Societal Conflicts Research Articles

Judicial Reform – A Neglected Dimension of SSR in El Salvador

ABSTRACTSecurity Sector Reform is an integral part of peace-building but the focus of international actors tends to be on formal state security providers. This article argues that reforms in the judicial system are key for the non-violent transformation of societal conflicts. Based on historical institutionalism a theoretical argument links justice and peace. Reforms of the judiciary need to be an integral part of SSR because otherwise reforms in the military and the police can easily be undermined or turned back. A case study on El Salvador provides empirical insights on the interrelation between reforms of these institutions.

The making of four ideologies of globalization

AbstractRecent societal conflicts over immigration, free trade and EU membership testify to the controversiality of globalization in Western societies. Brexit, Trump, the refugee crisis, and the debate around transatlantic trade and investment partnership (TTIP) are clear illustrations of the salience of globalization in politics. Many argue that neoliberal ideology supports and drives globalization. This raises the question whether opposition to globalization is also ideological, and how. This contribution investigates the existence of ideologies of globalization. It does so presenting a novel rigorous version of Freeden’s analytical morphological approach to ideologies, with deductive conceptualization drawing on political philosophy combined with inductive correlational analysis at the level of individual arguments. It presents original representative claims analysis data on debates over climate change, human rights, migration, trade, and regional integration in the United States, Germany, Poland, Mexico, Turkey, the European Parliament, and the United Nations General Assembly between 2004 and 2011. It shows that we are witnessing the making of four ideologies of globalization: liberalism, cosmopolitanism, communitarianism, and statism. Each has its own distinctive grouping of concepts. Their emergence may solidify a globalization cleavage in Western societies, shape democratic politics for years to come, and affect the course of globalization itself.

Democratization in Unlikely Places: Comparative Lessons from the Latin American Experience

The Latin American experience at the end of the 20th century demonstrates that democratic regimes can be established and stabilized in “unlikely” places that would not appear to have the requisite “preconditions” for democracy as conventionally theorized. The region may thus provide insights into the prospects for democracy in other parts of the world, such as the MENA region, that also lack the traditional correlates of democracy. An understanding of democracy’s institutional roots in deep societal conflicts, rather than political consensus, civic cultures, or economic prosperity, is an essential starting point for such cross-regional perspectives.

Criticizing Forms of Life. Weighing Wittgenstein’s Role in Political Theory

One branch of practical philosophy in which Wittgenstein’s writings might be fruitful, is political philosophy. The concept “forms of life” gives rise to a pluralistic interpretation of society. However, the question arises how societal conflicts in such a pluralistic view con be solved. We will develop a method of criticism which relies on Wittgenstein’s later work and which combines the normative demands of practical philosophy with methodological standards from ethnology and cultural anthropology.

Interfaith education in Muslim, Jewish, Christian schools in Israel

The paper critically approaches the western epistemological tradition and its psychologized perspectives that pose identitarian and cultural categories as standing at the basis of societal conflicts. It suggests that staying attached to a conceptualization of identity as a, more or less, fixed cognizant entity and of culture as a, rather, fixed body of traditions and meaning might not allow multicultural, interfaith, or peace education initiatives geared towards soothing societal conflicts achieve their goals. It does so by reviewing data gathered at the integrated bilingual and multicultural schools in Israel which I have been studying for over a decade utilizing a variety of ethnographic tools. It concludes by locating the problems exposed within present social sciences theorizing and suggest possible ways to overcome these problems.

Life and Forms. The sociological Meaning of a Metaphor

Simmel’s work has often been interpreted as a succession of disparate phases of development following contradictory epistemological paradigms and intellectual stances. By analysing the ‘money or life metaphor’ Hans Blumenberg delivered the paradigmatic assessment for the consistency of Simmel’s philosophical work. The present paper critically extends this approach in order to understand the meaning of Simmel’s life and forms paradigm and shows that its preeminent theoretical contribution concerns sociological theory. From the analysis emerges that Simmel’s delivers a consistent alternative to Parson’s conception of functional differentiation in form of a theory of qualitative societal differentiation. In this frame, Simmel’s critical adoption and transformation of Marx’ theory of societal conflict allows for the foundation of an open-end theory of the development of modernity in the different domains of culture.

Vision Lieferdrohnen

Die Vision eines drohnenbasierten Lieferverkehrs ist nicht voraussetzungslos. Viele regulative und technische Hürden müssen noch genommen werden, um sie Wirklichkeit werden zu lassen. Aufgrund der großen Eingriffstiefe dieser Technologieentwicklung – immerhin würde sich der uns umgebende Luftraum, der bislang nur von Vögeln und gelegentlichen Hubschraubern benutzt wird, gravierend ändern – stellen sich eine Reihe von typischen Fragen der Technikfolgenabschätzung (TA): Bestehen Sicherheitsbedenken? Gibt es Umweltrisiken? Kann die Technologie für kriminelle oder terroristische Zwecke missbraucht werden? Besteht ein gesellschaftliches Konfliktpotenzial angesichts unterschiedlicher Interessen? Reicht die aktuelle Regulierung aus oder müssen neue Regeln geschaffen werden? Dieser Artikel stellt das Thema in groben Zügen dar, gibt erste Antworten auf die genannten Fragen und erkennt die Notwendigkeit einer umfassenden, partizipativen TA‑Studie.

The vision of delivery drones

The vision of drone-based delivery is not without presuppositions. To fully realize this vision, it is imperative to overcome the many technical and regulatory obstacles. Given the considerable depth of engagement of this technology – the airspace around us, which has so far only been used by birds and the occasional helicopter, would change profoundly – a number of typical technology assessment (TA) questions are on the table: Are there any safety concerns? Are there any environmental risks? Could criminals or terrorists misuse the technology? Are we going to face societal conflict in view of divergent interests? Is the current regulatory framework sufficient, or do we need new rules? This article provides a broad outline of this topic, gives first answers to the above mentioned questions, and concludes that an encompassing participatory TA study is needed.

The Methodology of the Holy Prophet for Dealing with Societal Conflicts: A Research Based Study

According to the last divine book of the Almighty God, the life of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ is the best for humanity. If believers are looking for success in this world and the hereafter, they must follow the pattern of Holy Prophet’s life strictly in all aspects. The percept of his life is divinely approved for humanity. The glory of the life of Holy Prophet lies in the fact that it is not restricted to a particular period, any specific region or religious belief, rather it encompasses all the facets of human life. Indeed, the purest and comprehensive roadmap for managing the conflicts and differences is present in the teachings of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ. This paper is aimed and focused on highlighting the traits of the Holy Prophet ﷺ in settling the disputes, conflicts and divergences in the society. This paper will attempt to answer the following queries. 1. What lesson can humanity learn from the life of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ him for dealing with conflicts? 2. How did he earn goodwill and reputation in spite of living in cruel and hostile society? 3. What was his attitude while dealing with disputes and conflicts?

Evaluation as institution: a contractarian argument for needs-based economic evaluation

BackgroundThere is a gap between health economic evaluation methods and the value judgments of coverage decision makers, at least in Germany. Measuring preference satisfaction has been claimed to be inappropriate for allocating health care resources, e.g. because it disregards medical need. The existing methods oriented at medical need have been claimed to disregard non-consequentialist fairness concerns. The aim of this article is to propose a new, contractarian argument for justifying needs-based economic evaluation. It is based on consent rather than maximization of some impersonal unit of value to accommodate the fairness concerns.Main textThis conceptual paper draws upon contractarian ethics and constitution economics to show how economic evaluation can be viewed as an institution to overcome societal conflicts in the allocation of scarce health care resources. For this, the problem of allocating scarce health care resources in a society is reconstructed as a social dilemma.Both disadvantaged patients and affluent healthy individuals can be argued to share interests in a societal contract to provide technologies which ameliorate medical need, based on progressive funding. The use of needs-based economic evaluation methods for coverage determination can be interpreted as institutions for conflict resolution as far as they use consented criteria to ensure the social contract’s sustainability and avoid implicit rationing or unaffordable contribution rates. This justifies the use of needs-based evaluation methods by Pareto-superiority and consent (rather than by some needs-based value function per se).ConclusionThe view of economic evaluation presented here may help account for fairness concerns in the further development of evaluation methods. This is because it directs the attention away from determining some unit of value to be maximized towards determining those persons who are most likely not to consent and meeting their concerns. Following this direction in methods development is likely to increase the acceptability of health economic evaluation by decision makers.

Doing things with numbers: Chinese approaches to the Anthropocene

This paper looks at Chinese approaches to the Anthropocene by way of discussing the idea of Green GDP and recent attempts to implement this new way of calculating the GDP in the PRC. It argues that the Green GDP project which is outside China often regarded as a piece meal solution might indeed be of major importance for inducing a shift away from GDP-ism (唯 GDP-主义) as the dominant development model for China. The paper contributes to the on-going discussion on the Anthropocene (Bostic and Howey 2017; Chin et al. 2016; Jahn et al. 2015) by including a reflection on our hopes and expectations vis à vis China’s potential contribution to preserving the planet and by analyzing the Green GDP project and its implications in a more general sense. While Green GDP calculations have the advantage of making costs and gains of economic growth transparent, the big data which form the basis of Green GDP calculations imply that everything we do has to be quantified and controlled. Introducing Green GDP calculations is a continuation of GDP-ism with other means and no break away from the kind of mindset which stands at the cradle of the Anthropocene. But in comparison to more radical policies, it has the potential to bring about change for China and the world at large without provoking major societal conflicts.

Civil Strife, Power and Authority in the Judicial Sphere: A Case Study from Roman Palestine

Summary:This paper examines Josephus' account of a judicial incident that occurred in around 62 C.E., which involved both Judaean elites and the Roman imperial powers. While traditional readings of the passage have focussed on mining it for information about the nature of the Judaean council that is often referred to as the „sanhedrin“, it is here argued that this report sheds light on several other key issues related to the operation of law within the region: indigenous perspectives on loci of authority within a judicial context, the importance of judicial power within broader societal conflicts, and the role of Judaean-Roman interactions in maintaining and redefining jurisdictional boundaries. It thus constitutes a valuable testimony for understanding the operation of law in this particular part of the Roman Empire.

Management of Conflicts within Beer Drinking Settings

The study examined the role played by the intake of alcohol in as far as resolution of conflicts is concerned. The qualitative investigative study sought to respond to the following aspects; prominent conflicts experienced in beer drinking places, causes of the conflicts and prominent resolution measures applied. It was guided by the Public Sphere theory propounded by Jurgen Habermas which argues that public sphere is an area in social life where people assemble and liberally discuss detecting societal conflicts and effect solutions. The study observed 2 Clubs; X and Y at Chikwanha Business Centre and Zengeza 4 Aquatic shops in Seke rural and urban respectively, Zimbabwe over a three month period. Observations were consistent every Fridays and Saturdays from 1000 hours till 2300 hours. Data were analysed using latent content analysis to allow examination of the participants‟ mannerisms and narratives. The study established that beer drinking leads to more intuition, creativity and audacity regarding adoptability of conflict resolution measures. It also revealed that the most drunken parties implemented the most effective and sustainable conflict resolution measures. The study also noted that beer is a necessary commodity for social stability if religious, cultural and economic rules allow. Keywords : conflict resolution, conflict management, public sphere, beer, conflict

Patient-centered boundary mechanisms to foster intercultural partnerships in health care: a case study in Guatemala

BackgroundUp to one half of the population in Africa, Asia and Latin America has little access to high-quality biomedical services and relies on traditional health systems. Medical pluralism is thus in many developing countries the rule rather than the exception, which is why the World Health Organization is calling for intercultural partnerships to improve health care in these regions. They are, however, challenging due to disparate knowledge systems and lack of trust that hamper understanding and collaboration. We developed a collaborative, patient-centered boundary mechanism to overcome these challenges and to foster intercultural partnerships in health care. To assess its impact on the quality of intercultural patient care in a medically pluralistic developing country, we conducted and evaluated a case study.MethodsThe case study took place in Guatemala, since previous efforts to initiate intercultural medical partnerships in this country were hampered by intense historical and societal conflicts. It was designed by a team from ETH Zurich’s Transdisciplinarity Lab, the National Cancer Institute of Guatemala, two traditional Councils of Elders and 25 Mayan healers from the Kaqchikel and Q’eqchi’ linguistic groups. It was implemented from January 2014 to July 2015. Scientists and traditional political authorities collaborated to facilitate workshops, comparative diagnoses and patient referrals, which were conducted jointly by biomedical and traditional practitioners. The traditional medical practices were thoroughly documented, as were the health-seeking pathways of patients, and the overall impact was evaluated.ResultsThe boundary mechanism was successful in discerning barriers of access for indigenous patients in the biomedical health system, and in building trust between doctors and healers. Learning outcomes included a reduction of stereotypical attitudes towards traditional healers, improved biomedical procedures due to enhanced self-reflection of doctors, and improved traditional health care due to refined diagnoses and adapted treatment strategies. In individual cases, the beneficial effects of traditional treatments were remarkable, and the doctors continued to collaborate with healers after the study was completed. Comparison of the two linguistic groups illustrated that the outcomes are highly context-dependent.ConclusionsIf well adapted to local context, patient-centered boundary mechanisms can enable intercultural partnerships by creating access, building trust and fostering mutual learning, even in circumstances as complex as those in Guatemala. Creating multilateral patient-centered boundary mechanisms is thus a promising approach to improve health care in medically pluralistic developing countries.

Bioeconomy Strategies: Contexts, Visions, Guiding Implementation Principles and Resulting Debates

Over the last decade, bioeconomy policies, guided by integrated bioeconomy strategies, have developed. This paper presents a systematic and comparative analysis of official bioeconomy strategies of the EU, Germany, OECD, Sweden and the USA with regard to their context, visions and guiding implementation principles. In an additional step, the relationship between these strategies and important scientific and societal debates around bioeconomy is assessed. In conclusion, five major stumbling blocks for the further development of the bioeconomy are worked out. First, there is the risk of disappointment because far-reaching promises of the strategies are difficult to achieve. Second, the bioeconomy is not the only way to a low carbon economy so alternatives could impede the desired development. Third, persistent conflicts between the different uses of biomass for food, material and energy production could lead to unstable policy support with short-term shifts. Fourth, a broader success of new bioeconomy value chains could trigger new societal conflicts over bioeconomy if efficiency gains, cascading use, residue use and sustainability certification are not sufficient to ensure a sustainable supply of biomass. Fifth, the acceptance of bioeconomy could be compromised if bioeconomy policies continue to ignore the on-going societal debates on agriculture and food.

The Limits of Governance: How Far Does Policy Analysis Travel in International Relations?

ABSTRACTThis article retraces the mutual rapprochement between Policy Analysis and International Relations and addresses its limits. Looking beyond the circle of advanced liberal-democratic economies, three limits are discussed: the need to specify the prerequisites of different modes of governance; to consider the relations of power and domination in these processes; and to look beyond regulatory issues at the political and societal conflicts surrounding policy diffusion.

Multi-criteria decision analysis of energy system transformation pathways: A case study for Switzerland

Two recent political decisions are expected to frame the development of the Swiss energy system in the coming decades: the nuclear phase-out and the greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction target. To accomplish both of them, low-carbon technologies based on renewable energy and Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) are expected to gain importance. The objective of the present work is to support prospective Swiss energy policy-making by providing a detailed sustainability analysis of possible energy system transformation pathways. For this purpose, the results of the scenario quantification with an energy system model are coupled with multi-criteria sustainability analysis. Two climate protection and one reference scenario are addressed, and the trade-offs between the scenarios are analysed based on a set of 12 interdisciplinary indicators. Implementing a stringent climate policy in Switzerland is associated with co-benefits such as less fossil resource use, less fatalities in severe accidents in the energy sector, less societal conflicts and higher resource autonomy. The availability and implementation of CCS allows for achieving the GHG emission reduction target at lower costs, but at the expense of a more fossil fuel-based energy system.

Football fandom, ethno-regionalism and rivalry in post-colonial Zimbabwe: case study of Highlanders and Dynamos

This paper focuses on football fan rivalry in an African context using the case of Highlanders and Dynamos Football Clubs in Zimbabwe. It explores the intertwined historical, political and ethno-regional causes of this rivalry reflecting on how football reproduces underlying fractures that exist in society. Fan rivalries are an integral part of football across the world. Clashes between rival football teams are often highly charged encounters, resulting in cases of violence. As such the worst instances of football hooliganism are usually experienced during matches between rival football teams. Through the use of indepth interviews, internet research, key informant interviews and observation, we highlight the various dimensions and explanations of this rivalry. Often football becomes an outlay of wider societal conflicts. The stadium offers space for the playing out of these rivalries. Football rivalries thus offer a mirror into the socio-political tensions in society. Football in Africa is fraught with ethnic, racial, class and gender identities which often form the basis of rivalries.

The role of Christianity in mending societal fragility and quelling violence in Liberia

This article has benefited from the research entitled �The role of Christianity in post-war Liberia�. It is a study that attempts to examine and investigate how Christian faith and spirituality can play a role in a campaign for social peace, justice, development and unity. This article describes and evaluates a cross section of strategies and policies which theologians can employ to develop and sustain peace and foster reconstruction plans among perpetrators and victims of a brutal civil war. It attempts to answer the following question: what role can Christianity play to effectively lessen the animosity that engendered the years of hostilities in Liberia and facilitate the healing of wounds?Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: This article sets forth a debate about the role Christianity ought to play in societal conflict. Christian religion is a prophetic religion by nature and it should serve as a source of peace, reconciliation and healing for human relationships. Examples of what the role of authentic church could be are cited from a Liberian context. It is further argued that all sectors of society, women, men and children may be agents of peace and unity. The article concludes by setting parameters for sustainable peace in Liberia.

Values Related to the Religious Adherence

The religions and their value systems play a crucial role in the history of human civilization. In the past and in the recent time, the value-based religious differences substantially contribute to the societal conflicts. Thus, the research of the values related to the religious orientation is an important task of psychology and other social sciences. This study is aimed to obtain a more complete insight into the differences in the value orientations between the adherents of the seven major religions in the world: Buddhist, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim, Christian Orthodox, Christian Protestant and Christian Catholic. The results clearly demonstrated, (1st), the essential association of the religious or non-religious beliefs with the values, value priorities and value orientations and, (2nd), the substantial differences between religious or non-religious groups in the value systems. These differences are very probably related to the globally observed distinctions between secularism and fundamentalism and underlying ideological and educational doctrines.