Insecure Situations Research Articles

Factors of Socio-Economic Uncertainty in the Bosnian War

It appears obvious that war, civil or otherwise, deeply damages confidence in the future. This paper examines socio-economic uncertainty and insecurity connected to violent conflicts on the basis of analysis of various reports and journal articles on the Bosnian war. The paper points to conditions of socio-economic uncertainty, and specifically socioeconomic insecurity, during the conflict cycle and to their relation with the dynamic of the conflict. It also addresses questions concerning the effect of conflict on individuals, families, households, and their relations with their closer or broader social environment. It argues that socio-economic insecurity and lack of means for daily survival were not mere consequences of violence, they were also tools used as parts of the strategy to weaken the opponent. Decisions made on fleeing and returning demonstrate the dynamics of trust, risk-taking and perception of possibilities, both at individual and at community level, and in turn show the insurmountable difficulties of coping with insecure situations under conditions of violent conflict and its aftermath.

Shared Goals, Shared Language: Just War, Humanitarians, and the Military

Does just war theory have something to say about efforts to mitigate the humanitarian threats posed by explosive remnants of war (ERW) as well as illicit military-style small arms and light weapons (SA/LW)? The answer is 'yes', and the affirmative is important because it provides a shared lexicon for humanitarians and militaries - who are often working in close proximity in post-conflict and insecure situations - to work toward shared goals of order and security. More specifically, just war theory informs our views of weapons in or out of the hands of legitimate authorities, about the ethics of how war is conducted (discrimination), and about the post-conflict order.

Qualidade de Vida no Contexto Migratório: Um Estudo com Imigrantes Africanos Residentes em João Pessoa - PB, Brasil

The quality of life studied in this investigation covers a polissemic concept, that reflects meanings and knowledge, experiences and values, both individual and collective, in different times, places and histories. This concept ratifies the World Health Organization’s (WHO) which advocates it as the individual perception of his/her place in the cultural context and in the system of values in which he/she is inserted, using their objectives, expectations, concerns, patterns, as a reference. In this sense it is important to study the phenomenon in the migration context, for, in general, migrants are forced to face isolation, incomprehension, new culture and habits, and many times hostile and insecure situations and indifference from the population. This investigation aimed at studying the Quality of Life of African immigrants living in Joao Pessoa, PB, Brazil. The instrument used to assess the quality of life was the WHOQOL-bref scale. A total of 102 African immigrants participated in the study, with ages raging from 18 to 35 years, most of them male (53,8%), single (78,8%), and students (82,7%). Results show a high level in the general domain concerning the four domains (X= 3,87 DP=0,66). The evaluation was higher in the psychological and physical domains (X = 4, l4 and DP = 0,48; X = 3,87 and DP = 0,45), respectively. We discovered that, despite the difficulties encountered in the migratory process, the results show good quality of life levels. scale. A total of 102 African immigrants participated in the study, with ages raging from 18 to 35 years, most of them male (53,8%), single (78,8%), and students (82,7%). Results show a high level in the general domain concerning the four domains (X= 3,87 DP=0,66). The evaluation was higher in the psychological and physical domains (X = 4, l4 and DP = 0,48; X = 3,87 and DP = 0,45), respectively. We discovered that, despite the difficulties encountered in the migratory process, the results show good quality of life levels.

PEACEKEEPING IN CRISIS?

United Nations peacekeeping operations remain a vital policy instrument in a world marred by civil war, terrorism and conflict. However, the post-Brahimi Report consensus is weakening, and the new challenges threaten to undermine support for peace operations. Not least of these is the shift in mandate from impartial implementation of peace agreements, to the extension of the state's purview in complex and insecure situations. Bruce Jones discusses the current challenges facing peacekeeping, and argues that they must be resolved with clear strategy and strong major power commitment.

Intrafamily violence and justice

This study aimed to analyze the structural, developmental and functional dimensions of families in situations of violence, under judicial intervention in the city of São Paulo, SP, Brazil. The theoretical reference utilized was centered on the perspective of the ecological context of human development. A qualitative methodology was adopted. Data collection was constituted in the analysis of the judicial lawsuits, census maps, semi-structured interviews, free observation and photographs produced by the subjects. Data analysis was inspired by dialectic hermeneutics. "I did not have" and "In the streets" were empirical categories emerging from the subjects' statements, evidencing situations of insecurity and despair, the insertion in perverted relations, established in the universe of drug dealing, exploitation, violation of rights and economic privations. Families showed changes from one historical moment to another, under distinct variables and with a specific complexity, regarding their capacity of discovering, maintaining or altering their development in the environment.

Squeezing the Toothpaste Tube: Will Tackling Court Delay Result in Pre-Court Delay in its Place?

This article is the first to report on a study that tracked all the care proceedings initiated by an English local authority over a one-year period, obtaining factual information and opinions from the social workers involved in the case through the use of guided interviews. The main objective of the researchers was to contribute to understanding of ways in which children are kept waiting in difficult and insecure situations for decisions to be made about their long-term future. This article focuses in particular on the problem of delays that occur prior to a case coming into the court arena. The article offers evidence that current initiatives to reduce court delay may have the unintended result of increasing pre-court delay.

Santé mentale, coopération et développement

Luciano Carrino - Mental health, international aid and development. The approaches currently adopted by mental health professionals show conceptual insufficiencies when applied in situations of extreme poverty and insecurity. International partnership for development helps a process of rethinking with regard to the relationship between the needs of individuals, the function of the Ego in the quest for well-being and the responsibility of society when it imposes routes towards satisfaction that produce exclusion and feed destructive conflicts.

Vulnerability : editorial to the special issue

The discourse on vulnerability is rapidly gaining cur¬ rency. For more than a decade now. vulnerability has been a recognised conceptual framework and analytical approach in research and applicalions regarding uncertainty and risk, especially in terms of livelihood security (Chambers 1989). Vulnerability as a social sci¬ ence concept has found wide application in research on natural hazards (Blaikie et al. 1994). particularly in situations of famine and food insecurity (e.g. Watts & Bohle 1993, Bohle 1994). risky environments (Kasperson et al. 1995) and endangered ecosystems (Lohnert & Geisi 1999). Recently. researchers have sought to link vulnerability and extreme events to the longer-term understanding of sustainable devel¬ opment and human security, especially in the context of global environmental change (Downing. Bohle & Waits 1994,Downing 1996),globalization (Beck 1997) and the new threats of global terrorism (Baudrillard 2002).

The household patterns of a 'Bangladeshi village' in England

The existence of racism as well as an apparent inability to achieve parity within British society forces the majority of Bangladeshi immigrants to think about their future in the homeland. This encourages them to maintain links with the sending society. One way to maintain such links is for men to have two wives. One resides in England while the other remains in the homeland to look after property, particularly arable land. In the course of time, the latter may join her husband and the co-wife in England. Strict immigration regulations may mean that some migrants fail to bring their spouses and children to the UK. Such complexities have given rise to the evolution of differential household patterns amongst this community, quite distinct from existing British or Asian household patterns. The present paper deals with the changing pattern of household composition among Bangladeshis in England. In the course of mapping UK Bangladeshis' domestic situations it becomes clear that traditional family patterns have been affected by the migration process and by the strict immigration regulations governing family reunion in ways that have resulted in some UK Bangladeshi women finding themselves in extremely impoverished and insecure situations.

Globalisation and InsecurityThe Direct and Indirect Effects of Small Arms Availability

Summaries There is a growing awareness across many sectors that small arms represent a serious risk to human and global security. Partly as a result of the growing awareness of the problem, the analytical appraisal of their effects has diversified. But the field is undergoing a process of self-definition. This article attempts to trace the broadening contours of the debate and highlight the need for a multidisciplinary and integrated approach to disarmament. It recognises that small arms constitute a challenge, both in terms of demand and supply. The article demonstrates that small arms diffusion takes place at the interface of the global and local arenas, in situations of underdevelopment and insecurity, posing intricate challenges to national, regional and international actors. Relief and development actors, including donors and governments, have only now started to acknowledge that armed violence, perpetrated with small arms and light weapons, are a serious impediment to population health and criminality, as well as social and economic development.

The women's movement and women's employment in nineteenth century Britain

In the first half of the nineteenth century the main employments open to young women in Britain were in teaching, dressmaking, textile manufacture and domestic service. After 1850, however, young women began to enter previously all-male areas like medicine, pharmacy, librarianship, the civil service, clerical work and hairdressing, or areas previously restricted to older women like nursing, retail work and primary school teaching. This book examines the reasons for this change. The author argues that the way femininity was defined in the first half of the century blinded employers in the new industries to the suitability of young female labour. This definition of femininity was, however, contested by certain women who argued that it not only denied women the full use of their talents but placed many of them in situations of economic insecurity. This was a particular concern of the Womens Movement in its early decades and their first response was a redefinition of feminity and the promotion of academic education for girls. The author demonstrates that as a result of these efforts, employers in the areas targeted began to see the advantages of employing young women, and young women were persuaded that working outside the home would not endanger their femininity.

Service public et banlieues populaires : une coproduction de l'insécurité. Le cas du réseau bus de la RATP

Public service and lower-class suburbs, a coproduction on crime : The Parisian Transit Authority's bus network — On the basis of empirical research conducted on bus lines in the northern suburbs of Paris, the problem of insecurity is taken to be not so much a measurable statistic as the result of a coproduction out of both drivers' and passengers' experiences. Following a presentation of statistical indicators and a typology of passengers' beha¬ viors, the problem of insecurity is approached from the inside by. successively examining the following issues : ticket prices and cheating (free riders) ; the bus driver's job as well as the contrast between reality and bureaucratic rules ; and the inse¬ curity of the personnel, who have adopted a defensive group position (and even "poor white " reactions). The resentment of the lower classes, who see themselves negatively as excluded from society, joins up with the resentment of the drivers. When these two resentments meet inside a bus, they coproduce situations of insecurity.

Nutrition, disease and death in times of famine.

In this article we review the relationship between malnutrition and mortality, and the interaction of morbidity, with the aim of clarifying the health risks of malnutrition in situations of famine and food insecurity. Apart from reviewing what is known about this relationship, we highlight areas where further research is needed. Among refugee and famine affected populations living in camps, there appears to be a close association between high rates of malnutrition and excess mortality. Results from community-based prospective studies of malnutrition and mortality among individuals conclude that as nutritional status declines the risk of death increases, although the discriminating power of different nutritional indices and the strength of the association varies considerably in different locations and at different times. These differences are attributed mainly to the different prevailing patterns of morbidity and growth failure, which are influenced by both environmental and social factors. In situations of famine and population displacement, the deterioration in the health environment increases exposure to infection and is likely to raise the threshold of nutritional status which corresponds to an increased risk of mortality. This has important implications for nutritional assessments and interventions.