scholarly journals Violent crime and extremism in South Sudan: The modus operandi of organised criminal groups and political corruption

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dau Ding
Keyword(s):  
Violent Crime ◽  
South Sudan ◽  
Political Corruption ◽  
Organised Crime ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Government Officials ◽  
Nation States ◽  
Group Population ◽  
Global Peace ◽  
Criminal Groups

Abstract Environmental Criminology (EC) theories are regularly employed by law enforcement practitioners within their efforts to disrupt the criminal activities of motivated offenders. However, EC theories have not been utilised to combat the illicit activities of “State-supported” offenders. This study explored organised crime in South Sudan by applying EC theories and large group population psychoanalysis. A null hypothesis - “violent crime in South Sudan is not associated with ideological extremism” - was postulated and assessed. Fifty-Four South Sudanese government officials participated in semi-structured interviews. Violent crime and organised crime were reported to be common in South Sudan. Both were identified as being facilitated by political corruption. The study concludes that there is no association between ideological extremism and violent crime; including ethnic and tribal extremism. EC theories and population psychoanalysis may be cogently employed to practically inform stakeholders’ efforts in combating the criminal activities of State-supported motivated offenders. The EC crime triangle is a useful tool for highlighting State-supported illicit activities that: Challenge democratic governance in failing or failed Nation-States; Undermine the international rules of law and human rights, and; Threaten global peace and security via transnational criminal activities, including the financing of foreign terrorist organisations.

The national question, identity and the crisis in South Sudan

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dylan Yanano Mangani ◽  
Richard Rachidi Molapo
Keyword(s):  
Political Identity ◽  
South Sudan ◽  
Nation Building ◽  
Political Control ◽  
Social Patterns ◽  
Political Landscape ◽  
Liberation Movement ◽  
Nation States ◽  
National Question ◽  
The Government

The crisis in South Sudan that broke out on the 15th of December 2013 has been the gravest political debacle in the five years of the country’s independence. This crisis typifies the general political and social patterns of post-independence politics of nation-states that are borne out of armed struggles in Africa. Not only does the crisis expose a reluctance by the nationalist leaders to continue with nation-building initiatives, the situation suggests the struggle for political control at the echelons of power within the Sudanese Peoples Liberation Movement.  This struggle has been marred by the manufacturing of political identity and political demonization that seem to illuminate the current political landscape in South Sudan. Be that as it may, the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) hurriedly intervened to find a lasting solution however supportive of the government of President Salva Kirr and this has suggested interest based motives on the part of the regional body and has since exacerbated an already fragile situation. As such, this article uses the Fanonian discourse of post-independence politics in Africa to expose the fact that the SPLM has degenerated into lethargy and this is at the heart of the crisis.

scholarly journals Birth companionship in a government health system: a pilot study in Kigoma, Tanzania

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Chaote ◽  
Nguke Mwakatundu ◽  
Sunday Dominico ◽  
Alex Mputa ◽  
Agnes Mbanza ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Low Income ◽  
Pilot Project ◽  
Low Income Countries ◽  
Respectful Maternity Care ◽  
Health Providers ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Government Officials ◽  
Government Health ◽  
Project Data ◽  
Birth Companion

Abstract Background Having a companion of choice throughout childbirth is an important component of good quality and respectful maternity care for women and has become standard in many countries. However, there are only a few examples of birth companionship being implemented in government health systems in low-income countries. To learn if birth companionship was feasible, acceptable and led to improved quality of care in these settings, we implemented a pilot project using 9 intervention and 6 comparison sites (all government health facilities) in a rural region of Tanzania. Methods The pilot was developed and implemented in Kigoma, Tanzania between July 2016 and December 2018. Women delivering at intervention sites were given the choice of having a birth companion with them during childbirth. We evaluated the pilot with: (a) project data; (b) focus group discussions; (c) structured and semi-structured interviews; and (d) service statistics. Results More than 80% of women delivering at intervention sites had a birth companion who provided support during childbirth, including comforting women and staying by their side. Most women interviewed at intervention sites were very satisfied with having a companion during childbirth (96–99%). Most women at the intervention sites also reported that the presence of a companion improved their labor, delivery and postpartum experience (82–97%). Health providers also found companions very helpful because they assisted with their workload, alerted the provider about changes in the woman’s status, and provided emotional support to the woman. When comparing intervention and comparison sites, providers at intervention sites were significantly more likely to: respond to women who called for help (p = 0.003), interact in a friendly way (p < 0.001), greet women respectfully (p < 0.001), and try to make them more comfortable (p = 0.003). Higher proportions of women who gave birth at intervention sites reported being “very satisfied” with the care they received (p < 0.001), and that the staff were “very kind” (p < 0.001) and “very encouraging” (p < 0.001). Conclusion Birth companionship was feasible and well accepted by health providers, government officials and most importantly, women who delivered at intervention facilities. The introduction of birth companionship improved women’s experience of birth and the maternity ward environment overall.

scholarly journals Towards the Construction of Productive Interactions for Social Impact

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 485
Author(s):  
Blanca L. Díaz Mariño ◽  
Frida Carmina Caballero-Rico ◽  
Ramón Ventura Roque Hernández ◽  
José Alberto Ramírez de León ◽  
Daniel Alejandro González-Bandala
Keyword(s):  
Social Impact ◽  
Ecological Systems ◽  
Research Projects ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Government Officials ◽  
Community Members ◽  
Project Duration ◽  
The Social ◽  
The One ◽  
Different Levels

Understanding the value of research for society has become a priority, and several methodologies have been developed to assess the social impact of research. This study aimed to determine how productive interactions are developed during the execution of research projects. A retrospective study was conducted on 33 projects from 1999 to 2020. Semi-structured interviews with the technical managers were conducted to analyze how different actors of the project—researchers, government officials, and civil society and private sector stakeholders—were involved, illustrating how productive interactions occur in specific biodiversity contexts. The results revealed different levels and intensities of productive interactions; on the one hand, three projects involved all actors; eight involved researchers outside the institution; and 25 involved community members. The number of participants ranged from 2 to 37. All research evaluated had a disciplinary orientation. The type and time of interactions with other interested parties depended on the amount of funding, project type, project duration, and, significantly, on the profile of the technical manager. The importance of assessing and valuing productive interactions was identified as a fundamental element in promoting the social impact of research, as well as integrating inter- or multidisciplinary projects that impact the conservation of socio-ecological systems.

scholarly journals ACADEMIC STAFF SELECTION IN THE SULTANATE OF OMAN – THE CASE OF COLLEGES OF TECHNOLOGY

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (11) ◽  
pp. 128-145
Author(s):  
Khamis Said Nasser Al Muniri
Keyword(s):  
Selection Process ◽  
Academic Staff ◽  
Inductive Reasoning ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Government Officials ◽  
Main Method ◽  
Colleges Of Technology ◽  
College Of Technology ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Recruitment And Selection

This paper looks at the academic staff selection practices at the Colleges of Technology in Oman. An inductive reasoning or bottom up approach was used in this research project. The main method of data collection used was semi-structured interviews conducted with selected government officials whose position and experience would enable them to provide useful data on the issues being explore. Some of the main findings of the research was that the interviewers predominantly conducted unstructured interviews and the interviewers had not received any training on how to conduct interviews and carryout the selection process. In addition, the interviewers did not have any standard selection criteria when recruiting academic staff to the college of technology. The research findings will help administrators in Oman to improve the recruitment and selection process of academic Staff.

scholarly journals Disaster response and recovery in two informal settlements: A local government perspective

2011 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 606-621 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bethuel Sibongiseni Ngcamu ◽  
Malcolm Alan Henworth Wallis
Keyword(s):  
Urban Areas ◽  
Disaster Response ◽  
Building Materials ◽  
Informal Settlements ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Government Officials ◽  
Governmental Organizations ◽  
Non Governmental Organizations ◽  
Response And Recovery ◽  
The Impact

Informal settlements in urban areas have long been afflicted by disasters and exposed to exploitation by politicians, shacklords, academics, journalists, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), tavern owners and government officials. This problem is caused to some degree by limited land for expansion which has resulted in the creation of highly densified and unplanned, irregular settlements using poor, combustible building materials. The purpose of the article is to investigate whether eThekwini Municipality’s strategies are sufficient to respond to and recover from the impact of disasters. The research was undertaken at the Foreman and Kennedy Road informal settlements located in Clare Estate, under Ward 25, in Durban within eThekwini Municipality in KwaZulu-Natal (refer to Annexure 1). These areas are very important politically as they are densily populated and highly contested between political parties and local resistant’s organizations such as Abahlali baseMjondolo. Questionnaires were self-administered to a sample size of 220 of which 140 respondents completed the questionnaires, thereby generating a response rate of 63.6%. Semi-structured interviews were also conducted with municipal officials. The findings indicate that 44.3% of the victims of disasters received assistance from NGOs and regard civil society as playing an important role after disasters compared to 7.1% of the responding municipal officials.

scholarly journals Gendered Paradigms For Understanding Of Common-Pool Resource With Special Reference To Keenjhar Lake, Sindh

2012 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Aijaz Ahmed Sohag ◽  
Faraz Ahmed Wajidi
Keyword(s):  
Management Plan ◽  
Local Communities ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Government Officials ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Community Based Organizations ◽  
Local Perception ◽  
Management Of Resources ◽  
Conservation Values ◽  
Detrimental Impact

Keenjhar Lake, Pakistan is facing a potentially devastating ecological collapse, threatening the livelihood security of local communities. The purpose of this study was to investigate that how a more sustainable management plan can be forged through the integration of the local experiential knowledge and technocratic conservation values. The analysis gives particular emphasis to gender issues, given the unacknowledged but increasing responsibilities of community based organizations on women issues. Semi-structured interviews with local communities, communitybased organizations and government officials were undertaken to assess the various perceptions of resource use at Keenjhar Lake. The findings illustrate that conflicting understandings of ownership have a detrimental impact on the local perception on environment and prevalence of resource for their livelihood. However, there is an opportunity to foster new vistas of understanding which could be helpful in sustainability of management of resources.

scholarly journals Translated Transcripts From Covert Recordings Used for Evidence in Court: Issues of Reliability

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Gilbert ◽  
Georgina Heydon
Keyword(s):  
Law Enforcement ◽  
National Security ◽  
Criminal Activity ◽  
Organised Crime ◽  
Complex Environment ◽  
Criminal Cases ◽  
Law Enforcement Agencies ◽  
Nation States ◽  
Australian State ◽  
Using Data

Nation states increasingly apply electronic surveillance techniques to combat serious and organised crime after broadening and deepening their national security agendas. Covertly obtained recordings from telephone interception and listening devices of conversations related to suspected criminal activity in Languages Other Than English (LOTE) frequently contain jargon and/or code words. Community translators and interpreters are routinely called upon to transcribe intercepted conversations into English for evidentiary purposes. This paper examines the language capabilities of community translators and interpreters undertaking this work for law enforcement agencies in the Australian state of Victoria. Using data collected during the observation of public court trials, this paper presents a detailed analysis of Vietnamese-to-English translated transcripts submitted as evidence by the Prosecution in drug-related criminal cases. The data analysis reveals that translated transcripts presented for use as evidence in drug-related trials contain frequent and significant errors. However, these discrepancies are difficult to detect in the complex environment of a court trial without the expert skills of an independent discourse analyst fluent in both languages involved. As a result, trials tend to proceed without the reliability of the translated transcript being adequately tested.

A White Hat Study of a Nation's Publicly Accessible Critical Digital Infrastructure and a Way Forward

2020 ◽  
pp. 1672-1685
Author(s):  
Timo Kiravuo ◽  
Seppo Tiilikainen ◽  
Mikko Särelä ◽  
Jukka Manner
Keyword(s):  
Control Systems ◽  
Critical Infrastructure ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Address Space ◽  
Government Officials ◽  
Industrial Control ◽  
Industrial Control Systems ◽  
Playing Field ◽  
Internet Address ◽  
Nation States

The developed society depends on many critical infrastructure processes, such as power generation, water treatment, many types of manufacturing, and smart buildings. These processes need control and the automation industry has embraced the Internet to connect all these controls. However, the controlling devices thus opened to the world do not always have adequate safeguards to withstand malicious users. Many automation systems have default passwords or known and unknown backdoors. Also, often those systems are not updated to close security weaknesses found after original installation. The authors argue that while the industry is familiar with the notion of safety of equipment and processes, it has not focused enough on IT security. Several years ago the Shodan search engine showed how easy it is to find these control devices on the Internet. The authors followed this research line further by targeting one nation's IP address space with Shodan and found thousands of control systems, many of which represent models and versions with known vulnerabilities. Their first contribution is presenting these findings and analyzing their significance. Their study started in 2012 and the most recent results are from the end of 2015. To gain further knowledge, they have built a prototype scanner capable of finding industrial control systems. This lets the authors evaluate the possibility of performing routine scans to gauge the vulnerability of a nation. Their second contribution is to present a template for a national Internet scanning program. The authors discuss the technology, performance, and legality of such a program. Based on their findings and analysis they argue that nations should continuously monitor their own Internet address space for vulnerabilities. The authors' findings indicate that the current level of vulnerabilities is significant and unacceptable. Scanning a nation's critical infrastructure can be done in minutes, allowing them to keep a tight control of vulnerabilities. Yet, in addition, the authors need to extend current legislation and the rights of government officials to bring more security in national critical infrastructures; this discussion is their third contribution. The cyber-space has become a playing field for criminals, terrorists and nation states, all of which may have a motive to disrupt the daily life of a nation, and currently causing such disruptions is too easy.

scholarly journals Political Economy of ASEAN Open Skies Policy: Business Preferences, Competition and Commitment to Economic Integration

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 44-61
Author(s):  
Prayoga Permana ◽  
Herman W. Hoen ◽  
Ronald L. Holzhacker
Keyword(s):  
Economic Integration ◽  
Airline Industry ◽  
Business Strategy ◽  
Jel Classification ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Government Officials ◽  
Airline Competition ◽  
Domestic Airlines ◽  
Domestic Airline ◽  
Privately Owned

Despite significant growth of the domestic airline industry, Indonesia was hesitant to ratify the ASEAN Open Skies Policy (OSP) until 2016. One of the recent findings exposed the increasing concern over foreign–domestic airline competition with too little attention in exploring airline aspirations and the potential interplay between the airline preferences and the state interest. This study empirically investigates the dynamics of domestic resistance to the implementation of OSP, and to what extent the interplay of Indonesian airlines’ business preferences, ASEAN contexts and state interests have contributed to the OSP ratification postponement. Taking some lessons from the OSP ratification, we argue that the efforts towards advancing ASEAN economic integration through the open skies are contested domestically when business preferences showed mixed reactions. There has been little agreement on how the OSP could benefit the domestic airlines following their own business strategy. In the meantime, state principles indicated certain priorities for domestic interests, while ASEAN contexts allowed a member state to practice a negotiated move. The study was conducted using a qualitative method, with semi-structured interviews involving three Indonesian airlines (state and privately owned, full service and budget airlines), government officials, a civil society element and the Indonesian national air carriers association. JEL Classification: F0, F5

scholarly journals Social networks, corruption and institutions of accounting, auditing and accountability

2019 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 508-530 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph Phiri ◽  
Pinar Guven-Uslu
Keyword(s):  
Social Networks ◽  
Social Network ◽  
Economic Status ◽  
Wealth Distribution ◽  
Network Activity ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Government Officials ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
African Context

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate institutions of accountability in Zambia in order to understand how social networks may influence such institutions not to discharge their mandates as expected from time to time. The study equally seeks to explore how social networks may perpetuate corrupt activities and compromise the functioning of institutions of accountability. Design/methodology/approach The conceptual framework adopted in this study draws on insights from social network theory (SNT) and Bourdieu’s ideas of capital to devise a critical lens for investigating network activity and its influence on the functioning of institutions of accountability. Qualitative data were collected through semi-structured interviews with respondents drawn from different institutions of accountability. Social network analysis was conducted through content analysis. Findings Research findings highlight the presence of networks of a corrupt nature operating within government structures and some institutions of accountability. Manifested in the form of systemic and familial archetypes, these networks appear to be championed and propelled by senior government officials like controlling officers and other actors of a political nature including ministers and presidents. Most of these corrupt activities are organised through brokerage mechanisms that interface internal and external networks. Research limitations/implications Due to the clandestine nature of corruption activities, however, the study was unable to determine measures of centrality and density since these details were not forthcoming during interviews. Such information could only become available if willing individuals involved in corruption could be identified so that they explain who they conduct their corruption with together with the number of connections involved and the most influential individuals in those networks. Social implications This study helps us to understand that activities of a corrupt nature are often undertaken through well-connected groups and networks that make it difficult for institutions of accountability to detect and untangle such activity. The study also suggests that accountants and other accountability actors may have forgotten that accounting is not just a technical discourse for enhancing one’s economic status but is an ethical profession as well. There is a great need to put institutions in place which should hold everyone, including the president and ministers, accountable to the Zambian people in the light of wrongdoing. Dismantling the corrupt network activities inferred from the data entails a complete top-down change in systems of politics, governance, wealth distribution and social values. Originality/value This study contributes towards filling the gap of undertaking accounting research of a critical nature focussed on African contexts (Rahaman, 2010). The paper is equally an attempt at providing empirical flesh to Laughlin’s (1991) framework on organisational transformations through complementing that framework with SNT. The study is also among the first to draw on the experiences and insights of actors working within institutions of accountability to highlight accountability challenges within an African context.

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