Variety Of Actors Research Articles

Deconstructing the concept of camp governance toward practice-based theory building on post-disaster relocation

This article posits a simple, yet provocative, argument: post-disaster relocation sites are camps characterized by “incompleteness” where multiple actors seek to govern. The discursive framing of relocation sites as long-term solutions where residents are safe from natural hazards and integrate into their new communities suggests that relocation sites are not camps. Within these camp spaces, diverse actors attempt sometimes competing, sometimes complementary, forms of governance. Conceptualizing post-disaster relocation sites as camps allows us to scrutinize the governing practices that shape socio-spatial relations and subjectivities of disaster-affected people long after a “solution” to their initial displacement has supposedly been attained. By privileging the notion of “incompleteness” over “finishedness,” we better understand the tangible and invisible forces that inflect disaster recovery efforts, on one hand, and the regulations, negotiations, and resistances that transpire within these post-disaster spaces, on the other. Drawing on empirical studies of relocation sites in the Philippines and Japan, we examine camp governance. We deploy three conceptual filters—politics of loss, spatial forms and practices, and resistance—to study the assemblages of rules that shape life in resettlement sites, the unrecognized modes of meaning-making, the affects entangled in socio-spatial practices and encounters with material forms, and the resistances to prescribed “ways to live.” Such analyses explain why relocation sites are camps, and what are the implications of obscuring this conceptualization.

We’ve got the power: an exploration of relational power and discontinuous continuity in a creative ecosystem of techno-music

ABSTRACT This study explores how creative ecosystem actors collectively produce creative outputs that are both continuous and discontinuous with conventions of creative work in the ecosystem at hand. Output is considered creative when it is novel and unexpected. However, a degree of continuation of these same conventions is needed for legitimacy and even success. Our exploration of the techno-music ecosystem reveals that this is shaped through power struggles between actors in a multi-layered structure. Ecosystem actors are organised in upper-, middle-, and underground layers according to their distinct interests. In this structure, creative output specific to these layers is reinforced as continuous by power actions, causing discontinuity at ecosystem-level. This discontinuity triggers power actions reinforcing commonalities and continuity at ecosystem-level and causing discontinuity at layer-level, triggering power actions reinforcing division. This process reinforces discontinuous continuity of creative output constituted across multiple levels through the collective enactment of power by diverse actors.

Global Diplomacy in a Multipolar Era

In an increasingly multipolar world, this paper critically examines the transformative shifts in global diplomacy as power becomes more distributed among diverse political actors. These actors, which include sovereign states, multinational corporations, non-governmental organizations, and international institutions, play pivotal roles in mediating conflicts, fostering cooperation, and advancing both national and collective interests. By analyzing the dynamic interactions among these entities, the study outlines how their strategies and influences shape the global agenda within an interconnected and complex landscape. The emergence of multipolarity is driven by key factors such as economic globalization, technological innovation, and shifting geopolitical power balances, which collectively redefine traditional diplomatic practices. This paper emphasizes the need for adaptive and inclusive approaches to diplomacy that reflect the realities of a multipolar environment. Through a comprehensive overview of local and global players, the findings underscore the critical need for innovative strategies that navigate diplomatic negotiations, form alliances, and address conflicts in a fragmented world order. Furthermore, this research identifies significant gaps in existing literature, particularly regarding the relationship between state and non-state actors in multipolarity. By revealing the complexities and opportunities inherent in this global transformation, the paper contributes to the broader discourse on international relations and global governance in the 21st century, offering actionable insights for policymakers, scholars, and practitioners alike.

Fighting the Minor Evils: Slavery and the Diverse Lives of Abolitionism in the Ottoman Empire

Abstract Historians have long argued that abolitionism, as a distinct political project, never fully took root in the Ottoman Empire. While anti-slavery measures emerged from the mid-nineteenth century onwards, they are often seen as state-imposed responses to diplomatic pressure. From a state-focused perspective, abolition indeed appears to be the result of actions by the Ottoman state and international community, inevitably so, given its entanglement with the emergence and development of the Congress system in the aftermath of the Congress of Vienna. Yet a focus on individuals, organizations, and institutions also suggests a subversive, practical abolitionism concerned with everyday injustices rather than lofty ideals. This paper examines such efforts, reframing abolitionism as a political issue rather than a moral one detached from broader transformations. By situating abolitionist thought within the late Ottoman Empire’s increasingly radical politics, it challenges the conventional state-centered narrative, highlighting the diverse actors who shaped anti-slavery discourse and action.

Integrating adaptation pathways and Ostrom's framework for sustainable governance of social-ecological systems in a changing world.

Dynamic Adaptive Policy Pathway (DAPP) maps are used to plan management decisions in contexts of high uncertainty, such as those driven by environmental changes affecting critical assets. Recent discussions emphasize their relevance for addressing complex common-pool resource challenges, where diverse species, actors, and ecosystem services are intricately connected. However, designing DAPPs for such multifaceted social-ecological systems (SES) is challenging due to the extensive range of potential adaptation options. This study presents a general method to address these challenges by leveraging Ostrom's theoretical frameworks for the governance of common pool resources-the Institutional Analysis & Development framework (IADF), the social-ecological systems framework (SESF), and the coupled infrastructure systems framework (CISF). These frameworks were used to design nested DAPP maps that structure a large number of adaptation actions across multiple levels of institutional arrangement (operational, collective-choice, constitutional), and then develop a mathematical model to analyze the dynamic robustness of a SES across all potential pathways. The method was applied to predict and understand DAPP maps for supporting the collective management of hedgerow networks delivering diverse ecosystem services. DAPP maps for two SES were compared-one rural and one peri-urban-in France's agro-ecological landscapes of the Auvergne region. We further modeled the impact of climate change on hedgerows characterized by different size and species richness, revealing the sensitivity of these DAPP maps to transit between nine nested institutional arrangements. We discuss the methodological and practical implications of this approach for managing SES characterized by greater diversities of interconnected species, actors, and ecosystem services, highlighting its strengths and challenges in guiding adaptation under deep uncertainty.

Mothers, social media and agenda-setting for high-stakes student assessment policy in Shenzhen, China

ABSTRACT This study explores how and why mothers used social media to promote education policy agenda-setting in China, which discourages civic engagement and adopts strict media regulation. Data were drawn from mothers’ social media platforms, government documents and media reports. This article reveals that the mothers could promote outside-initiative agenda-setting by strategically positioning themselves and navigating diverse actors. It shows that social media and the mothers’ backgrounds, knowledge and competencies contextualize and facilitate policy agenda-setting. The study contributes to research on policy agenda-setting.

Institutional Design of Collaborative Water Governance: The River Chief System in China

ABSTRACTCollaborative governance has been increasingly applied in the field of water governance. However, this approach is often criticized for overlooking the political nature of water governance and the necessity of collaboration across multiple dimensions. The river chief system (RCS) in China represents a collaborative water governance approach designed to address collaboration challenges in Chinese water governance sector and ultimately combat its severe river pollution. This study develops a conceptual framework to analyze the institutional design of the RCS and examine its effectiveness in structuring vertical, horizontal, and territorial collaborations in local water governance. Taking the RCS in Xiamen as a case study, we find that public entities predominantly engage in collaborative initiatives mandated by higher‐level authorities, while collaborations between state and nonstate actors mainly focus on information collection and public environmental education. The collaborative processes under the RCS are characterized by the unchallenged authority of political leaders, exclusive decision‐making mechanisms, restricted information flows, implicit pay‐off structures, and limited involvement of nonstate actors. Consequently, the institutional design of the RCS falls short in fostering effective multidimensional collaboration among diverse actors. This study contributes to the literature on collaborative governance by offering insights into the institutional design of collaborative water governance within an authoritarian context and sheds lights on China's recent reforms of environmental governance.

Social enterprise development in Ireland: making a case for actor-network-theory

PurposeThe development of social enterprises in Ireland holds much promise with regards to the potential to create innovation and growth within local economies. However, fulfilling this promise requires the ability to recognise the complexities of this multifaced sector. In response, this article proposes Actor-Network-Theory (ANT) as having the theoretical capability to develop and create further progress in social enterprise development in Ireland.Design/methodology/approachANT upholds that reality consists of series of heterogeneous networks composed of relations between entities. This relational lens foregrounds the interactions among the varied actors involved in social enterprise. To investigate the capabilities of ANT, this paper aligns ANT with three core areas of concern for social enterprise research: structure, power and shared meaning.FindingsANT works to address these identified key concerns by bridging the conceptual divide between theory and practice within the social enterprise sector. This brings to light the state of affairs as empirically practiced and not as recognised under traditional dualisms. As a result, the influences which shape the collective reality of social enterprise networks can be empirically investigated.Originality/valueAs an alternative sensibility, the core capabilities of ANT lie in the ability of the theory to reclaim an empirical grasp of a local environment. In this instance, it is demonstrated as to how this theoretical approach can be used to understand how growth and development manifests within social enterprise networks. From this, there is a great potential to use these insights to direct change in the place of random, and often contested, growth.

The right to the ecological city: Reconciling ecological sustainability and social justice in a neighbourhood transformation in Turin

Cities have gained increasing attention in the debate on how to tackle the global environmental crisis. However, urban strategies for sustainability have often been criticised for being insufficient in effectively mitigating environmental impacts due to externalisation and cost-shifting, and for producing social contradictions, such as ecological gentrification. Rather than considering these critiques as reasons to abandon ecological urban transformations, this article advocates for the right to the ecological city, for which the goals of ecological sustainability and social justice need to be reconciled through a degrowth strategy based on the principles of sufficiency, reuse and sharing. However, this theoretical framework encounters several challenges in urban practice. These are discussed through the author’s lens as an observant participant in the Fondazione di Comunità Porta Palazzo, a community foundation involved in the transformation of the neighbourhoods of Aurora and Porta Palazzo in Turin, Italy, through projects focused on public space and housing. The discussion of these challenges suggests that while the right to the ecological city is hard to achieve, it remains an important goal in the transformation of cities and neighbourhoods, one that must rely on structural change driven by diverse actors across multiple scales.

Communicative Situations and Scenarios across Socio-technical Contexts of In-house Translation Departments at Industrial Enterprises

This article presents a descriptive study based on a series of interviews (11 h 37 min) with translators at seven different enterprises located in the Chelyabinsk region, Russia. It focuses on translation decision-making processes in hybrid environments combining face-to-face and mediated interaction. The objective of this study is to identify the differences and similarities in the communicative situations described by the translators, and to establish categories to describe the ways socio-technical contexts affect the translators’ expert actions. A review of studies that apply actor-network theory (ANT) to study translation workflows across diverse production contexts is presented. Drawing on Skopos theory and ANT, the authors identify two types of scenarios in translators’ interactions with a variety of actors, including technologies that influence translation activity during skopos specification, target-text production, and quality control. The authors argue that the principal aim of the translation departments’ individual information infrastructure is to mitigate uncertainty in the decision-making process. This study demonstrates how translators augment their work environment to optimize expert performance using technological and organizational solutions. Possible ways to enhance the efficiency of translation departments at industrial enterprises are discussed.

Between morality and the law: negotiating protection for queer asylum seekers in Niger’s asylum administration

ABSTRACT Moral economies of asylum can be shaped by conflicts between legal norms to protect queer refugees and dominant heteronormativity. Beyond bureaucrats’ own moral subjectivities, this article suggests that organizational designs and procedures importantly shape the way they resolve such moral conflicts. In contrast to the single-agent decision-making familiar in the Global North, many states in the Global South use inter-ministerial eligibility committees composed of multiple (non-)state actors for the asylum decision-making. This article provides the first ethnographic research on such a committee in Niger. I argue that when the first queer migrants sought asylum in Niger, this organizational structure allowed for the active negotiation of procedures with UNHCR, further investigations on an applicant’s sexual orientation and gender identity by laypeople in the ‘morality check,’ and the weighing of normatively loaded evidence in the deliberation. Despite hegemonic heteronormativity, this organizational structure made protecting queer refugees to an object of negotiation and institutional emergence between these diverse actors, rather than precluding it from the outset. This suggests a relational, processual perspective on moral economies that centers procedures as a means of conflict resolution and their effects on the knowledge production of asylum seekers.

Limits of circularity: Examining ruptures to valuation work in Tunisia's used clothing economy

Used clothing has long constituted a cherished consumer good and crucial source of livelihoods in Tunisia. Yet a marked deterioration in the quality of used garment imports, as well as the proliferation of homogenous fast-fashion stocks, has diminished opportunities for value retrieval. This article sets out from this qualitative decline on the markets of North Africa's largest current importer and re-exporter of used clothing to challenge framings of the global used clothing trade as a circular economy. Circularity, which is primarily premised on possibilities of reuse in the clothing value chain, has been promoted as an economically viable solution to the apparel industry's surplus production and the catastrophic environmental impact of ever-faster cycles of production, consumption and discard. However, images of illicit textile waste dumps in the Global South have exposed how the global used garment trade shifts a disposal problem to countries with weaker regulatory frameworks. This article extends such critiques of circularity by shifting attention from the dumpsite to the economic processes by which diverse actors actually enable reuse. An ethnographic study of what the article terms valuation work sheds light on the labour-intensive, material practices that enable circularity, but that are also prone to rupture or breakdown. This in turn elucidates how qualitative changes on the global used clothing market erode profit margins and devalue labour at a particular back end of the value chain. Unpacking the contingent and site-specific processes that show how the circular economy works in practice not only exposes the social and environmental injustices the framing obfuscates; it also points to alternative forms of knowledge production that might reorient critical debates about what circularity is and can be in the future.

Citizen science and the nexus approach: unlocking synergies for sustainable development

Abstract This article explores how citizen science can contribute to achieving the United Nations (UN) sustainable development goals (SDGs) by focusing on the complex and sometimes interrelated nature of sustainability challenges. Citizen science presents a unique opportunity to ethically engage communities in research by actively involving them in defining sustainability targets, gathering data, and analysing results, thereby generating actionable insights that directly inform both local and global sustainability efforts. The authors advocate for integrating citizen science with the nexus approach to environmental resources management, which examines the interrelatedness and interdependencies that are inherent within complex systems, emphasising the relationships among water, energy, and food systems. The nexus approach proposes strategies to enhance the role of citizen science in addressing sustainability challenges. These include strengthening collective interaction and knowledge exchange between the five subsystems described by the quintuple helix innovation model, namely policy, science, industry, society and environment. The article also highlights the importance of inclusive participation, co-defining localised sustainability indicators, and co-creating citizen-led actions. By empowering communities to engage in participatory knowledge production and promoting multi-actor collaboration, citizen science not only has the potential to contribute valuable data to monitoring progress on the SDGs but also to help deliver on the UN’s pledge to ‘leave no one behind.’ Ultimately, creating an inclusive environment for the participation of diverse societal actors in nexus-oriented research and innovation can unlock the full potential of citizen science in advancing the SDGs and ensuring a sustainable future.

The Global Rise of Anti-Gender Movements and Feminist Resistance Strategies

In recent years, there has been a noticeable surge in anti-gender and anti-feminist discourses in international politics. Politicians, policymakers, and diverse societal actors in various countries challenge or reject feminist ideas and gender-related concepts, as well as support policy changes that erode the structures and institutions that have been instrumental in upholding women's rights, promoting gender equality, and protecting the rights of LGBTQ people. This special issue of Politikon: The IAPSS Journal of Political Science seeks to explore the multifaceted nature of these discourses, examining their origins, implications, and potential impacts on domestic, regional, and international levels. Additionally, it aims to identify strategies and opportunities for feminist resistance and advocacy in the face of the backlash.

Value cocreation-oriented digital platform design: a method for requirements elicitation and platform assessment

In the evolving landscape of digital platforms, there is increasing emphasis on their role as facilitators of value co-creation, where diverse actors exchange and recombine resources within platform ecosystems for mutual benefit. The alignment between digital platform design and the diverse requirements of all value-cocreating actors is crucial for fostering value co-creation and mitigating value co-destruction as the platform and its ecosystem co-evolve. To address this need for alignment, this article proposes a method developed through design science research. The method guides requirement elicitation based on the desired value cocreation of actors within their platform ecosystems and supports platform assessment against these requirements. Applied to a digital healthcare platform business case and evaluated through a focus group study, the results provide positive evidence of the method’s usefulness, ease of use, and users’ intention to use the method.

Collaborative governance in “community energy planning”: insights from an intersectoral governance network in Durham Region, Canada

ABSTRACT Collaborative governance (CG) has arisen as a useful template for navigating decentralised energy systems at the local level by involving formalised procedures for governance across a network of organisations. By incorporating CG into community energy planning processes, local governments have a framework for involving diverse actors. CG processes, however, also exist within the context of broader systemic constraints and inequalities that impact how organisations collaborate. Given that CG may be seen as a path toward more just and democratic energy governance, it is important for researchers and practitioners to understand both its opportunities and limitations in-practice. Our case study investigates a network of local organisations in Durham Region, Canada, where CG is being used for implementation of the region’s community energy plan. We use a mixed methods approach, incorporating a quantitative social network analysis and qualitative thematic analysis, to examine how and why organisations are collaborating within the local network. Our study illustrates the complexity of these arrangements. While local governments facilitating CG initiatives are well-positioned to mobilise local actors and build connectivity in their community, they are also limited in addressing broader systemic challenges, including asymmetric power dynamics that impact outcomes and erode social trust; resource gaps that exacerbate challenges and lead to competition between organisations; and energy literacy gaps that impede those lacking expertise. Thus, while CG represents an important framework for local energy governance, its potential is constrained by deep-rooted structural limitations that may require comprehensive solutions beyond the capacity of local actors alone.

Regimes of hope: livelihood, social mobility, and autonomy in Sport for Development programs in the Global South

ABSTRACT Sport is widely recognized as a powerful tool for promoting ‘social good,’ with significant potential for advancing personal, community, and economic development. In this context, the impact of Sport for Development (SfD) programs on livelihood and social mobility has been examined. However, research remains limited on the autonomous steps youth take to enhance their livelihood chances. This study examines how participants in SfD programs within the Global South navigate the program's objectives to pursue their career pathways and opportunities in sport. Drawing on eleven months of ethnographic research in two sport-based organizations in São Paulo, Brazil, and semi-structured interviews with diverse actors, this paper uses Freire’s pedagogy of autonomy and the notion of hope as theoretical lenses. The findings reveal that participants actively shape their futures through SfD projects, crafting autonomous pathways toward improved livelihoods and aspiring for professionalization within the sport sector. Although their opportunities are influenced by neoliberal ideals, the SfD initiatives foster hope and nurture a strong sense of identity among participants. In their pursuit of better livelihoods and social mobility, young people strive to break free from the likelihood of failure within the ‘regimes of hope’ in the Brazilian football system. Findings show how the pedagogy of autonomy can be a promising theoretical avenue to conceptualize SfD in terms of its participants’ search for independent livelihood and social mobility. The paper concludes by emphasizing the need for SfD actors to view the SfD curriculum as an ongoing dialogic construction, collaboratively shaped with participants, to better reflect their lived experiences and aspirations.

Identifying story types of PhD candidates lecturing in higher professional education: “ups and downs”, “turnaround”, “continuous growth”, and “scholarly recognition”

Purpose Guided by the quest concept, this study aims to explore how profession-focused PhD candidates, who are concurrently lecturing at a Dutch University of Applied Sciences (UAS), make sense of change while pursuing doctoral objectives. The research question was: How do these PhD candidates navigate, experience and evaluate their enduring profession-focused doctoral quests across the nexus of research, education and professional fields, considering their aspirations? Design/methodology/approach Eight PhD candidates shared one-year quest experiences, illustrating how interactions with ‘actors’, ‘settings’ and ‘events’ shape doctoral transitions. These narratological concepts guided within-case and cross-case analyses, while grounded theory methodologies served to explore candidates’ sense-making of change over time. Findings Four story types of doctoral transitions emerged: “ups and downs”, “turnaround”, “continuous growth” and “scholarly recognition”. Candidates valued the Dutch UASs’ formal policy of supporting academic research with professional relevance. Across the story types, differences in aligning doctoral expectations among research and workplace supervisors and candidates affected knowledge exchange throughout the doctorate. When available, engagement in varied and comprehensive doctoral learning resources advanced candidates’ research competencies, including bridging diverse knowledge types. Autonomous candidate navigation was crucial for building partnerships, accessing dispersed learning resources and responding to uncertainties. Collaborative learning involving BSc-MSc students, colleagues and practitioners varied in strength across the story types, but enhanced the doctorate’s relevance, visible outcomes, feasibility and sustainability. The story types represent transition patterns that shaped how candidates developed new knowledge and contributed to their fields. While passion was a key motivator for candidates, it also heightened their vulnerability. Practical implications Analysing patterns in doctoral transitions provided actionable insights for optimising conditions and candidate navigation within the science–profession nexus. Originality/value The findings highlight that diverse actors can contribute to and benefit from profession-focused doctorates, driving momentum in integrating this research into education and innovation.

Structuring wicked problems in science communication

AbstractPublic policy scholars increasingly deal with wicked problems and how diverse actors structure these problems in policy processes. However, the role of actors at the interface of science and society such as science communicators in structuring wicked problems remains widely unclear. This paper analyzes how science communicators translate wicked problems in their science communication activities focusing on two research questions: How do science communicators understand the problem territories they are dealing with in terms of their wickedness? And to what degree do science communicators aim to tame or communicate wickedness to the public? To answer these two questions, 20 science communication projects implemented within the German Science Year 2022 “Participate” were analyzed. Data were collected through 20 online interviews with science communicators, including both open and closed questions. Results reveal that the wickedness of public policy problems only partly translates into science communication practice: Science communicators understand problems rather broadly, crystallizing in a rather medium degree of wickedness. At the same time, science communicators tend to tame wicked problems by addressing specific facets of problems rather than translating the overall wickedness they perceive. Results add to research about the role of different actors in structuring wicked public policy problems and the role of intermediary actors in these processes, in particular.

Policing cross-border fraud ‘Above and below the surface’: mapping actions and developing a more effective global response

Cross-border fraud, including its various forms such as online retail fraud, pyramid schemes, romance fraud and pig butchering, is a major problem around the world. Despite clear evidence that cross-border fraud is growing, there is little research charting the scale of cross-border fraud and the optimal policing responses to deal with it. This paper aims to fill this research gap by exploring what we know about the nature of cross-border fraud and current policing response. Unlike in other crime areas with a cross-border element, international bodies and nation states have shown very little interest in addressing cross-border frauds through what we term the higher profile ‘above the surface’ activities. Instead, policing responses have been present on a much larger scale in the private sector ‘below the surface’, with much less profile. Moreover, the paper argues that while cooperation and coordination between the public and private sector actors is crucial, there are very few policing structures bringing these diverse actors together to tackle cross-border fraud, among other gaps. By drawing on examples of alternative structures dealing with cross-border economic crime, the paper informs policy-makers by mapping out key actions and structures which should be considered to better tackle the global problem of cross-border fraud.