Relatedness modulates reproductive competition among queens in ant societies with multiple queens

Reproductive sharing in animal groups with multiple breeders, insects and vertebrates alike, contains elements of both conflict and cooperation, and depends on both relatedness between co-breeders, as well as their internal and external conditions. We studied how queens of the ant Formica fusca adjust their reproductive efforts in response to experimental manipulations of the kin competition regime in their nest, as well as their own reproductive status. Queens respond to the presence of competitors by increasing their egg laying efforts, but only if the competitors are highly fecund and distantly related. Furthermore, queens only engage in cannibalism of eggs when the risk of erroneously destroying own offspring is absent. We demonstrate that queens of Formica fusca fine-tune their behaviours in response to kinship and fecundity of others as well as their own physiological state in an unusually precise manner.

Africa and The Decline of The Democracy Debate

The debate on the decline of democracy is not new. It can be traced to the period between the First and Second World Wars, and it resurfaced during the 1970s, followed by the most spectacular dem- ocratic resurgence in human history. This lecture focuses on the current debate on the decline of democracy and downward trends in major democracy assessment indices. Africa is among the three least democratic world regions, with 42% of African countries cur- rently designated as not free. Measuring the decline or rise of democracy only by the perfor- mance of institutional politics does not provide a complete picture of the issue. Institutional politics does not account for the resil- ience and thriving new spaces where democratic vibrancy and civic engagement prevail. Examples from African countries demonstrate that democracy indices based on institutional politics alone do not account for alternative democratic spaces and practices. This paper is the edited version of the keynote speech delivered by the author at the 6th Pécs African Studies Conference under the theme “African Realities: Conflict and Cooperation”, September 23-24, 2021 – University of Pécs, Hungary.

Views from the Sluice Gate: Water Insecurity, Conflict and Cooperation in Peri-Urban Khulna, Bangladesh

This chapter explores conflict and cooperation around water infrastructure in relation to contestations over water and land in peri-urban Khulna, Bangladesh. It analyses how these contestations, together with the effects of climate change and urbanization, contribute to water insecurity. These dynamics are explored by viewing the peri-urban space as a hydro-social system where physical infrastructure (a sluice gate), hydrological processes and various actors interact. Through participatory appraisal, stakeholder analysis and social power mapping, we analyse the emergence, manifestations and implications of conflicts, and how power relations influence the conflict dynamics. The chapter further presents the process and outcome of participatory actions for capacity-building of communities to facilitate their empowerment by elevating their knowledge level and negotiating capabilities toward securing water and resolving conflicts. We argue that conflicts and water insecurities of peri-urban communities largely emerge from the absence of their participation in the planning and management of water infrastructure, and their limited capacity to resist changes in the control of water and agricultural land. The chapter concludes that peri-urban communities lack the power and agency to mitigate the impacts of urbanization and climate change, while neither urban nor rural planning processes formally recognize the peri-urban and its specific water security problems and needs. This policy gap leads to increasingly complex conflicts and water insecurities. Success and sustainability of alternative livelihood choices and collective action by marginalized communities depend much on continued advocacy, cooperation among and between communities and government agencies, commitment of a trusted neutral actor, and mutual understanding and respect for each other’s positions.

Gaze and speech behavior in parent–child interactions: The role of conflict and cooperation

A primary mode of human social behavior is face-to-face interaction. In this study, we investigated the characteristics of gaze and its relation to speech behavior during video-mediated face-to-face interactions between parents and their preadolescent children. 81 parent–child dyads engaged in conversations about cooperative and conflictive family topics. We used a dual-eye tracking setup that is capable of concurrently recording eye movements, frontal video, and audio from two conversational partners. Our results show that children spoke more in the cooperation-scenario whereas parents spoke more in the conflict-scenario. Parents gazed slightly more at the eyes of their children in the conflict-scenario compared to the cooperation-scenario. Both parents and children looked more at the other's mouth region while listening compared to while speaking. Results are discussed in terms of the role that parents and children take during cooperative and conflictive interactions and how gaze behavior may support and coordinate such interactions.