Donor Love Will Tear Us Apart: How Complexity and Learning Marginalize Accountability in Peacebuilding Interventions

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefan Bächtold
Keyword(s):  
Complexity Theory ◽  
Power Structures ◽  
Managerial Control ◽  
Policy Documents ◽  
Standardized Measures ◽  
The People ◽  
The Status ◽  
Guidance Policy ◽  
Operational Guidance

Abstract Complexity theory and systems thinking are increasingly popular in both academic and practitioner discourses to “improve” peacebuilding. Recently, they have also been considered to make peacebuilding interventions more bottom-up and less exclusive. Contributing to the debate in international political sociology on the role of (professional) knowledge in shaping interventions, I examine this claim with an analysis of professional peacebuilding discourse. Drawing on an extensive corpus of operational guidance, policy documents, and interview material, I situate the emerging uses of concepts of complexity in peacebuilding against the backdrop of the power struggles of its actors and institutions. Against the introduction of measures of managerial control, professional peacebuilding discourse has cast its interventions as exceptional and in need of different methods. Thus, learning replaces donors’ standardized measures of accountability. However, the peculiar conflation of accountability as learning that emerges from these struggles legitimizes self-referential expert rule and learning, and marginalizes debates on peacebuilders’ accountability. Rather than “de-colonizing” or making peacebuilding more inclusive, the way complexity concepts have emerged in peacebuilding discourse reproduces—rather than questions—the power structures of international interventions, and denies the people targeted by interventions the status of subjects to be accountable to.

ICT in Direct Democracy

2015 ◽  
pp. 129-137
Author(s):  
Stavros Amanatidis ◽  
Olga Eirini Palla
Keyword(s):  
Direct Democracy ◽  
Political Power ◽  
Information And Communications Technology ◽  
Communications Technology ◽  
Power Structures ◽  
Strong Function ◽  
Division Of Powers ◽  
The People ◽  
Technological Developments

This chapter presents and analyzes the use of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in public participation and more specificly in e-referenda as an aspect of direct democratic participation. It aims to explain the correlation between ICT and e-referenda. Referendum, used as an instrument to accept or deny a proposed political decision, has a strong function of controlling political power and securing the openness of political power structures. It serves as an instrument of division of powers and opens roads to opposition outside parliament. In general, it provides the people with veto positions (Schiller, 2003, p. 12). By presenting the evolvement of the ICT and the technological developments that resulted an impact on the way democracy is being exercised in the modern societies, there is an attempt to provide ideas and solutions on the use of e-referenda in modern democracies. The dangers, the advantages, and the disadvantages of the use of ICT in democracy are presented and analysed as well. All these issues are being discussed, as this chapter tries to give a clear and objective perspective regarding the role of e-democracy and the problems that come along with its implementation.

Digital Donation Platform for Nonprofit and Charity Organizations

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 14-27
Author(s):  
Fernando Almeida ◽  
Alexandre Cunha
Keyword(s):  
Open Source ◽  
Economic Model ◽  
Social Economy ◽  
Social Solidarity ◽  
The People ◽  
The Status ◽  
Volunteer Programs ◽  
Political Agents

Social economy has assumed a role of growing importance in these last decades, being seen by several entities and political agents as one of the pillars in a new sustainable economic model. Volunteer programs are multiplying, and greater coordination between the various involved actors is essential to guarantee that society's help reaches the people who need them. In this sense, a digital donation platform based exclusively on open source technologies has been proposed and developed, which simplifies the process of donation of goods to a set of causes created by social solidarity institutions. The application permits anonymous donations and allows the monitoring of the status of each donation by the donors. Additionally, usability was considered as a key element in the design of the application

scholarly journals The role of the Republic of Kazakhstan in geopolitical transformation in the framework of the «Eurasian project»

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 191-202
Author(s):  
M. M. Nurtazin
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
The Political ◽  
Special Role ◽  
Policy Documents ◽  
Eurasian Economic Union ◽  
The Status ◽  
Soviet Space ◽  
Economic Union ◽  
Post Soviet Space

In the process of researching the geopolitical transformation of the post-Soviet space as a «Eurasian project», the author uses the method of comparative analysis of the official foreign policy documents of the founding States of the Eurasian economic union. The author, highlighting Kazakhstan, Russia and Belarus as subjects of the «integration core» in the post-Soviet space, reinforces the integration aspirations of these countries with economic data indicating their growing interdependence during the decade preceding the creation of the Union in may 2014.It is shown that the sanctions regime imposed by the Western countries on Russia and their negative impact on the economy of the EEU did not reduce the political will of the leaders of the «Troika» to continue further integration.A detailed research of the policy statements (publications) of the political leaders of the EEU «integration core» allows to determine the special role of Kazakhstan and its President N. Nazarbayev in the implementation of this large-scale geopolitical project.The author in considering programmatic foreign policy documents of Kazakhstan, Belarus and Russia offers to focus attention on the peculiarities of the positioning of the Eurasian economic union as integration entity. As a result, according to the author, the membership of Belarus in the «Eurasian project» was the result of a hard compromise for the Belarusian people. The Russian example shows that Moscow’s foreign policy vector was initially perceived by the EEU as a global project connecting Europe with the Asia-Pacific region. Now, however, Russia has positioned the EEU as a regional site. The author regards this as a decrease in the status of Eurasian integration and believes that this thesis looks very controversial. Kazakhstan, in turn, sees the «Eurasian project» as an opportunity to join the global economic chains. Thus, Astana attaches to the EEU exclusively global significance.The position of the Kazakh leader in the course of meetings with Western leaders is emphasized. The leader of Kazakhstan traditionally positions the EEU as an adequate and successful economic integration entity with which it is necessary to establish cooperation in all spheres. This allows him to be assigned the status of «advocate» of the «Eurasian project». At the same time, the article notes the support of the Eurasian views of N. Nazarbayev on the ideas of classical Eurasians P. Savitsky, G. Florovsky, N. Trubetskoy, G. Vernadsky, S. Solovyov, L. Gumilev.It is concluded that in the conditions of the remaining anti-Russian sanctions regime Kazakhstan’s participation in the EEU is one of the main factors of the legitimization of integration education at the regional and global levels. 

scholarly journals Chiuri (Aesandra butyracea) and Beekeeping for Sustainable Livelihoods of Chepang Community in Raksirang-6, Makawanpur, Nepal

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 78-85
Author(s):  
Datendra Kumar Golay ◽  
Mahamad Sayab Miya ◽  
Sachin Timilsina
Keyword(s):  
Group Discussion ◽  
Physical Capital ◽  
Organic Certification ◽  
The People ◽  
The Status ◽  
Increasing Demand ◽  
Organic Honey ◽  
Increasing Trends ◽  
The Relationship

Chiuri trees and beekeeping are the major sources of livelihood among the Chepang community. The study was performed to assess the role of Chiuri on livelihood improvement of the Chepang community through beekeeping and to analyze the efforts of CFUGs to conserve the Chiuri in Silinge Community Forest User Group, Raksirang-6, Makawanpur district, Nepal. Focus Group Discussion, Key Informant Survey and Individual interview in households were carried out for the study from January to March 2019. With the increasing demand for organic honey made from Chiuri, the locals of the Chepang village in Makawanpur have started generating a good income from beekeeping. The majority (63%) of the respondents reported that the trends of the status of beekeeping were increasing in households. The selling of honey was the main source of income for the people of Silinge CFUGs. 1/3 of households earned the money in the range of NRs 200,000 (US$ 1,720.83) - NRs 300,000 (US$ 2,581.24). Physical capital and financial capital have significantly increased, whereas human, social and natural capitals were in increasing trends. The relationship between Chiuri and honey bees was very positive for both. The marketing system of Chiuri is not well developed in the study area. The Chepang community will get more prices after certifying their products as organic. Organic Certification of Nepal (OCN) should conduct studies about organic honey.

The Mandwa Project: An Experiment in Community Participation

1988 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 153-164 ◽  
Author(s):  
Noshir H. Antia
Keyword(s):  
Political Factors ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
The Public ◽  
Adequate Knowledge ◽  
Self Help ◽  
The People ◽  
Vested Interests ◽  
Health And Illness ◽  
The Status

The project at Mandwa was designed to study the problems of health in rural India and the delivery of health care by the existing public and private health systems. The results demonstrate the important role of socioeconomic and political factors not only in vital areas such as nutrition, water supply, sanitation, and housing, but also in the delivery of health services. The private sector showed a predominantly curative and monetary orientation, while the public sector demonstrated a lack of accountability to the people it was designed to serve. Under these conditions, an attempt was made to test the possibility of training local women in self-help with a minimal supportive service. The results reveal that adequate knowledge and technology exist for most of the prevalent problems of health and illness in developing countries, and that semiliterate villagers have the capacity to use these effectively if they are provided in a simple manner. This experiment also demonstrates the opposition from local vested interests to any change of the status quo, even in the relatively noncontroversial field of health.

scholarly journals The Role Of Public Relations In Advancing The Status Of University Work

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 108-133
Author(s):  
Saher Qadory
Keyword(s):  
Public Relations ◽  
Common Good ◽  
The Public ◽  
Human Needs ◽  
Government Institutions ◽  
The People ◽  
The Status ◽  
Patterns Of Behavior ◽  
And Control

The human nature does not live in isolation from people, but circumstances require life to communicate with others and cooperate with them, while communicating with others and cooperate with them, either to leave the person a good impact for the rest of the people, or to leave a bad impact, if left a good impact helped him to Spend his work quickly and with less effort and vice versa. Thus, adapting individuals and groups to social reality is important and an indispensable necessity for the common good. This is the case for any organization. It does not live in isolation from the public and the surrounding society. It needs it and needs it. There must be good relations between them, and each knows the importance of the role played by society. Without the good connections between the organizations and the surrounding public or the surrounding society, they can not guarantee peace and stability, and the larger the distance between them and their audience and society, the more urgent it becomes to know the views of thousands or millions of individuals and groups. And then explain them to them in order to gain their trust and respect and support and this is what the Department of Public Relations does. Public relations, scientific insight is a social phenomenon based on its activities to interactive processes, in order to find the psychological effects related to the motives and human needs of the human personality and its components, and the trends of individuals and their different tendencies and methods of measuring these trends and ways of influencing them, so they are based mainly on the recruitment of elements These elements are scientific research, planning, coordination, communication, and evaluation, to achieve certain effects in the patterns of behavior of a particular audience, with the aim of achieving predetermined goals. Which is sometimes known as the engineering of behavior, which means a method or method the American scientist Skinner in 1955 to launch this label with the intention of similar with the technical methods used by engineers, the purpose is to subject these methods and use in the management of human behavior and control or control behavior.   Public relations are an important aspect of the work of institutions at the present time and are more specific in government institutions because of the enormous burdens and responsibilities of the community, as well as the need for good relations between the organization and the public by informing them of the facts, information, objectives, policies, programs and plans of the organization. And to convince the public of the importance of the efforts of government institutions to serve the citizens

scholarly journals THE ROLE OF THE GOVERNMENT IN THE PROTECTION OF COMMUNITY LAND ON GREEN-ZONE

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (9) ◽  
pp. 22-29
Author(s):  
Nourma Dewi
Keyword(s):  
Land Rights ◽  
The State ◽  
The People ◽  
Community Justice ◽  
The Status ◽  
Green Zone ◽  
Government Planning ◽  
The Government ◽  
Role Of The Government

Land rights are one of the rights of life of the community. This right should have been protected by the state as the implementation of Article 33 paragraph (3) of the 1945 Republic of Indonesia Constitution that the earth and natural wealth in it are protected by the state and used for the people's prosperity. This right is violated by the determination of land owned by the people declared in the green zone so that its use and allocation is limited by the government. On the other hand, when the land will be used in the framework of government planning, the status of the land will change according to the interests of the government. This phenomenon illustrates that the law that should support the state to give a sense of justice to the people on the contrary makes people's rights not fulfilled. The aim to be achieved in this study is to analyze the role of the government in protecting community land rights in the green zone. This research is normative legal research. Based on the research, it was concluded that community welfare and community justice were not well accommodated by the government regarding land in the green zone because there was a lack of clear arrangements regarding the ability to transfer the land.

scholarly journals The Three Positions for Interorganizational Interventionist Researcher: Navigating in the Supplier‑Customer Dyad

2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Vesa Tiitola ◽  
Jouni Lyly-Yrjänäinen ◽  
Teemu Laine
Keyword(s):  
New Technology ◽  
Evolutionary Process ◽  
The People ◽  
The Status ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
Robot Technology ◽  
Conducting Research

The paper identifies and examines different positions of an interventionist researcher, facilitating value co‑creation for new technology in customer‑supplier dyads. The paper answers two research questions: (1) "what kind of positions can an interventionist researcher assume in a supplier‑customer dyad?" and (2) "what should an interventionist researcher consider when choosing a suitable position for her research design?" The paper reflects upon a longitudinal interventionist case study (2017‑2020) focused on facilitating and evaluating the value created by new medicine‑dispensing robot technology in home‑care in Nordic countries. The researchers conducted interventionist research in 11 supplier‑customer dyads, with multiple, evolving positions of the researcher(s). As a result, as a contribution to the existing knowledge about the role of the interventionist researchers, the paper proposes three positions that the interventionist researcher can take in an interorganizational supplier‑customer dyad: an auditor, a lawyer or a mediator. The auditor investigates the interface between the supplier and the customer as an outsider. The lawyer position compromises this perceived neutrality (but not independence) for deeper access to empirical data regarding one of the organisations. Thus, the lawyer actively pursues the status of 'one of us' with either the supplier or the customer. The mediator expands the previous positions by trying to achieve a status of 'one of us' in both organisations trying to understand both sides of the same story supporting both the supplier's and customers' activities. Importantly, as an extension to the existing knowledge, the paper argues that not only can an interventionist researcher move between the etic and emic domains, but she can also move within the supplier‑customer dyad under examination. Thus, when conducting research within the customer‑supplier dyads (and within similarly complex contexts), the interventionist researcher needs to be aware of the existence of different positions and her actual position to the subject of interventionist study. Indeed, the interventionist researcher may choose her role, or the role may be a result of an evolutionary process. The role is 'given' by the people the interventionist researcher interacts with and, thus, not something the researcher can completely decide by herself. However, the interventionist researcher can pursue a specific role that fits her research agenda and design. In any case, the researcher needs to be honest and transparent regarding the actually taken position to avoid potential methodological pitfalls arising from complex, novel research settings.

ICT in Direct Democracy

2014 ◽  
pp. 31-39
Author(s):  
Stavros Amanatidis ◽  
Olga Eirini Palla
Keyword(s):  
Direct Democracy ◽  
Political Power ◽  
Information And Communications Technology ◽  
Communications Technology ◽  
Power Structures ◽  
Strong Function ◽  
Division Of Powers ◽  
The People ◽  
Technological Developments

This chapter presents and analyzes the use of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in public participation and more specificly in e-referenda as an aspect of direct democratic participation. It aims to explain the correlation between ICT and e-referenda. Referendum, used as an instrument to accept or deny a proposed political decision, has a strong function of controlling political power and securing the openness of political power structures. It serves as an instrument of division of powers and opens roads to opposition outside parliament. In general, it provides the people with veto positions (Schiller, 2003, p. 12). By presenting the evolvement of the ICT and the technological developments that resulted an impact on the way democracy is being exercised in the modern societies, there is an attempt to provide ideas and solutions on the use of e-referenda in modern democracies. The dangers, the advantages, and the disadvantages of the use of ICT in democracy are presented and analysed as well. All these issues are being discussed, as this chapter tries to give a clear and objective perspective regarding the role of e-democracy and the problems that come along with its implementation.

scholarly journals The Mystification of Digital Technology in Norwegian Policies on Archives, Libraries and Museums: Digitalization as Policy Imperative

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-19
Author(s):  
Erik Henningsen ◽  
Håkon Larsen
Keyword(s):  
Social Relations ◽  
Digital Technology ◽  
Turn Of The Century ◽  
Policy Discourse ◽  
Policy Documents ◽  
Cultural Processes ◽  
The Status ◽  
Policy Discourses

In this article, we investigate how digitalization has attained the role of policy imperative in the culture sector, and how the imperative is influencing contemporary policy discourses on archives, libraries and museums (ALM-organizations) in Norway. We have analyzed policy documents issued by state authorities within the Norwegian ALM-sector since the time around the turn of the century, and demonstrate through the analysis that one must take three types of cultural processes into consideration in order to understand how digitalization has attained the status as policy imperative. Each of the cultural processes amounts to a form of mystification. Firstly, one must understand that digitalization’s ascendancy into a policy imperative is in part a process of imitation, of other countries and societal sectors. Secondly, one must take into account the conceptual framing of the policy discourse, in particular in relation to the epochalist vision that structure the discourse. Thirdly, one must take into account the process of fetishism which is at work in this policy discourse. Combined, these processes lead to digitalization being perceived as a force which is external to social relations, dictating action on the part of actors working within the sector. As such, digitalization comes effectively to serve as an overarching policy imperative in the culture sector.

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