Breaking the hunger cycle: Can women's empowerment solve Africa's undernourishment crisis?

Purpose The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into tourism offers transformative potential for advancing sustainable tourism development (STD). Despite growing interest in AI applications in tourism, existing literature lacks a theoretically grounded and empirically validated framework that links AI with sustainable empowerment strategies and tourist engagement (TE) as pathways to STD. To address this gap, the study aims to draw on the Value-Attitude-Behaviour (VAB) and Empowerment theories to conceptualise and validate a structural model to explain the relational dynamics between AI and STD. Design/methodology/approach Primary data were collected from 303 domestic and international tourists in the Hail region of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia using a two-wave time-lagged survey. Quantitative methodology was used to analyse the hypothesised relationships. Findings Findings reveal that AI significantly enhances sustainable psychological, social and political empowerment, which in turn positively influences TE. Furthermore, TE serves as a strong predictor of STD, highlighting the crucial role of empowerment and engagement in translating AI capabilities into sustainable outcomes. Originality/value The study contributes to tourism literature by offering a novel theory-driven framework that explicates the mechanism through which AI drives STD.

Women’s Political Empowerment and Economic Complexity in Developing Countries: The Role of Natural Resources

From Legislative Intent to Structural Transformation: Women's Political Empowerment in India (2023-2026)

This study provides a comprehensive and multidimensional analysis of the role of women’s political participation in fostering and institutionalizing participatory democracy in Algeria. Drawing upon a combination of legal-institutional analysis, political sociology, and comparative democratic theory, the research examines how women’s engagement in political processes contributes to the transformation of governance structures, civic inclusion, and democratic legitimacy. The study integrates constitutional developments, electoral reforms, and international commitments—particularly those aligned with global gender equality frameworks—to evaluate the extent to which formal guarantees translate into substantive political empowerment. Empirically, the research analyzes patterns of women’s representation in elected councils, decision-making positions, and civil society organizations, highlighting both progress and persistent structural constraints. The findings reveal that, despite significant legal advancements—such as constitutional provisions promoting gender equality and quota-based representation— women’s political participation in Algeria remains limited by deeply rooted socio-cultural norms, institutional inertia, and the constrained autonomy of civil society actors. Moreover, the study demonstrates that participatory democracy in Algeria continues to exhibit predominantly formal characteristics, with limited effective citizen engagement in policy formulation and governance processes. The article argues that enhancing women’s political participation is not merely a question of representation but a fundamental prerequisite for achieving inclusive, responsive, and accountable governance. It further contends that the consolidation of participatory democracy requires a holistic approach that combines legal reforms with cultural transformation, institutional transparency, and the empowerment of independent civil society structures. By situating the Algerian case within broader theoretical and comparative perspectives, this study contributes to the ongoing scholarly discourse on gender, democratization, and participatory governance in transitional and developing political systems.

This study is on how women's political engagement has changed in the tribal rich state of Arunachal Pradesh. It charts the transition from customary exclusion to leadership positions, illustrating the influence of policy and societal change. The study examines historical roles, representation growth, and advocacy using primary and secondary sources, such as APWWS reports and statistics from the Legislative Assembly and PRIs. It looks at important issues and ways to empower women in politics. Despite advancements brought about by constitutional and legislative backing, full participation is nevertheless impeded by institutional and cultural hurdles, underscoring both the successes and continuous challenges in women's political empowerment.

In past years Self Help Groups (SHG's) has some greater impact on women's life in India. SHG's have not only impacted on economic, socio- cultural life of women but also their political decision making. Endowed with group power and collective bargaining capacities SHG's has empowered women to decide their vote, choose and contest in election of different political platforms which are formal and non- formal in nature. In Bihar because of ingrained social blockages like caste, patriarchy and other unfavorable social conditions, women are socially and culturally suppressed. Historically they were dependent on male members of the family for their decision regarding voting preference. They were also deprived of taking decisions at home which were very crucial for their lives. But recently this equation has changed and society has witnessed some positive trends in different parts of the country. Based on empirical data, present study is about women's decision making capacity at home which is private in nature and autonomy of women in political participation which is public in nature. The issue of control over voting preference and decision making are important indicator for women's political empowerment. Data drawn from members of SHG groups of Bisfi block in Madhubani district of Bihar, this study tries to explain how their participation in politics and decision making at home changed after joining self-help group.

This article examines the role of socio-economic conditions in shaping empowerment, based on an ethnographic study conducted in 2022–2023 with three groups of indigenous women working in the tourism sector in El Alto, Bolivia: Cholitas Escaladoras, Cholitas Luchadoras, and female guides. The study shows that socio-economic structures contribute to both empowerment and disempowerment. In the context of El Alto, social capital, including family networks and associations, and labour relations emerge as key factors. Horizontal labour relations, which foster collaboration and shared decision-making, are associated with greater economic, social, and political empowerment, while vertical structures tend to limit agency and create dependency. These findings underscore the importance of considering contextual socio-economic conditions when analysing empowerment, offering a holistic understanding of how it manifests across different groups.

The aim of this study was to develop suitable measures and strategies through a trans- and interdisciplinary discourse to improve pandemic management in (acute) inpatient care facilities (clinics, nursing homes) and thereby reduce the burden on nursing staff.Two scenario-based workshops were conducted-one focused on acute care and the other on long-term care. Following a collaborative, transdisciplinary approach, the workshops integrated perspectives from nursing practice, research, and relevant institutions. Using foresight methods such as the Futures Wheel and Ideation Canvas, participants co-developed potential solutions for optimizing pandemic preparedness and response. A total of 38 participants took part in the two-day workshops (acute care: 18; long-term care: 20).Participants developed outcomes at both structural and organizational levels, identifying short- and long-term effective strategies and interventions. Key findings addressed areas such as communication, internal organization, interface management, and the involvement of nursing practitioners. Examples include the (political) empowerment and increased participation of nurses, the development of digital and interdisciplinary structures, including skill-grade mix teams. Across both care settings, participants emphasized the need for formal nursing representation and clearly defined professional roles and responsibilities.Effective crisis management in inpatient care settings requires a systemic approach that integrates actions at the micro, meso, and macro levels. Coordinated collaboration between policy, science, and practice is essential to strengthen system resilience and sustainably improve working conditions in healthcare.

Women’s electoral participation constitutes a critical dimension of democratic inclusiveness and political equality. In India, although constitutional guarantees have ensured formal political rights for women since independence, their substantive participation in electoral politics remains uneven. This paper examines the key social, economic, cultural, and institutional factors influencing women’s participation as voters, candidates, and political representatives. Using illustrative trend-based indicators, the study highlights a persistent gap between women’s increasing voter turnout and their limited representation in legislative institutions. The paper further analyses existing policy measures and proposes strategic interventions aimed at enhancing women’s political empowerment. It argues that achieving equitable representation requires institutional reforms complemented by sustained socio-cultural transformation and political commitment.

ABSTRACT This article examines how gender-based vulnerabilities motivate political action among Israeli women in the face of far-right populist politics. Analysing the case study of Building an Alternative’s Women in Red (WIR), it explores how Israeli women mobilize their vulnerability against the erosion of the gender order by the far right. Drawing on feminist theories of vulnerability, the study analyses interviews with WIR activists to reveal how the government’s proposed judicial overhaul has profoundly impacted the development of their critical awareness and activism. The vulnerable embodied experiences of protesting as handmaids also fostered a new sense of activist identity and collective political empowerment. The findings highlight how shared vulnerability can become a resource for relational, politically oriented, vulnerability-based alliances that offer mutual support in resisting an anti-gender agenda. These alliances enable women to mobilize vulnerability in order to disrupt everyday reproduction of gender hierarchy, ultimately positioning women’s rights at the centre of Israeli political discourse and fostering new forms of leadership. The article concludes by pointing out the movement’s strengths and limitations: despite their success in the height of the protests against the judicial overhaul, WIR predominantly attracted privileged middle-class Jewish women, with limited mobilization of vulnerability in marginalized communities.

Through doctrinal analysis structured around the IRAC framework, this study examines how Chief Justice Warren engineered Brown v. Board of Education to overturn “separate but equal.” He shifted the Issue from original intent to social reality; displaced the Rule by distinguishing Plessy as a transportation case; drew on Sweatt and McLaurin to analyze intangible harms, holding that segregation generates “a feeling of inferiority” affecting “hearts and minds”; and concluded that “separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.” This reframing dismantled a half‑century of doctrine. The decision’s inevitability arose from World War II, Cold War pressures, Black political empowerment, and economic integration. Yet implementation proved uneven, producing white flight, marginalization of Black educators, and—compounded by Rodriguez and residential segregation—de facto resegregation. Contemporary inequality now spans funding, teacher quality, and college access, while Students for Fair Admissions retreats from Brown’s logic. Brown’s legacy is thus a legal triumph that exposed the judiciary’s limits; its promise of genuine educational equality remains unfinished.

The political representation of women in Gilgit Baltistan(GB) Pakistan remains low because the region lacks effective implementation of constitutional measures despite its citizens possess high educational attainment. The 2020 elections to the Legislative Assembly demonstrated this contradiction because only a maximum number of women ran for office but none received direct election and the total female representation amounted to 1.98 percent only. This research paper presents four main impediments through its qualitative research design which includes 25 interviews and participant observation. The established patriarchy together with cultural beliefs restrict women to their traditional role as homemakers. The quota systems companies use as a practice provide only cosmetic means to achieve their goal of diversifying their workforce. The economic dependence of women prevents them from using their time for campaigning or entering political parties. The political ignorance of people continues to create situations where they depend on male partners for support. Furthermore, theoretical insights of Michel Foucault about discipline and power enable an understanding of exclusion as a method, which uses controlled & docile bodies to fulfill patriarchy's traditional standards. The semi-provincial status of GB territory increases institutional discrimination against its people. The study recommends that organizations need to develop skills through fair resource distribution while executing structural modifications which will remove disciplinary practices that currently restrict female involvement to symbolic representation instead of true empowerment.

The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, which is a flagship government initiative, attempts to increase the livelihood security in rural regions since it ensures 100 days of wage employment in a financial year to all rural households that have their adult members volunteer to perform unskilled manual labour (Mishra, 2024). This project will target the fight against poverty in rural areas through alleviating economic status and demand for goods and services necessary for the growth of the nation. The government hails the statute as “the largest and most ambitious social security and public works program in the world”. Word Bank, in its World Development Report 2014, termed it a “Stellar example of Rural Development.” This is a holistic program that also aims at promoting social inclusion and empowerment of marginalised communities, especially women, through giving them the chance of having independent sources of income and also increased access to community development. MGNREGA is a significant source of household income and spending, as well as enhancing the socio-economic decision-making power of rural female residents (who live in traditionally patriarchal communities (Mishra, 2024). Due to the complex goals and a large scope of MGNREGA program, it is crucial to conduct a detailed analysis of the effects this program produces on beneficiaries, specifically in Haryana. In this research, the researcher uses factor analysis to provide a systematic evaluation of the socio-economic effects of MGNREGA on the beneficiaries in the state of Haryana, which has its distinct agricultural and socio-cultural dynamics (Muthumari, 2024). The current study will add to the extant information by bringing an in-depth insight as to how interventions of MGNREGA can be translated into practical alterations in the lives of rural households in Haryana, with respect to ascertaining the factors that can either favour or hinder the same. An attempt has also been made to analyse factors affecting the socio-economic and political empowerment of beneficiaries under the

This is a narrative essay written by Francis Calpotura, an experienced community organizer reflecting on lessons from his career, his family’s migration experience, and his assessment of what future successful organizing will require. Calpotura’s focus is an underlying tension in democratic organizing praxis: the tradeoffs between the work required for immediate issue actions, that engage and train members, and systemic transformation for durable social equality. Drawing from the works of Norma Wong and Doug McAdam, Calpotura proposes that organizations collaborate on emergent “horizon-conscious” strategy: a theoretical framework and tool for how organizers can work towards a co-created future, beyond the wins and losses of particular campaigns. In confronting this tradeoff, his approach honors the organizing profession’s cultivation of both individual liberation and shared political empowerment.

Political empowerment is considered as the highest form of development. A nature of political participation should be developed so that all section of people can equally participate such a development process. Democratic political system granted universal adult suffrage and participation of all section. Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, the father of Indian constitution and leader of the disadvantage section of the society devoted his life for the betterment of the scheduled caste community and rid of from all kind of exploitation and deprivation. Mahatma Gandhi, the father of the Indian nation had instigated true democracy lies in the participation of common men in the political process. To keeping in mind, the ideology of father of nation, the makers of Indian constitution introduced democratic decentralization in the country. And the process further extends through the enactment of 73rd and 74th constitutional amendment to recognized through constitutional provision. From Community development program to present form of the local governance has initiated to extend the political empowerment. Historically, the scheduled castes community are subjugated in various ways and placed them in a bottom rank of social hierarchy. The processes of development have been started with the advent of British rule in India. After the independence, the government of India have been incorporated various provision in the constitution to the development of disadvantage section generally and the scheduled caste particular. The condition of women in general and the scheduled caste in particular is deplorable. They were subjected to various form of exploitation i.e. caste and gender. In this study, the aim is to find out the level of political participation of scheduled caste woman in panchayat institution in Tripura.

Political empowerment of women is a crucial aspect of democratic governance and inclusive development. Over the years, various constitutional amendments, policy interventions, and social movements have contributed to enhancing women’s participation in urban governance. However, achieving full political empowerment remains a challenge due to social, economic, and institutional barriers. The Present study is an endeavour to examine the political participation and representation of women in urban local bodies in Rohtak district. It is an effort to study the political empowerment of women in urban local bodies. The research is based on qualitative and quantitative analysis of participation level, leadership roles, policy impacts, and socio-cultural bottlenecks.

The increasing deployment of the gender-specific welfare schemes, commonly which is referred to as “freebies,” has become one of the defining feature of the contemporary electoral politics in India. Across the ideological divide, the political groupings are offering special Favor to women including free transportation, direct cash transfer, free cooking gas, flybys by bicycle and housing allowance to lure the women voters to its side. Although such measures can be readily justified in certain instances, regarding social justice and equality of the genders, the manner of such measures or how it is electrolyzed has posed substantial constitutional, democratic and ethical concerns. The paper is a critical argumentative article on either gender specific freebies are non-durative concerning electoral inducements or will lead to the reported apparent political empowerment and the substantive agency of the women votes in the long-term perspective. This paper will elaborate on the recent state and local elections in India to evaluate how women have changed the political behaviour, voting patterns, and entry into party discourse in the electoral process basing on the constitutional ideals, electoral jurisprudence, welfare state theory and the feminist political theory. The thesis accepted in this paper is that despite opportunities of entry into the political sphere of ethnic units through these schemes there is the risk of dependency, gender broadly instrumentalization and there is also the leaching out of the system of democratic accountability other than to insert the schemes into the system of rights based and institutionalised systems of welfare.

Belgium experienced early industrialisation based on coal. Economists soon realised that these resources were essential for development, with coal being referred to as the “black bread” of the industry. Gradually, attention turned to the mining sector as a source of social stability, political empowerment, and national cohesion. Coal became a source of “white bread.” This article examines these evolving views from the 1840s to the 1930s, arguing that Belgian society experienced multidimensional carbon lock-in. It also analyses early Belgian theoretical contributions to the economics of exhaustible resources.

Bringing women in decision making process through the implementation of Panchayati Raj Institution enhances women’s political empowerment. Appearance of women in grass root politics ensures two-way benefits. First, it boosts their economic, social and political status. Second, it makes the democracy stronger and more meaningful. This study mainly aims to assess the nature of the exact scenario of political empowerment through participation and representation of marginalized tribal women in active politics. This study truly relies on the primary data base which has been collected through a well-structured questionnaire survey by applying purposive stratified random sampling technique in the tribal dominated villages of Jhargram District. Political Empowerment Index has been calculated to define the exact scenario. The study reveals that more than half of the tribal women represent the Panchayati Raj Institution mainly because of the mandatory reservation system for women. More than 80 percent of the tribal women are less interested and aware about active political participation in grass root decision making process. Majority of tribal women agree about the lack of education, training, family pressure, caste discrimination, non-cooperation from male political leaders is the major hindrances in the path of their successful progress in the political arena. Finally, this research extracts the fact that the entry in grass root politics has no doubt opened a new door for the tribal women to be politically empowered but this seems a fallacy because of low level of political empowerment index value. Thus, it could not be wrong to say that there is a wider gap between the constitutional opportunity and the real exercise in the power game in Panchayati Raj Institution. These sections of marginalized tribal women have to go a long journey for achieving the desired goal of political empowerment.