been substantially higher than that of people with a similar sex and age profile in the general population, a trend that is driven by African cases (17 out of 24 reported deaths worldwide, as of 6 February 2021). Ministers’ work frequently puts them in close contact with diverse groups, and therefore at higher risk of cont…
Intervener trustworthiness predicts cooperation with conservation interventions in an elephant conflict public goods game
Conservation conflicts exist in complex socio‐ecological systems and are damaging to both people and wildlife. There is much interest in designing interventions to manage them more effectively, but the importance of who does the intervening remains underexplored. In particular, conflicts are influenced by perceptions of the trustworthiness of natural resource managers and conservation organizations. However, experimental studies of how the differ…
Social media warfare and Kenya’s conflict with Al Shabaab in Somalia
This article explores Kenyan citizens’ right to know details about sensitive security-related information in the context of a new era of social media warfare. It considers the public communications response to Al Shabaab’s January 2016 attack on Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) personnel in El Adde, Somalia, and then to a similar attack in Kulbiyow a year later. Drawing on Twitter posts, an official account of Kenya’s military activities in Somalia, an…
Re-evaluating international observation of Kenya's 2017 elections
Following the Supreme Court's decision to annul the August 2017 Kenyan elections, many commentators – including journalists, academics, politicians and non-elite Kenyan voters – criticised international election observation missions on the grounds that they had declared the election 'free and fair'. This article argues that specific allegations of incompetence and bias fail to acknowledge how international observers' preliminary statements restra…
Nyerere
A uniquely detailed portrayal of the formative years of Tanzania's first president and the influences that led him to enter politics
Biofuels, food security, and Africa
Global biofuel production tripled between 2000 and 2007 and is projected to double again by 2011.1 This growth reflects a growing interest worldwide in renewable energy alternatives to fossil fuels, especially as a perceived solution to the transport sector’s dependency on oil. It also reflects the enforcement in 2005 of the Kyoto Protocol, and the increasing implementation of national biofuels targets. As a result of these and other influences, …
Trading places in Tanzania
The Role of Mobile Phones in Tanzania’s Informal Construction Sector
I Don't Trust the Phone; It Always Lies
Despite its importance in African enterprise, the issue of ¿trust¿ is absent in information and communication technology for development scholarship. This article examines three case study subsectors of the Tanzanian economy to shed light on some of the complexities surrounding the sudden interface between traditional, established communication, and the increasing use of new information and communication technologies (ICTs). It seems from the cas…
The Friendly Financier
In many academic fields the researcher often financially remunerates both research assistants and participants. Literature covers the ethics involved in paying informants. Both research design and research methodology literature covers many important aspects of the research process, but neither pays much attention to the issue of research assistants. These relationships can be complicated by the dynamics of an outsider researcher working in a sou…
Struggling for Health in the City
What does health mean for people living in poverty, and what do they do to maintain it? This is Brigit Obrist's starting point in her study of women in Dar es Salaam's inner-city neighbourhood of Ilala Ilala. The study is situated at the intersection of two fields in the anthropology of ‘complex societies’: medical anthropology (for experiences, meanings and practices relating to health) and urban anthropology (for people's organization of daily …
At the Crossroads
‘In early discussions with prospective publishers for this book, the talks often veered to the unpopularity and the narrowness of the subject matter. The representatives of the publishers were understandably looking way ahead, to the sales figures of the book and generally came to the same conclusion, that a book on policy making, and ICT policy making in particular, would certainly not become a best seller. They had a point.’ These are the openi…
Nyerere
A uniquely detailed portrayal of the formative years of Tanzania's first president and the influences that led him to enter politics
Can domestic observers serve as impartial arbiters
With international election observation subject to increasing criticism, this article evaluates how effectively domestic observers can play the role of impartial arbiters relative to their international counterparts. It reviews academic arguments about the strengths and weaknesses of domestic and international observers, with a focus on 1) their methodologies, resources, and reporting practices; and 2) their credibility. It presents a case study …
Re-evaluating international observation of Kenya's 2017 elections
Following the Supreme Court's decision to annul the August 2017 Kenyan elections, many commentators – including journalists, academics, politicians and non-elite Kenyan voters – criticised international election observation missions on the grounds that they had declared the election 'free and fair'. This article argues that specific allegations of incompetence and bias fail to acknowledge how international observers' preliminary statements restra…
Biofuels, food security, and Africa
Global biofuel production tripled between 2000 and 2007 and is projected to double again by 2011.1 This growth reflects a growing interest worldwide in renewable energy alternatives to fossil fuels, especially as a perceived solution to the transport sector’s dependency on oil. It also reflects the enforcement in 2005 of the Kyoto Protocol, and the increasing implementation of national biofuels targets. As a result of these and other influences, …
Social media warfare and Kenya’s conflict with Al Shabaab in Somalia
This article explores Kenyan citizens’ right to know details about sensitive security-related information in the context of a new era of social media warfare. It considers the public communications response to Al Shabaab’s January 2016 attack on Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) personnel in El Adde, Somalia, and then to a similar attack in Kulbiyow a year later. Drawing on Twitter posts, an official account of Kenya’s military activities in Somalia, an…
I Don't Trust the Phone; It Always Lies
Despite its importance in African enterprise, the issue of ¿trust¿ is absent in information and communication technology for development scholarship. This article examines three case study subsectors of the Tanzanian economy to shed light on some of the complexities surrounding the sudden interface between traditional, established communication, and the increasing use of new information and communication technologies (ICTs). It seems from the cas…
The Friendly Financier
In many academic fields the researcher often financially remunerates both research assistants and participants. Literature covers the ethics involved in paying informants. Both research design and research methodology literature covers many important aspects of the research process, but neither pays much attention to the issue of research assistants. These relationships can be complicated by the dynamics of an outsider researcher working in a sou…
Struggling for Health in the City
What does health mean for people living in poverty, and what do they do to maintain it? This is Brigit Obrist's starting point in her study of women in Dar es Salaam's inner-city neighbourhood of Ilala Ilala. The study is situated at the intersection of two fields in the anthropology of ‘complex societies’: medical anthropology (for experiences, meanings and practices relating to health) and urban anthropology (for people's organization of daily …
At the Crossroads
‘In early discussions with prospective publishers for this book, the talks often veered to the unpopularity and the narrowness of the subject matter. The representatives of the publishers were understandably looking way ahead, to the sales figures of the book and generally came to the same conclusion, that a book on policy making, and ICT policy making in particular, would certainly not become a best seller. They had a point.’ These are the openi…
The Role of Mobile Phones in Tanzania’s Informal Construction Sector
Trading places in Tanzania
Biofuels, food security, and Africa
Global biofuel production tripled between 2000 and 2007 and is projected to double again by 2011.1 This growth reflects a growing interest worldwide in renewable energy alternatives to fossil fuels, especially as a perceived solution to the transport sector’s dependency on oil. It also reflects the enforcement in 2005 of the Kyoto Protocol, and the increasing implementation of national biofuels targets. As a result of these and other influences, …
Nyerere
A uniquely detailed portrayal of the formative years of Tanzania's first president and the influences that led him to enter politics
Social media warfare and Kenya’s conflict with Al Shabaab in Somalia
This article explores Kenyan citizens’ right to know details about sensitive security-related information in the context of a new era of social media warfare. It considers the public communications response to Al Shabaab’s January 2016 attack on Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) personnel in El Adde, Somalia, and then to a similar attack in Kulbiyow a year later. Drawing on Twitter posts, an official account of Kenya’s military activities in Somalia, an…
Re-evaluating international observation of Kenya's 2017 elections
Following the Supreme Court's decision to annul the August 2017 Kenyan elections, many commentators – including journalists, academics, politicians and non-elite Kenyan voters – criticised international election observation missions on the grounds that they had declared the election 'free and fair'. This article argues that specific allegations of incompetence and bias fail to acknowledge how international observers' preliminary statements restra…
Intervener trustworthiness predicts cooperation with conservation interventions in an elephant conflict public goods game
Conservation conflicts exist in complex socio‐ecological systems and are damaging to both people and wildlife. There is much interest in designing interventions to manage them more effectively, but the importance of who does the intervening remains underexplored. In particular, conflicts are influenced by perceptions of the trustworthiness of natural resource managers and conservation organizations. However, experimental studies of how the differ…
Why have so many African leaders died of Covid-19
This paper provides evidence that the COVID-19-related mortality rate of national government ministers and heads of state has been substantially higher than that of people with a similar sex and age profile in the general population, a trend that is driven by African cases (17 out of 24 reported deaths worldwide, as of 6 February 2021). Ministers’ work frequently puts them in close contact with diverse groups, and therefore at higher risk of cont…
Can domestic observers serve as impartial arbiters
With international election observation subject to increasing criticism, this article evaluates how effectively domestic observers can play the role of impartial arbiters relative to their international counterparts. It reviews academic arguments about the strengths and weaknesses of domestic and international observers, with a focus on 1) their methodologies, resources, and reporting practices; and 2) their credibility. It presents a case study …
The Reception of Covid-19 Denialist Propaganda in Tanzania
In June 2020, the government of Tanzania declared that Covid-19 had been eradicated from the country. As the figures released by Tanzania’s Ministry of Health since March 2021 show, this was not true. Taking this claim as an example of authoritarian propaganda, this article tackles the issue of ‘reception’ by asking if Tanzanians believed the government. Data from a nationally representative survey conducted close to the 2020 general elections su…
Political science (11 works) · Sociology (8 works) · Tanzania (7 works) · Law (6 works) · Public relations (6 works) · Geography (5 works) · Business (4 works) · Computer Science (4 works) · Law (4 works) · Politics (4 works)