Browsing by Author "Fyanka, Bernard"

Now showing 1 - 20 of 37
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    The Bane of Peacebuilding: Appraising Problems of Small Arms Control in Liberia 1989-2016
    (Faculty of humanities, Kaduna State University Kaduna, 2022) Fyanka, Bernard
    The proliferation of small arms and light weapons did not pose a challenge prior to the Liberian Civil War. The events leading to the war and subsequently 14 years of near continues conflict created a demand base for a huge amount of small arms and light weapons to flood the country. Attempts at restricting the flow of weapons during and after the conflict represent the central thesis this research seeks to investigate. A theoretical overview of gun control is first situated within the discourse, followed by an interrogation of the problems encountered in all the phases of disarmament exercises conducted to rid Liberia of illicit weapons. The comparative method of analyzing the processes and results of weapons collection programs and Disarmament Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR) exercises affords a clear understanding of the challenges faced by small arms control in Liberia. These problems pose a critical challenge to the process of peacebuilding after the conflict in Liberia. The paper examines all the associated problems of small arms control from conflict resources to a proper legal framework. The paper argues that the cessation of hostilities did not necessarily ensure a peaceful society. One of the culprit for the high levels of insecurity in present day Liberia is the problems faced by small arms control.
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    Black Lives Matter
    (AIPGG Journal of Humanities and Peace Studies, 2024) Fyanka, Bernard
    Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement was indeed a Social and political revolution. The events that followed the killing of George Floyd in the year 2020 became a catalyst for the acceleration of several socio-political processes relating the discourse on Civil Rights globally. The BLM movement that emerged became a conveyor belt for exhuming pertinent Civil rights issues that had been buried over time. The paper contends that is spread, reach and impact was revolutionary. The reaction to BLM was unique in many ways adding to the revolutionary nature of the fallout experienced all over the world. The paper presents a historical antecedents to the movement and traces the factors that can be held responsible for its outbreak.
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    (BOOK REVIEW) Law and Disorder
    (Berghahn Journals, 2021) Fyanka, Bernard
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    BOOK REVIEW: Dancing Conflicts, Unfolding Peaces
    (Peacebuilding, 2021-07-12) Fyanka, Bernard
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    BOOK REVIEW: The New Age of Terror
    (American Psychological Association, 2022) Fyanka, Bernard
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    BOOK REVIEW: To Talk or Not to Talk
    (American Psychological Association, 2022) Fyanka, Bernard
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    BOOK REVIEW: War and Compromise between Nations and States
    (Peace Review, 2021) Fyanka, Bernard
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) terrorism: Rethinking Nigeria’s counterterrorism strategy
    (Taylor and Francis, 2020) Fyanka, Bernard
    The post-Cold-War collapse of the Soviet military-industrial complex has enabled the rapid global proliferation of nuclear weapons and fissile material, thereby escalating the possibilities of non-conventional nuclear attacks. Such attacks have become more likely with the emergence of very powerful terrorist groups like Boko Haram and others around the world. Over 1,800 metric tons of nuclear material is still stored in poorly secured facilities in more than 25 countries. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) as at December 2015 had recorded in their trafficking database a total of 2,889 incidents involving losses, thefts and attempts to traffic fissile material across international borders. Boko Haram may also engage with radiological or biochemical ‘dirty bombs’, which are easier to make. With no less than 48 reported incidences of biochemical attacks since 1900, it is likely that Boko Haram may switch tactics, especially considering the lack of biochemical detection protocols in Nigeria’s counterterrorism strategy and also the inconsistency in public and private sector collaboration. This new reality calls for a recalibration of Nigeria’s counterterrorism protocols to accommodate the anticipated threat. The paper thus highlights policy considerations and advocates new directions
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    The Collective and Cooperative Security of Preventing Failed States: An Interrogation of Small Arms Control in Liberia
    (Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA) Ikoyi Lagos, 2016) Fyanka, Bernard
    Intra-state conflict has been identified as a central or prevalent contributory factor to the failed state phenomenon. One of the major arteries that keep these conflicts alive is the volume and nature of arms proliferation within the country and region. Consequently by implication, arms proliferation becomes is a key stakeholder in state failure. During the Liberian conflict, the United Nations and ECOWAS intervened in the war at the levels of collective and cooperative security respectively using several diplomatic instruments including embargoes, legal legislation, voluntary weapons collection programs and DDR. The intent with regards to small arms control was to starve the conflict of weapons and so compel the belligerents to the negotiating table. This study examines the process and impact of these instruments and the extent to which they have enabled the post-war peacebuilding efforts. The paper holds that Liberia’s DDR and voluntary weapons collection programs have largely contributed to the reconstruction process as a key aspect of security sector reforms.
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    Collective Security and Small Arms Control in Africa
    (International Journal of Humanities and Security Studies (IJHSS), 2020) Fyanka, Bernard
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    Conflicts and the Degradation of Cultural Environment in Africa
    (Babcock University Press, 2015) Fyanka, Bernard
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    Counting the Cost
    (Redeemers University Press, 2022) Fyanka, Bernard
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    A Critique of the use of Journal Impact Factor (JIF) for Academic Assessment in the Humanities’ Discipline
    (Department of History, Kaduna State University, Kaduna, 2019) Fyanka, Bernard
    A key problem with borrowed methodology lies in the ap plication and relevance to contextual or ‘niche’ circumstances of the discipline in question. The use of journal impact factor (JIF) as a metric for evaluating researchers in the humanities for promotion is a borrowed methodology that has impacted negatively on the development of the Humanities as a disci plinary niche. This paper examines the origins of JIF as a bibliometric method and its evolution into mainstream aca demic use for evaluation of researchers. The attendant ret rogressive effects of its use ranging from disciplinary and language bias are interrogated alongside its integrity as an objective metric. Shortfalls in citation windows; restrictions to indexed journals and the malpractices of journal editors is highlighted. Most importantly the impact factor was cre ated to measure journals impact, not individual researchers impact. The Redeemer’s University promotion guide is analyzed as a case study demonstrating the bias against the humanities whenever this metric is implemented in promo tional assessment.
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    Culture and Tourism in Modern Africa
    (Babcock University Press, 2015) Fyanka, Bernard
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    Defence, Strategy and the Foreign Policy of World Powers
    (Babcock University Press, 2014) Fyanka, Bernard
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Deficits of Post Conflict Peace: A Historical Inquiry into Problems Faced by Small Arms Control Initiatives in Nigeria
    (Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA) Ikoyi Lagos, 2015) Fyanka, Bernard
    The Peace of the post Civil War era in Nigeria was considered by many and an uneasy one. The presence of large amounts of small arms and light weapons within the fragile polity affords a ready alternative to peace thus representing a huge deficit to long term peacebuilding. This study historically traces challenges to the control process that have emerged over time. It investigates the role of the politics of arms embargos during the Nigerian Civil War; inadequate post-conflict DDR; availability of conflict resources to non-state actors and institutional and financial problems of cooperative security. The paper argues that a key aspect of the control process must involve the mitigation of some of these challenges which often cripple the control process and by extension hamper peacebuilding efforts in the various conflicts that have emerged in different parts of the country since the Civil War
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Defining Postmodernism: A Review of Kevin Hart’s Postmodernism: Beginners Guide
    (Faculty of Humanities Redeemer's University Ede, 2016) Fyanka, Bernard
    Kevin Hart provides with this book the classic primer for any novice to the subject of postmodernism. His style on the subject in a base and rudimentary way is akin to a series of undergraduate lectures. He introduces postmodernism in a manner that grants a beginner a relatively modest understanding of the subject. The volume contains seven chapters. The first four are devoted to theoretical questions on the subject: from an introduction to leading thinkers on postmodernism to issues of definition and dichotomy with other related concepts such as modernity, post modernity, post-humanist, and post-structuralism, among others. The remaining three chapters anchor a discourse on theology and religion, specifically Christianity. The questions that postmodernism pose to Christianity and vice versa represent the baseline of the discussions. Hart’s work is essentially a book that does not only introduce the concept of postmodernism; it analyzes the relevance and basic applications of key thinkers on the subject. The author goes further to elevate the postmodern discourse on religion as his primary thesis for the book. This is understandable given the controversial nature of religion and its narrative. Thematically the book has two main directions: A. Philosophical Origins of the subject of postmodernism with an attendant survey of the foremost thinkers. B. Postmodernism and its impact on and interpretation of theology and religion.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    A Discourse on Tax Exemptions and Lack of Accountability among Pentecostal Churches in Africa
    (Department of History and International Relations VERITAS University Abuja, 2020) Fyanka, Bernard
    Social development in Africa is increasingly being anchored by non-state actors in form of massive Pentecostal ministries. The relationship between these movements and the state is becoming strained given the fact that African Pentecostal prosperity movements have come under high levels of financial scrutiny. This may foretell grave repercussions for their corporate social responsibility to their increasing mass of followers who engage with the church establishment for social welfare in Africa. This development, which is likely to affect the power relations of African Pentecostal movements and the civil state has been prompted by the increasing levels of lack of accountability observable in the prosperity movement of global and African Pentecostalism. The calls for the revocation of the tax-exempt status of churches form the vanguard of this phenomenon. Tax exemption for churches and charitable organizations has a long history that dates back to the ancient Egyptian, Persian and Babylonian civilizations. Colonialism enabled its widespread acceptability on a global basis. Presently, theological and legal arguments have risen in the wake of financial scandals regarding the viability of the tax-exempt status of the Church. This is hotly debated over the background of social development and the corporate social responsibility of African Pentecostalism. The storm of criticism has led not only to calls for church taxation, but closer government monitoring is also being advocated. This phenomenon has streamed from the west to shadow African movements with Nigeria at the eye of the storm.
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    From the “Sokoto Jihad” to the “Boko Jihad”
    (Academia Letters, 2021-08) Fyanka, Bernard