ABSTRACT This article analyzes networks of critical actors advancing women’s representation in Brazil, positing that when executives or legislatures weaken inclusionary policies, courts can help safeguard them. In a context of persistent underrepresentation, coordinated efforts across parliament, parties, civil society, and the judiciary have created alternative pathways to expand women’s political opportunities. Focusing on access to campaign finance, we examine recent court decisions that reshaped the electoral landscape. Drawing on feminist institutionalism and collective action literatures, as well as evidence from Brazil, we show how strategic leadership, cross-sectoral coordination, and judicial allies enable actors to leverage opportunities and incrementally advance descriptive representation.

Civic engagement in action.

This paper examines how conflict, state fragility, and climate change intersect to compound disaster risk in the Arab region, drawing on field observations from across Libya, Morocco, Sudan, and Syria, expert consultations, and regional policy dialogue. Analysis of recent earthquakes and floods in these countries reveals that catastrophic outcomes were driven less by the hazards themselves than by governance failures-the prioritisation of elite interests over public safety, chronic underinvestment in prevention, and the politicisation of humanitarian response. While regional platforms in Doha, Qatar, and Kuwait have articulated growing consensus on the need for prevention-oriented disaster risk reduction (DRR), significant obstacles remain, including competition among states, mistrust between governments and civil society, and the structural constraints facing conflict-affected countries. The paper contributes to an emerging literature on DRR in fragile and conflict-affected settings by offering comparative analysis from across a region that remains under-represented in mainstream disaster scholarship.

Low- and middle-income countries face a rapidly escalating, alcohol-related public health crisis spanning cancer, injury, liver disease, mental health disorders and the complications of human immunodeficiency virus infections. Despite compelling evidence that alcohol is a leading risk factor for premature death and disability, few countries include comprehensive alcohol control policies in their public health agenda. This gap between evidence and policy is critical because evidence-based interventions could decrease the alcohol-attributable disease burden by up to 30% within a decade. We conducted a policy analysis to synthesize evidence from low- and middle-income countries and propose a comprehensive multicomponent framework for alcohol control adapted from experience with tobacco control. Documented achievements show that simultaneously integrating alcohol control into the existing health-care system, introducing regulation, and building institutional capacity can reduce consumption and generate substantial economic returns. However, interference from the alcohol industry in policy, mirroring the historical approach of the tobacco industry, underscores the need for explicit protections. Evidence-based recommendations on implementing alcohol control policies are presented for international agencies, national governments, health-care systems and civil society. These recommendations also draw on global lessons from the World Health Organization's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. Today, the convergence of robust scientific evidence, proven interventions, successful implementation models and growing political support present an opportunity to advance alcohol control in low- and middle-income countries. The question is not whether comprehensive alcohol control is feasible in resource-constrained settings but whether the global health community will act decisively on the evidence available.

Energy transitions increasingly depend on collective decision-making (CDM) by households, firms, and civic organizations that co-invest, co-operate, and co-govern local energy resources. Yet mainstream energy models still treat behavior as that of a single, perfectly rational actor, under-representing the social dynamics of CDM. This paper presents a decade-scale (2015-2025) systematic review of CDM modeling at community scale. Using a broad search string pairing synonyms of “collective decision” with “energy” across leading databases, hundreds of records were screened and 84 peer-reviewed studies retained that simulate interactions among multiple autonomous actors. A supplementary search-robustness check indicates that broader retrieval adds more game-theoretic and governance-oriented studies, but does not materially alter the main patterns. Methodologically, agent-based simulation is a major strand, alongside game-theoretic formulations, hybrid optimization-agent approaches, and an emerging line of multi-agent reinforcement learning. Most studies focus on electricity communities, especially solar PV, battery storage, and peer-to-peer trading, while heat, mobility, and multi-energy integration remain limited. Peer influence and heterogeneity are often represented, whereas governance processes and diverse actor roles are still rarely modeled. Empirical calibration and validation are improving but remain uneven, limiting policy credibility in practice. The review identifies three field-defining gaps: (i) limited behavioral realism and weak validation; (ii) thin representation of governance and institutional change; and (iii) weak multi-scale socio-technical integration across sectors and levels. In response, the Multi-Scale Integrated Collective-Energy Decision (MICED) framework is proposed as a modular way forward for linking heterogeneous actors, group-decision processes, and socio-technical system dynamics. Together, the review and framework outline an agenda for more credible, equity-aware, and policy-relevant analysis of community-scale energy transitions. • Decade-scale systematic review of energy-related collective decision-making models. • Key gaps: weak behavioral realism, governance, and multi-scale coupling. • Propose framework MICED: multi-scale, learning agents, and explicit governance.

Empowering civic engagement in AI governance: A two-wave panel study on AI literacy and participatory governance of generative AI in China

This position statement is intended to synthesize and interpret current consensus and salient developments regarding the relationship between obesity and physical activity. It draws from the latest evidence and guidelines to update and share the World Obesity Federation's stance with policymakers, healthcare professionals, public health stakeholders, and civil society organizations. This statement identifies the critical role of physical activity in the prevention and management of obesity, highlights the lived experience of people with obesity, summarizes global recommendations, and considers the emerging connections between obesity, climate change, and physical activity.

Waste-ing antibiotics: Antimicrobial resistance, environmental pollution and unsettled science in the governance of pharmaceutical manufacturing.

The development of infrastructure under the Belt and Road Initiative has had a significant impact on post-conflict reconstruction in Asia and Africa. However, the Initiative’s reliance on bilateral government-to-government agreements has had the effect of marginalising affected communities from project governance. This paper explores how a state-centric model engenders governance distortions in fragile institutional environments. It draws evidence from the Thar coalfield development in Pakistan, the Kyaukpyu port project in Myanmar, the Standard Gauge Railway in Kenya, and Hambantota port in Sri Lanka to support this investigation. Each case demonstrates that rapid infrastructure deployment without meaningful community consultation produces displacement, environmental degradation, and erosion of citizen trust in state institutions. It also examines civil society responses across three areas: domestic litigation that challenges procedural deficiencies in environmental and land acquisition processes; transnational advocacy campaigns that link local grievances to international human rights discourse; and mobilisation strategies rooted in culturally specific claims to territory and belonging. An analysis of the African Union and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations reveals that neither organisation has successfully transitioned from facilitating dialogue among member states to establishing enforceable standards governing infrastructure investment. Four reforms are proposed: the institutionalisation of community voice through tripartite project committees, the mandating of cultural heritage assessments alongside environmental review, the development of regional investment protocols with accessible grievance mechanisms, and the embedding of conflict sensitivity into project design where historical injustices shape contemporary land tenure.

Digital technologies have increasingly become integrated within educational environments, creating new opportunities and challenges relating to communication, learning, and responsible participation within digital spaces. The purpose of the study was to examine digital citizenship in the context of secondary education by reviewing the existing literature to explore its conceptualization, challenges, and educational implications. A narrative literature review approach was used in order to synthesize findings from peer-reviewed journal articles, academic books and relevant scholarly sources using secondary desk research and thematic analysis. The findings indicated that digital citizenship involves responsible use of technology as well as ethical behaviour, digital literacy, critical thinking, civic participation, media literacy and responsible online engagement. The research also revealed that digital competence and media literacy influence how learners engage appropriately in digital environments. The literature also pointed out several challenges that affect implementation such as teacher preparedness, curriculum integration, technology inequities and institutional support. In conclusion, the study emphasizes the importance of digital citizenship education in preparing learners for responsible participation in digitally connected societies and calls for context-sensitive educational approaches.

Psychosis, human rights, and legal frameworks: global perspectives, with a focus on low-income and middle-income countries.

The study focuses on the problem of violence (physical, psychological, sexual, or economic) and harassment in the workplace, which is a global issue of high relevance. The article pays special attention to the content, structure and impact of the application of the International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention No. 190 on the Elimination of Violence and Harassment in the World of Work. The key provisions of this Convention are indicated, namely: the definition of the concept of ‘violence and harassment in the world of work’, a feature of which is its broad and inclusive nature, covering various forms of behaviour – from psychological pressure to physical violence; emphasis on the need to take into account the gender dimension of violence; outlining the broad scope of application of ILO Convention No. 190, which covers not only workplaces, but also work-related spaces (business trips, communications, training, digital environment, etc.); establishing the obligation of the state to form a comprehensive policy to prevent violence and harassment in the workplace. It is noted that the Convention applies to all persons in the field of work, including employees; employed persons regardless of their contractual status; persons undergoing vocational training; employees whose employment relationships have been terminated; volunteers; persons seeking work; persons exercising authority, performing duties and bearing the responsibility of the employer. It is emphasised that the peculiarity of the Convention is its orientation towards a preventive model of regulation, which provides for the participation of employers, employees and their organisations in the formation of a healthy and safe working environment. The international experience of implementing ILO Convention No. 190 is analysed using the example of France, Italy, Spain and other states. Author’s proposals have been developed for introducing reformative changes to the regulatory and legal field of Ukraine in the context of implementing the provisions of ILO Convention No. 190, namely, in the following areas: fundamental definitions; procedural prevention, expanded guarantees of rights to occupational safety; state supervision; evidence-based reform; protection from victimisation; social compensation; information and consultation; sufficient and objective statistics. It is emphasised that Ukraine objectively needs to consolidate the efforts of all stakeholders – national tripartite social partners, legislative and judicial authorities, scientific and expert community, civil society – in order to effectively promote the process of ratification and implementation of ILO Convention No. 190 through consolidated actions, taking into account domestic realities.

ABSTRACT This scoping review examines how contemporary Islamic education integrates environmental ethics (Eco-Islam) and democratic multicultural values as potential resources for reimagining Religious Education (RE) in the Anthropocene. Drawing on a corpus of 120 international scholarly articles (2014–2025), the study maps dominant thematic mechanisms, evaluates their strengths and weaknesses, and proposes a conceptual framework for transformative RE. While the corpus is dominated by Indonesian studies (79%), reflecting its role as a laboratory for Islamic education innovation, the proposed TES-RE framework is presented as a transferable heuristic, not a prescriptive model, with explicitly stated contextual limitations. The findings identify three integrative mechanisms: Critical Wisdom-Based Environments, which foster holistic, spiritually-grounded pedagogies; Prophetic Eco-Pedagogy, which roots environmental stewardship in Qur’anic hermeneutics and jurisprudence; and Critical Democratic Encounter, which engages Islamic traditions with pluralistic citizenship. Using Floridi’s ‘infosphere’ and Chasokela’s Transformative Learning Theory as lenses, the review argues that these mechanisms offer viable pathways for developing an eco-social, critically reflective RE paradigm. The study concludes with a SWOT analysis and a CIMO-logic framework to guide curriculum and pedagogical innovation in RE, aiming to equip learners for ethical, ecological, and civic engagement in a pluralistic world.

Value capture in the emerging medical cannabis global value chain: insights from South Africa.

Public libraries are increasingly understood not merely as information-service institutions but as community-based infrastructures that support civic life, social connection, digital inclusion and everyday wellbeing. This article offers an integrative review of scholarship on the community roles of public libraries across five major strands: public sphere and democracy, social capital and trust, place and community engagement, digital inclusion and administrative access, and wellbeing, welfare and social integration. The review argues that the literature has moved decisively beyond narrow service-centred conceptions of the public library, yet remains fragmented across thematic domains and often under-specifies the mechanisms through which libraries generate community effects. The article’s central contribution is to reconceptualise the public library as a form of social infrastructure that links informational access, relational encounter, civic participation and low-threshold support. Four recurring mechanisms—accessible infrastructure, relational encounter, mediated capability-building and institutional buffering—are identified as the analytical bridge between institutional presence and community effects. The article concludes by outlining a research agenda that prioritises conceptual clarity, mechanism specification and stronger comparative evidence, and by drawing out practical implications for how public libraries can position themselves within local systems of digital, civic and social support.

The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) has generated intense debate in Thailand, concerning its implications for public health, particularly intellectual property, and access to medicines. During 2018-2022, Thailand undertook an extended in-country process to provide evidence on its economic opportunity and public health challenges for the Cabinet decision. However, there is no evidence indicating whether Thailand has decided to join the CPTPP. This study examines Thailand's CPTPP negotiation process using a political economy framework, focusing on the institutional and actor landscape that shaped the negotiations. This study employed a qualitative research design grounded in political economy theory, integrating state-centred and power-centred analytical frameworks. Data collection comprised a document review and in-depth interviews with 31 stakeholders from the health and trade sectors, covering state officials, academics, the private sector, and civil society representatives. The findings demonstrate critical public health concerns centred on pharmaceutical access, plant variety protection, and medical device regulatory standards. The findings also reveal a complex landscape of stakeholder dynamics and power asymmetries in Thailand's CPTPP negotiation process. Although both state and non-state actors played influential roles in shaping public discourse and decision-making, the decision-making was dominated by state trade actors, as the lead negotiating authority, marginalising health sector perspectives despite their active engagement. While civil society leveraged collaborative power to exert political pressure, structural imbalances and a lack of transparency persisted. In addition, intra-sectoral differences also existed and were influenced by institutional positioning. The study highlights the need for stronger institutional mechanisms to promote inclusive stakeholder participation and greater policy coherence between trade and public health objectives in future trade negotiations. Not applicable.

Objectives This study examines the development and institutionalization of clinical sexology training in Morocco, Egypt, and Lebanon. It explores how political, socio-cultural, and academic contexts influence the recognition of this field within health and education systems. Methods A mixed-methods approach was used, combining a review of academic literature and policy documents on sexual health education, a mapping of existing clinical sexology training programs, and semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders, including clinical sexologists, trainers in sexual and reproductive health, and experts in sexual health education, research, and advocacy. The analysis was informed by critical perspectives on the medicalization of sexuality and the institutionalization of sexual medicine within health systems. Results We reveal a lack of formal recognition of clinical sexology in national health strategies and higher education policies across the three countries. Existing initiatives are limited, fragmented, and mainly driven by individual academics or civil society organizations rather than embedded in national frameworks. Sexology training is largely situated within medical faculties and clinical specialties such as psychiatry, gynecology, and reproductive medicine, reinforcing a biomedical and therapeutic approach focused on sexual dysfunctions, diagnosis, and treatment. While sexual medicine remains dominant in institutional settings, broader sexual health perspectives grounded in public health, psychosocial, gender, and human rights approaches are weakly institutionalized. Key barriers include socio-cultural taboos, religious sensitivities, institutional resistance, lack of regulatory frameworks, shortage of trained professionals, and limited political prioritization. Nevertheless, emerging opportunities include increased civil society engagement, feminist advocacy for sexual rights, development of flexible training initiatives, and growing interest among young professionals in rights-based approaches. Conclusions Strengthening policy support, developing interdisciplinary training, and fostering collaboration between medical, psychosocial, public health, and civil society actors are essential to better integrate clinical sexology into health and education systems and to improve access to comprehensive, rights-based sexual health services in the MENA region.

ABSTRACT The possibilities for civic participation in societies with high levels of state control remain a subject of intense debate. Addressing this question, this article examines youth civic activism in contemporary Russia. Drawing on 30 in-depth interviews with young activists from St. Petersburg, it explores the meanings they assign to civic participation and the forms through which they enact it. The article argues that despite increasing state control and shifting structural opportunities, young people actively pursue socially significant projects, thereby enacting a form of ‘activated citizenship.’ This citizenship is driven by two closely intertwined motivations – self-development and societal improvement – centred on the mundane transformation of both the individual and their environment. The study identifies three key types of grassroots initiatives in St. Petersburg: ‘passion-driven initiatives,’ ‘professionalizing organizations,’ and ‘civic start-ups.’ These types are distinguished by their core meanings, operational forms, and logics of engagement with the state. Overall, the findings reveal a focus on everyday, reflexive participation aligned with sustainable lifestyles and a strengthening trend towards a ‘contingent symbiosis’ with the state. Within this symbiosis, young activists consciously distance themselves from explicit political agendas, striving instead to position themselves as pragmatic partners in dialogue with state structures.

ABSTRACT This study examines how institutional trust, social participation, and place-based identity shape sustainable tourism development in Mesara, Crete. The study is grounded in place-based development theory, institutional governance literature, and multi-level governance frameworks. The research adopts a predominantly quantitative design enriched with qualitative insights. Data were collected from 133 stakeholders across the tourism industry, agri-food production, public administration, academia, and civil society. Statistical analysis included correlation, analysis of variance, regression, and exploratory factor analysis. Findings indicate that institutional trust significantly strengthens sustainability perceptions, while social participation enhances acceptance of collaborative development models. Regional branding linked to gastronomy and agritourism is structured around cultural identity and institutional credibility, contributing to territorial cohesion.

ABSTRACT The heterogeneous Christian communities in Malaysia wrestle with structural inequalities and enduring colonial-era stereotypes as they negotiate their sense of belonging within a state that upholds Islamic and Malay primacy. This paper argues that Christian leaders constructed a collective Christian identity that seeks to reconcile internal diversity while embedding the community within the national imagination through the promotion of nation-building and civic participation. Yet, their efforts remain constrained by entrenched state-imposed hierarchies that continue to privilege Malay-Muslim identity. The Malaysian Christians’ belonging is ultimately negotiated within asymmetrical power relations that shape recognition and entrenched marginalization at the same time.