scholarly journals From Black to Blue Skies: Civil Society Perceptions of Air Pollution in Shanghai

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-22
Author(s):  
Amanda K. Winter ◽  
Huong Le ◽  
Simon Roberts

Abstract This paper explores the perception and politics of air pollution in Shanghai. We present a qualitative case study based on a literature review of relevant policies and research on civil society and air pollution, in dialogue with air quality indexes and field research data. We engage with the concept of China's authoritarian environmentalism and the political context of ecological civilization. We find that discussions about air pollution are often placed in a frame that is both locally temporal (environment) and internationally developmentalist (economy). We raise questions from an example of three applications with different presentations of air quality index measures for the same time and place. This example and frame highlight the central role and connection between technology, data and evidence, and pollution visibility in the case of the perception of air pollution. Our findings then point to two gaps in authoritarian environmentalism research, revealing a need to better understand (1) the role of technology within this governance context, and (2) the tensions created from this non-participatory approach with ecological civilization, which calls for civil society participation.

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 73-84
Author(s):  
Diyan Syalawaty ◽  
Ahmad Aldi ◽  
Tanti Tanti ◽  
Wiji Utami ◽  
Deliza Deliza

There are differences in the mosques performed before and during the Covid-19 pandemic, but these differences do not hinder the mosque's goals. This study aims to find out how the role of mosques in fostering reading the Qur'an during the Covid-19 pandemic and the inhibiting and supporting factors. Research on the involvement of mosques in the development of reading the Koran during the pandemic has been explored using a qualitative case study approach. The data collected was obtained using field research methods and literature studies. The findings in this study explain that the power of mosques as educational centers continues during the Covid-19 pandemic. The spirit of reading the Koran during the pandemic encountered several obstacles. This study provides distribution in theory and practice for Muslims during the Covid-19 pandemic for empowering mosques as an educational center.


2008 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 47-59 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wendy Lambourne

The Sierra Leone civil war that ended in January 2002 was particularly brutal and left the country economically devastated. Four-and-a-half years later, Sierra Leone was selected as one of two countries to receive focussed attention from the newly created United Nations Peacebuilding Commission (PBC). The PBC is mandated to support post-conflict recovery and sustainable development with the participation of all relevant stakeholders, including civil society. Drawing on field research and theories of sustainable peacebuilding and the role of civil society, this paper assesses the PBC's performance in Sierra Leone in its first year of operation. The article concludes that the PBC needs to clarify its priorities in relation to civil society participation in order to fulfil its potential to assist governments in promoting sustainable peace and development.


Author(s):  
Ewan Ferlie ◽  
Sue Dopson ◽  
Chris Bennett ◽  
Michael D. Fischer ◽  
Jean Ledger ◽  
...  

This chapter analyses the role of think tanks in generating a distinctive mode of policy knowledge, pragmatically orientated to inform and shape issues of importance to civil society. Drawing on political science literature, we argue that think tanks exploit niche areas of expertise and influence to actively mobilize policy analyses and recommendations across diverse stakeholders. Through our exploratory mapping of think tanks, geographically concentrated within London, we characterize their influence as significantly boosting knowledge intensity across the regional ecosystem. In particular, we study the empirical case of one London-based think tank which powerfully mobilized policy knowledge through its formal and informal networks to build influential expert consensus amongst key stakeholders. We conclude that such organizations act as key knowledge producers and mobilizers, with significant potential to influence policy discourses and implementation.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Christine Lang

AbstractOrganisations are important gatekeepers in the labour market inclusion of immigrants and their children. Research has regularly documented ethnic discrimination in hiring decisions. Aiming to further our understanding of the role of organisations in influencing the professional trajectories of individuals of immigrant origin, this paper investigates the recruitment practices of public administrations. Drawing on approaches from organisational sociology and a qualitative case study of public administrations in the German state of Berlin, the article identifies three crucial elements of organisational decision-making affecting the recruitment of staff of immigrant origin: decisions regarding advertisement strategies, formal criteria, and individual candidates. Further, the article shows the underlying decision-making rationalities and the role of organisational contexts and ethnic stereotypes for recruitment-related decisions.


2021 ◽  
pp. 019251212110192
Author(s):  
Trix van Mierlo

Oftentimes, democracy is not spread out evenly over the territory of a country. Instead, pockets of authoritarianism can persist within a democratic system. A growing body of literature questions how such subnational authoritarian enclaves can be democratized. Despite fascinating insights, all existing pathways rely on the actions of elites and are therefore top-down. This article seeks to kick-start the discussion on a bottom-up pathway to subnational democratization, by proposing the attrition mechanism. This mechanism consists of four parts and is the product of abductive inference through theory-building causal process tracing. The building blocks consist of subnational democratization literature, social movement theory, and original empirical data gathered during extensive field research. This case study focuses on the ‘Dynasty Slayer’ in the province of Isabela, the Philippines, where civil society actors used the attrition mechanism to facilitate subnational democratization. This study implies that civil society actors in subnational authoritarian enclaves have agency.


Author(s):  
Raffaela Esposito ◽  
Gabriele Guidolotti ◽  
Emanuele Pallozzi ◽  
Corrado Leone ◽  
Michele Mattioni ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 65-74
Author(s):  
V. N. Lozhkin ◽  
◽  
O. V. Lozhkina ◽  

Introduction. St. Petersburg is the cultural and sea capital of Russia. The city is characterized by environmental problems typical for the largest cities in the world. It has a technical system for instrumental online monitoring and computational forecasting of air quality. Methods. The system maintains the information process by means of computational monitoring of its current and future state. Results. The paper describes methodological approaches to the generation of instrumental information about the structure and intensity of traffic flows in the urban road network and its digital transformation into GIS maps of air pollution in terms of pollutants standard limit values excess. Conclusion. The original information technology for air quality control was introduced at the regional level in the form of an official methodology and is used in environmental management activities.


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