Democratic Partnership Research Articles

Dewey, Implementation, and Creating a Democratic Civic University

Dewey, Implementation, and Creating a Democratic Civic University

The Missed Fork in the “Forked-Road Situation”

The Missed Fork in the “Forked-Road Situation”

Seoul in India's (new) middle order convergence

AbstractAs both India and South Korea build their ties on the basis of democratic partnership and ASEAN centrality, the need for Seoul to emerge as a strong partner in India's Indo‐Pacific initiatives is vital. India's quest for a more serious multilateral network is continuously growing in the security sphere, and Korea's induction in the same via the “Plus” framework of the quadrilateral hints at potential for successful connects with other multilateral frameworks or bodies like the AIIB to balance economic assistance and development. Ultimately, the natural upgradation of India‐South Korea relations relies intensely upon the degree to which Seoul will embrace the Indo‐Pacific account that India's AEP is pitching. The merging of soft and hard power by the middle and rising power is critical to India to ensure a rules‐based international order; finding a formal place for Seoul in its Indo‐Pacific prism must emerge as a necessary focus of New Delhi.

Levelling the playing field: A Review of Mentoring in the CaBan Initial Teacher Education programme

The aim of this paper is to examine the impact of the new CaBan Initial Teacher Education (ITE) programme that has emerged in response to broader educational reform in Wales. More specifically, it aims to analyse the perceptions of mentors and Associate Teachers (ATs) to develop a more adequate understanding of the mentoring approach that has been adopted by CaBan. Questionnaires and group interviews were used to generate data from 15 mentors and 48 ATs – who took part in the study during the final phase of their one-year postgraduate programme. A process of thematic analysis was used to identify and analyse patterns in the data. The dialogic mentoring approach adopted by CaBan reframed the relationship between the mentor and AT. It encouraged a more democratic partnership that empowered the ATs to challenge some aspects of practice and engage in more creative acts. Regular feedback and discussions that were focused on shared learning helped reduce ATs’ evaluation apprehension, but also created some tension as mentors’ pedagogical beliefs were more likely to be challenged. These findings have implications for the CaBan programme and other providers of ITE, as adopting a dialogic approach led to desirable changes in mentoring strategies. These changes were perceived to be valuable, but they relied on the mentors devoting more time to the dialogic process and being fully invested in open conversations about learning.

Transparency in Social Work: Mapping Polarities Faced by Social Workers

Abstract During recent decades, the notion of transparency has become a guiding framework in social work policy and practice. Transparency is often approached in this context as a managerial notion. In this article, we approach transparency as a relational notion, a key attitude in social work. Relation transparency is a prerequisite for achieving democratic partnership with service users and their family and social network. Transparency as a key attitude of the social worker is often taken for granted, both by practitioners and policymakers. In the first face of our action research, we found that the way in which transparency is realised in the everyday practice of social work is a major challenge. After discussing the shift from a managerial to a relational notion of transparency, we analyse the various polarities social workers have to deal with in order to develop a transparent practice vis-à-vis service users. The question is whether we repeatedly fall into the trap of thinking that these dilemmas can be resolved instead of looking for ways to deal with them in daily practice without losing the fundamental values and ethical standards that social work represents.

Strategies for democratic reform in education: developing an action research community in Mongolia

ABSTRACT Within the major university for teacher education in Mongolia, Mongolian National University of Education, teacher development is designed to support the government-mandated higher education reform movement as this relatively young independent nation navigates from a position of dependency on foreign experts to one of greater independence and professional autonomy. This article discusses action research processes that support a sustainable, democratic model at MNUE, focusing on an ongoing participatory study using the perspectives of (a) a visiting scholar, who for 10 years has investigated reform efforts involving use of action research methodology at MNUE; (b) conclusions of an administrative university leader, who closely studies strategic planning and implementation of reform based on governmental and credential standards and supports development of a university action research voice; and (c) reflections of a faculty member, who documents university reform efforts in her work with colleagues and students. Results of a constant comparative analysis of these perspectives are presented with recommendations for sustaining the process, including how to (a) support reform efforts through continuing action research reflecting a democratic process and commitment to social justice, and (b) continue reconceptualizing knowledge and expertise as the role of democratic partnerships evolves from external intervention to national leadership.

Electronic Mode of the Modern Administrative Discourse

The study has been carried out in line with the current problems of modern discourse and genre studies related to the study of the evolution of administrative discourse, which is understood as a hybrid of oral and written communication. The article presents the results of the analysis of the Internet influence on the long-established genres of administrative discourse. The concept of administrative Internet communication has been clarified. The study of administrative discourse in the Internet space clearly demonstrates that even the most conservative sphere of activity is influenced by modern technologies and extralinguistic factors have the most direct impact on the genres formation. The administrative Internet functions are singled out: informing, requesting information, initiating discussions, organization. The genres of administrative Internet communication are analyzed, in the modern administrative discourse we have identified the most indicative in terms of management hypergenres and genres: the hypergenre "corporate web portal" or "Intranet", the genre "email", the genre "online meeting" or "video conferencing", the genre "electronic documents". This article details two genres: "corporate web portal" and "online meeting". The conducted survey made it possible to determine the pragmatic nature of the considered corporate web portal hyper-genre – keeping to corporate culture, interactivity, speed. It has been established that due to the mentioned Internet genres emergence, a partial decrease in distance and erasing of the status line in the "head-subordinate" pair occurs. It is concluded that cyberspace is transforming the power-subordinate nature of administrative communication into democratic partnership, as well as there is the transformation of traditional genres with the advent of electronic communication in the field of management. It is concluded that the theory of speech genres is applicable to study of the evolution of administrative communication, and new techniques are required to take into account linguistic changes caused by the development of information technologies.

Leading with meaning: Why diversity, equity, and inclusion matters in U. S. higher education

In Academic Leadership and Governance of Higher Education, Hendrickson, Lane, Harris, and Dorman (2013) argue that institutional decisions, adaptations, and activities of successful academic leaders need to be mission and value-focused. Academic institutions value autonomy and expertise in decision-making, which necessitates that academic leaders “create and foster democratic partnerships with myriad constituents” (Hendrickson et al., 2013: 2) and organize their activities around a shared vision based on institutional mission and values. In this paper, I review some recent research findings that demonstrate the need to address issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion in U. S. higher education contexts as educators work to transform students into responsible citizens. These findings highlight the need for academic leaders to consider how to best embody the mission and vision of their institutions as they frame diversity issues for the campus community, with a few additional considerations specific to religiously affiliated institutions.

Therapeutic relationships: Making space to practice in chaotic institutional environments.

WHAT IS KNOWN ABOUT THE SUBJECT?: While therapeutic relationships remain core to mental health nursing practice and patient recovery, increased managerialism and focus on risk has impacted nurses' therapeutic practice with patients. While there is anecdotal evidence of the impact there has been little research that demonstrates nurses experience of therapeutic engagement within the current context. WHAT THE PAPER ADDS TO EXISTING KNOWLEDGE?: The paper reports on qualitative research that highlights nurses' strong attempts to create the space for therapeutic engagement with clients. This research provides evidence of the constraints on practice imposed by new managerial processes and suggests potential means of responding to them. WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE?: Mental health nurses are committed to working therapeutically but struggle to balance this against new managerial demands imposed across many OECD countries. The New Zealand government has recently reported on positive changes to mental health provision but does not suggest changes to the structures that impede good practice. This research indicates that structural change is essential to therapeutic engagement. ABSTRACT: Introduction Increasing managerialism, driven in part by notions of risk, compromises the mental health nurses therapeutic engagement with clients potentially impacting their recovery. While the importance of therapeutic relationships in mental health recovery is acknowledged, there is little evidence about how managerial processes encroach on this relationship. Aim To explore mental health nurses experience of engaging in therapeutic relationships within the current practice environment. Method This paper utilized an interpretive phenomenological approach, using interviews with mental health nurses. Results Managerial processes significantly impacted the practice of nurses who struggled to make space for therapeutic relationships within a chaotic milieu. The chaos is associated with increasing austerity within the health system; this has resulted in high staff turnover and staff shortages. Discussion Managerial demands dominate the practice field at the expense of therapeutic engagement between nurses and clients ultimately affecting client recovery. While nurses' integrity means they desperately try to make space for the therapeutic work, they often become burnt out and disheartened. Implications for practice While nurses are often blamed for failures in the system, the structures that disable nurses in their attempts to practice therapeutically require urgent responses, strengthening professional organizations and engaging in democratic partnerships with consumer groups.

Religious Pluralism and Civic Rights in a 'Muslim Nation': An Analysis of Prophet Muhammad's Covenants with Christians

This article examines the roles that religious pluralism and civic rights played in Prophet Muhammad’s vision of a “Muslim nation”. I demonstrate how Muhammad desired a pluralistic society in which citizenship and equal rights were granted to all people regardless of religious beliefs and practices. The Covenants of the Prophet Muhammad with the Christians of his time are used as a framework for analysis. These documents have received little attention in our time, but their messages are crucial in light of current debates about Muslim-Christian relations. The article campaigns for reviving the egalitarian spirit of the Covenants by refocusing our understanding of the ummah as a site for religious freedom and civil rights. Ultimately, I argue that the Covenants of Prophet Muhammad with the Christians of his time can be used to develop a stronger narrative of democratic partnership between Muslims and Christians in the “Islamic world” and beyond.

Religious Pluralism and Civic Rights in a “Muslim Nation”: An Analysis of Prophet Muhammad’s Covenants with Christians

This article examines the roles that religious pluralism and civic rights played in Prophet Muhammad’s vision of a “Muslim nation”. I demonstrate how Muhammad desired a pluralistic society in which citizenship and equal rights were granted to all people regardless of religious beliefs and practices. The Covenants of the Prophet Muhammad with the Christians of his time are used as a framework for analysis. These documents have received little attention in our time, but their messages are crucial in light of current debates about Muslim-Christian relations. The article campaigns for reviving the egalitarian spirit of the Covenants by refocusing our understanding of the ummah as a site for religious freedom and civil rights. Ultimately, I argue that the Covenants of Prophet Muhammad with the Christians of his time can be used to develop a stronger narrative of democratic partnership between Muslims and Christians in the “Islamic world” and beyond.

Inclusive, Democratic Family–Professional Partnerships

Family–professional partnerships are vital to the provision of appropriate and effective special education services for young children. Despite the recognized need, teacher educators in early childhood and early childhood special education have faced challenges in preparing their students to partner with families from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds. In this article, we assert that for pre-service early childhood/early childhood special education teachers to prepare for cross-cultural family–professional partnerships, teacher educators can take a democratic, inclusive perspective and address conceptualizations of culture and language. To this end, we first explain meanings of inclusive education and democratic partnerships. We then focus on conceptualizations of culture and language in developing cross-cultural partnerships. Finally, we provide recommendations to prepare pre-service teachers to form more democratic and inclusive cross-cultural partnerships with families from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.

Partnership in learning between university and school: evidence from a researcher-in-residence

The status of school placement in the Republic of Ireland has recently been elevated in importance within a reconceptualisation of initial teacher education (ITE). This paper shares the findings from one case study of a school–university partnership enacted in this regard. The partnership involved a researcher-in-residence at the school championing the concept of a structured authentic democratic partnership. The findings show the impact of a champion at the school site in developing professional conversations among a multiplicity of policy actors. An unexpected finding was the depth of higher order peer cooperation achieved in this first iteration of a structured setting by student teachers. However cultural and contextual challenges abound in seeking to build the trust required to enact authentic partnerships in this regard. The findings have significance for the Teaching Council as they build capacity for new and innovative models of the practicum in ITE.

Electronic Commerce as a Sustainable Business

Environment, societies, and economy are the scope of sustainability in each community. Electronic commerce (e-commerce) is rapidly developing due to its potential as a green business, democratic partnership and economic opportunity. Iran to date has grappled with a significant decline in economic activity across multiple economic sectors, lasting more than a few months (years?), normally apparent in real gross domestic product (GDP), real income, employment, industrial production, and wholesale-retail sales. In this context, this study’s main objective is to demonstrate that e-commerce could be a powerful factor in creating a sustainable future for Iran. Defining Environmental economics and Innovation, competitiveness and eco-efficiency factors by the Delphi method and the Europe 2020 strategy in the National Sustainable Development Committee of Iran, these elements have been evaluated using the Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) technique with regards to Iran’s condition. Finally, the study results support the view that although Sustainable Economic and Innovation, competitiveness and eco-efficiency can be impacted by e-commerce in Iran, it stands to have the greatest impact on environmental economics. In addition the adoption of e-commerce would be both operationally and strategically viable for Iran’s society. Keywords: Socio-Economic Development, Green economics, Economic Sustainability

Erratum to: From Uneasy Compromises to Democratic Partnership: The Prospects of Central European Constitutionalism

Erratum to: From Uneasy Compromises to Democratic Partnership: The Prospects of Central European Constitutionalism

From uneasy compromises to democratic partnership: The prospects of central European constitutionalism

The Central European countries have been constitutional democracies for two decades. They were created by the political and constitutional transition of 1989, which was based upon the acknowledgment of fundamental rights and the rule of law. Timothy Garton Ash has argued that the peaceful, negotiated regime changes in Central Europe established a new model of non-violent revolution. The year 1989 became the major historical reference point for this kind of change. However, more than twenty years later, in the light of antidemocratic, authoritarian and intolerant tendencies, it is far from clear whether the negotiated revolution is a story of success or failure. This paper first outlines the constitutional and political background of revolutionary transition. It shows that uneasy compromises with members of the ancien régime were an unavoidable part of the peaceful transition. Nevertheless, the achieved constitutional structures and rules do not prevent political communities from realising the full promise of democracy. Second, this analysis attempts to explore, through the use of examples, how the century-old historical circumstances, the social environment, and the commonly failed practice of constitutional institutions interact. The goal of this section is to highlight some of the differences between universal principles and local peculiarities, focusing particularly on the constitutional features of presidential aspirations, the privileges of churches and certain ethnic tensions. The way the authorities apply the constitution is not detached from place and time, since those authorities possess culturally and historically predetermined knowledge and premises. Thus, we can say that antidemocratic, authoritarian and intolerant political and legal tendencies are embedded in the past and present of political communities. Finally, the paper argues that the chances of success of liberal democracies depend significantly on extraconstitutional factors. It seems that Hungary is in a more depressing and dangerous period of its history than for example Poland. The future of Central European constitutional democracies relies on the actions of people in the countries concerned and the commitment of Western societies.

Transformation for social justice through democracy and partnership in post‐compulsory education

Partnerships between schools and universities have been well developed as a means of organisations in initial teacher education (ITE) in the UK since 1994. They have, more recently, become increasingly central to the organisations of the post‐compulsory education of teachers. The focus of this article is upon the development of a new partnership between an urban university and local schools, for the post‐compulsory education of teachers at Masters level. We shall consider the contradictions and tensions between the neo‐liberal competitive context in which we work, and the collaborative and participatory practices of partnership. We contend that democratic partnerships are necessary to the development of schools as democratic institutions, and that democracy as an educative way of life is the most effective way in which inequalities of pupil achievement and opportunity can be addressed – in particular, the inequalities exposed through the wide gap in England between the educational achievement of rich and poor. We shall draw upon data from an evaluation of a new Masters Education programme to illustrate the extent to which democratic partnerships can be established and maintained in a neo‐liberal context.

‘Tomorrow's Schools’ in New Zealand: from social democracy to market managerialism

This paper uses one national case to illustrate how diverse ideological agendas of central state agencies contest the discursive space within which major education policy reforms are developed. In Aotearoa New Zealand in 1988, ‘self‐managed’ schools were promoted ostensibly to allow parents more say in their children’s education and local school administration. The Tomorrow’s Schools reform policy texts included an existing social democratic partnership rhetoric, positioning principals as professional leaders working collaboratively with elected parent boards of trustees. However, the new ideology of ‘parental choice’ of school within a local schooling marketplace, underpinned by a chief executive or market managerial model of principalship, was later operationalised through mechanisms of ‘steerage’ from the centre. To explain this shift, we examine selected policy text pre‐cursors to the reforms and identify how contrasting forms of ‘principal’ and ‘teacher’ identity emerged within social democratic, neo‐liberal and market managerial ideologies. We further show that while radical (Treasury) market liberal arguments for labour market deregulation and consumer choice failed to gain widespread support, the State Services Commission preferred market managerialist strategies for promoting public accountability of schools (based on aggregate student achievement outcome data and centrally determined national educational priorities) were successfully embedded during the 1990s.

Power, privilege, and the public: The dynamics of community‐university collaboration

AbstractThe dynamics of institutional power need to be addressed through structural practices that support prospects for authentic, democratic partnerships.

University‐school‐community partnerships for youth development and democratic renewal

Democratic partnerships of universities, schools, and an array of neighborhood and community organizations are the most promising means of improving the lives of our nation's young people. Over the past two decades, many colleges and universities have been experiencing a renaissance in engagement activities. Universities, once ivory towers, have increasingly come to recognize that their destinies are inextricably linked with their communities. Authentic democratic partnerships have three characteristics: they are devised to achieve democratic purposes, the collective work is advanced through inclusive and democratic processes, and the product these partnerships produce benefits all participants and results in a strengthening of the democratic practices within the community.