Development of the Code of Ethics of the Parliament of Georgia: Historical and Political Context

This study examines why Team USA athletes who had been publicly engaged in activism at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games largely refrained from protest at Paris 2024. Drawing on Sidney Tarrow's framework of contentious politics, it analyses political opportunities, networks, framing, and institutional environments to explain shifting patterns of athlete expression. Using a comparative qualitative design, the study synthesizes media statements, institutional documents, and policy communications from 2020–2024 to trace changes in the political and organizational context. Findings show that the decline of activism was not driven by new repression or formal rule changes but by the erosion of public legitimacy, institutional support, and collective framing infrastructures that once legitimized protest. The analysis extends Tarrow's framework by showing how athlete activism unfolds as institutionally embedded contention , shaped less by formal access to power than by the symbolic permission and elite endorsement that determine when expression is tolerated. The study concludes that athlete activism rises and falls with the institutional and cultural environments that make dissent possible.

Purpose This paper explores the relationship between populist rhetoric and political communication within the context of Dravidian politics in Indian politics. Populist rhetoric has been a strategic tool used by both national and regional party leaders, but here, we are specifying regional parties’ usage, particularly the Dravidian Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and the All India Anna Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), to articulate issues of socio-economic inequality, equality in caste status, and linguistic and cultural Tamil identity? These include Conjeevaram Natarajan Annadurai (ANNA), Muthuvel Karunanidhi (Kalaignar), Maruthur Gopalan Ramachandran (MGR), and Jayaram Jayalalithaa (JJ & AMMA). They were key figures in the construction of these narratives, and Muthuvel Karunanidhi Stalin (Thalapathy) utilized their iconic status to cultivate an emotional attachment with the masses and grassroots support. Kalaignar is given special attention because his literary prowess, his theatrical skills and his rhetoric policy were of great use to reinforce the Dravidian ideals and consolidate his political legacy. It analyses the election manifestos, political speeches and public perceptions to understand recurring populist themes in the form of anti-elitism, welfare-oriented policies and identity-driven politics. Using a mixed-methods approach, the study incorporates document analysis, field surveys, semi-structured interviews and historical comparisons to trace the evolution of populist narratives within Dravidian politics. The findings indicate the dual nature of populist rhetoric, both mobilizing an apparatus for inclusive governance and potentially turning out to be the harbinger of societal polarization. Situating this with regional and global political contexts is exactly what this study will be adding to the debate on the dynamic interplay between identity, governance and democratic participation in Tamil Nadu and Indian politics. Design/methodology/approach In this paper, a mixed-method design is used to analysis the nexus between political party identification, welfare policies and electoral behavior in Tamil Nadu. Virudhunagar district has been chosen due to its high literacy rate, HDI (2017) ranking and prevalence of strong Dravidian parties (Dravidian Munnetra Kazhagam & AIADMK). The research uses quantitative surveys (210 people: 121 rural, 89 urban) and qualitative interviews. Stratified random sampling was used so that representation cut across income levels, grounded communities, gender and party platforms. Findings The findings indicate the dual nature of populism – both mobilizing an apparatus for inclusive governance and potentially turning out to be the harbinger of societal polarizations. Originality/value Situating this with regional and global political contexts is exactly what this study will be adding to the debate on dynamic interplay between identity, governance and democratic participation in Tamil Nadu, India.

Midwifery research is increasingly understood as shaped by the specific social, political, and historical contexts, with scientific practices actively co-producing realities. This recently developed perspective highlights the need for discipline-specific approaches that reflect the diversity and creativity of midwifery care. This contribution introduces Midwifery Care Studies as a novel, reflexive approach to studying midwifery as a practice-based science. Building on analyses inspired by feminist science studies, Midwifery Care Studies examine midwifery care in practice. Using participatory methods, this approach aimed to investigate midwifery care practices on their own terms. Midwifery Care Studies share the sensitivities and response-abilities that shape everyday midwifery care practices. Acknowledging the relational character of midwifery care, Midwifery Care Studies articulate modes and techniques of becoming-with that involve birth givers, fetuses, midwives, technologies, words, values, and birthing environments. By carving out the material, social, and ethical specificities of situated midwifery care practices, Midwifery Care Studies examine unfolding and shifting "goods" and "bads" in practice, as well as how tensions between them are handled. Sensitive to the ontological politics of care and research practices, Midwifery Care Studies aim at providing the analytical and conceptual resources needed to foster generative engagements with the multitude of lived realities of being pregnant and giving birth.

Abstract Following a series of state-driven reforms after the Rose Revolution, the Georgian provincial city of Akhaltsikhe became a symbol of multiculturalism. The city’s previously forgotten, or rather hidden, layers of religious and cultural diversity were reconstructed, or even “invented,” almost overnight due to the new political framework and context. However, contradictions emerged between the city’s conceived and perceived spaces, particularly regarding sacred sites of various religious groups. This study critically examines whether post-Soviet Akhaltsikhe, framed as a space of diversity, genuinely reflects multicultural policy and practice. Using case studies and analyzing the city from the perspective of the production of space, this paper explores how under a policy of declared multiculturalism, a space with diverse religious identities is mastered and transformed into a monocultural space.

Purpose This study aims to explore the transformative impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on corporate governance within Kuwait’s public sector, focusing on how AI enhances transparency, accountability and decision-making. Design/methodology/approach The research employs a mixed-methods approach, analyzing the integration of AI in governance frameworks through both quantitative data and qualitative insights from key stakeholders. It examines how AI technologies streamline compliance, mitigate risks and improve operational efficiency in public institutions. Findings The study reveals that AI, when strategically implemented, significantly enhances governance structures by improving transparency and institutional effectiveness. However, challenges related to ethical considerations and the need for a regulatory framework tailored to Kuwait’s unique political and cultural context must be addressed for successful adoption. Research limitations/implications The study is limited by its focus on Kuwait’s public sector, which may not fully reflect AI adoption challenges and opportunities in other regions. Future research should consider broader comparative studies to examine AI’s governance impact across different socio-political environments. Practical implications The findings offer actionable insights for policymakers in Kuwait, providing a roadmap for integrating AI in governance to enhance public trust and institutional performance. Originality/value This paper contributes to the growing discourse on digital governance by presenting Kuwait as a case study for how AI can be utilized to modernize public sector governance. It offers new perspectives on overcoming the challenges of AI adoption in government institutions.

ABSTRACT This article uses the Grallen-strijd – an Anglo-Dutch pamphlet controversy spanning the mid-to-late-1640s – to underline what was at stake in contemporary debates over ‘Erastianism’. Within this crucible, clerical and lay humanist conceptions of the church were violently contested, contributing to developments within the English, Scottish and Dutch Reformed Churches. This article examines the anonymous Grallae (1646) which gave the controversy its name, conceived by two lay opponents, Claudius Salmasius and Petrus Lansbergius, as an attack on the leading Nadere Reformatie theologian, Willem Apollonius. It situates the Grallae’s ecclesiological arguments against its shifting political contexts, including the Westminster Assembly debates, and examines the ‘Erastian’ reaction against the Scoto-Dutch Covenanters. It then traces John Selden’s engagement with, and alleged role in translating the anonymous pamphlets produced during the Grallen-strijd into English. It demonstrates that integrating ‘local’ church disputes within broader transnational debates can significantly reshape our understanding of mid-seventeenth-century intellectual history.

The Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision in June 2022 reversed 50 years of precedent by allowing states to formulate their own abortion policies. This resetting of abortion policy created a new raft of opportunities and threats across the states for both pro-life and pro-choice supporters. In this study, we aim to analyze how public discourse around abortion responded to this changed political context. Using a dataset of 288,325 abortion-related Tweets posted in 2022, we examine public reaction to Dobbs using both quantitative and qualitative approaches. We categorize Tweets by abortion stance (pro-choice and pro-life ) and geo-political context by state groups ( protected, restricted, and unsettled based on abortion access policy). Our temporal analysis shows that while both pro-choice and pro-life Twitter activity spiked after both the leaked draft in May 2022 and the final decision, only pro-choice discussions maintained a heightened level of engagement over time. Analyzing the discussion frames among the Tweets reveals that pro-choice users emphasized a wider range of arguments that varied by state context, while pro-life Tweets were generally unresponsive to state context. Our findings indicate that the new threats and opportunities had uneven effects within pro-life and pro-choice public discourse.

Abstract Subjective well-being has gained increasing attention in both academic research and policymaking, leading to a growing body of literature examining its determinants. Yet, factors affecting the subjective well-being of older adults have remained underexplored. This study investigates the impact of social, political, economic, and demographic factors on older adults' life satisfaction using the seventh wave of the World Values Survey (2017–2022) which includes individuals’ responses from 58 countries across the Americas, Europe, Asia, and Africa. A global perspective is crucial for understanding how varying economic performances, political conditions, and social policies shape the well-being of older adults. The geographical diversity of the sample enables a global comparison, capturing a wide range of social, political, and cultural contexts. By employing multilevel mixed-effects regression models, we account for both within-country and between-country variations, integrating both individual-level and country-level data. The findings indicate that social capital, political governance, and economic performance significantly affect life satisfaction. Interpersonal trust, institutional confidence, social group membership, quality governance, and democracy are positively associated with subjective well-being whereas corruption and inflation are negatively associated. Notably, political governance is found to be the leading factor affecting the life satisfaction of adults aged 50-64, while it is social capital for those aged 65 and above. Social and political factors have played an increasingly influential role during the pandemic. These findings emphasize the importance of developing tailored interventions that consider regional, temporal, and age-related differences to effectively meet the diverse needs of older adults.

Although extensive research examines the individual- and household-level determinants of racialized disability patterns, the roles of state political and policy contexts have received less attention. Merging more than a decade of data from the American Community Survey (N = 7,928,386) to data on state politics and economic and social welfare policies, we use two-way fixed-effects models to investigate the links between state political and policy contexts and disability risks, considering whether these links vary across race and race-sex groups. Results show that (1) state contexts diverged dramatically over the period, (2) more liberal political contexts and generous economic and social safety net policies were generally associated with reduced disability risks, and (3) state contexts were strongly associated with the disability of White people, but results were more mixed for Black people, especially Black women. This study highlights the salience of state politics and policy for understanding and redressing racialized disability patterns.

ABSTRACT The War Museum of Athens, the first public war museum in Greece, was founded in 1969, during the dictatorship that ruled Greece from 1967 to 1974, but was inaugurated in 1975 after the restoration of democracy. Emerging in a politically charged climate marked by distrust of the military, its establishment provoked skepticism about the institution’s purpose and message. Drawing on archival materials of the time, including photographs and newspapers, this paper describes the period of development of the War Museum of Athens from its conception under the dictatorship rule to its opening after the restoration of democracy. With a focus on the War History of Greeks exhibition which took place at Zappeion in 1968 on the colonels’ first year in power, this article demonstrates how this event provided the conceptual foundation for the War Museum of Athens. The article argues that the War Museum of Athens, although inaugurated in a new political context, inherited the ideological and museological framework of the Zappeion exhibition and tried to reconfigure it. Through continuity in narrative structure, visual elements, and selective historical emphasis, it perpetuated a heroic and defensive vision of Greek history while omitting episodes of internal division.

Abstract Along with the rapid development of AI systems, the literature addressing the moral concerns raised by AI—stemming from different directions like computer science, medicine, and philosophy—has substantially grown. In solely focusing on AI ethics principles and guidelines, most overviews of the field adopt a principle-based understanding of these moral concerns. However, as our review illuminates, there is more richness and diversity in the current body of literature than this dominant principle-based approach suggests. Within this vast literature, we identify three approaches by which authors tend to formulate the moral concerns raised by AI: principles, lived realities, and power structures. These approaches can be viewed as lenses through which authors investigate the field, and which each entail specific theoretical sensitivities, disciplinary traditions, and methodologies, and hence, specific strengths and weaknesses. The first “principle-based” approach takes moral concerns to be universal, stable, and fixed principles; which are globally shared, may travel between contexts and are often predetermined. What we call the “lived realities” approach foregrounds the interaction between people and AI systems, focusing on local practices and everyday experiences, generally on a micro-level. Thirdly, what we call the “power structures” approach argues for the need to account for the cultural, social, political, and economic context of AI development, hence human-AI interactions at a macro-level. In bringing together different moral frameworks, traditions, and questions, our structure may serve as a bridge for comparing AI ethics with other areas of applied ethics—considering AI systems are quickly integrated into different spheres of society.

Globally, an estimated 22.7 million children are unimmunized or "zero-dose" (ZD), with 3.1 million in Nigeria. The political and economic environment plays a critical role in influencing the number of ZD and under-immunized (UI) children. We explored stakeholder perceptions of the political and economic context of vaccination services in Kano and Lagos States, two Nigerian states with a high number of ZD children. We conducted stakeholder mapping, followed by key informant interviews with 84 state, local, and community informants responsible for or influential in immunization. Transcripts were analyzed using a reflective thematic framework approach. We describe the multi-level network of domestic and international actors characterizing Nigeria's immunization policymaking and implementation landscape. Respondents perceived a strong and mutual political commitment by all actors involved in routine immunization. The pivotal role of local influencers further reinforced this commitment, from traditional to religious leaders, in improving uptake in challenging settings. Knowledge of national policies, and thus, perception of their adequacy in addressing under-immunization, was weakest among participants working at the local and community levels. Other reported barriers to policy implementation included bureaucratic delays in fund disbursement, outdated policies, slow dissemination of policies to local levels, and inadequate policy provisions for funding and staffing at the local level. To enhance equitable immunization coverage in Kano and Lagos, our findings suggest a need for meaningful engagement of community actors in policy development, timely policy revisions, and the establishment of mechanisms for expedited fund disbursements and addressing funding shortfalls at the local levels.

This article presents a parallel analysis of Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy and contemporary literature on moral injury to explore how Dante's journey towards enlightenment can inform the path to healing from moral injury. Described as a soul wound by those affected, moral injury is a severe psychological and spiritual trauma resulting from ethical transgressions such as abuse,betrayal, warand tyranny. Although moral injury isarguably as old as human conflict itself,its scientific study is comparatively new. The Divine Comedy is widely regarded as one of the greatest works in world literature.In this poem, moral suffering appears as a disordering of the soul: the will estranged from responsibility, love misdirected towards evil rather than good and the intellect dimmed of its light, unable to perceive truth. By comparing Dante's allegorical journey through Hell, Purgatory and Paradise with contemporary moral injury discussions and the broader literature, and by tracing connections from individual suffering to wider social and political contexts, this comprehensive narrative review uncovers underexplored dimensions of this multifaceted condition. The analysis addresses key moral injury themes, highlights routes and barriers to healing, identifies gaps in current scholarship and offers practical recommendations relevant in both peacetime and war. Dante's insights provide a symbolic framework for recognising and healing moral injury, potentiallyoffering consolation for the affected and those who care for them, while showing how enduring cycles of violencecan be interruptedthrough an ethic of just peace.

ABSTRACT This qualitative study examined professional experiences of 34 female Bedouin social workers, graduates of academic institutions in Palestinian Authority territories, who were employed in Israel’s social welfare services. The research aimed:to explore their lived experiences of exclusion, professional delegitimization, and o examine the implications of such exclusion for their professional practice, identity, and well-being, within a complex cross-cultural, national, and political context. All members of the research sample had up to one year’s experience in social work and were enrolled in the Connecting Bridge program, designed to bridge professional and linguistic gaps. Additional data came from focus groups and autobiographical accounts by four Connecting Bridge mentors. The data underwent thematic analysis, using inductive coding and principles of grounded theory. The findings indicated patterns of silencing of the social workers professional voice, including nonrecognition of their authority, lack of professional support leading to reliance on personal connections, a sense of personal and professional insecurity, retreat into appeasement practices, and focus on bureaucratic tasks instead of professional interventions. The implications of these phenomena not only affect the quality of service and the workers’ professional identity, but distort the perception of the social work profession as an arena of recognition, struggle, and resistance.

This research aimed to analyze the values and practices of Islam through a multi-aspect approach, focusing on how Islamic teachings influenced various dimensions of human life, such as theology, social, political, and cultural aspects. The methods used in this research were literature review and qualitative analysis of the Qur'an, Hadith, classical and contemporary literature regarding Islamic values and practices. The findings indicated that Islam, as a religion and belief system with universal principles and values, has had a significant influence and development, impacting various cultural, social, and political contexts in society. The implications of this research highlight the importance of a deeper understanding of how Islam interacts with all aspects of life, as well as the need for a more inclusive and adaptive approach to practicing Islamic teachings in the era of globalization. This research also provides insights into the role of Islam in shaping social, cultural, and political policies that promote justice.

Abstract This study explores how the English translations of Pramoedya Ananta Toer’s Buru Quartet have been shaped through paratextual strategies and other editorial choices. Through comparative analysis of the Indonesian “Liberation” edition and the first and second English editions, this research investigates the transformation of paratextual elements, including front cover design, translator’s notes, and introductory materials. Employing visual semiotics and paratext theory as analytical frameworks, the study reveals significant modifications in the presentation of these seminal Indonesian novels for English-speaking readers. The analysis demonstrates two primary paratextual interventions: substantial alterations in the visual composition of cover designs and the introduction of supplementary contextualizing materials, i.e., translator’s notes and editorial introductions, designed to bridge cultural and historical knowledge gaps for target readers. These paratextual additions enable English-speaking readers to engage with the complex socio-political landscape embedded in the novels. The findings suggest that such paratextual mediation potentially reconfigures reader reception, positioning Buru Quartet within Anglophone literary discourse as a vehicle for political consciousness-raising that subtly articulates ideological perspectives historically suppressed within the Indonesian political context. More broadly, this study contributes to Translation Studies by demonstrating how paratextual strategies function as sites of ideological negotiation, shaping not only the reception of translated works but also their positioning within global literary and political discourses.

Perceptions of corruption can have serious effects on the functioning of democracies. Consequently, the appropriate communicative management of scandal narratives can make a difference to any political player affected by them. Spain has recently experienced these dynamics with the so-called ‘Begoña Gómez’ and ‘Koldo García’ cases, both pointing to the President and other high-profile members of the National Government. By employing a software tool for qualitative analysis of messages, we collect all the mentions of key terms and people related to these two alleged influence peddling cases in which the Spanish Government has been involved throughout the last year and a half. Word clouds with the key terms of both cases have been obtained to detect the linguistic framing devices adopted by members of the Spanish Government, their opponents and six digital newspapers in the social media platform X, thus allowing us to describe the communicative frames in conflict in the public sphere. We also analyze the bonds between these key terms and sentiment statistics for the messages in which they are employed during the first quarter of 2025. Rather than taking control of the narrative, the members of the Government and Socialist Party avoid mentioning the scandals, but they do depict a political context in which collusion between the right-wing and the far right-wing represents a threat for their electoral base. The media are more active than the politicians themselves in framing the cases of corruption, generally more as a judicial than a political matter.

Controversy has long surrounded the treatment of the 1931–1945 period in Japan’s history education. However, studies to date have largely focused on history textbooks. This study scrutinises how controversial topics were dealt with in junior high school classrooms, through interviews with 21 teachers in three areas of Japan, alongside lesson observations where possible. It was found that teachers usually taught about some controversial topics, but not necessarily at length. Influences upon the teaching of such topics included educational structures, past-related scholarship, social and political context, anticipated student reactions, and teachers’ own attitudes and perceptions. When teaching controversial topics, teachers used a variety of approaches in navigating their action space, including the use of authoritative independent materials, limiting the visibility of their teaching, relating historical events to contemporary ramifications, displacement and implication, encouraging recognition of others’ perspectives, and omission and avoidance. Support from colleagues and management was important in enabling teachers to take risks in teaching controversial topics, but such support may be limited in the contemporary context.

The authors of this commentary published two peer-reviewed online articles in 2020 and 2022 on the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) PSNet that were removed by the Trump administration because they violated White House policy on websites that "inculcate or promote gender ideology." Ours were among thousands of articles and websites that had been removed or censored during the first month of the Trump administration. We describe the details of this censorship of our two articles one on suicide prevention, the other on endometriosis diagnosis challenges, neither of which was directly related to LGBT issues but used what are now banned terms. We further discuss the historical and political context of this removal, and the subsequent merger of AHRQ into a new Trump administration "Office of Strategy" that purports to target "the effectiveness of federal health programs" for improvement. In light of these censorship actions, large scale staff layoffs, and this reorganization, the fate of AHRQ's mission, current activities, and future project funding is currently uncertain. We offer strategic suggestions for resisting such attacks on academic freedom and restoring scientific integrity for patient safety, quality, and public health.