Handbook of Political Violence and Children

A major goal of this volume is to create a forum for the integration of three areas: theory and research on the effects of exposure to political violence (EPV), intervention to aid victims of EPV, and the prevention of EPV. It notes the lack of application of social science research and theory to prevention of EPV. The introductory chapter presents a description of the gap between international law forbidding political violence against children and recent increases in children’s EPV, an overview of social science theory related to research and intervention, and descriptions of the contributions of each chapter. Section I, on research, presents reviews of research, original quantitative and qualitative research reports, and a chapter on methodology and ethics. Section II, on intervention, contains research on intervention with children who have experienced EPV in school, their family, and community contexts, and a chapter on issues related to individual therapy with such children. Section III, on prevention, provides chapters on legal and social issues in the prevention of recruitment of children as child soldiers in armed groups, on the role of the International Criminal Court in deterring children’s EPV, and on the use of transitional justice for preventing recurrence of children’s EPV. The concluding chapter reviews the major findings of the volume and emphasizes the need for prevention of EPV. It describes the legal framework for prevention, social science theory that could explain the prevalence of EPV despite legal and moral sanctions against it, possible means of protecting children in armed conflict, and possible future directions in research.

Author(s):  
Charles W. Greenbaum ◽  
Muhammad M. Haj-Yahia ◽  
Carolyn Hamilton

The introductory chapter presents the major goal of this volume: creating a forum for the integration of three areas: theory and research on the effects of exposure to political violence (EPV), intervention to aid victims of EPV, and the prevention of EPV. It notes the relative lack of application of social science research and theory to prevention of EPV. The chapter presents suggested definitions of political violence and what is meant by child, and describes the gap between international law forbidding political violence to children and a recent increase in children’s EPV. The chapter also presents an overview of social science theory related to research and intervention and descriptions of the three sections in the book. Section I involves research on effects of EPV, Section II addresses intervention, and Section III discusses prevention of EPV. The introduction concludes with summaries of each chapter and a description of the relation of these chapters to the overall perspective of the book.


2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
R. L. S. Fernando ◽  
D. W. K. Hemachandra ◽  
A. Muthulingam

Higher education institutions play a vital role in society in varied capacities, and one major contribution amongst it all is conducting research as a part of knowledge creation and dissemination. Social Science Research thereby provides valuable input for policy makers, decision makers and the public, in order to encourage the well-being of the society. Previous studies have highlighted the importance of conducting social science researches to address social issues and improve quality of life. However, the number of research conducted in this discipline in Sri Lanka is not adequate when compared to that of other countries in the region. Hence, this study aims to explore the present status and challenges that hinder the number of social science research conducted by academics in State Universities in Sri Lanka. The study conducted a detailed literature review that was followed by in-depth interviews with 50 academics representing five state universities in Sri Lanka. The universities were selected based on the availability of Social Sciences and Humanities Faculties/Departments. The data were then analysed qualitatively based on the Grounded Theory Method to achievestudy objectives. The study revealed three main categories that limit the number of social science researches conducted in State Universities in Sri Lanka. They are; organizational factors, individual factors, and policy related factors. In addition, collaboration with other universities/ faculties, publication opportunities, research awards, and research allowance were identified as aspects in support of social science research in Sri Lanka. The study findings significantly helps in policy making, to identify the present status as well as factors that can contribute to enhance the level of social science related research among academics of State Universities in Sri Lanka.KeywordsResearch Environment, Social Sciences Research, State Universities


2020 ◽  
pp. 263300242097295
Author(s):  
Stathis Kalyvas ◽  
Scott Straus

Stathis Kalyvas is one of the pioneers of social science research on political violence. In this interview with Scott Straus, Kalyvas reflects critically on the state of the field, on the risks of welding scholarly research to policy, on speaking to histories of violence in particular places, on defining key terms such as violence and terrorism, and on moving up and down the ladder of abstraction. He also speaks about his ambitious new book that seeks to synthesize the field of political violence. He ends with a stinging critique of research that privileges method over substance and with some reflections for graduate students entering the field.


Author(s):  
H. Verhagen

This chapter describes the possible relationship between multi-agent systems research and social science research, more particularly sociology. It gives examples of the consequences and possibilities of these relationships, and describes some of the important issues and concepts in each of these areas. It finally points out some future directions for a bi-directional relationship between the social sciences and multi-agent systems research which hopefully will help researchers in both research areas, as well as researchers in management and organization theory.


2021 ◽  
pp. 001139212110485
Author(s):  
Jung Cheol Shin ◽  
Jae Woon Huang ◽  
Jin-kwon Lee ◽  
Youngeun An

Social science contributes to social development when theory and research topic are linked to its social context. However, in practice most social scientists in South Korea tend to explain their social issues and problems through mainstream theoretical perspectives that were primarily developed in the West. This study investigates how much social science research is localized in four selected social science disciplines (sociology, political science, public administration, and education) in South Korea. The study analyzes articles published in one representative domestic journal in each discipline to assess the localization of knowledge production during the last three decades (1988–2017). It was found that the local knowledge-base of Korean social science research is relatively weak though it has been continuously increasing during the last three decades. It was also found that knowledge production in social sciences is reliant on Western theory even though the research topics are locally embedded. In addition, the findings revealed that there are noticeable differences between the applied fields (public administration and education) and the pure fields (sociology and political science). Applied fields of public administration and education are more locally embedded than pure fields of sociology and political science. This study proposes that social science research in South Korea should draw more on indigenous knowledge and be less reliant on Western theory in the future.


Author(s):  
Jiahui Lu ◽  
Anita Sheldenkar ◽  
May Oo Lwin

Abstract Background Though social sciences are expectedly instrumental in combating antimicrobial resistance (AMR), their research on AMR has been historically lacking. Objectives This study aims to understand the current academic literature on AMR within the social science field by investigating international contributions, emerging topics, influential articles, and prominent outlets, to identify research gaps and future directions. Methods Bibliometric data of 787 peer-reviewed journal articles published in the period of 2010 to 2019 were extracted from the Social Science Citation Index in the Web of Science database. Bibliographic networks of the extracted articles were examined. Results Social science research on AMR has grown rapidly in the past 5 years. While western developed countries contributed the most to the field in the past decade, research within developing regions such as Asia and Africa have increased in the last 2 years. Social sciences have been contributing to AMR research in several different domains from surveillance and risk assessment of AMR, to promotions of appropriate use of antimicrobials in primary care and clinical settings. Though the idea of one health has been incorporated into research on AMR within the medical and microbial science fields, it has not been well recognized by social sciences. Conclusion Social science research on AMR is a new, while rapidly developing, research area that requires continued and intense global efforts from an interdisciplinary and one health approach. Research on social issues surrounding AMR transmissions between human, animal, and environments should be emphasized in the future.


PLoS ONE ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (11) ◽  
pp. e0242483
Author(s):  
Chao Wu ◽  
Guolong Wang ◽  
Simon Hu ◽  
Yue Liu ◽  
Hong Mi ◽  
...  

For decades, traditional correlation analysis and regression models have been used in social science research. However, the development of machine learning algorithms makes it possible to apply machine learning techniques for social science research and social issues, which may outperform standard regression methods in some cases. Under the circumstances, this article proposes a methodological workflow for data analysis by machine learning techniques that have the possibility to be widely applied in social issues. Specifically, the workflow tries to uncover the natural mechanisms behind the social issues through a data-driven perspective from feature selection to model building. The advantage of data-driven techniques in feature selection is that the workflow can be built without so much restriction of related knowledge and theory in social science. The advantage of using machine learning techniques in modelling is to uncover non-linear and complex relationships behind social issues. The main purpose of our methodological workflow is to find important fields relevant to the target and provide appropriate predictions. However, to explain the result still needs theory and knowledge from social science. In this paper, we trained a methodological workflow with left-behind children as the social issue case, and all steps and full results are included.


Author(s):  
David J. Armor

Of all the social science theories that have been applied to school desegregation policy, none has a longer or more important history than the harm and benefit thesis. In its simplest form, the thesis holds that school segregation is harmful to the social, psychological, and educational development of children, both minority and white, and that school desegregation is beneficial for undoing or at least ameliorating the damages from segregation and discrimination. While the harm and benefit thesis began as a purely social science theory, its apparent endorsement by the Supreme Court in Brown gave the thesis an enormous boost, elevating it from academic theory to moral authority. From Brown to the present time, the harm and benefit thesis has played a curious and bifurcated role in the evolution of school desegregation policy. Although it began as a social science theory that had apparently found its way into judicial doctrine, its role in the courts soon parted from its role among educators, social scientists, and civil rights groups. On the judicial front, a number of lower court decisions in the early 1970s stressed the harms of school segregation and the benefits of integration remedies. The Supreme Court itself never again explicitly addressed the harm and benefit thesis after Brown, however, and its judicial relevance diminished over the next three decades as the high Court majority restricted the application of Brown to government-enforced school segregation. For this reason many constitutional scholars have long maintained that the psychological harm finding in Brown is not an essential part of constitutional law. To the extent that a harm thesis can be inferred from current judicial doctrine, then, harm arises only if school (or other) segregation is sanctioned by law or official action. For many other actors on the desegregation stage, however, the harm and benefit thesis has had a far broader applicability. During the periods when the earliest formulations began to appear, such as that by Gunnar Myrdal in 1944 or the famous doll studies of Kenneth and Mamie Clark in the late 1930s, most existing segregation was in fact sanctioned by law, and thus most social science research on this issue of necessity reflected the effects of official segregation.


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