Research
A Sociological Approach of Relationship between Culture and Development: The Case of Adapazari in Turkey
In its general sense, culture may now be regarded as the set of distinctive spiritual, material, intellectual and emotional features that characterize a society or social group. It includes not only the arts, humanities and sciences, mode of life, the fundamental rights of the human being, value systems, traditions and beliefs. This "common pool" evolves in time and in the form of trade. This is in distinct ways of being, thinking, acting and communicating. Some analysts believe it may be a driver or a hindrance to the development of a country. Regarding Turkish culture, it should be noted that it straddles two continents. It brings together customs and traditions inherited from the Ottoman Empire, Islam, or imported from the Mediterranean basin, the Middle East and Europe. Despite a particularly agitated twentieth century, modern Turkey also has, in addition to the ethnic Turkish population, minorities or communities as Laze, Kurdish, Armenian, Greek and Arabic. With all this cultural mix, Turkey is an emerging power in the Euro-Mediterranean region. It knows a remarkable economic and social development. With a population of 75 million inhabitants and a per capita income of $ 10,000, Turkey has climbed to 17th among the world's economic powers.
Traditional Chiefs and Decentralization in the Region of Tahoua in Niger
This paper discusses the relationship between the traditional chief in Niger together with the process of decentralization. The democratic process initiated in the early 90s in most of the African countries helped to establish a multi – party system as well as kept good government structures. The initiative could solve the excessive centralization of government powers in African countries. In order to understand the decentralization process in Niger, we should not only refer to the democratic context but also we should understand certain historical facts. Besides the context of democracy, it should be noted that the claims of the armed rebellion (1989) based on federalism have led to peace agreements, in the October 9, 1994 and April 24, 1995 between the organization of armed resistance(ORA) and the Government of Niger, to adopt decentralization as a form of governance. The option is a full communalisation by changing the townships (sedentary and area nomadic) in commune status. The communes are headed by an elected mayor. The logic is to make these structures as real poles of local development. But in the same way and during a long time at the head of same township there is a leader who administered his people according to traditional mode. This two kind of powerful can create a social conflict if some rules are not defined. I am interested to region of Tahoua, particularly the two urban communes.
