Doing Fieldwork in Areas of International Intervention into Violent and Closed Contexts

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
Berit Bliesemann de Guevara ◽  
Morten Bøås
Keyword(s):  
Violent Conflict ◽  
International Intervention ◽  
The World ◽  
Personal Reflections

This chapter covers experiences of doing fieldwork. It talks about a gender-balanced group of field researchers at different stages of their careers that work in different countries around the world. It also analyzes how the field researchers did their fieldwork in areas of international intervention into violent conflict and/or illiberal states. The chapter provides an overview of the frank and critical accounts of the field researchers who have taken the courage to publicly reflect upon some of their mistakes and to name the dilemmas of fieldwork in violent and closed contexts. It draws attention to the personal reflections of the field researchers' practices, performances, and positionalities in the field, including their contributions to address questions currently discussed in related literatures.

The World of the Bible—Always Strange, Forever New

2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 169-182
Author(s):  
Joseph D. Small
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
University Students ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Productive Author ◽  
The World ◽  
Personal Reflections

Abstract Although Markus Barth was a productive author and is known widely through his published written work, he was also, for many decades, a teacher of formative importance for generations of seminary and university students in both the United States and Switzerland. This essay shares personal reflections on Markus Barth’s profile as a biblical and theological educator and thereby introduces readers to something of his influential personal and theological style.

scholarly journals Allowing one's own bodily experience to "count": Elaborating on inter- subjectivity and subjectivity in phenomenological studies

2013 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 24-40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen Synne Groven ◽  
Gunn Engelsrud
Keyword(s):  
Research Process ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Bodily Experience ◽  
Phenomenological Studies ◽  
Bodily Experiences ◽  
The World ◽  
Personal Reflections

Phenomenology, according to Heidegger and Merleau-Ponty, looks at human beings in the world. Drawing on their perspective, one could argue that inter-subjectivity, like a researcher’s subjectivity, should be explicitly acknowledged in phenomenological studies. In the following pages we explore how using this approach can make findings more transparent and trustworthy. This study is based on a review of five articles focused on subjectivity and inter-subjectivity in phenomenological studies. In addition, we draw on the first author’s experiences as a PhD candidate studying to become a “phenomenological” researcher. Our findings reveal that reflecting explicitly on bodily subjectivity during the research process can reveal connections between the context of the interview, how the material is created socially and textually and how the researcher utilized information from her own body in the interpretation of the material. This, in turn, is likely to make the findings more inter-subjective and transparent, and thus more trustworthy and valid. Our findings point to the value of letting one’s own bodily experiences “count” in the process of determining how to explore the phenomena in question. Although the literature offers guidelines, each project and each researcher is unique. In this light, personal reflections are likely to highlight the value of critically engaging – and making explicit – the researcher’s own experiences, both during and after the interview process.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/jer.v3i0.7850Journal of Education and Research March 2013, Vol. 3, No. 1, pp. 24-40

scholarly journals Enthusiasm-Based or Evidence-Based Charities: Personal Reflections Based on the Project P.A.T.H.S. in Hong Kong

2008 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. 802-810 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel T. L. Shek
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Scientific Evidence ◽  
Social Needs ◽  
Intervention Programs ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Charitable Foundations ◽  
The World ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Personal Reflections ◽  
The Needy

In charitable foundations throughout the world, different approaches are used to allocate funding. As many projects with good will (i.e., enthusiasm-based charity) actually fail to help those who really need it, it is argued that the evidence-based approach (i.e., charity guided by scientific evidence) represents the best strategy to support projects that can really help the needy. Using this approach, scientific research findings are systematically used to (1) understand the nature of the problem and/or social needs, (2) design appropriate intervention programs based on the best available evidence, and (3) systematically evaluate the outcomes of the developed program. Using the Project P.A.T.H.S. funded by the Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust as an example, the characteristics underlying this approach are outlined. The systematic use of scientific evidence in the Project P.A.T.H.S. is exemplary in different Chinese societies. This project provides much insight for charitable foundations and funding bodies locally and globally.

A Flawed Formula for Peacemaking and Continued Violence in Darfur

2020 ◽  
pp. 212-229
Author(s):  
Partha Moman
Keyword(s):  
Violent Conflict ◽  
Peace Agreement ◽  
Coercive Diplomacy ◽  
Peace Negotiations ◽  
Standard Formula ◽  
The World ◽  
Key Factor

This article seeks to contribute to understandings of peacemaking failure in Darfur, during the negotiations in Abuja from 2004-2006 that led to the 2006 Darfur Peace Agreement. It argues that a key factor in explaining peacemaking failure, was the reliance on a standard formula for peace negotiations used across the world. Peacemakers, in and around Abuja, worked by assuming the existence of a limited number of cohesive warring parties, enabling a comprehensive agreement and consensus between these groups, and ensuring that this result could be enshrined in a logical written document. The use of this formula, although seemingly logical, entrenched pathologies in the Abuja negotiations – exclusion of certain constituencies, the use of simplistic narratives to frame the conflict, coercive diplomacy, an overactive mediation – that in turn contributed to the continuation and even escalation of violent conflict in Darfur. The article concludes by suggesting potential pathways to decentering this dominant formula for conducting peace negotiations.

scholarly journals The Prospects of Global History: Personal Reflections of an Old Believer

2019 ◽  
Vol 64 (1) ◽  
pp. 111-121 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peer Vries
Keyword(s):  
World History ◽  
Global History ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of ◽  
Personal Reflections

Global history seems to be the history for our times. Huge syntheses such as the seven-volume Cambridge World History or the six-volume A History of the World suggest the field has come to fruition. Robert Moore, in his contribution to the book under review, The Prospect of Global History, is quite confident in this respect: if there is a single reason for “the rise of world history”, it is “the collapse of every alternative paradigm” (pp. 84–85). As early as 2012, the journal Itinerario published an interview with David Armitage with the title “Are We All Global Historians Now?” That may have been provocative but Armitage obliged by claiming “the hegemony of national historiography is over”.

Between the home and the world in violent conflict

2012 ◽  
Vol 19 (6) ◽  
pp. 771-789 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anoma Pieris
Keyword(s):  
Violent Conflict ◽  
The World

Environment, Scarcity, and Violence. By Thomas F. Homer-Dixon. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1999 253p. $45.00 cloth, $18.95 paper.

2002 ◽  
Vol 96 (3) ◽  
pp. 689-690
Author(s):  
Marian A. L. Miller
Keyword(s):  
Renewable Resources ◽  
Violent Conflict ◽  
Princeton University ◽  
Sufficient Cause ◽  
The World ◽  
Civil Violence ◽  
Environmental Scarcity

In Environment, Scarcity, and Violence, Thomas Homer-Dixon continues his examination of environmental scarcity. This exploration of the links between environmental scarcity and violent conflict captures much of the related complexity. He finds that scarcities of renewable resources, such as cropland, freshwater, and forests, can contribute to civil violence. As scarcities worsen, the incidence of this kind of violence is likely to increase. Although he acknowledges that environmental scarcity “by itself is neither a necessary nor sufficient cause” (p. 7) of violence, he argues that analysts should not underestimate its importance: Some conflicts cannot be clearly understood without an examination of the role of environmental scarcity. In this work, he offers “analysts and policymakers a tool kit of concepts and generalizations that they can use to analyze, explain, and sometimes predict connections between environmental scarcity and violence around the world” (p. 73).

Mediating among Mediators: Building a Consensus in Multilateral Interventions

2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 125-154 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timea Spitka
Keyword(s):  
Northern Ireland ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Bosnia And Herzegovina ◽  
Violent Conflict ◽  
Consensus Building ◽  
Critical Question ◽  
International Intervention ◽  
Intervention Process

AbstractThe conditions under which multilateral international intervention are effective in ending a violent conflict is a critical question for scholars and practitioners. Scholarly studies have demonstrated the importance of a united intervention but have been in disagreement over the effectiveness of neutral versus partisan intervention. This article examines the conditions under which mediators construct a consensus on the type of intervention process. What are the factors that enable a consensus on a neutral versus a partisan intervention? Distinguishing between four types of international intervention processes – united-neutral, united-partisan, divided-partisan, and divided neutral and partisan intervention – this article argues that it is a united intervention, whether united partisan or united-neutral, that contributes to creating leverage on conflicting parties to end a conflict. The article examines consensus building among mediators within two divergent case studies: Northern Ireland and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

scholarly journals The humanitarian alibi: an overview and a redefinition

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Bywater
Keyword(s):  
Humanitarian Aid ◽  
International Aid ◽  
Violent Conflict ◽  
International Intervention ◽  
Direct Component ◽  
Substitution Process

AbstractThis paper explores and illustrates the diverse manifestations of the phenomenon of the ‘humanitarian alibi’, drawing upon historical and contemporary cases of violent conflict in order to identify substitutionary phenomena by governments and international actors. It affirms the existence of substitution process where humanitarian aid intervention substitutes for the prevention and resolution of violent conflict and the protection of civilian populations. The paper argues for expanding the humanitarian alibi, however, to take into account how international aid intervention compensates for both the systemic neglect of conflict related crises and for the systemic harm that exacerbates and perpetuates these crises. It also challenges the suggestion that the humanitarian alibi phenomenon is the product of a bygone era, and finds that the use of aid as a substitute for peacemaking can co-exist alongside the use of aid as a direct component of international intervention.

scholarly journals Green criminology - revisiting: Reflections, connections, horizons

Crimen ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 113-131
Author(s):  
South Nigel
Keyword(s):  
Green Criminology ◽  
Four Dimensions ◽  
The World ◽  
The Future ◽  
Criminological Perspective ◽  
Personal Reflections ◽  
Different Parts

This paper traces aspects of the development of a 'green' criminology. It starts with personal reflections and then describes the emergence of explicit statements of a green criminological perspective. Initially these statements were independently voiced in different parts of the world but they reflected shared concerns. These works have found unification as a 'green', 'eco-global' or 'conservation' criminology. The paper reviews the classifications available when talking about not only legally - defined crimes but also legally perpetrated harms, as well as typologies of such harms and crimes. It then looks at the integration of 'green' and 'traditional' criminological thinking before briefly exploring four dimensions of concern for today and the future.

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