Digital entrepreneurship and emancipation: exploring the nexus in a conflict zone

PurposeThis paper aims to examine the emergence of digital entrepreneurship in a conflict environment to explore the emancipatory potential of digital technology in a rare context. The purpose of this paper is to take a micro-level investigation of digital entrepreneurs operating in a violent in-conflict area.Design/methodology/approachThe analysis is based on multiple case studies from a violent conflict zone in India. This study used interview data from 10 digital entrepreneurs from the state of Jammu and Kashmir. Field data was collected with progressive rounds of interviews with the entrepreneurs, supplemented by published statistics and secondary data sources, and analysis was done with the help of qualitative data analysis software NVivo.FindingsThe context directed entrepreneurial behaviour and the motivation to start digital ventures. Entrepreneurs realized the potential of technology but its successful use was contingent upon their social positionalities. The digital entrepreneurial engagement of the entrepreneurs is classified into four dimensions: social digital entrepreneurship; business entrepreneurship; knowledge entrepreneurship; and institutional entrepreneurship.Originality/valueThe findings of the study contribute to the digital entrepreneurship literature by illustrating how a rare context influences venturing into technology sectors. The study advances the creative technology use, these in-conflict entrepreneurs with their existing resources maneuvered to create socially ingrained digital ventures. The study provides evidence to “conditional emancipation” attributable to digital entrepreneurship owing to the conflictual context in question.

Prevalence and Social-Ecological Correlates of Intimate Partner Violence in a Conflict Zone—Evidence From the 2015 Afghanistan Demographic and Health Survey

This study examined the prevalence and social-ecological correlates of male-to-female intimate partner violence (IPV) in Afghanistan. Using data from the 2015 Afghanistan Demographic and Health Survey, which included 20,793 currently married women, we found that the past-year prevalence of physical IPV was highest (46%), followed by emotional (34%) and sexual forms (6%). Results also showed that the risk of IPV in general was associated with an array of community and societal-, family and relationship-, and person-level factors. Our findings point to potential intervention targets for women in this conflict zone where IPV is a highly pervasive and complex societal challenge.

Kroppen som konfliktzon

The Biblical heritage: The body as a conflict zone In the article we discuss the ambiguous view of the body in Christian tradition, focusing on the biblical texts and St. Augustine’s Confessions. We suggest that there is a tension in the view of humans in these texts, which by time evolves into a two- or three-part division of man into spirit, soul, and body. As a result, the body or ‘flesh’ has often been regarded as a constraint or burden that prevents people from living the life they were meant to live. We argue, however, that the view of the body in the Bible and in Christian tradition is not unequivocal. The body can appear as a place for temptation and suffering, but it is also God’s creation, the place where the earthly and the divine meet. This results in a fragile and unstable position for the body, which also applies to the two other bodies we discuss in the article: the biblical texts and the Christian church. We also suggest that the conflict depicted in the texts is not primarily between the spiritual and the material. The conflict is rather ethical, social, and eschatological. People are thus supposed to respond to God’s acts by forming a new way of living their life in the body.

“We always report under pressure”: Professionalism and journalistic identity among regional journalists in a conflict zone

This study explores how regional journalists in Pakistan conceptualize journalistic professionalism, how they perceive their journalistic identities, and how local socio-political and economic realities shape their professional identification. Analysis of interviews with 33 journalists working in Pakistan’s Pakhtunkhwa province indicated a tension between striving for professionalism as defined by Western journalistic standards and meeting the demands of their local conditions. Participants described professionalism as providing clear, accurate, objective, and ethical coverage of issues. However, constraints including unavailability of funding, the need to hold multiple jobs, threats to personal safety, and absence of education and training prevented them from meeting their professional goals. The journalists discursively negotiated and constituted their professional identities in response to the conditions in their respective areas.

ЭССЕНЦИАЛИСТСКАЯ ПАРАДИГМА НАЦИОНАЛИЗМА И БУДУЩЕЕ ДОНБАССА В МЕМУАРАХ БОЙЦОВ УКРАИНСКИХ ДОБРОВОЛЬЧЕСКИХ БАТАЛЬОНОВ

В статье исследуются репрезентации продолжающегося военного конфликта на востоке Украины, представленные в литературных произведениях за авторством ветеранов украинских парамилитарных формирований. Поднимается проблема трансляции радикальных националистических взглядов через литературу, построенную на травматическом военном опыте ветеранов АТО/ООС. В частности, изучается воображаемый образ украинской (этно)нации и государственности. Исходя из теоретических установок Б. Розенвейн, авторы предлагают рассматривать представителей представляемой ими группы как специфическое «эмоциональное сообщество», а создаваемую ими литературу как пространство воспроизводства не только современной версии «казацкого мифа», но и праворадикального нарратива «национализирующего национализма». Будущее русскоязычных жителей Донбасса в исследуемом корпусе литературы представляется в диапазоне от тотальной украинизации и этноязыковой дискриминации до физического уничтожения или выселения за пределы Украины. Эта позиция, с одной стороны, проистекает из опыта коммуникации с населением в зоне конфликта, с другой – оказывается обусловлена уже существовавшем представлением о Донбассе как о «больном» регионе страны, населённом внутриукраинскими «Другими». Таким образом, в данном парамилитарном дискурсе территория Донбасса и его население оказываются ставкой в игре с нулевой суммой. The article examines the representations of the ongoing military conflict in the east of Ukraine in literary works created by the veterans of Ukrainian paramilitary formations. The problem of radical nationalist views’ representation through literature based on the traumatic military experience of the ATO/JFO veterans is in the spotlight. The volunteer battalions members' perceptions of themselves and Donbass, its inhabitants, and its future are analyzed. Based on the theoretical framework of B. Rosenwein, authors propose to view representatives of this group as a specific "emotional community" while the literature written by them should be seen as a space for reproducing not only the modern version of the "Cossack myth" but also the far-right narrative of "nationalizing nationalism”. In the studied corpus, Donbass Russian-speaking inhabitants’ future is presented in the range from total Ukrainization and ethnolinguistic discrimination to mass killings or deportations outside of the state borders. On the one hand, this position stems from the combatants' experience of communication with the population in the conflict zone and, on the other hand, is conditioned by the already existing perception of Donbas as a "sick" region of Ukraine, populated by intra-Ukrainian "Others". Thus in Ukrainian paramilitary discourse, Donbass territory and population are viewed as a bet in a zero-sum game.

DEVELOPMENT OF PNEUMOCONIOSIS IN YOUNG PEOPLE LIVING IN A LOCAL ARMED CONFRONTATION ZONE

One of the main diseases of occupational etiology in miners is pneumoconiosis. A retrospective analysis of 4,780 case histories of the occupational pathological department of the STATE ESTABLISHMENT «LUGANSK REPUBLICAN CLINICAL HOSPITAL» of the LUGANSK PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC with the first established diagnosis of an occupational disease was carried out. A sample of medical histories of patients with primary diagnosis of pneumoconiosis in young miners was carried out. The comparison was made with the years of «peaceful» life and the years of exposure to chronic stress caused by living in a zone of armed conflict. As a result, there was an increase in the number of reported cases of pneumoconiosis among young, most able-bodied miners living in an armed conflict zone. Changes in the lungs were characterized by the presence of nodular forms, greater prevalence and severity of fibrous process.

Stripping foreign fighters of their citizenship: International human rights and humanitarian law considerations

This article will briefly present a number of international human rights law considerations related to the topic of citizenship stripping of foreign fighters, that is: “individuals, driven mainly by ideology, religion and/or kinship, who leave their country of origin or their country of habitual residence to join a party engaged in an armed conflict”, most notably the conflict in Syria and Iraq. After that, the article will focus on considerations in the context of international humanitarian law, which have been less frequently the subject of academic debate. This contribution concludes that citizenship stripping is not only highly problematic under international human rights law, but also from the perspective of international humanitarian law. The measure – which is likely to constitute cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment – violates Article 3 Common to the four Geneva Conventions, but it also undermines accountability for international humanitarian law violations already committed and can engender new violations through the non-removal of the suspect from the conflict zone. One of the few positive sides of the connection between the measure and international humanitarian law is that even if nationality is deprived, this will not have an effect on the international humanitarian law obligation to treat that deprived person humanely. In that sense, international humanitarian law provides a welcome – albeit temporary – safety net of decent treatment for people who have become victims of countries’ refusal to take responsibility for their own citizens.