Role Of Different Institutions Research Articles

On “epistemic injustice” and victimization in prisons

The article looks for reasons that explain the different results of criminal investigations conducted inside and outside prisons. We ask if and how the concept of epistemic injustice, as developed by Miranda Fricker, helps to understand those variations. The underlying hypothesis is that epistemic injustice is a symptom of a wider problem. The authors assume that the treatment of victims of violent crime inside prison has structural rather than interpersonal explanations. In a qualitative approach the study uses data from a series of semi-structured interviews with prisoners and prison officers (40 interviews in total). It explores the dynamics of the decision to report crime committed inside prisons and the role of different institutions involved in the investigation of these crimes from the perspective and experience of prisoners and prison officers. As result it is argued, that Fricker’s concept of epistemic injustice is not very helpful when it comes to understand epistemic injustice suffered by victims of violent crime inside prison. It can be better understood in the terms of epistemic oppression used by Dotson. Thus, it is not about assigning blame but how to change the underlying social relations and institutions that subordinate prisoners on epistemic grounds.

On the Impact of IMF Loans and Conditions: A Gender Lens

This paper attempts to examine the impact of IMF programs and subsequent policy conditions from a gender lens. We argue that the IMF’s orthodox adjustment policies deteriorate the development outcomes of women disproportionately, mainly due to undermining recipient states’ expenditure capacity on female-dominated work and service sectors. Consequently, women face hardships in managing their dual roles -in both the market and the domestic spheres- which affects the efficiency of society's productive and reproductive sectors. First, we detect the main macro and political-economic determinants of IMF participation using a probit estimation. Second, we use the predicted probabilities in stage one to conduct a Heckman selection procedure between the participation in an IMF program and the observation of policy conditionalities. Finally, we estimate the impact of the IMF conditionality on different gendered outcomes. Our results indicate that a 1% increase in conditionality increases female unemployment, maternal mortality rates, girls' secondary school drop-out rates, and gender inequality by 1.1%, 6.7%, 6.8%, and 0.8% respectively. Furthermore, the results of our extended model confirm the crucial role of different institutions that protect women’s rights - including laws and conventions that prohibit gender-based discrimination- in mitigating the adverse impacts of IMF policy conditions on gendered outcomes.

On the Impact of IMF Loans and Conditions: A Gender Lens

This paper attempts to examine the impact of IMF programs and subsequent policy conditions from a gender lens. We argue that the IMF’s orthodox adjustment policies deteriorate the development outcomes of women disproportionately, mainly due to undermining recipient states’ expenditure capacity on female-dominated work and service sectors. Consequently, women face hardships in managing their dual roles -in both the market and the domestic spheres- which affects the efficiency of society's productive and reproductive sectors. First, we detect the main macro and political-economic determinants of IMF participation using a probit estimation. Second, we use the predicted probabilities in stage one to conduct a Heckman selection procedure between the participation in an IMF program and the observation of policy conditionalities. Finally, we estimate the impact of the IMF conditionality on different gendered outcomes. Our results indicate that a 1% increase in conditionality increases female unemployment, maternal mortality rates, girls' secondary school drop-out rates, and gender inequality by 1.1%, 6.7%, 6.8%, and 0.8% respectively. Furthermore, the results of our extended model confirm the crucial role of different institutions that protect women’s rights -including laws and conventions that prohibit gender-based discrimination- in mitigating the adverse impacts of IMF policy conditions on gendered outcomes.

ПОБУДОВА ГРОМАДЯНСЬКОГО СУСПІЛЬСТВА З ВІЙСЬКОВИМИ ТА ЇХ СІМ’ЯМИ: РОЛЬ ВИЩОЇ ОСВІТИ У ЗАПОВНЕННІ ПРОГАЛИНИ МІЖ ВІЙСЬКОВОЮ СЛУЖБОЮ ТА ЦИВІЛЬНИМ ЖИТТЯМ

Introduction. While the military is viewed differently in Canada and Ukraine, inclusion of veterans into civil society is important for both countries. Transition from the military service to civilian life can be challenging. Therefore, the role of different institutions and organizations, that focus on trying to improve what is available for former soldiers and their families has to be discussed. The purpose of the article is to explore the role that higher educational institutions can and should play in assisting former military to better integrate into civilian society – civil society. Methods. Researchers conducted a literature review of journal articles and other relevant written materials as well as informal interviews with key informants. Results. Using the mixed methods of literature search, informal interviews with key informants, and observation, the article considers the way “veterans” are conceptualized in both Canada and Ukraine and how two particular universities in Canada and Ukraine now attempt to meet the needs of former military members, wondering how their needs may differ and be similar to other students of higher education. Originality. The article concludes that, since civil society in general has a responsibility to support veterans in their transition, and notes that there are gaps in both understanding of need and awareness/availability of appropriate resources, a full needs assessment is the next step. Conclusion. The authors recommend a pilot needs assessment at the LPNU in Lviv Oblast where a number of veterans have made their homes.

Economics and Institutional Aspects of Protected Cultivation of Carnation in Himachal Pradesh

This paper examines the role of different institutions in promotion of protected cultivation and the benefits realized by the farmers in Solan district of Himachal Pradesh. The area under protected cultivation promoted by National Horticulture Mission, has been found nearly 1.5 lakh ha, of which 20 per cent is under greenhouse. The export-oriented carnation cultivation has been observed most profitable vis-a-vis domestic market oriented and diversified pattern of production. The study has shown that the cost of protected cultivation can be recovered in 3–5 years, depending upon the crops grown. The IRR varies from 31 per cent for carnation with capsicum to 73 per cent when only carnation is grown. The sensitivity analysis with respect to subsidy has shown that protected cultivation is sustainable even without subsidy for its cultivation. The protected cultivation has made a significant impact on the farm households in the hilly region. However, further expansion of protected cultivation will depend on the effectiveness of supporting institutions and market structure.

Learning from the past

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to provide a historical analysis of the disaster management structure, policies and institutions in Pakistan between 1947 and 2005, and highlights the contemporary challenges in view of the learning from the past.Design/methodology/approach– The paper uses a historic-integrative case study approach to disaster management and risk reduction policy, planning and practice. Qualitative data were collected through purposive sampling and a case study design was adopted. A broad range of actors was recruited as research participants. In total, 22 semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted in relation to this study in six different districts of Pakistan to achieve insight into the role of different institutions and stakeholders.Findings– Overall, the post-colonial flood-centric policy framework and fragmented responsibilities of different disaster management institutions show the lack of an effective institutional structure for disaster management and mitigation in Pakistan, particularly at the local level. Until the event of the 2005 earthquake, policies heavily relied on attaining immediate and short-term goals of response and relief while ignoring the long-term objectives of strategic planning for prevention and preparedness as well as capacity building and empowerment of local institutions and communities.Practical implications– The analysis explains, in part, why disaster planning and management needs to be given due attention in the developing countries at different policy scales (from local to national) especially in the face of limited resources, and what measures should be taken to improve effectiveness at different phases of the disaster management cycle.Originality/value– The paper advances the importance of a historical case study approach to disaster management and mitigation. The empirical work provides original research evidence about the approaches to dealing with disasters in Pakistan and thus enriches existing knowledge of disaster management policy and planning about the country.

Managing the Unmanageable? Understanding Europe's Response to the Migration ‘Crisis’

More than 1 million people have crossed the Mediterranean and Aegean Seas since January 2015, arriving on the beaches of Southern Europe in dinghies and rickety boats, having paid a smuggler to facilitate their journey. Most are refugees from Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, Eritrea, and Somalia who are fleeing conflict and violence. Others are migrants from West and Central Africa, seeking a livelihood and a future for themselves and their families. This paper will unpack the evolution of the European policy response, arguing that the migration ‘crisis’ is not a reflection of numbers – which pale into insignificance relative to the number of refugees in other countries outside Europe or to those moving in and out of Europe on tourist, student and work visas – but rather a crisis of political solidarity. After five emergency summits to agree a common response, EU politicians are still struggling to come to terms with the dynamics of migration to Europe, the complexity of motivations driving people forward, the role of different institutions, including governments, international organizations, NGOs and civil society, in facilitating the journey, and the ways in which social media is providing individuals and families with information about the options and possibilities that are, or are not, available to them. I suggest that the unwillingness of politicians and policymakers to engage with research evidence on the dynamics of migration and to harness their combined resources to address the consequences of conflict and underdevelopment elsewhere, speaks more strongly to the current state of the European Union than it does to the realities of contemporary migration.

An Analysis of the Treaty Making Power Proposed by the NIPC

This paper analyzes the proposed concepts of the National Interest Protection Committee (NIPC) on the role of different institutions, especially the executive body and parliament at the federal level and the provinces regarding treaty making power. The issue is discussed from four different but connected perspectives: institution building, international law, practices in the United States and India, and the domestic niche of Nepal. It is always difficult choosing a best alternative from among contesting concepts. Generally, contesting concepts tend to be manufactured, when a society undergoes a process of institution building. Each concept procures practical result(s). And, often practical results come across when concepts are executed. Thus, choosing a best alternative from among the contesting concepts and bringing it down to the constitutional framework is undoubtedly a daunting task. Learning from practices of other countries enhances knowledge base but it is always not a sure signpost. Against this backdrop, this paper touches upon some of the issues that could help create equilibrium between the role of provinces and the parliament in their oversight of the treaty making power of the central government (federal executive body).

Designing contracts for irrigation water under asymmetric information: Are simple pricing mechanisms enough?

A fertile discussion is developing in the EU regarding the application of the Water Framework Directive (60/2000) (WFD), the legislative act that provides the framework for water regulation in Europe and emphasises the role of economic instruments in water policy. The objective of this paper is to provide an evaluation of different instruments designed to deal with the management of water for agriculture, in the perspective of WFD implementation and agricultural price scenarios. The paper focuses on the regulation of mixed source unmetered water and carries out a comparison of flat rate versus differentiated contracts as the policy instrument. The analysis is based on a combination of linear programming and a Principal-Agent model. The empirical model is applied in an agricultural area of Northern Italy. The results show the feasibility of incentive-oriented policy instruments, even in the less sophisticated form of flat rate area payments. They also show the relevance of agricultural market scenarios and policy scenarios in the design of the optimal policy instruments. The adoption of such instruments, however, could require a revision of the role of different institutions involved in water management.

Poles To Newcastle

Identifying a missing local and regional scale in most analyses of UK migration, this article maps the geography of post-accession migrants from Central Europe (A8 migrants) and highlights the need to analyse the phenomenon of migration to localities and regions with little history of immigration and with underperforming labour markets. It draws on the particular example of the North East of England to ask how migrant workers are grounded in local labour markets, and uses this case-study to examine the interrelations between migration and labour markets. The article explores the role of different institutions — public and private — at different scales in mediating and regulating the labour market participation of migrant workers, and reviews the processes of A8 labour migration in the context of debates over regional labour markets and skills. In short, the article reflects in both conceptual and policy terms on the place of migrant workers in peripheral regions, and connects the analysis to debates over the potential contribution of migration to regional labour markets and economies, as policymakers increasingly look to migration for rejuvenation of skills and employment.

Coordinating Technology: Studies in the International Standardization of Telecommunications (review)

Reviewed by: Coordinating Technology: Studies in the International Standardization of Telecommunications * Andrew Barry (bio) Coordinating Technology: Studies in the International Standardization of Telecommunications. By Susanne K. Schmidt and Raymund Werle. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1998. Pp. viii+365; illustrations, tables, notes/references, index. $35. Until relatively recently the dynamics of technical standardization were of only marginal academic and political concern. David Noble’s America by Design: Science, Technology and the Rise of Corporate Capitalism (New York: Knopf, 1977) pioneered the study of these questions, and during the last fifteen years the situation has changed dramatically. On the one hand, the work of historians, economists, and sociologists, including Paul David, Ken Alder, Thomas Hughes, Michel Callon, and M. Norton Wise, has indicated the critical importance of standards to the process of sociotechnical changes and the conduct of modern systems of government. On the other hand, standardization has become a matter of considerable economic and political importance. The European Community has made the process of technical harmonization central to the project of European political integration, and every computer user knows the problems of incompatible hardware and software. Susanne Schmidt and Raymund Werle’s study of the international standardization of telecommunications is clearly indebted to recent work in the field, but it is narrower in focus than the work of, for example, David or Hughes. Coordinating Technology is a scholarly and specialist work, modest in its general theoretical ambitions, and precise and detailed in its analysis of the complexities of standardization. It will be an essential reference for those concerned with standardization of telecommunications and, more generally, with the role of committees of experts in the development of industrial standards. The book is organized into two parts. The first provides a broad description of the dynamics of standardization, an account of the role of different institutions in the telecommunications standardization process, and an exposition of the authors’ theoretical framework, which they term “actor-centered institutionalism.” In general terms they contrast this approach to the study of technology with social constructivist analyses in two ways. First, they reject what they see as the sociological reductionism of some forms of constructivist analysis, while accepting its general insights. Second, they go beyond the comparatively narrow confines of social constructivist literature, citing relevant work in political science, economics, and economic history. Schmidt and Werle are much more interested in understanding the complexity of institutionalized forms of standardization than in making a general contribution to theory. The virtues of their pragmatic approach to theory are shown to best effect in chapter 4, in a judicious appraisal of the strengths and weaknesses of game theory in accounting [End Page 153] for the dynamics of standardization in institutional settings. In criticizing game theory they point to the importance of uncertainty in the development of technology. “A closer look at ‘real world’ standardization points to a feature that has been neglected in game-theoretic models of standardization. In many cases the technical problem and/or the economic implications of alternatives are uncertain. In consequence, individual preferences may stay indeterminate and ambivalent during considerable periods of the standardization process” (p. 105). The empirical focus of the book is on the workings of the Comité consultatif international télégraphique et téléphonique (CCITT), which along with the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) standardization sector are the central institutions involved in international telecommunications standardization. One of the strengths of Schmidt and Werle’s study is its sense of the specificity of the organization and culture of the CCITT. In telecommunications some form of standardization is generally of benefit to everybody, but the adoption of particular standards may be perceived to benefit some more than others. In these circumstances, if one wants to understand telecommunications standardization, then one must analyze the internal rules and procedures of the CCITT itself and, in particular, which “institutionalized rules exist to facilitate consensus once issues are contentious” (p. 139). The second part of the book contains detailed case studies of the dynamics of standardization of Interactive Videotex, Facsimile, and Message Handling (X.400) in the CCITT. In the case of Interactive Videotex, conflicting economic interests and political investments blocked the possibility of compromise, whereas in the other two...

Strategic conservation interventions in a region of high biodiversity and high vulnerability: a case study from the Agulhas Plain at the southern tip of Africa

AbstractIn terms of the persistence of biodiversity, the siting of conservation areas has traditionally been ad hoc. In the Cape Floristic Region, a hot-spot of plant biodiversity and endemism, past conservation interventions have led to the mountains being over-represented in the reserve network, while the lowlands have remained very poorly conserved. Ongoing threats to the lowlands such as the rampant spread of invasive alien plants, and land transformation for agriculture and resort development, continue to undermine biodiversity in these regions. A new conservation intervention, the Agulhas National Park, is in the process of being implemented on the coastal lowlands at Africa's southernmost tip. A flexible, reserve-selection design tool is being used to guide this process. The practical challenges in implementing a new protected area in a fragmented landscape, which has a high biodiversity and vulnerability, are examined. The role of different institutions, in partic-in particular state-private partnerships, and current investigations into conservation agencies' policies, legislation and funding mechanisms are dealt with. It is imperative that future conservation planning considers the threats to biodiversity first and foremost. Institutions such as South African National Parks and the Cape Nature Conservation Board must act strategically to avoid changes in land use that will compromise the biodiversity goals of retention and persistence. Conservation efforts will only succeed if institutional and socio-economic considerations are integrated with conservation plans aimed at ensuring the long-term persistence of biodiversity.

Strategic conservation interventions in a region of high biodiversity and high vulnerability: a case study from the Agulhas Plain at the southern tip of Africa

In terms of the persistence of biodiversity, the siting of conservation areas has traditionally been ad hoc. In the Cape Floristic Region, a hot-spot of plant biodiversity and endemism, past conservation interventions have led to the mountains being over-represented in the reserve network, while the lowlands have remained very poorly conserved. Ongoing threats to the lowlands such as the rampant spread of invasive alien plants, and land transformation for agriculture and resort development, continue to undermine biodiversity in these regions. A new conservation intervention, the Agulhas National Park, is in the process of being implemented on the coastal lowlands at Africa's southernmost tip. A flexible, reserve-selection design tool is being used to guide this process. The practical challenges in implementing a new protected area in a fragmented landscape, which has a high biodiversity and vulnerability, are examined. The role of different institutions, in partic-in particular state-private partnerships, and current investigations into conservation agencies' policies, legislation and funding mechanisms are dealt with. It is imperative that future conservation planning considers the threats to biodiversity first and foremost. Institutions such as South African National Parks and the Cape Nature Conservation Board must act strategically to avoid changes in land use that will compromise the biodiversity goals of retention and persistence. Conservation efforts will only succeed if institutional and socio-economic considerations are integrated with conservation plans aimed at ensuring the long-term persistence of biodiversity.