Misunderstanding home: Exploring depictions of home in old age policy decision-making

Living at home is a core value in old age policies worldwide. This study examines how members of parliament (MP) depict the home in two parliamentary discussions related to a law on older people’s care and living arrangements in Finland. The data contained 110 speeches from 42 MPs in the first discussion and 17 in the second and was examined using thematic analysis. The extracts with the word “home” were coded and grouped as potential themes. These themes were reviewed further and reflected using relevant literature. As a result, the overarching theme ‘home as a restricted space’ was formulated with three subthemes: home as a space in which old people ‘manage to live’, ‘are treated’ and ‘live without contacts’. The findings suggest that policymakers misrecognised the valued attributes related to older persons’ homes, and in doing so, they hamper the potential for success in home-centred old age policies.

Download Full-text

The Syrian Refugee Crisis and Foreign Policy Decision-Making in Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkey

Journal of Global Security Studies ◽

10.1093/jogss/ogz016 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 4 (4) ◽

pp. 464-481 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Gerasimos Tsourapas

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Foreign Policy ◽

Relevant Literature ◽

Forced Migration ◽

Policy Decision ◽

Future Research ◽

Refugee Crisis ◽

Syrian Refugee ◽

Policy Decision Making ◽

Syrian Refugee Crisis

Abstract How does forced migration affect the politics of host states and, in particular, how does it impact states’ foreign policy decision-making? The relevant literature on refugee politics has yet to fully explore how forced migration affects host states’ behavior. One possibility is that they will employ their position in order to extract revenue from other state or nonstate actors for maintaining refugee groups within their borders. This article explores the workings of these refugee rentier states, namely states seeking to leverage their position as host states of displaced communities for material gain. It focuses on the Syrian refugee crisis, examining the foreign policy responses of three major host states—Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkey. While all three engaged in post-2011 refugee rent-seeking behavior, Jordan and Lebanon deployed a back-scratching strategy based on bargains, while Turkey deployed a blackmailing strategy based on threats. Drawing upon primary sources in English and Arabic, the article inductively examines the choice of strategy and argues that it depended on the size of the host state's refugee community and domestic elites’ perception of their geostrategic importance vis-à-vis the target. The article concludes with a discussion of these findings’ significance for understanding the international dimension of the Syrian refugee crisis and argues that they also pave the way for future research on the effects of forced displacement on host states’ political development.

Download Full-text

The Syrian Refugee Crisis and Foreign Policy Decision-Making in Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkey

10.31235/osf.io/a6s58 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Gerasimos Tsourapas

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Foreign Policy ◽

Relevant Literature ◽

Forced Migration ◽

Policy Decision ◽

Future Research ◽

Refugee Crisis ◽

Syrian Refugee ◽

Policy Decision Making ◽

Syrian Refugee Crisis

How does forced migration affect the politics of host states and, in particular, how does it impact upon states’ foreign policy decision-making? The relevant literature on refugee politics has yet to fully explore how forced migration encourages host states to employ their position in order to extract revenue from other state or non-state actors for maintaining refugee groups within their borders. This article explores the workings of refugee rentier states, namely states seeking to leverage their position as host states of displaced communities for material gain. It focuses on the Syrian refugee crisis, examining the foreign-policy responses of three major host states – Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkey. While all three engaged in post-2011 refugee rent-seeking behavior, Jordan and Lebanon deployed a backscratching strategy based on bargains, while Turkey deployed a blackmailing strategy based on threats. Employing primary sources in English and Arabic, the article inductively examines how the choice of strategy depended on the host state’s size of refugee community and domestic elites’ perception of their state’s geostrategic importance vis-à-vis the target state(s). The article concludes with a discussion on the significance of its findings for understanding the international dimension of the Syrian refugee crisis and paves the way for future research on the effects of forced displacement on host states’ political development.

Download Full-text

Evidence-Based Public Policy Decision-Making in Smart Cities: Does Extant Theory Support Achievement of City Sustainability Objectives?

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su14010003 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 14 (1) ◽

pp. 3

Author(s):

David Mills ◽

Steven Pudney ◽

Primož Pevcin ◽

Jaroslav Dvorak

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Environmental Sustainability ◽

Smart City ◽

Smart Cities ◽

Relevant Literature ◽

Policy Decision ◽

Theory And Practice ◽

Evidence Based ◽

Policy Decision Making ◽

Evidence Based Decision Making

Evidence-based decision making is promoted as offering efficiency and effectiveness; however, its uptake has faced barriers such as underdeveloped supporting culture, limited access to evidence, and evidence that is not fully relevant. Smart city conceptualizations offer economic and environmental sustainability and better quality of life through evidence-based policy decision-making. We wondered whether smart city theory and practice has advanced the knowledge of evidence-based decision-making. We searched major databases for literature containing a mention of smart cities, decision-making, and policy. We identified relevant literature from a range of disciplines and supplemented these by following backwards and forwards citations. Evidence-based decision-making was found mostly in literature regarding the theory and practice of smart city operations, and, to lesser extents, the articles regarding policy decisions and tactical decisions. Better decision-making which supported the achievement of city sustainability objectives was reported in some articles; however, we found significant obstacles to the further achievement of city objectives in the areas of underachievement in collaborative decision-making, privileging of big data evidence, and artificial intelligence agents as decision-makers. We assembled a definition of smart city decision-making and developed an agenda of research which will support city governments, theorists, and practitioners in better achieving sustainability through improved decision-making.

Download Full-text