Political Sensitivity Research Articles

Conflict, insecurity and the political economies of higher education

PurposeThis paper stems from a 12-month collaborative enquiry between a group of Syrian academics in exile in Turkey and academics from the University of Cambridge into the state of Syrian Higher Education after the onset of the conflict in 2011. The purpose of this paper is to draw on 19 open-ended interviews with exiled Syrian academics; two focus groups; mapping and timeline exercises; and 117 interviews collected remotely by collaborating Syrian academics with former colleagues and students who were still living inside Syria at the time of data collection. The findings of the research suggest that Syrian HE after 2011 was fragmented across regions; in some cases non-existent, and in others deemed to be in a state of reform in order to meet student needs. Key issues that emerged from this work are human rights’ abuses directed against academics and students including the detainment, purging and kidnapping of academics, an increased militarisation of university life and a substantive loss of academic and human capital.Design/methodology/approachThe overall design involved two workshops held in Turkey (in June and July, 2017) at which the Cambridge team explained the stages of undertaking qualitative research and planned the collaborative enquiry with Syrian co-researchers. The first workshop addressed the nature of qualitative research and explored the proposed methods of interviewing, using timelines and mapping. The instruments for interviewing were constructed in groups together and mapping was undertaken with the 21 Syrian academics in exile who attended the workshop. Syrian academics also built their own research plans as a way of expanding the consultation dimension of this project inside Syria, engaged in survey and interview protocol planning and discussed ways to access needed documentation which could be drawn upon to enrich the project. The Syrian co-researchers interviewed remotely HE staff and students who had remained in, or recently left, Syria; the key criterion for group or participant selection was that they had recent and relevant experience of Syrian HE. The second workshop focused on data analysis and writing up. There was also wide consultation with participants inside and outside Syria. As part of the research, the Cambridge team conducted open-ended interviews with 19 Syrian academics and students living in exile in Turkey. This involved interviewing Syrian scholars about their experiences of HE, policy changes over time and their experiences of displacement. The researchers developed this protocol prior to the capacity-building workshops based on previous research experience on academic and student displacement, alongside extensive preparation on the conditions of Syrian HE, conflict and displacement. In addition to interviewing, a pivotal element of methodological rigour was that the authors sought to member check what participants were learning through mapping and timeline exercises and extensive note-taking throughout both workshops. The major issues that the authors confronted were ethical concerns around confidentiality, the need to ensure rigourously the protection of all participants’ anonymity and to be extremely mindful of the political sensitivity of issues when interviewing participants who may not feel able to fully trust “outsider” researchers. Issues of social trust have been reported in the literature as one of the most significant drawbacks in conducting research in “conflict environments” (see Cohen and Arieli, 2011) where academics and students have been working and/or studying in autocratic regimes or were operating within political contexts where being open or critical of any form of institutional life such as university work or the nation could cost them their jobs or their lives.FindingsThe accounts of Syrian academics and students emerging from this work point to some of the state-building expressions of HE manifested in the shaping of professional and personal experiences, the condition and status of HE, its spatial arrangements and their associated power formations, and resulting in feelings of intense personal and professional insecurity among Syrian scholars and students since 2011. While acknowledging that the Syrian situation is deemed one of the worst humanitarian crises in the region in recent decades, these accounts resonate, if in different ways, with other studies of academics and students who have experienced highly centralised and autocratic states and tightly regulated HE governance regimes (Barakat and Milton, 2015; Mazawi, 2011).Originality/valueCurrently, there is virtually no research on the status and conditions of higher education in Syria as a consequence of the war, which commenced in 2011. This work presents a first-person perspective from Syrian academics and students on the state of HE since the onset of the conflict. The major contribution of this work is the identification of key factors shaping conflict and division in HE, alongside the political economies of HE destruction which are unique to the Syrian war and longstanding forms of authoritarian state governance.

Political Violence in China: Terrorism, Official Media, and Political Priorities

The ability to control information provides autocracies with a counterterrorism advantage. However, in the modern technological and media environments, information strategies must be more sophisticated than simple censorship. To better understand these strategic considerations and the political sensitivities that drive them, we explore why the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) promptly highlights some domestic terrorist incidents in the official media, but acknowledges others slowly or not at all. Drawing on original datasets of all Uighur terrorist violence in China and the official media coverage of that violence in the People's Daily, we demonstrate that the CCP consistently favors stability over the legitimacy. Highlighting terrorist violence in the official media can satisfy the public’s demand for transparency and bolster foreign relations, but our findings indicate that the CCP is only willing to reap these rewards when domestic and international conditions are favorable enough to ensure that the risks to stability are manageable.

Diagnosing the translation gap

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to break the silence surrounding the politics of translation that influence cross-language/cultural accounting research. It gives due consideration to the ways in which translation gaps are produced and re-produced in qualitative interdisciplinary accounting research (IAR).Design/methodology/approachFirst, the authors discuss backstage insights and the authors’ own life experiences vis-à-vis translating cross-cultural/language research. The authors provide a critical self-reflection on the process as non-Western female researchers publishing in English-language accounting journals. Second, the authors carry out a content analysis to examine reported translation practices in three long-established interdisciplinary accounting journals from 2015 to 2017. The conclusion integrates these analyses to discuss the reproduction process of the translation gap in accounting research and its outcomes.FindingsThe study identifies inherent contradictions in IAR and its emancipatory agenda, where translation gaps are structural outcomes of overlaps between the politics of translation and the politics of publishing IAR. The study highlights the IAR community’s lack of awareness regarding political and methodological sensitivities in dealing with particularities in cultural contexts. The authors argue that this reflects the institutional norms for publishing in IAR, which contributes to neutralising cultural diversity and complex translation processes in the name of objectivity. This could ultimately lead to further marginalisation of non-Western cultural knowledge and values, while producing academic “elites” within the IAR community, meanwhile missing opportunities for innovation.Originality/valueBy opening the “black box” pertaining to translation gaps in the context of cross-language/cultural accounting research, the study calls for IAR scholars to help raise awareness of their role and identity as “cultural brokers”.

Snow lines on shorelines: Solving Styrofoam buoy marine debris from oyster culture in Taiwan

Styrofoam buoy marine debris from oyster farming presents a tough management issue in Taiwan. It is an environmental externality but its associated environmental costs have long been neglected. In the pursuit of environmental sustainability, efforts by authorities have been made; yet the problem remains. In an attempt to enhance Styrofoam buoy marine debris management, this paper used document analysis, participative workshops and interviews to identify areas of concern regarding current management measures and propose recommendations. The results found that failure to impose buoy recovery, inevitable loss of buoys and unavailability of equally competitive, eco-friendly alternative buoys are major areas of concern. Built on the modes of governance (hierarchical, market and participative), the paper proposed recommendations, including enhancing farmer self-governance units' capacity to manage derelict fishing gear (DFG), strengthening Styrofoam buoy recovery, increasing farmers' awareness of DFG, developing eco-friendly buoys, instituting an ecolabeling program for Styrofoam-free oysters. The recommendations involve participation of farmers, decision makers and consumers and mostly rely on the government's initiation and support. The paper particularly highlighted the political sensitivity of a recommendation regarding phasing out the use of Styrofoam buoys and suggested it serve as a last resort and be practiced depending on fulfillment of circumstantial situations. Finally, the paper advised extra attention be paid on public participation in regulation-making, a mismatch between the scope of the problem and the jurisdiction of a local city and adaptive management, if any change to the status quo occurs.

Reflections from Former Mandate Holders

As the number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) soared in the 1990s to some 25 million – almost twice the number of refugees – international concerns began to mount about the responsibilities of governments and the United Nations (UN) towards these people. The 1951 Refugee Convention1 did not apply to IDPs because they did not cross an internationally recognized State border. Nor was there a clear statement of their rights in international law. Although IDPs had the same rights as others in their country, they had special needs by virtue of their displacement which required a distinct normative framework. These included the loss of homes, property, livelihoods, and documentation; separation from family members and communities; vulnerability to violence; and the need to return or resettle. The Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement of 1998 addressed these gaps.2 It is doubtful that the Guiding Principles would ever have come into being had they required formal ratification by States. Rather, their development took place outside a traditional intergovernmental process. The Principles were formulated under the auspices of an independent expert, the Representative of the Secretary-General on IDPs, Francis M Deng, in partnership with a research institution (the Brookings Institution, where Deng was joined by Roberta Cohen), and a team of exceptionally talented lawyers (chaired by Walter Kälin, with principal drafter Robert Goldman). In appointing Deng as his Representative in 1992, the UN Secretary-General, Boutros Boutros-Ghali, recognized the need for an outside expert (with institutional support), unhampered by the constraints and political sensitivities of the UN, who could take up the task of defining ‘IDPs’ and proposing solutions to legal and institutional gaps. At the same time, the Secretary-General’s Representative would report to intergovernmental bodies – namely the UN General Assembly and the UN Commission on Human Rights, which had requested an ‘appropriate’ framework for IDP protection.3

Осознание прав и правил сельскими протестующими в Китае (на примере протестов в селе Укань)

Янь Лю – соискатель, научный сотрудник, Центр китайского сельского исследования, Центральный китайский педагогический университет, Ухань, Китай. Электронная почта: karenly_62@mail.ru
 Осознание прав китайскими сельскими протестующими в основном изучается в контексте демократических правовых отношений между государством и гражданами. При этом недостаточно внимания уделяется связи с использованием протестующими социалистического учения, сельской культуры и других идеологем. В немногих исследованиях, посвященных этой проблематике, обсуждается главным образом только осознание прав выживания. Между тем актуализируется задача понимания того, каким образом характеризуется осознание прав и правил протестующими в современном сельском обществе Китая, где выживанию жителей села уже ничего не угрожает. В качестве объекта исследования используются протесты в селе Укань провинции Гуандун Китая. Влияние идеологем на осознание прав и правил изучается методом фрейм-анализа. Эмпирическую базу исследования составили материалы (тексты, фото- и видеозаписи), отражающие ход протестов и заявления сторон конфликтов. Показано, что жители Уканя протестовали, поскольку считали распределение доходов от сделок с коллективной землей несправедливым. Требования протестующих касаются не выживания, а главным образом защиты экономических интересов. Осознание прав жителями Уканя формируется на базе сельской культуры и партийной идеологии и отличается от осознания гражданских прав, потому что, хотя требования протестующих не защищаются законом, сельчане не ставили под сомнение правомерность существующих законов и политики. Осознание прав на основе сельской культуры усиливает интенсивность протестов, а осознание прав на базе партийной идеологии предполагает укрепление авторитета центральных органов государства и компартии. Заимствование дискурса о социалистической революции придает протестам оттенок классовой борьбы. Так как в Китае коллективные действия с самого начала сталкиваются с кризисом законности, осознание правил касается необходимости легитимации протестных действий. В этом и отражается роль официальной идеологии Китая (принципа верховенства права и партийной идеологии) в «деполитизации» сельских протестов.

The Political Economy of Macroprudential Policy

In response to the lessons of the global financial crisis, macroprudential policy is now firmly established as a financial policy area to prevent excessive risk taking in the financial sector and mitigate its effects on the real economy. However, macroprudential policy is facing several challenges relating to its political sensitivity and institutional context. These include political and interest group resistance, weaknesses in the governance framework, and limited institutional memory among policy makers. This article seeks to contribute to the contextual understanding of macroprudential policy by exploring how factors relating to these challenges influence policy in the EU. More specifically, it develops and empirically tests a number of hypotheses on how wider institutional and structural factors influence the actual use of macroprudential measures across Europe. The findings yield considerable support for theoretical predictions that institutions and contexts matter - Political pressure and interest group resistance tend to influence the intensity of macroprudential policy stances. Weaker policy stances characterise countries where banking systems depend on domestic banks, whereas the opposite holds for financial systems with significant market shares of other financial intermediaries. Results on institutional arrangements show that governance arrangements on relating to transparency influence policy stances. The results also indicate that policy makers' inertia is best counteracted by appointing a single macroprudential authority. The results differ somewhat depending on whether countries are based in the Euro zone or not. This suggests that policy frameworks that are multi-layered and complex pose tricky conundrums on how to ensure sufficient institutional autonomy, policy capacity and discretion among macroprudential authorities. This also has implications on other policy areas macroprudential policy, such as microprudential policy, crisis management and fiscal policy.

Securitizing HIV/AIDS: a game changer in state-societal relations in China?

BackgroundChina has experienced unprecedented economic growth since the 1980s. Despite this impressive economic development, this growth exists side by side with the human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immune deficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) crises and the persisting deficiencies in public health provision in China. Acknowledging the prevailing health problems, the Chinese government has encouraged the development of health non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to respond to the health challenges and address the gaps in public health provision of the government. HIV/AIDS-focused NGOs have been perceived as the most outstanding civil society group developed in China. Considering the low priority of health policies since the economic reform, the limitation of the “third sector” activity permitted in authoritarian China, together with the political sensitivity of the HIV/AIDS problem in the country, this article aims to explain the proliferation of HIV/AIDS-focused NGOs in China with the usage of the securitization framework in the field of international relations (IR).MethodsThe research that underpins this article is based on a desk-based literature review as well as in-depth field interviews with individuals working in HIV/AIDS-focused NGOs in China. Face-to-face interviews for this research were conducted between January and May in 2011, and between December 2016 and January 2017, in China. Discourse analysis was in particular employed in the study of the security-threat framing process (securitization) of HIV/AIDS in China.ResultsThis article argues that the proliferation of HIV/AIDS-related NGOs in China is largely attributed to the normative and technical effects of HIV/AIDS securitization ushered in by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) and supported by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria (hereinafter Global Fund) observed in China. Despite depicting a positive scenario, the development of HIV/AIDS-focused NGOs in China generated by the international securitization efforts is largely limited. An internal and external factor was identified to verify the argument, namely (1) the reduction of international financial commitments, as well as (2) the fragmentation of HIV/AIDS-focused NGO community in China.ConclusionsThis article shows that international securitization weakened with the rise of Chinese commitment on HIV/AIDS interventions. In other words, HIV/AIDS-related responses delivered by the national government are no longer checked by the global mechanism of HIV/AIDS; thus it is unclear whether these NGOs would remain of interest as partners for the government. The fragmentation of the HIV/AIDS community would further hinder the development, preventing from NGOs with the same interest forming alliances to call for changes in current political environment. Such restriction on the concerted efforts of HIV/AIDS-related NGOs in China would make achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to foster stronger partnerships between the government and civil society difficult, which in turn hindering the realization of ending HIV/AIDS in the world by 2030.

The Need for Public Intellectuals in the Trump Era and Beyond: Strategies for Communication, Engagement, and Advocacy

This special forum, derived from a featured session at the 2017 meeting of the American Association of Geographers (AAG) in Boston, seeks to carry out a grounded discussion of public intellectualism during the turbulent Trump era and beyond. Our hope is to demonstrate the capacity of geographers to participate in and contribute to debates beyond the academy, effect change within wider public worlds, and in turn be affected by this outreach. The contributions in this focus section are personal and intellectual reflections on public engagement, what it means for the contributing authors (and by extension what it might mean to the reader), as well as some guidance on practicing public engagement and navigating and negotiating the challenges of outreach. The brief contributions to this forum cannot completely prepare us to be public intellectuals, but it is our hope that they will advance the AAG long-range (2015–2025) plan of creating opportunities to encourage, support, and train geographers to undertake levels and types of public communication, engagement, and advocacy that fit well with their strengths, passions, and political sensitivities. Public outreach is not a matter of one size fits all, and this forum means to be illustrative, reflective, and projective of practices rather than prescriptive.

A study on the earnings response coefficient (ERC) of socially responsible firms

PurposeThe purpose of the paper is to examine the corporate social responsibility (CSR) – earnings response coefficient (ERC) relation in the code-law tradition and the early stage of CSR practice to fill the research gap in the literature on CSR–ERC relation.Design/methodology/approachThe authors use an association framework for the study. They use the firms listed on Korea Stock Exchange because Korea is classified as a code-law country and most of firms in Korea are in the early stages of CSR development, and Korean samples are considered credible and stable because of the effective financial reforms initiated by Korean government in the late 1990s. The authors collected data from the two data sources: KisValue and Korea Corporate Governance Service.FindingsThe authors find the following. First, CSR is negatively associated with ERC, which indicates that the ability of earnings to capture CSR implication is lower under the circumstances of the code-law and the early stage of CSR development. Second, political sensitivity (business group effect) is positively (negatively) associated with CSR–ERC relation, which means that the politically noticeable CSR concerns strengthen the CSR–ERC relation, and the inclusion of a firm in a business group weakens the CSR–ERC relation.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper derives theoretical implications on the quality of earnings reflecting CSR activities, provides practical implications to the investors who target international capital markets and is expected to help broaden the understanding of CSR–ERC relations in international capital markets.Practical implicationsThe paper provides practical implications to the investors who target international capital markets. Regarding the interpretation of accounting earnings that contain information on CSR activities, the legal origin and the CSR development stages are considered as key factors. Specifically, in the code-law and the early CSR environment, the potential benefits of CSR activities tend to be evaluated optimistically and reflected aggressively in reported earnings. Thus, if investors are in a similar international investment environment, they may need to recalibrate estimates in their decision model with additional CSR information from non-financial sources (e.g. sustainability reports).Originality/valueThe paper is based on the international institutional theory and the discussion of CSR development stages. The international institutional theory states that the legal origin is one of the factors that can help explain the differential aggressiveness of reported earnings by country. In addition, the discussion of CSR stages argues that the CSR practices can be differentially implemented by CSR stages. The authors try to fill the gap in the existing literature by conducting an empirical study based on data from Korea Stock Exchange.

Management’s personal ideology and financial reporting quality

We investigate the relation between managers’ personal ideologies and financial reporting quality. We use Federal Elections Commission data to develop three proxies for managers’ personal ideologies and test their relations with two financial reporting quality metrics: discretionary accruals and financial statement restatements. We find that both the absolute value of discretionary accruals and the probability of restatement decrease in the degree to which firms’ managers have conservative ideologies. These results are robust in the post-SOX period, to controls for potential self-selection bias, to alternative measures of both ideology and financial reporting quality, and to controls for firm political sensitivity, lobbying activity, governance, operational complexity and auditor strength. Our findings contribute to a growing literature demonstrating that business outcomes are partially explained by manager-specific factors including managers’ personal views and priorities.

Private Enforcement of International Monetary Law: Arbitration of Investment Treaty Claims Relating to Foreign Exchange Restrictions

International economic activity depends on the cross-border flows that characterize economic globalization—principally of goods, services, capital and labour. These flows all have in common that they involve some element of transnational transfers of funds. The international regulation of trade, investments and other economic activities is therefore inextricably linked to the regulation on the international plane of the transfer and currency conversion such funds, i.e. on international monetary law. A closer look at the political reality of international monetary affairs offers scant reason to presume that the existing liberal paradigm of free capital mobility and market-responsive exchange rate flexibility is beyond challenge or a potential reversal. Yet, rules exist on the international plane to ensure that exchange rates and capital flows remain free from restrictions, manipulation and distortion. In the Post-War international economic order and global institutional set-up, the task of enforcing the rules of international monetary law fell upon the International Monetary Fund. This role was enshrined in GATT 1947 and remains essentially intact. Nonetheless, in recent years, the efforts of the Fund to enforce such rules has not been sufficient to quell allegations against States of exchange-rate misalignment and currency manipulation. This paper, which builds on the author’s ongoing PhD research, looks at private enforcement of international monetary law and asks whether investment arbitration of exchange-rate disputes may offer an alternative enforcement mechanism that might result in positive externalities, benefitting all investors, traders and other non-disputing third parties, and thereby may help restoring trust in trade and investment. The paper seeks to confirm the availability, practicality and functionality of arbitral process to resolve disputes relating to currency convertibility. The paper first explores whether investment disputes relating to exchange rate restrictions are arbitrable for reasons of public policy and the political sensitivity of the interests concerned and, if so, whether and under what conditions any resulting arbitral awards nonetheless may be refused recognition and enforcement. In a second step, the enquiry interprets the scope of application and manner of application of substantive international investment law to determine whether such disputes fall within the scope of investment treaty protections and whether such protections should be restrictively applied to such disputes.

Epidemiology of substance use and dependence in the state of Punjab, India: Results of a household survey on a statewide representative sample

Despite its political sensitivity, little scientifically valid evidence on the prevalence, pattern and treatment need of substance use in the northern border state of Punjab, India is available till date. The 'universe' for the survey was the entire house-dwelling population of Punjab, of both genders, aged 11-60 years. Stratified multistage sampling technique was used. Following a pilot study, data were collected by trained research workers by face-to-face interview using pre-tested survey instruments. From 6398 households, 13,925 respondents were interviewed. Prevalence of lifetime and current (12 month) dependence on any substance were 15.8% (95% confidence interval [CI] 15.1-16.4%) and 14.7% (95% CI 14.1-15.3%) respectively. Of the specific substances, current dependence was the highest on alcohol (10.9%; 95% CI 10.3-11.4%), followed by tobacco (8.1%; 95% CI 7.7-8.6%). Regarding opioids, lifetime use was 1.9% (95% CI 1.6-2.1%) and current dependence 0.8% (95%CI 0.7-1.0%). Use of and dependence on natural opioids was the highest. After projecting these figures to the entire source population of the state, number of currently dependent alcohol, tobacco and opioid users were 2.2, 1.6, and 0.17 million, respectively. Overall, substance use was predominant in men and significantly more common in rural areas. Majority (81%) of the tobacco users, and 51% each of alcohol and opioid users needed intervention. However, merely one in six subjects sought any professional help. Punjab has a substantive problem related to substance use. Though alcohol and tobacco are by far the major substances of use and dependence, the large number of opioid users also raises concern. Treatment services need scaling-up.

Regional Cooperation in the Post-South China Sea Arbitration Era: Potential Mechanism and Cooperative Areas

ABSTRACTAlthough the South China arbitration has been settled recently, the final settlement of the South China Sea disputes remains in a political stalemate, at least for the near future. This article proposes a regional mechanism that could form the basis for further cooperation in the South China Sea. This mechanism is informed by political theory, facts on the grounds, and lessons learned from cooperative practices in other regions. As a way to work toward a resolution to the South China Sea's sovereignty disputes, and to improve on current cooperative practices, the objective of this mechanism is to involve all parties in the region and thus cover the entire South China Sea, including the disputed areas. Based on incentives for claimants, the level of political sensitivity, the advantage of involving all claimants and disputed areas, and past practices that have facilitated Taiwan's participation, it is the conclusion of this analysis that the conservation and management of marine living resources is the most promising area of cooperation. In addition, the practice in Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission is recommended as an appropriate model to be applied mutatis mutandis in the South China Sea.

Divergent evolution of newborn screening: Israel and the US as gene worlds

Newborn Screening provides a critical case-study for the cross-cultural analysis of globalizing medical technologies. While the evidence-base that informs decisions of which conditions to screen is internationally accepted, the number of disorders screened for varies widely between countries. In this article, we explore the different ‘gene worlds’ that constitute newborn screening programs in Israel and the US. After situating the program in both countries, we focus on two critical differences: the relationship of newborn screening to prenatal and preconception screening and the countries’ willingness to screen high-risk ethnic populations. We describe how the different investment in newborn screening rests on the prioritization of prevention. Because of negative experiences with racial genetic carrier screening for sickle cell anemia and the political sensitivity related to abortion, the US built its genetic screening programs around newborn screening with an aim of secondary prevention. Israel instead invested in a broad range of genetic technologies aiming for primary prevention in the preconceptional and prenatal periods. We conclude by discussing the broader relevance of gene worlds, in which prospective parents, state agencies, advocacy groups, and medical professionals coalesce around country-specific priorities, to the sociological understanding of divergent evolution of medical technologies.

Environmentalist protection: feminist methodology and participant risk for research with Chinese NGOs

ABSTRACTEnvironmentalism has emerged as an arena in which Chinese civil society has become increasingly active, with influence potential still unimaginable in other areas. While the political sensitivity of environmental research and safety concerns for environmentalist participants have certainly dissipated somewhat since the 1990s, ethical considerations remain crucial for my research on Chinese non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and corporate environmental responsibility. The relative legitimisation of NGOs presents a new dilemma for contemporary fieldwork; participatory methods and publication of findings may affect – for better or worse – the activities and results of organisations and members. This article examines how methodological approaches affect researcher positionality and participant risk for environmentalist fieldwork in China. Reflecting on interviews in Beijing, Yunnan and Zhejiang during 2015 and 2016, it presents feminist techniques as one means to reconcile the tension between the academic urge to more deeply understand participants’ experiences and the ethical desire to avoid impacting their safety or organisational activities. Building on Harding’s [(1987). Feminism and methodology: Social science issues. Bloomington: Indiana University Press] ‘standpoint’ epistemology and Worell and Etaugh’s [(1994). Transforming theory and research with women. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 18, 443–450] feminist interviews, I propose extension beyond explicit gender research, and critically reflect on power and exploitation. Insights from fieldwork with environmentalists in China may support contextualised application of feminist methodologies to reduce participant risk in broader politically sensitive areas.

Cultura negra e empreendedorismo: Sensibilidades políticas a reivindicações econômicas e o engajamento através do mercado

O presente artigo busca refletir a respeito das relações entre empreendedorismo e engajamento político, observadas a partir da Feira Preta, um evento organizado anualmente na cidade de São Paulo e que tem como objetivo promover atividades de cultura e comércio voltadas à comunidade negra. Constituídas a partir da conjunção de redes de solidariedade entre sujeitos, em sua maioria com ensino superior, engajados em coletivos culturais e/ou identificados como empreendedores, tais interações têm sido estimuladas por um conjunto de transformações político-econômicas dos últimos vinte anos. Atentando para esse cenário etnográfico, chamo atenção, portanto, para o modo como o mesmo tem constituído formas renovadas de reconhecimento e trocas culturais, promovendo a emergência de novos atores econômicos e políticos no contexto nacional. Interessa-me, particularmente, compreender as diferentes lógicas econômicas em ação, que têm articulado reivindicações e novos sujeitos de direitos no Brasil contemporâneo, bem como, identificar os limites desse campo de possibilidades.

The Framework of Crisis‐Induced Agenda Setting in China

AbstractThe extent by which public agenda influences policy agenda indicates the degree of democracy in a regime. However, few researchers have drawn their attention on authoritarian regimes like China. This article investigates how the government addresses the demands of the public during a crisis at the policy agenda level. This paper dissects five patterns of agenda setting, namely, agenda‐as‐usual, symbolic agenda, conflicting agenda, mass campaign (or competing agenda) and authority domination (or hidden agenda) with real case examples in contemporary China. Ultimately, the evolution of various types of agenda setting provides us with a horizon to understand subtly yet significantly changes in the Chinese policymaking and political system with special focus on competing agenda and hidden agenda because such level of political sensitivity can rarely be found in democratic systems. Meanwhile, the comparison among these agendas would inspire authoritative governments such as China to exploit a crisis.

Going Ashore in the Anambas Islands: Accounts by Hyacinthe de Bougainville and Cyrille Laplace in 1825 and 1831

The Anambas Islands are a small archipelago consisting of six islands located around 150 miles east of the city of Pekan on the east coast of the Malay Peninsula at roughly the same latitude as Kuala Lumpur. Today they constitute the Anambas Regency (Kabupaten Kepulauan Anambas), part of the Indonesian province of Kepulauan Riau. These accounts describe visits by French ships in the mid-1920s and in 1830, when the British settlement in Singapore was new and there was no Dutch presence. Residents of the islands traded with Johor and clearly were aware of European activity in the region. In an indication of political sensitivity, Bougainville covered the names of his ships and flew no flag.

The Legal Recognition of Transgender Children

Around the world, a majority of jurisdictions either partially or fully exclude transgender (trans) children from legal gender recognition pathways. Gender recognition for minors involves myriad (often highly complex) considerations. While deciding whether to formally acknowledge trans youth is often framed as a ‘welfare’ or ‘best interests’ question, answering that question requires a nuanced appreciation of existing medical and social science research. Historically, medico-legal responses to trans children have emphasised ‘ignoring’ or ‘corrective’ strategies. There was a concern (still prevalent in contemporary academic and politically commentary) that affirming trans expression would encourage ‘confused’ or ‘impressionable’ young minds. In recent years, however, a growing consensus (backed up by extensive empirical data) has developed in favour of affirmative interventions. There is increasing appreciation that acknowledging lived-experiences of gender (howsoever manifested) enhances mental health outcomes for trans youth. Although policies of affirmation might (in general) best serve the interests of trans children, law-makers should not adopt child-inclusive amendments if (in practice) they would compromise well-being. Drawing upon existing medical and social science research, this paper asks whether it is possible to introduce affirmative policies which adequately protect persons under the age of majority. Among the factors explored, the paper will consider the possibility of reliably identifying trans youth who persist in a stable gender identity beyond puberty. In recent years, much political and media debate around trans youth has centred on the potential negative consequences for children who ‘de-transition’ in adolescence or early-adulthood. The paper will also address issues surrounding capacity to consent (to gender recognition), claims regarding the premature medicalisation of young bodies and alternative options arising from social transition. Ultimately, the paper concludes that, while gender recognition for minors remains a question of extreme political sensitivity, there is growing evidence that trans children can (and should) be affirmed through safe, secure and child-centred policies.