scholarly journals Can Jobs Programs Build Peace?

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tilman Brück ◽  
Neil T N Ferguson ◽  
Valeria Izzi ◽  
Wolfgang Stojetz
Keyword(s):  
Grey Literature ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Academic Literature ◽  
Open Questions ◽  
The Status ◽  
Micro Level ◽  
Employment Programs ◽  
Theories Of Change ◽  
Do So ◽  
Peace Programs

Abstract In the last decade, well over $10 billion has been spent on employment programs designed to contribute to peace and stability. Despite the outlay, whether these programs perform, and how they do so, remain open questions. This study conducts three reviews to derive the status quo of knowledge. First, it draws on academic literature on the microfoundations of instability to distill testable theories of how employment programs could affect stability at the micro level. Second, it analyses academic and grey literature that directly evaluates the impacts of employment programs on peace-related outcomes. Third, it conducts a systematic review of program-based learning from over 400 interventions. This study finds good theoretical reasons to believe that employment programs could contribute to peace. However, only very limited evidence exists on overall impacts on peace or on the pathways underlying the theories of change. At the program level, the review finds strong evidence that contributions to peace and stability are often simply assumed to have occurred. This provides a major challenge for the justification of continued spending on jobs for peace programs. Instead, systematic and rigorous learning on the impacts of jobs for peace programs needs to be scaled up urgently.

Leadership

2018 ◽  
Vol 100 (2) ◽  
pp. 62-63
Author(s):  
Joshua P. Starr
Keyword(s):  
School Boards ◽  
Pension System ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
District Leaders ◽  
Local Schools ◽  
The Status ◽  
Newly Hired ◽  
Do So

Phi Delta Kappa’s CEO, Joshua Starr, points out that while school boards may tell their newly hired superintendents to be bold, visionary leaders, the job tends to include built-in incentives — such as a pension system that rewards longevity — to play it safe. If district leaders aim to challenge longstanding patterns of inequity in their local schools, they must be willing to take a stand against those who benefit from the status quo, even if that eventually costs them their job. Of course, not everybody can afford to do so.

scholarly journals The Child Justice Act: Procedural Sentencing Issues

2017 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 320
Author(s):  
Stephan S Terblanche
Keyword(s):  
General Rule ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Probation Officers ◽  
Care Centre ◽  
Older Children ◽  
Trial Courts ◽  
Victim Impact Statement ◽  
The Status ◽  
Do So

In this contribution a number of procedural issues related to the sentencing of child offenders and emanating from the Child Justice Act 75 of 2008 are considered in some detail. As a general rule, the Act requires pre-sentence reports to be obtained from probation officers before sentencing any child offender, with only a limited number of exceptions. The article argues that the peremptory nature of the Act means that a probation report is always required, even if reports by other experts are also available. The exceptions are limited to instances other than those where the child offender is sentenced to any form of imprisonment or to residence in a care centre. The article addresses the question of whether or not the reference to imprisonment includes alternative imprisonment which is imposed only as an alternative to a fine. It suggests that alternative imprisonment should, generally, not be imposed on child offenders. When an exception is not prevented because of the sentence, a pre-sentence report may be dispensed with only when the offence is a schedule-1 offence (the least serious class of offences) or when obtaining a report would prejudice the child. It is argued that these exceptions are likely to occur rather rarely. A final aspect of the Act’s provisions on pre-sentence reports is the requirement that reasons be given for a departure from the recommendations in a pre-sentence report. This requirement merely confirms the status quo. The Act permits the prosecutor to provide the court with a victim impact statement. Such a statement is defined in the Act. It is a sworn statement by a victim or someone authorised by the victim explaining the consequences to the victim of the commission of the crime. The article also addresses the issue of whether or not the child justice court might mero motu obtain a victim impact statement when the prosecution does not do so. Finally, the article addresses appeals against and reviews of the trial courts’ sentences. It notes that appeal by the child offender is made somewhat easier, as some child offenders need not obtain leave to appeal. These include children under the age of 16, or older children sentenced to imprisonment. Again, the meaning of “imprisonment” is at least somewhat ambiguous. The provisions on automatic review have attracted considerable judicial attention already. The majority of these judgments confirmed the apparently clear wording of the Act, in terms of which the cases of all child offenders under the age of 16 should be reviewed regardless of whether they were legally represented or of the sentence imposed. In the case of child offenders aged 16 or 17, only custodial sentences are reviewable. The judgments which found this to be an incorrect interpretation are dealt with in some detail, with the conclusion that they were incorrectly decided.

The Millennial/Gen Z Leftists Are Emerging: Are Sociologists Ready for Them?

2020 ◽  
Vol 63 (3) ◽  
pp. 408-427
Author(s):  
Elaine Bell Kaplan
Keyword(s):  
Social Change ◽  
Gender Inequality ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Race And Gender ◽  
The Status ◽  
And Gender ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
New Generation ◽  
Do So

Sociology is being challenged by the new generation of students and scholars who have another view of society. Millennial/Gen Zs are the most progressive generation since the 1960s. We have had many opportunities to discuss and imagine power, diversity, and social change when we teach them in our classes or attend their campus events. Some Millennial/Gen Z believe, especially those in academia, that social scientists are tied to old theories and ideologies about race and gender, among other inconsistencies. These old ideas do not resonate with their views regarding equity. Millennials are not afraid to challenge the status quo. They do so already by supporting multiple gender and race identities. Several questions come to mind. How do we as sociologists with our sense of history and other issues such as racial and gender inequality help them along the way? Are we ready for this generation? Are they ready for us?

On Social Stability and Social Change

2011 ◽  
Vol 20 (6) ◽  
pp. 360-364 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aaron C. Kay ◽  
Justin Friesen
Keyword(s):  
Social Change ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
Personal Control ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
System Justification ◽  
Social Stability ◽  
System Justification Theory ◽  
The Status ◽  
System Threat ◽  
Do So

More than a decade of research from the perspective of system-justification theory (Jost & Banaji, 1994) has demonstrated that people engage in motivated psychological processes that bolster and support the status quo. We propose that this motive is highly contextual: People do not justify their social systems at all times but are more likely to do so under certain circumstances. We describe four contexts in which people are prone to engage in system-justifying processes: (a) system threat, (b) system dependence, (c) system inescapability, and (d) low personal control. We describe how and why, in these contexts, people who wish to promote social change might expect resistance.

Community-based performances of harmonious diversity: Happy talk and utopian performativity in Playback Theatre

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-53
Author(s):  
Dani Snyder-Young ◽  
Maren Flassen
Keyword(s):  
White Supremacy ◽  
Ethnically Diverse ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Playback Theatre ◽  
The Status ◽  
Diverse Community ◽  
Do So

In this article, we examine a Playback Theatre performance in which audience members perform their appreciation for living in a diverse community, engaging with the performativity of happy talk surrounding diversity. Happy talk is largely considered to support the status quo of White supremacy, letting those who benefit from dominant systems of power off the hook. However, in this event it appeared to operate instead as a utopian performative. The racially and ethnically diverse storytellers in the workshop narrate positive stories about the diversity in their community, and they do so for a reason. This article looks at the hope animating the event.

scholarly journals The politics of zero-sum thinking: The relationship between political ideology and the belief that life is a zero-sum game

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (12) ◽  
pp. eaay3761 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shai Davidai ◽  
Martino Ongis
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Political Ideology ◽  
Social Inequalities ◽  
The United States ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Political Conflicts ◽  
The Status ◽  
Zero Sum ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Do So

The tendency to see life as zero-sum exacerbates political conflicts. Six studies (N = 3223) examine the relationship between political ideology and zero-sum thinking: the belief that one party’s gains can only be obtained at the expense of another party’s losses. We find that both liberals and conservatives view life as zero-sum when it benefits them to do so. Whereas conservatives exhibit zero-sum thinking when the status quo is challenged, liberals do so when the status quo is being upheld. Consequently, conservatives view social inequalities—where the status quo is frequently challenged—as zero-sum, but liberals view economic inequalities—where the status quo has remained relatively unchallenged in past decades—as such. Overall, these findings suggest potentially important ideological differences in perceptions of conflict—differences that are likely to have implications for understanding political divides in the United States and the difficulty of reaching bipartisan legislation.

Introduction to Special Issue on Merit, Whiteness, and Privilege

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 3-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amardo Rodriguez ◽  
Mohan J. Dutta ◽  
Elizabeth F. Desnoyers-Colas
Keyword(s):  
Status Quo ◽  
Communication Studies ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Human Diversity ◽  
The Status ◽  
Do So

Hegemons arise by smashing and terrorizing human diversity. They do so structurally, institutionally, and discursively—that is, through logics, rationales, and schemes. In this special issue, we grapple with the racism problem that pervades communication studies. In fact, the discipline has long had a racism problem, silenced by overarching structures that deploy the language of civility to erase conversations that call out this problem. This special issue, “Merit, Whiteness, and Privilege,” focuses on the racial, ideological, and epistemological logics, rationales, and schemes, such as falsely separating scholarly merit from diversity, that the status quo in communication studies employs to keep minority peoples marginalized. We contend that looking at the racism problem that pervades communication studies from a perspective of whiteness deepens our understanding of this problem in profound ways.

scholarly journals Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Research

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 43-83 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hannes Velt ◽  
Lasse Torkkeli ◽  
Igor Laine
Keyword(s):  
International Business ◽  
International Entrepreneurship ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Collaboration Networks ◽  
Entrepreneurial Ecosystem ◽  
Comprehensive Overview ◽  
Ecosystem Research ◽  
The Status ◽  
Research Domain ◽  
Do So

The entrepreneurial ecosystem stream of research is relatively new, yet it has started to attract the attention of scholars across a range of disciplines including international business and international entrepreneurship. Review studies are needed to consolidate the research and to illustrate the status quo and present visions for research going forward. This study aims to do so by applying bibliometric process technique. The present study summarizes the key countries and institutions, source journals, scholars and publications, and key themes encompassing the domain of entrepreneurial ecosystem research up to 2019. The findings illustrate an exponential growth of research covering a wide array of disciplines and top journals, observe several influential scholars and their collaboration networks, and find that the studies remain distinctly practitioner focused. In addition, six themes within the research domain are identified. The multilevel analysis gives a comprehensive overview of the entrepreneurial ecosystem domain.

Sub Rosa Resistance and the Politics of Economic Reform: Land Redistribution in Post-Soviet Ukraine

2004 ◽  
Vol 56 (4) ◽  
pp. 554-581 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica Allina-Pisano
Keyword(s):  
Economic Reform ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Weak State ◽  
The Public ◽  
Land Redistribution ◽  
J Curve ◽  
Societal Actors ◽  
The Status ◽  
State Actors ◽  
Do So

This article examines obstacles to economic reform in Ukraine's transition to a market-based economy. Existing explanations for failures of reform in postcommunist states privilege societal actors, as in the case of Przeworski's J-curve, or state actors acting in a private, rent-seeking capacity, as in Hellman's partial reform equilibrium. Other explanations focus on weak state capacity. However, there is evidence to suggest that some groups of individuals who stall or halt market reforms may do so in their capacity as state actors. Their resistance to reform may be sub rosa: state actors may comply with formal institutional requirements of reform even as they seek to preserve the status quo. This tendency is evident in the privatization of land, the focus of this article. This article proposes an explanation for reform failures which suggests that some resistance to economic liberalization may derive from the efforts of state actors to protect the public good.

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