scholarly journals Appraisal of Order in ASEAN and SAARC: A Comparative Inquiry

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 163-174
Author(s):  
Mohammad Ali Zafar ◽  
Shaheer Ahmad
Keyword(s):  
Conflict Management ◽  
South Asia ◽  
Great Powers ◽  
The Other ◽  
Management Mechanism ◽  
Interstate Conflicts ◽  
Hedley Bull ◽  
Comparative Inquiry ◽  
Better Than

The paper examines how ASEAN has emerged as a face of Southeast Asia: from anarchy to order, to promote stability, strengthen sovereignty, reduce the role of great powers and build the harmony of interests among the states, while SAARC remained less effective in maintaining Order in South Asia. While combating the challenges of communism and regional instability, ASEAN’s has minimized the involvement of non-state actors while keeping the state’s sovereignty at the forefront. On the other hand, SAARC remained less influential in maintaining Order under common norms, values and interests due to a lack of the conflict management mechanism and inbuilt hostility between India and Pakistan. To understand the reason for the effectiveness of ASEAN Vis-à-vis SAARC, the conceptual framework of Order proposed by Hedley Bull provides a befitting context to examine both regional platforms. Both ASEAN and SAARC had the aim to solve interstate conflicts, but SAARC turned out to be ineffective. Hence, a comparative analysis critically evaluates how and why ASEAN has performed better than SAARC in conflict management. Eventually, the paper discusses the possible changes that SAARC can make to maintain Order in South Asia.

scholarly journals Women in Violent Extremism in Sweden

Proceedings ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 77 (1) ◽  
pp. 15
Author(s):  
Hernan Mondani ◽  
Amir Rostami ◽  
Tina Askanius ◽  
Jerzy Sarnecki ◽  
Christofer Edling
Keyword(s):  
Mental Disorders ◽  
The Other ◽  
Average Score ◽  
Far Right ◽  
Employment Share ◽  
Study Population ◽  
Role Of Women ◽  
Islamic Extremism ◽  
Better Than

This presentation summarizes a register-based study on women who have been identified as belonging to three violent extremist milieus in Sweden: violent Islamic, violent far-right, and violent far-left extremism. We studied the women in these milieus along a number of analytical dimensions, ranging from demographic and educational to criminal background and network relationships, and compared them to three reference groups: (i) non-extremist biological sisters to female extremists in the study population; (ii) men in the respective extremist milieus; and (iii) female members of other antagonistic milieus such as organized crime. Our results showed that there are both similarities and differences between groups. In some cases, like age and region of birth, there are commonalities between violent far-right and violent far-left women. Regarding region of birth and migration background, women affiliated to violent far-right and violent far-left extremism are predominantly born in Sweden. Women affiliated to violent Islamic extremism tend to be born in Sweden to a greater extent than men in the same milieu, but to a much lesser degree than women in the violent far-right and violent far-left. When it comes to education, women in the violent Islamic milieu are closer to women in violent far-right extremism. Women in violent far-left extremism perform best at school, with consistently higher grades. The average score of women in violent far-left extremism is identical to that of their sisters, and women in violent far-left extremism perform on average substantially better than men in the same milieu. Women in violent Islamic extremism, in contrast, perform on average similarly to men in violent far-left extremism, and they perform better than their biological sisters. Regarding labor market attachment, violent Islamic extremists have the weakest attachment and the highest dependency upon financial assistance as well as a low employment share (36 percent in 2016), but also a relatively high share of individuals with a high number of unemployment days, suggesting that women in violent Islamic extremism experience higher social exclusion. We find the highest employment share among women in violent far-left extremism, where 89 percent are gainfully employed in 2016 (80 percent for at least three of the last five years) and about a 20 percent unemployment share. Men in violent far-left extremism have an employment share around 10 percent below that of the women in far-left extremism for 2016. The highest fractions of individuals that have not been in contact with the health system due to mental disorders are among violent Islamic extremism, with the women’s fraction at 84 percent, compared to their non-extremist sisters and men in the same milieu that are just above 79 percent. Women in violent far-left extremism have the highest share of in-patient major mental disorders among the extremist milieus (3 percent), higher than men in the same milieu (less than 1 percent) as well as than women and their sisters in the other categories. During the period 2007–2016, 68 percent of individuals in the extremist milieus are covered by the register of suspected individuals. The coverage is substantially higher for men, 72 percent than for women, 43 percent. Compared to their sisters, women in all three milieus are criminally active to a much higher extent. However, women in all three milieus are less criminally active than women in other antagonistic milieus, among whom 67 percent have been suspected at least once. In all three milieus, the share of men with a criminal record is about twice as large as that of women. As far as the gender aspect is concerned, we know that extremist milieus generally have a conservative view of the role of women in society. In our results, this is reflected in the low rates of crime in women compared to men, and relatively marginal positions in the co-offending networks. The fact that women in violent far-left extremism have stronger positions in their networks than the other women in the study population is expected, given that the ideology of this milieu allows for greater equality. This means that women in violent far-left extremism participate more often than, e.g., women in violent far-right extremism, in political actions where violence is common. This pattern of gender roles and criminal involvement also holds concerning women in violent Islamic extremism. This milieu has a more traditional view of the role of women than views among even violent far-right extremists. Women in violent Islamic extremism are less involved in crime and, in particular, violent crime.

scholarly journals The role of emotional valence in learning novel abstract concepts

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabriella Vigliocco ◽  
Marta Ponari ◽  
Courtenay Norbury
Keyword(s):  
Teaching Strategy ◽  
Age Of Acquisition ◽  
Emotional Valence ◽  
The Other ◽  
Abstract Concepts ◽  
Emotional Information ◽  
Emotional Words ◽  
Abstract Words ◽  
Better Than

A recent study by Ponari et al. (2017), showed that emotional valence (i.e., whether a word evokes positive, negative or no affect) predicts age-of-acquisition ratings, and that up to the age of 8-9, children know abstract emotional words better than neutral ones. On the basis of these findings, emotional valence has been argued to provide a bootstrapping mechanism for the acquisition of abstract concepts. However, no previous work has directly assessed whether words’ valence, or valence of the context in which words are used, facilitates learning of unknown abstract words. Here, we investigate whether valence supports acquisition of novel abstract concepts. Seven to 10 years old children were taught novel abstract words and concepts (words typically learnt at an older age and that children did not know); words were either valenced (positive or negative) or neutral. We also manipulated the context in which words were presented: for one group of children, the teaching strategy emphasised emotional information; for the other, it emphasised encyclopaedic, non-emotional information. Abstract words with emotional valence were learnt better than neutral abstract words by children up to the age of 8-9, replicating previous findings; no effect of teaching strategy was found. These results indicate that emotional valence supports abstract concepts acquisition, and further suggest that it is the valence information intrinsic to the word’s meaning to have a role, rather than the valence of the context in which the word is learnt.

PERCEPTIONS OF CHINA AND OTHER GREAT POWERS AMONG KAZAKHSTAN AND KYRGYZSTAN YOUTH

2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 71-83
Author(s):  
Nurettin CAN ◽  
Ibrahim KONCAK ◽  
Sanar MUHYADDIN ◽  
Ibrahim KELEŞ
Keyword(s):  
Online Survey ◽  
Political Influence ◽  
Great Powers ◽  
The Other ◽  
Chi Square ◽  
Central Asian ◽  
Chi Square Test ◽  
Central Asian Countries ◽  
Using Data

This article studies the perception of great powers in the eyes of students in Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan using data collected through an online survey. The research has compared the perceptions of China’s and other Great Powers’ economic, political, and military authority among the youth of Central Asian countries during the COVID-19 pandemic. To analyze these perceptions, young people from Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan (N = 262) took part in a survey in the spring of 2021. Responses were analyzed to reveal the differences in perception by applying descriptive and inferential statistical methods, i.e., one-sample t-test. An association of geodemographic factors with the perception towards global powers was discovered by applying the chi-square test statistical method. The early research revealed that the role of the other Great Powers was seen mainly in political terms, while China’s role was mostly economic, however, recent studies made it clear that China’s political influence is increasing in the region. Another finding from this research is that China’s position on human rights and environmental issues is more negatively perceived than that of the other Great powers.

The Transformation of a Conflict in the Diaspora

2018 ◽  
pp. 95-110
Author(s):  
Christine Moliner
Keyword(s):  
South Asia ◽  
Ethnic Minorities ◽  
State Policies ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Political ◽  
Integration Policy ◽  
Migrant Communities ◽  
Key Factor ◽  
British State

This chapter assesses the role of the political context bringing a transformation of identity rankings in diasporas. Specifically, it studies the role played over the past 15 years by British state policies in the transformation of relationships between two migrant communities originating from South Asia: Sikhs and Muslims. Each community shares antagonistic representations of the other, based on past conflicts, such as the Partition. What they perceive as a hereditary antagonism is not simply imported but transformed in the diaspora by several local variables. Among these, British integration policy toward ethnic minorities is a key factor. While striving since 2005 to foster “community cohesion,” it actually tends to exacerbate the competition between migrant communities related to the allocation of resources, both symbolic and material.

The Processing of Musical Prosody by Musical and Nonmusical Children

1992 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 93-125 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claire Gérard ◽  
Catherine Auxiette
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Musical Training ◽  
Experimental Studies ◽  
Surface Structures ◽  
The Other ◽  
Music Production ◽  
Simple Sentences ◽  
Verbal Production ◽  
Better Than

The surface structures of music and speech should coincide in musical prosody. Two processing systems have thus to be integrated, one devoted to the surface structure of speech, the other to that of music. This article is in two parts: a review of data on speech and music production and hearing, and two experimental studies on the synchronization between a rhythm and spoken sounds. In the first part, a comparison between some intensity and timing parameters that characterize the unfolding of spoken strings and of musical sequences is presented. Data from studies on performers (speakers, musicians) and listeners are compared with regard to spontaneous rates, location and duration of pauses, duration of sounds, and periodic occurrence of accents. In the second part, the ability to control the correspondence between taps and words is examined. Two experimental studies on 6-year-old children focus on the role of musical training. The reproductions of simple rhythms and simple sentences or onomatopoeias were analyzed as well as the coordination between a rhythmic sequence of taps and a spoken string. Young musicians succeeded better than nonmusicians of the same age in the synchronization between their verbal production and their motor accompaniment, mainly because they more markedly anticipated the musical string in which they integrated the spoken sounds subsequently. The results are discussed in relation to the acoustic, motor, and cognitive processes involved in the coordination of the two temporal strings.

Arabic Philology at the Seventeenth-Century Mughal Court. Saʿd Allāh Khān’s and Shāh Jahān’s Enactments of the Sharḥ al-Radī

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 190-222
Author(s):  
Christopher D. Bahl
Keyword(s):  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
South Asia ◽  
Thirteenth Century ◽  
Cultural Practices ◽  
The Other ◽  
Treasure Trove ◽  
History Of ◽  
The One ◽  
Courtly Life

Abstract Persian narrative sources provide a colorful picture of Mughal courtly life, but in order to zoom in on cultural practices one has to turn to the artefacts of cultural pursuits. This article studies one specimen of the empirical treasure trove of Arabic manuscripts in South Asia in order to approach a lacuna in Mughal scholarship: the role of Arabic at the Mughal court. In the following, I will analyze the different paratextual layers of a manuscript of the thirteenth century Arabic grammar commentary Sharḥ al-Radī by Radī al-Dīn al-Astarābādhī to study its reading and transmission. The manuscript version represents a written artefact, which emerged out of a series of intellectual engagements. On the one hand, these textual engagements offer a perspective on the manuscript’s initial owner, Saʿd Allāh Khān (d. 1656), and his intellectual pursuits, as well as the scholarly framework in which he was brought up and worked in. On the other hand, the history of this manuscript’s circulation highlights the treatment of Arabic written artefacts at Shāh Jahān’s court. In an exemplary manner, the manuscript’s history of circulation demonstrates how courtly elites engaged with Arabic during the seventeenth century.

Intraregional Conflict Management by the Organization of African Unity

1974 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 345-373 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. David Meyers
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Conflict Management ◽  
The United States ◽  
Great Powers ◽  
African Unity ◽  
International Conflicts ◽  
Regional Conflicts ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Organization Of African Unity

This article examines the intraregional conflict management activities of the Organization of African Unity (OAU). Three traditional regionalist claims are tested and suggestions concerning the future role of such organizations are provided. The findings indicate that in a number of cases the OAU was not an effective agent for conflict management; its limitations were clearest in internal disputes and those international conflicts involving allegations of subversion. Evidence from this study does not convincingly support the proposition that similarities of interests, problems, and loyalties found at the regional level make it more likely that attempts at settlement will be forthcoming and successful. Other findings indicate that the organization was able to isolate intra-regional conflicts from entanglement in more complex global disputes; this ability was, however, highly dependent on the desire of the great powers to remain uninvolved. The OAU was able to relieve the UN of the potential burden of numerous local conflicts, but this too sometimes proved dependent on policy decisions made by the United States or the Soviet Union. It is suggested that regional organizations may assist the superpowers in avoiding unwanted involvement in local disputes, but that unless the conflict management capacity of such organizations is increased, the result may be that many conflicts will remain unsettled.

scholarly journals Shifting National Security Paradigm of Pakistan from Geo Politics to a Geo Economics Era

2021 ◽  
Vol VI (I) ◽  
pp. 81-94
Author(s):  
Shabnam Gul ◽  
Muhammad Faizan Asghar ◽  
Munib Khalid
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Economic Development ◽  
National Security ◽  
South Asia ◽  
The Other ◽  
Economic Factors ◽  
Economic Approach ◽  
External Resources ◽  
The World ◽  
Better Than

Pakistan being one of the most populous Muslim states, is characterized by unique features. It is home to the seventh-largest army in the world, but strangely enough, it stands in 2018 (slightly better than previous rankings )as one of the 20th most fragile nations of the world. Pakistan bears a key geopolitical position in South Asia, linking it with the Middle East, surrounded by Russia, China, India, and Iran as well. Traditionally, Pakistan national security has been analyzed through geopolitical and geostrategic perspectives, but with the primacy of economic factors, the geo-economic approach has taken the lead in analyzing the national security of Pakistan. Most underdeveloped and developing countries heavily depend upon external resources and regional connectivity for economic development, but both can jeopardize their security in one way or the other. So Pakistan is no exception in this regard. That's why the article is going to analyze the hazards to Pakistan's national security by focusing upon the growing Pakistan China economic connectivity and Indian fears and apprehensions and Afghanistan's instability, and its prospective looming effect on China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

scholarly journals Functional glyco-metagenomics elucidates the role of glycan-related genes in environments

2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hayato Takihara ◽  
Nobuaki Miura ◽  
Kiyoko F. Aoki-Kinoshita ◽  
Shujiro Okuda
Keyword(s):  
Sequence Alignment ◽  
The Other ◽  
Glycoside Hydrolases ◽  
Optimal Parameters ◽  
Complete Genomes ◽  
Enzyme Families ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Alignment Length ◽  
Better Than

Abstract Background Glycan-related genes play a fundamental role in various processes for energy acquisition and homeostasis maintenance while adapting to the environment in which the organism exists; however, their role in the microbiome in the environment is unclear. Methods Sequence alignment was performed between known glycan-related genes and complete genomes of microorganisms, and optimal parameters for identifying glycan-related genes were determined based on the alignments. Using the constructed scheme (> 90% of identity and > 25 aa of alignment length), glycan-related genes in various environments were identified from 198 different metagenome data. Results As a result, we identified 86.73 million glycan-related genes from the metagenome data. Among the 12 environments classified in this study, the percentage of glycan-related genes was high in the human-associated environment, suggesting that these environments utilize glycan metabolism better than other environments. On the other hand, the relative abundances of both glycoside hydrolases and glycosyltransferases surprisingly had a coverage of over 80% in all the environments. These glycoside hydrolases and glycosyltransferases were classified into two groups of (1) general enzyme families identified in various environments and (2) specific enzymes found only in certain environments. The general enzyme families were mostly from genes involved in monosaccharide metabolism, and most of the specific enzymes were polysaccharide degrading enzymes. Conclusion These findings suggest that environmental microorganisms could change the composition of their glycan-related genes to adapt the processes involved in acquiring energy from glycans in their environments. Our functional glyco-metagenomics approach has made it possible to clarify the relationship between the environment and genes from the perspective of carbohydrates, and the existence of glycan-related genes that exist specifically in the environment.

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