Roots and resilience: Understanding the rise and persistence of authoritarianism in Bangladesh

Basic and strategic research for infectious disease control at the interface of the life, health and social sciences

E-governance is the public sector’s use of information and communication technologies for communication. Thus the usability of public organizations websites’ is a critical factor for this interaction. While the conceptual framework, technological innovation, services measurement, and management of e-governance have been studied extensively, its’ driving factors have not been well understood. The aim of the article is to identify the external factors that influence development of Lithuanian municipal websites. There were investigated correlations between 25 external economic, social, geographic, cultural and political factors and development indexes of municipalities’ websites in this study. Disparities of the external factors were analysed and compared in the groups of urban, rural and all municipalities. Results of the study showed that the wide-ranging complex of external economic, social and geographic factors had significant impact on the development level of websites in the groups of urban and all municipalities. One cultural factor – the number of colleges and universities – also had impact on the development of websites in these municipalities. The smaller complex of economic, social and geographic factors had significant but weak and negative impact on the development of rural municipal websites. Other cultural factors and voter turnout to local councils (political factor) did not significantly determine the development of municipal websites. The major challenge in Lithuanian municipalities remains not only to increase the overall level of e-service usage but go for e-communication. The internal factors analysis is required for comprehensive driving factors impact evaluation.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.ppaa.12.1.3854

The aim of this paper is to analyze the cultural, social and political factors that can influence the mergers and acquisition (M&As) decision. Our study analyze if the investors perception towards investment in an economy can be influenced by these factors. The results show that social factors like public spending with health, literacy rate or people skills and abilities, cultural factors like the perception of the bureaucracy and new businesses or political factors like tax rates and democratic development are key determinants of M&As decision. These factors can be also explained in terms of investors’ behaviour in making new investments in a specific economy. Key words Mergers and acquisitions, investor behaviour, cultural factors, social factors, political factors DOI: 10.6007/IJARAFMS/v5-3/1738 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.6007/IJARAFMS/v5-i3/1738 1. Introduction Mergers and acquisitions are becoming a strategy of choice for companies attempting to maintain a competitive advantage and to place them in front of other companies. Corporations spend a lot of money every year in pursuit of this strategy and they are in permanent search for the best transaction in order to satisfy their needs. In the present, the investors are more interest to place their capital in developing economies and are looking for a friendly business environment. A substantive body of theory and research on the role of culture in mergers and acquisitions (M&A) suggests that cultural differences between economies can create major obstacles to achieving integration benefits. Also, social characteristics of a economy can attract or in the contrary can chase away companies who are willing to use M&A transactions to invest in an economy. Besides cultural and social issues, also political factors can play an important role in attracting investments and can change the perception about an economy. As we already said above, the aim of this paper is to study whether the cultural, social and political factors of an economy can influence the number of M&A transactions in that particular state. We believe that this study is for the interest of both practitioners and academics as long as the macroeconomic environment is a main interest in all fields and finding some key elements that link this with M&As are an overall interest. Further, the study is structured as follows. In the next section we are briefly presenting the main findings of other studies in the literature. Then, the data and the empirical methodology is presented. After this we will outline the main analysis results and in the final section contains the conclusions and some directions for the future research.

PurposeMost electronic market (e‐markets)‐based research that has been undertaken has primarily focused on the design and development of systems to support electronic trading within national boundaries and it has been implied that conducting business through this medium is beneficial to the organisation. The purpose of this paper is therefore to examine the relative significance of economic, social, political and cultural factors and their interconnections in the transition to global e‐markets.Design/methodology/approachThe paper uses an interpretive case study as this facilitates an understanding of how globalisation constructs affect the transition of organisations to the global market environment.FindingsThe case study has found the need for organisations to address a wide range of issues if they are to benefit from participation in global electronic marketplaces (e‐marketplaces). The development of information communication and technologies (ICT) has been viewed as a primary factor in the reduction of transaction costs and one which allows for a greater number of suppliers in electronic markets. A large supplier base is seen as an advantage by some since it improves the bargaining position of the buyer. Dealing closely with a small number of suppliers may reduce transaction costs and risk, but such costs and risks have been significantly reduced by the development of internet based e‐marketplaces where the market absorbs a high proportion of both. In the case study, an organisation moving to the e‐market because of the advantages of significantly reduced transaction costs has been seen.Originality/valueThe literature adoption of global procurement platforms stresses the economic benefits. However, few studies have examined the social, cultural and political factors that are part of the globalisation trend and how these impact on companies trying to make a transition to global procurement strategies. In this paper, it is revealed that the trend toward globalisation fuelled by ICT is affected by a complex array of economic, social, political and cultural factors. The economic benefits of globalisation cannot be fully realised without consideration of the social, political and cultural issues.

This article seeks to identify the various factors affecting the demand for cinema and effectiveness degree of each factor. In this paper we seek to answer the main question that how much economic, cultural, social, individual and environmental factors affect demand of going to the cinema. In order to find the answer to the aforesaid question through survey, information about a sample of 800 who go to cinema in Tehran is collected. These people are selected through simple random sampling. The collected data have been analyzed via factor analysis and path analysis method. The results show: demand for going to cinema follows economic, cultural, social, individual and environmental factors and with consideration to amount of standard coefficient, it should be said that economical factors and environmental factors respectively have the highest and lowest impact on demand for going to cinema.     Key words: demand for cinema, economic factors, social factors, cultural factors, environmental factors, Individual factors, factor analysis.

Social and economic development is a difficult process in which positive and negative factors interact that causes rises and recessions in development of territories and public communities. Indicators of rating act as indicators of efficiency of management decisions at the central and local levels. However, the level of economic development doesn’t coincide with social development in most of regions of Ukraine.
 The purpose of article is adaptation of a matrix method to rating estimates of social and economic development of regions for identification of regional distinctions, definition of priorities and strategic management of development of regions.
 The economic development of the regions was estimated by GRP per capita, the average salary of employees and the unemployment rate (according to the ILO methodology). Social development is characterized by the number of people enrolled in higher education institutions per 10,000 population; coefficient of incidence of the population; volumes of emissions of pollutants in atmospheric air, thousand tons; crime rates.
 The multidimensional average method with the standardization of indicators based on the variation range was used to calculate the integral indicators of economic and social development. On the basis of integral coefficients, the ranking of regions according to economic and social development was executed. It is established that for the regions of Ukraine there is a characteristic imbalance between economic and social development, which is connected, first of all, with different structure of the economy and territorial differences of regions.
 The combination of results of economic and social development of regions was proposed with the help of building a matrix as a tool for strategic management. In the graphs (vertically), the level of economic development is singled out, in lines (horizontally) the level of social development of the regions is singled out, with the identification of three groups: low, medium and high levels.
 Regions with low economic and low social level get to 1 square; in 2 – with low economic and average social; in 3 – with low economic and high social; in 4 – with average economic and low social; in 5 – with average economic and average social; in 6 – with average economic and high social; in 7 – with high economic and low social; in 8 – with high economic and average social; in 9 – with high economic and high social level.
 Calculations show that in Ukraine no region was detected with simultaneous high levels of economic and social development (the 9th square). The vast majority are regions with average economic and average social development and also regions “below or above an average” level of development, that is one of the directions (economic or social) is “low”, and the second, accordingly, “average”. The position of the region in a matrix specifies what development strategy should be chosen. The economic and social development is higher; the capacity of the region for increase in the standard of living of the population is higher. High economic and social development is followed by the high potential of the region to increase the standard of living of the population.

Why has it been exceedingly difficult to restructure China's village-level, political institutions? Over and above hurdles arising from belated leadership support and bureaucratic squabbling, implementation of The Organic Law of Villagers' Committees has depended on how villagers and local cadres perceive their interests and understand their resources. Although the Law does not generate a single pattern of concerted, localist opposition, aspects of it alienate one or another affected party almost everywhere. Outside the singularly favorable conditions found in not poor, "up-to-standard" villages with a strong collective sector, cadre resistance and villager skepticism have been considerable. In many paralyzed, authoritarian, and "run-away" localities, balancing demands to increase state penetration and popular participation have impinged on the interests of both cadres and villagers and simultaneous acceptance of both key aims of the Law has proven to be difficult to secure.

Marginalization as a challenge underhand of urban development areas, turns regions and its surrounding into problematic and vulnerable areas. This phenomenon is dramatically increasing in Qorveh. Considering the importance of Qorveh in terms of economic, cultural, social and strategic positions in Kurdistan, marginalized quarters around this city and their consequences have created some problems. This research seeks to explore the relevant factors with formation of marginalization in Sheikh Jafar Quarter of Qorveh city. This survey study was carried out among the population of marginalized residents of Sheikh Jafar quarter in Qorveh in 2013. Out of about 97 households, a sample containing 78 households was determined using Cochran formula by simple random sampling. Visiting the head of the household, we collected all the required information through a researcher-made questionnaire. This questionnaire categorizes the marginalization into three dimensions: 1) economic factors, 2) social factors, and 3) cultural factors. The validity of the questionnaire was approved by the experts. As for its reliability, its reliability coefficient for was 772/0, 732/0 and 748/0 for the economic factors, social factors and cultural factors, respectively. The collected data were analyzed using indexes of descriptive statistics, one- sample t-test and Friedman test. The results of one-sample t-test showed that according to the respondents, the economic and cultural factors had a role in the marginalization whereas the social factors had no role in this process. Moreover, the Friedman test showed prioritization of the factors in the marginalization was respectively the economic, cultural and social factors. It is accordingly concluded that any planning and organization of the marginalized areas should be done based on the aforesaid factors.

PurposeThe aim of this paper is to understand how resilience builds to achieve a management model for sustainable resilience, as advocated by sustainable development goals (SDGs), in distressed communities. The topic is addressed with the case of Macerata, an Italian city located at the epicentre of the devastating earthquake in 1997 and later, in a short time interval between August 2016 and January 2017. Necessary knowledge on modes and places of engagement and collaboration is delivered in the attempt to demonstrate that social and cultural factors have stronger impacts on devastated communities as they contribute to resilience for future incidents.Design/methodology/approachThe paper uses a quantitative econometric approach. It unfolds in two steps. The first uses the estimation method through factor analysis of an index of resilience, a latent variable, and reveals that it comes from social, cultural, political and economic latent factors. The second uses a reduced equation model that elaborates and integrates two models: the one estimating the relationship between the level of development and the impacts due to natural disasters and the other containing the index of resilience, but only its most relevant ones. A rotated component matrix, which is the elaboration of the model, will be created.FindingsAlthough measuring resilience, in practice, is hampered by both conceptual and methodological challenges, including finding reliable and meaningful data, the attempt to measure resilience in this research has helped in testifying two important research hypotheses. According to H1, resilience is a fundamental variable to ensure faster economic recovery and has a negative impact on the dependent variable (deaths); hence, it is considered statistically significant. According to H2, social resilience develops and increases at the event’s recurrence and leverages on the adaptive, self-organising community capacities in recovering from traumatic circumstances and episodes of distress.Research limitations/implicationsThe limitation of this paper is that the comparison between the two earthquakes is biased by the interviewees’ misleading responses on the provided questionnaires due to lack of memory about the 1997 shock and a more higher perception of the latest quakes that occurred recently in 2016 and 2017. There is a strong awareness of the fact that future research will improve the analysis suggested in this paper by attempting a quantification of the perception about the difference between the two occurred earthquakes by replacing the dummy variable (β6 improvement) with a cluster analysis.Practical implicationsThe paper fills the gap in the empirical literature on risk management and organisational resilience. This research represents a guide to support and accelerate building resilience by people engagement and empowerment, enthusiasm and commitment in a way that conventional politics is failing to do. In particular, it aims to support public organisations and policymakers at the front by providing them with reliable information on the factors and concerns that need to be considered to increase community’s level of resilience, coherently with their endogenous characteristics, to ensure a steady, stable and sustainable recovery from the crisis.Social implicationsThis research teaches that resilience depends on the existence of minimum preconditions for building resilience – political and economic opportunities, as well as cultural and social factors – as the measurement of tangible factors such as assets and financial capital may not capture everything that influences resilience. However, although it is common sense that disaster recovery processes are significantly hard to bear, it is important to acknowledge that they can offer a series of unique and valuable opportunities to improve on the status quo. Capitalizing on these opportunities means to well-equip communities to advance long-term health, resilience and sustainability and prepare them for future challenges.Originality/valueThis paper contributes to the discussion over the development of sustainable cities and communities by providing a resilience measurement framework in terms of indicators and dimensions of resilience. It emphasises on the endogenous adaptation capacity of territories partially analysed in the empirical literature with regard to resilience. The originality relates to the suggested model being a tool for social and territorial analysis, useful for ensuring a summary and comprehensive assessment of socioeconomic resilience; comparing different timelines (the first earthquake occurred in 1997 and the other two, occurring in a short time interval from one another, in August 2016 and January 2017).

Environment and Civil Strife

The hypothesis that certain demographic social and economic development factors independent of family planning program efforts can influence fertility decline was examined using survey data from 83 less developed countries. Independent variables included economic development (GNP per capita and energy consumption per capita) social development (adult literacy and life expectancy) urbanization and family planning program effort. The crude birthrate (CBR) was used to measure fertility. The 1970 level of social and economic development was correlated with change in fertility between 1960 and 1980. The 1974 measure of national family planning programs was also used in the analysis. A much stronger relationship was found between the CBR and social development and family planning effort than was found for economic development. The association of urbanization with fertility was stronger than that for economic development but weaker than the social or family planning program development indicators. Identical mean CBRs were found in the Asian (34.2) and Latin American (34.3) countries in the study. However in Asia family planning effort was higher and in Latin America levels of social and economic development were higher. Literacy and especially life expectancy showed consistently stronger zero-order correlations with family planning effort than either of the economic development indicators or urbanization. Family planning effort and literacy were always significant predictors of the 1960-80 change in CBR. These results suggest that policies to reduce fertility should concentrate simultaneously on increasing literacy improving health conditions and strengthening family planning program efforts. Moreover the finding that fertility is sensitive to certain measures of development and not to others indicates that separate measures of social and economic development can be isolated.

Authoritarian regional organizations (ROs) have experienced a remarkable rise in numbers and importance. Autocracies across all world regions have joined organizations such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), and the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA). Why do autocracies institutionalize cooperation and join ROs, thereby bearing possible sovereignty costs? Do authoritarian ROs differ from their democratic counterparts in terms of activities and design? And what are the domestic effects from membership for authoritarian rule? How Regional Organizations Sustain Authoritarian Rule details how ROs help autocratic regimes secure their hold on power. The book shows how autocratic incumbent regimes sort into dictator clubs that help to successfully defend against domestic and international challenges during moments of political instability. This happens via distinct causal chains. Dictator clubs redistribute resources toward authoritarian elites that raise the cost of challenging behavior for the opposition, they regulate appropriate behavior among fellow members to prevent regional interference on the side of dissenting actors, and they protect regimes in case of international pressure and thereby lower the cost of employing repressive tactics. Combining statistical survival analysis and case-based evidence from the Middle East, (Eur)Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Latin America, the book shows that ROs have had a helping hand in defending autocratic regimes from pro-democratic protestors, in co-opting political elites, in legitimizing flawed elections, and in shielding against the fallout from international sanctions. The book thereby shows how ROs are responsible for reinforcing authoritarian rule across the globe.

Women’s representation in divisional politics in Sri Lanka can be identified as lacking. In the year 1991 out of 2632 Pradeshiya Sabha members, the women representation was only 42. In 1997 it was 55 women out of 3137 and in 2006, 51 women were chosen out of 3243 Pradeshiya Sabha members. In Sri Lanka drafts have been approved to increase women representation in divisional politics by 25%. But, the women being elected is considerably low in number. This study examines the challenges faced by women in divisional political activism. Accordingly, this study explore the challenges faced by the Sri Lankan women in divisional political arena. What are the reasons for minority of women members in divisional political arena? Research questions are what makes women to have less say in politics in comparison with men? and How does the stereotypical gender roles influence on women political activism? The research field is concerned with Poojapitiya Pradeshiya Sabha. The women who participated in Pradeshiya Sabha elections are considered as the research sample. Interviews were conducted in the data accumulation process. Further, the main informants aided in gathering necessary data. According to the research findings, it was identified that the challenges faced by women in divisional politics are social, economic, political, and cultural factors. As social factors, social attitudes toward women, status, and role within the family, Patriarchal culture which makes women to underestimate themselves, lack of experience and negative attitudes and economic factors are lack of financial and materialistic resources, and political and cultural factors are the informal political culture, lack of practical knowledge, less tactful and over confidence are identified as the reasons which impact the women not to represent themselves in the divisional political arena. The study suggests to abolish the negative opinions and marginalizing women in society. Moreover, raising economic conditions, gender equality, provision of political training and knowledge, financial and materialistic support, involvement of women in decision making, not allowing political frauds and law making can be done. Awareness should be done to avoid being victims of political frauds.

Background: Tobacco consumption, especially hookah, is one of the major behavioral health problems that has been more prevalent among young people and adolescents in recent years. Therefore, identifying the influential factors in tobacco consumption is essential for planning preventive measures. This study investigates the relationship between cultural, social, political, and economic factors with hookah smoking in Iranian adolescents. Materials and Methods: The present research is a systematic review study, which was conducted by examining data through PubMed, ProQuest, Google Scholar, Ovid, Magiran, SID, Science, Cochrane Medlib, and Medex Iran databases between 2000-2024 using the keywords hookah, tobacco, cultural, the teenager has been collected. In the initial search, 500 articles were retrieved, which were then screened at different stages (removing duplicate articles [300], reviewing titles and abstracts [170], and full-text [13]). Finally, 17 papers that passed the researchers’ criteria were reviewed carefully. Results: The results of the studies showed that various factors influence hookah consumption among adolescents, which were divided into social, economic, political, cultural, and psychological factors. Numerous factors influence adolescents’ inclination toward hookah consumption, with the most important ones being planned advertisements, incorrect knowledge, and attitudes about the harms of hookah, easy and affordable access, sensory attractions, peer encouragement, cultural acceptance of hookah, and a means to fill leisure time. Conclusion: It is recommended to focus on promoting culture and increasing awareness, effective advertising, increasing leisure-time activities for adolescents, enforcing laws prohibiting hookah use in public places, increasing tobacco prices, and enhancing recreational facilities.

This study aims to examine the impact of Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Environmental, and Legal (PESTEL) factors on event businesses in Malaysia. Using qualitative interpretive methods and data from in-depth interviews with 15 event managers, the study identified several external factors affecting event operations. The results show that political factors such as government policies, small business funding grants, and global trade agreements or restrictions can significantly impact event businesses. Economic factors such as exchange rates, labor costs, globalization, and economic growth or decline can also affect operations, while social factors such as consumer trends, tastes, buying habits, lifestyle factors, and population demographics can also play a role. Technological factors, including tools and technological advancements, incentives, and the widespread use of social media, are also identified as important. Moreover, environmental factors such as supply chain management, procurement, future pandemics, ethical sourcing, sustainable resources, weather and climate, risk assessment, multiracial sensitivity, and geographical location are found to impact event businesses as well. Finally, legal factors such as health and safety regulations, employment laws, common laws, and consumer protection laws can also affect event operations. Overall, this study highlights the importance of conducting PESTEL analysis to gain a comprehensive understanding of external factors that can impact event businesses. By using this analysis, event managers can develop strategies to mitigate risks and adapt to the changing market conditions. The findings suggest that event managers must remain vigilant in monitoring and responding to political, economic, social, technological, environmental, and legal factors to ensure the success of their operations.