Threat Of Insecurity Research Articles

Training students to serve as standardized patients in an objective structured clinical examination is feasible: A mixed-methods study

AimThis study aimed to evaluate examinees’ perceptions of the performance of student standardized patients (SPs) and to explore student SPs’ experiences. BackgroundObjective structured clinical examination (OSCE) is a standard approach to the task of evaluating students’ clinical competency that relies on SPs. However, professional SPs are characterized by high costs and insufficient availability. Training students to serve as SPs can help address this lack of OSCE resources. However, only preliminary evidence regarding this process and its feasibility has been reported. DesignWe used a concurrent mixed-method study design that included quantitative surveys and qualitative group interviews. MethodsOur sample consisted of two-year Bachelor of Nursing program students and trained student SPs who were recruited in May 2021. We used a 5-item performance evaluation tool to assess the SPs’ performance. The reliability of this evaluation tool was indicated by a Cronbach’s α coefficient of.95. Descriptive statistics were used to assess the examinees’ satisfaction with the student SPs’ performance using SPSS 28.0 software. We used a semi-structured interview guide during a group interview; the interview was transcribed verbatim and analyzed via thematic analysis with the assistance of Microsoft Word software. ResultsEighty-two nursing school students responded to the survey and 10 student SPs were included in a group interview. Nursing school students rated SPs’ performance favorably. The mean score assigned to the SPs on the performance scale was 4.41 out of 5. The student SPs described the challenges and benefits that they experienced regarding their role. The challenges they described included 1) staying true to my role, 2) overcoming a physically overwhelming role and 3) facing the threat of insecurity. However, the corresponding benefits included 1) gaining rewards, 2) advancing nursing competency and 3) experiencing a sense of accomplishment. ConclusionAfter undergoing training, the SPs performed well. They experienced a variety of challenges and obtained certain benefits. In health care education, recruiting students to serve as SPs is feasible.

Changing Insecurity Threats in Nigeria from 1999-2021

This study examines the changing insecurity threats in Nigeria, focusing on the significant causes of insecurity threats in Nigeria since 1999, the impacts of changing insecurity threats on human security, and strategies that the government could adopt to curb insecurity threats. The study address insecurity threats not only from the traditional security approach but also incorporated human and social security approach. As a matter of fact, most of the research on security studies heavily rely on the traditional security approach. The study adopts a qualitative research approach, and secondary data obtained from journals, articles, organization reports, academic materials, libraries, the internet, and newspapers were analyzed with hermeneutics approach. Elites’ theory and relative deprivation theory were adopted as the study theoretical framework. The study shows that several insecurity threats exist in all the six geopolitical zones in Nigeria which includes; Kidnapping, Insurgent groups, Separatist agitators, Boko-Haram, Herdsmen-farmers conflict. The study gave certain recommendations and advises the government to adopt the composite model approach, perceiving security as a collective responsibility of individuals, government, religious groups, business organization, and civil society. The study further provides the following recommendations that government must ensure good governance and promote democratic principles, government should train and retrain security operatives, government should also invest in agriculture, health and education. The study also recommend that the Nigerian government should set up a referendum that will cut across nooks and crannies of the country and must also address crucial issues that threaten the peaceful coexistence of Nigerians.

Terrorism and regional trade: a study of Boko Haram in the Lake Chad region from 2012- 2020

This study examines how terrorist actions, namely those of Boko Haram (BHT), have impacted regional commerce in the Lake Chad Region. This article looks at the terrorist actions and insurgency of the Islamic fundamentalist group Boko Haram in the states of Western and Central Africa. Boko Haram wants to topple the governments of Nigeria and Chad in order to impose a harsh version of Sharia rule over the nation, which is home to over 230 million people of all ethnic backgrounds. Boko Haram started an extremely aggressive insurgency in 2009, which has resulted in the deaths of almost 18,000 people and the destruction of property valued at millions of dollars via explosives and massacres. This has severely harmed the region's economy by affecting trade ties between neighbouring countries in the Lake Chad region and the rest of the globe. The primary focus of the paper is on the political, military, and legal responses of Nigeria and its neighbouring countries to the hazardous acts of Boko Haram, which they see as the most effective means of putting an end to the insurgency. It also discusses Boko Haram's demands and ideology in short. The paper employs a qualitative methodology to examine international relations, with a particular emphasis on the concept of political economics of terrorism. This theory looks at the relationship between economic problems including poverty, inequality, and resource availability and how it relates to terrorism. Scientists with expertise in economics, political science, and sociology collaborated to develop the concept of the political economy of terrorism. According to the report, the insecurity threat posed by Boko Haram assaults prevents foreign investments and significantly halts local business and economic operations.

Editorial

Editorial

From Epidemic to Pandemic: Covid-19, Insecurity and Development in the Sahel

Security is a sine qua non for development. The Sahel is a troubled region and is described as the hotbed of insecurity in Africa. This state of insecurity was compounded by the outbreak of Covid-19. This article examines the regional impact of the pandemic on insecurity and development. It uses a meta-analysis and reviews secondary data to underscore the security and development imbroglio in the Sahel within the context of Covid-19. It was found that Covid-19 exacerbated the insecurity threat in the region due to pre-existing weak governance, poor capacity, grievances and climate change, which had already resulted in fragility, food insecurity, displacement, loss of livelihood, poverty, unemployment, hunger and a humanitarian crisis. The study concludes that armed groups took advantage of the health crisis to prolong conflicts which, coupled with the pre-existing economic conditions, became anathema to development. The article recommends that governments in the region should increase their health budget and enhance their capacity to respond to health emergencies such as the Covid-19 outbreak. The article further recommends that governments in the Sahelian states should prioritise good governance, improved security and regional cooperation to combat poverty.

‘Radio as usual’? Digital technologies and radio in conflict-Affected Burkina Faso

This article identifies four new realities shaping the ways in which Burkinabe radio journalists deal with the insecurity threat that emerged in 2015 and the rise of terrorism in the region, all of which are related to digital technologies. First, digital technologies may symbolically strengthen the collective radio journalist-listener link; second, digital technologies are also tools that help journalists and audiences face the challenges of the new security situation; and third, digital technologies can represent risks to journalists and listeners. But this research also highlights, fourthly, that digital technologies can be inappropriate, and that the security context is creating a new modernity for former—more traditional—uses of radio. These realities indicate that digital technologies are integral to the appropriating and modernising process affecting traditional modes of listening and reception. Drawing on 37 interviews and three focus groups with Burkinabe community radio journalists in 2022, the article discusses existing literature in the Global North that highlights the significant disruptive effect of digital technology on radio both as a device, and in terms of broadcasting and listening practices, with it being suggested that traditional FM radio’s very survival is threatened. It finally shows that whilst digital technologies might sound a death knell for traditional broadcasting formats in the Global North, suggesting an ‘either/or’ situation, the situation differs in Burkina Faso, and therefore in other similarly affected conflict zones, where digital technologies reconceptualise the use of traditional radio without threatening it.

Coping with informal fish vending constraints and resilience implications among urban-based women fish vendors in Dar es Salaam

The aim of this study is to examine threats related to informal fish vending business among urban-based women and to propose strategies for overcoming the threats. Specifically, the study ascertains the threats associated with the fishing business and strategies for coping and the capacity to cope. Based on the multi-layered social resilience framework, this study used a qualitative design and a sample size of 30 participants obtained both randomly and purposively. The findings revealed that threats experienced by the vendors include stigma, fish scarcity, higher fish prices, inadequate business capital, various forms of gender-related violence such as sexual harassment, lack of legal status, and various forms of crime including robbery, theft, and pickpocketing. Findings further indicated that vendors managed to develop both reactive and proactive strategies for coping with the threats. Reactive strategies include joining small self-helping groups popularly known as Village Community Banking (VICOBA) and soliciting family and relative support against insecurity threats. Proactive strategies include securing business financing from credible institutions, business diversification and adopting new kinds of business, business registration and licensing, searching for and participating in education and capacity-building programs, as well as business advocacy. It is recommended that government support, provision of education, and access to credit, should be considered in supporting women fish vendors to cope with the threats in their fishing business activities.

Asymmetry and Power Disparity in East Africa: The Strength behind Interdependence and Cooperation in US-Kenya Counterterrorism

This study examined asymmetry and power disparity in US-Kenya bilateral relation to counterterrorism in East Africa. It employed a qualitative approach using a desktop approach. The study further employed secondary and primary data from incidents of terror attacks in East Africa since 9/11 period. The study is deemed significant because of notable persistent expansion of Al-Shabaab’s terrorist cells in the East African Region. Although this threat remains a concern to US-Kenya interests, the expansion of terror activities in regions such as the Central Africa and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) is alarming and brings relevance to this study. The study employed asymmetry theory as a benchmark to explain how international relations amongst states with visible power disparity can yield normalcy in bilateral and multilateral relations when tackling mutual insecurity threats such as terrorism. The study findings indicate that asymmetric bilateral relations are likely to respond positively to challenges posed by terrorism through counterterror measures pursued by means of interdependence and cooperation as is the case of US-Kenya asymmetric relationship. The counterterror measures employed through joint efforts despite the visible US-Kenya asymmetric power disparity present valuable lessons to the Southern African Region. Hence, the study recommends policy makers in Southern Africa to consider counterterror strategies that are incrementally multidimensional to better address the rising regional insecurities.

Effects of Climate Smart Agriculture Practices on Household Livelihoods in Soy Sub-county Kenya

Aims: This study sought to analyze the effects of adoption of Climate Smart Agriculture practices on farmers’ livelihoods in Soy sub County Kenya.
 Study Design: The study adopted a cross-sectional descriptive survey research design, specifically use of household questionnaires, and interviewing key informants were used to come up with both quantitative and qualitative data.
 Place and Duration of Study: the study was conducted in two sites in Soy sub-County Kenya: Soy and Kipsomba ward. The study was conducted in the period October –December 2019. 
 Methodology: Structured household questionnaires (N-196) and interviews with Key informant (N-6) were conducted in two agro-ecological zones. Descriptive statistical analysis was used .while results from key informants were used to collect valuable data that was useful in checking the validity of responses obtained through the use of questionnaires. 
 Results: The study found that 88.7% of the farming households that had adopted CSA practices led to increased yields, 73.46 % of farming households felt that the adoption led to increased income, 7.65 % felt that it has led to employment creation, 4.08 % felt that the adoption led to control of pest and 0.06 % felt that it led to control of weeds. This is an indication that the adoption of Climate Smart Agriculture practices can be the useful approach for mitigating climate variability effects, building more resilient livelihoods, improving food security and alleviating poverty. 
 Conclusion: in order to improve on the climate variability adaptation smallholder farmers need to adopt more of CSA practices to turn around the of food insecurity threats. The study concludes that the adoption of Climate Smart Agriculture practices positively and negatively influences the livelihoods of farming households in Soy sub- County.

The Government’s Interventions and Anti-famine Campaigns and Kalyongo Movement in Singida Region (1962-1985).

The article discusses anti-famine measures taken by the post-colonial government of Tanzania and local people’s responses to the interventions, specifically in Singida District from 1962 to 1985. Framing his inquiry and analysis within the political economy and social constructionist theories, the author examines the variety of government policy and enforcement strategies applied on one hand, and local communities’ agency and creativity on the other. The empirical data for the article was gathered from archival sources and through in-depth oral interviews. The main argument running through the article is that, although the post-colonial government introduced new methods and strategies for enhancing food security in the district, in the final analysis it was the resilience of time-tested local communities’ practices that effectively allayed food insecurity threats in post-colonial Singida District.

Securitisation of Migration Revisited: European Union Policies Through the Lens of Syrian Refugees Living in Turkey

The main aim of this study is to present migration as a ‘constructed’ societal insecurity threat that became substantial after the Cold War before peaking in 2015. This study applies securitization theory to the ongoing refugee crisis through in-depth interviews with a sample of Syrian settlers in Turkey to determine whether their reasons for choosing to stay in Turkey are linked to their perceptions of cultural insecurity in Europe. The interviews were made in November and December 2019 in Gaziantep, Antakya and İstanbul where most of the Syrian refugees are located. In that sense, the link between the securitisation theory and the interviews made in Turkey attempts to shed light on the awareness of Syrian refugees regarding the fact that the European Union (EU) has tried to create a culturally homogenous society and any kind of difference interfering in this homogeneity can be seen as a threat.

A Study Of Private Higher Education Universities In Punjab, Pakistan, To Examine The Effect Of Job Insecurity On Ostracism And Employee Outcomes

Synthesizing the Social exchange theory with workplace ostracism literature, we propose a research model to better understand how workplace ostracism effects employee’s outcome by focusing on moderating effect of political skills. Workplace ostracism perceived the process of exclusion and rejection in the workplace, affects academic faculty in Pakistan so it has attracted the consideration of many researchers in recent years. This study determines the impact of workplace ostracism on job insecurity and decides how political skills, acting as a facilitator affect the employee's outcome. Also, what are the implications of job insecurity threats for their employee outcome? The data were collected from privately owned universities in Lahore. 370 questionnaires were distributed, while 355 valid questionnaires were received. We used PLS software and performed tests of factor loads, convergence and reliability, htmt, discriminant validity and regression analysis for data analysis. The analytical findings revealed that political skills adversely affect employee outcomes and job insecurity mediates the impact of workplace ostracism on employee outcome.

Urban widows: living and negotiating gendered dispossession in speculative slum housing markets in Mumbai

The paper draws out the social and political struggles of everyday practices in slum neighbourhoods and the diverse strategies adopted by widows who are under threat of dispossession (the action of depriving someone of land, property home or other possessions). Insights are offered into how speculative processes have resulted in diversity of arrangements for home ownership and in the rental submarket. The perspectives of widows contribute to understanding how speculative urbanism and gentrification change social relations within poor households, particularly the relevance of changing inter-generational relations. Multi-scalar politics over the threat of insecurity and gendered dispossession are explored further by using the stories of elderly widows in a slum. Emphasis is put on their resilience, drawing on their own meagre resources and innovative strategies, aggravated by the city’s changing demographic, political and socioeconomic landscape. The discussions highlight how intergenerational transfers are negotiated, and how poor widows in slums engage with these complex arrangements. Overall, the paper highlights the relationship between an ageing population and urban poverty. Feminist geographical perspectives are crucial in understanding how neoliberal development has created ongoing gendered dispossession experienced on axes of differences (age, class, gender and poverty), which are constantly negotiated, contested and reworked and highlight gendered marginalisation.

TRADITIONAL GOVERNANCE SYSTEM AND THE CONTROL OF INSURGENCY IN BADE EMIRATE, YOBE STATE

Insecurity has remained one of the daunting problems in human organizations since time immemorial. Human beings are in constant search for security to ensure self-sustenance and societal development. The traditional governance system plays an important role in the formation, growth, and development of society. These roles such as maintenance of peace, provision of leadership roles, proprietary to culture and custom of the people and above all ensuring the transitions of the values of the society from one generation to another. In Yobe State the threat of insecurity posed by the rise of the Boko Haram insurgency could be traced to governance issues where governance is defined as the way and manner, including all the institutional arrangements through which a country pursue its internal policies and external relations with ‘development’ at its core. Therefore, given the character of the traditional institutions in Yobe state and Bade emirate in particular in uniting the community to ensure proper security of lives and property. This paper thus intends to interrogate the security challenges in contemporary Bade emirate with emphasis on the role of the traditional governance system in promoting security. The paper adopted the primary and secondary method of data collection anchored on the Mass Society theory. The major findings of the paper reveal that insecurity in Yobe state and Nigeria, in general, can no longer be interrogated from the militarists’ perspective alone, but rather a re-thinking on the traditional governance system to check the persistence of the violations of the traditional political, economic and social relations among citizens that breeds suspicion and distrusts. The paper recommends amongst other things that, the government should as a matter of urgency put in place, policies, and programs that will strengthen the traditional institutions throughout the country so that they can perform their traditional roles as custodians of the values of the society.

Examining the Cross-subject Coherence in Environmental Education in Vietnamese High School Curricula

Vietnam is deemed particularly vulnerable to the adverse impacts of environmental changes caused by climate change effects. The country’s climate change policy acknowledges education as an essential element of the national response to environmental insecurity threats. To be effective, environmental education (EE) may be mainstreamed across multiple subjects and cross-subject coherence is essential. But how applicable are these claims to the Vietnamese high school education? A growing interest in EE and recognition of the challenges inherent in addressing this issue creates an opportunity to conduct a systematic and comprehensive review to scrutinize how it is mainstreamed at the high school level. Using the cases of Grade-10, Grade-11, and Grade-12 curricula, this paper investigated the extent of coherence in EE across high school subjects. A two-pronged qualitative approach is applied using Qualitative Document Analysis of relevant education policies and subject syllabi, combined with expert interviews. Findings show that school subjects experience different degrees of EE coherence, currently being highest in Geography, followed by Biology and poorly represented in other science subjects. Even though EE is formally embedded in several discipline textbooks, there remains a series of barriers to implementing EE in high schools.

Food Security in India: Accumulated Wisdom and the Path ahead

The current work attempts to organize a detailed and thematic survey of the key empirical works on the food security scenario of India. This review paper recognizes its collected literature as a sample based on which inferences about the larger population of actual analytical patterns on this issue are made. We concentrate our attention on the selected empirical works on this issue undertaken during the period 1991-92 till 2018-19. Our sample of evidence has been constructed by accounting for the facts such as the disaggregated nature of the evidences and the differences in quality of analysis across different sources, among others. We have stressed particularly on the issues, debates, controversies and proposed solutions that have characterized the efforts on the analysis of food insecurity threat in India. Preliminarily, we find that there is a strong disagreement among the analysts on matters such as the fundamental units of analysis; the appropriate economic and social frameworks needed to understand this issue; the policy matrix that can help tackle this challenge and the statistical and econometric strategies required for generating reliable as well as spatially and temporally consistent insights. The key insights of this paper include, among others, the importance of the macro-micro dimensions of the food insecurity challenge, the production-trade-productivity solutions on this issue, the quantity versus nutritional routes to attacking this challenge, the inherently multidisciplinary nature of food security analysis, the optimum institutional mechanisms for eliminating food insecurities and, the nexus between technology, productivity and distributional efficiencies in shifting India’s foodgrains production frontier to higher policy-targeted levels, still remain areas that require much more intense and exhaustive academic and policy exercises.

A fuzzy synthetic evaluation analysis of time overrun risk factors in highway projects of terrorism-affected countries: the case of Pakistan

Time overrun has detrimental effects on the performance of construction projects, especially highway projects which are associated with higher capital investment, complex stakeholder profile and longer construction duration. The effects are multiplied in terrorism-affected countries (TACs). However, there are limited studies on the time overrun risk factors (TRFs) in highway projects in the TACs. Consequently, this article examined TRFs in highway projects in the FATA region, a severe terrorism-affected province in Pakistan using a questionnaire survey. A fuzzy synthetic evaluation (FSE) modelling of the TRFs showed that stakeholder interference and insecurity threats is the most critical factor grouping, followed by inexperienced contractors and unproductive workforce, ineffective project planning and contractual arrangement, and construction materials shortages and force majeure. These critical TRFs are important to practitioners and international construction companies because risks abound in highway projects in TACs and require prioritization. Thus, the critical TRFs could be used to develop a decision support system for managing the risks and improving the performance of highway projects in TACs.

A comparison between cognitive and affective job insecurities

Background Cognitive and affective job insecurity are compared in six aspects related to employment: job loss, worsening of tasks, schedule, salary and workplace, and difficulties over finding an alternative job (also known as labor market insecurity). Methods: Cross-sectional study. Data comes from the third Spanish Psychosocial Risks Survey (2016) which is a representative sample of the Spanish salaried population. Results: Affective responses are more variable than cognitive ones resulting in a low degree of answer concordance (IC95% Kappa = 0.08–0.13 to 0.18–0.23). There is a significant percentage of workers (22.5–50.3%) highly concerned about their future despite perceiving low probabilities of experiencing the specific insecurity threat, except for the labor market insecurity question. Conclusion: The differences observed in the degree of insecurity between the affective and the cognitive forms confirm that they are measuring different components of the insecurity construct. These differences are partly due to the economic situation of their households.

Rice Farmers’ Perceptions and Indicators for Weather Variability in Tanzania: What are the Obstacles for in situ Adaptations?

The study was conducted to cultivate the understanding of different weather perceptions as well as indicators by rice farmers of Mbarali and Kyela districts in Mbeya region of Tanzania. Primary and secondary data were obtained from the research area and Tanzania Meteorological Agency. Garret technique and Multipredictor logistic regression were applied for data analyses. The result shows that farmers have different perceptions on various weather variables like rainfall, temperature, drought, wind, and floods. Likewise with logistic regression is affirmed that awareness towards weather variations increased by 0.60 times and 2.0 times if farmer’s education and extended floods each increase one times respectively. In addition, various weather variability indicators like lack of enough rainfall, increase in temperature, drying of tender tree leaves, and severe sunshine were identified. More so, factors hampering immediate local adaptations to weather variability were also identified. Authors recommended on establishment of a working coordination mechanism by incorporating local perceptions, indicators, and adaptions to rescue rural communities from the ongoing food insecurity threats.

The role of crop diversification in improving household food security in central Malawi

BackgroundThis paper concerns the role of crop diversification in improving household food security in central Malawi. In this country, the agricultural sector is dominated by smallholder farming and rain-fed food production systems that are facing increasing challenges from land degradation and declining soil fertility. Maize is the staple food crop, and as such, the majority of farmers grow it regardless of land suitability. This has led to what scientists have labeled as “maize poverty trap.” In the event of prolonged drought, maize fails thus leaving farmers food insecure. However, research in Sub-Saharan Africa has shown that crop diversification provides smallholder farmers with a diversity of diet, improves their income, and nutrition security. Due to increased cases of malnutrition and food insecurity, in the wake of climate change, government of Malawi has in the past few years intensified extension efforts for crop diversification.MethodsThe study is based on a sample of 271 randomly selected smallholder farming households from central Malawi. It investigates the influence of crop diversification and other household socioeconomic characteristics on the household Food Consumption Score and Household Food Insecurity Access Score. In our analysis, we rely heavily on a combination of ordinary least squares techniques and some descriptive statistics.ResultsOur results show that crop diversification, cattle ownership, access to credit and attaining of education have a positive and significant effect on the household Food Consumption Score. Precisely, crop diversification, cattle ownership and access to credit are all significant at 5% level, while education is significant at 10%. In addition, crop diversification and attaining of formal education by household head were found to have a negative and significant effect on Household Food Insecurity Access Score and were all significant at 1% level.Conclusion and policy recommendationBased on our study findings, we conclude that crop diversification is one viable option in smallholder farming that can ensure establishment of resilient agricultural systems that can contribute significantly to household food security. In terms of policy, the results imply that the current efforts by government of Malawi to intensify promotion of crop diversification should remain a priority policy direction due to the continued malnutrition and food insecurity threat. This is particularly so in this era of climate variability that poses an extra burden to farmers.