Socio-political Conflicts Research Articles

Дефицит медицинских кадров как глобальная проблема современности.

The shortage of medical personnel is a global problem of health systems, including countries with a high level of economic development and per capita income. The global aging of the population, the growth of chronic diseases, the inability of the educational system to adapt quickly to the changing conditions of modern life, to the rapid introduction of scientific achievements into curricula and practice, as well as natural and climatic threats and socio-political conflicts are factors that exacerbate the shortage of medical personnel and their uneven distribution across regions and in the world. Suboptimal working conditions, insufficient interprofessional and intersectoral cooperation, burnout, the need for long-term planning of training and professional development in the medical field are recognized as the main problems of health personnel turnover around the world.

Miscegenation Madness

Abstract In this article, I examine how the fear of miscegenation developed as a raison d’être for the construction and maintenance of apartheid. I argue that despite its efficacy at reproducing racial-caste formations, miscegenation taboo ultimately undermined its own hegemonic mythology by constructing contradictory erotic desires and subjectivities which could neither be governed nor contained. I consider how miscegenation fears and fantasies were debated in public discourse, enacted into law, institutionalized through draconian policing and punishment practices, culturally entrenched, yet negotiated and resisted through everyday intimacies. While crime statistics show that most incidences of interracial sex involved White men and women of color, the perceived threat to “White purity” was generally represented through images of White women—volks-mothers and daughters—in the Afrikaner nationalist iconography. White women’s wombs symbolized the future of “Whiteness.” This article offers a critique of the prevailing South African “exceptionalism” paradigm in apartheid studies. Detailed analyses of government commission reports (1939, 1984, 1985) and parliamentary debate records (1949) reveal considerable American influence on South Africa’s “petty apartheid” laws, and especially the Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act (1949) and Immorality Amendment Act (1950). While these “cornerstone” policies of apartheid developed from local socio-political conflicts and economic tensions, they were always entangled in global racial formations, rooted in trans-oceanic histories of slavery, dispossession, and segregation. This historical anthropological study of race/sex taboo builds on interdisciplinary literatures in colonial history, sociology, postcolonial studies, literary theory, art history, cultural studies, feminist theory, queer studies, and critical race theory.

Haptic tourism: Touch and fear at the Separation Wall and its checkpoints in the Palestinian West Bank

Is tourism out of touch with touch? Have tourism researchers forgotten ‘touch’? Drawing on socio-spatial theories of haptics, I argue that through the sense of touch we critically understand co-constructions of affective tourist subjectivities. Specifically, touch and fear are part of a sensuous hapticality, intimately connected and happening within and around places and bodies – of tourists, local guides and soldiers – in areas of ongoing socio-political conflict. Interviews were undertaken with local tourism stakeholders and international tourists during fieldworks in the Palestinian West Bank in 2010, and 2017–2018. The Separation Wall and its checkpoints have become tourist attractions, pervasive and ever present in the landscape, enticing most tourists in the area to engage haptically in such places.

«Как ни жить, но жить вместе…»: материнско-сыновний сюжет в социально-политических рассказах Н. Д. Хвощинской

In our article, the optics of research developed by I. Savkina on the material of women’s auto-documentary genres is applied to the artistic oeuvre of N. D. Khvoshchinskaya. Based on her correspondence, we have shown that there are no fixed boundaries between an autodocumentary and a fictitious letter in the case of N. D. Khvoshchinskaya. Her works are a kind of sublimation of life experience. In the article we touched on one of the private pages in the biography of the writer, specifically reflected in the mirror of her fiction, – her marriage with I. I. Zayonchkovsky. Against the background of correspondence highlighting the inner experience of the writer, we analyzed the structure and semantics of the maternal-filial plot, persistent in those works that were written after the marriage. Socio-political stories After the Flood (1881) and Blizzard (1889) have been used for the analysis. In the course of the research it was found that in the character analysis of mother heroines the historical component is “extinguished” and, conversely, supra-historical, archetypal features are actualized: maternal care, wisdom, empathy, spiritual elevation, kindness, support, suffering, etc. The article shows that the plot role of the mother is determined not by the socio-political plots that make up the external canvas of the stories, but by the underlying initiation plot. The mother, “superfluous” in the external event plan, plays an important role in the initiation plot: she happens to be near the hero at the moment of life’s trials. At the same time, it is established that she does not facilitate the change in the son’s status. This function is given to her plot “understudy” – the heroine-lover. The plot role of the hero also changes: he acts not so much as a revolutionary who has failed, but as a son experiencing the process of initiation. As a result, the range of themes dealt with in N. D. Khvoshchinskaya’s stories goes beyond the socio-political conflict caused by the historical situation, and acquires a universal scale.

Navigating the Job-Seeking Journey: Challenges and Opportunities for Digital Employment Support in Kashmir

The issue of youth unemployment is a global concern, with active initiatives, policies, and technologies in place to support employment seekers. Despite these efforts, youth unemployment in various regions is attributed to the complex challenges that impede access to resources, particularly in contexts characterized by socio-political unrest. To understand the use of job-seeking resources in such a context, we situate our work in the region of Jammu & Kashmir, which has a long-standing history of socio-political conflict ongoing for more than three decades. For this work, we conducted 21 semi-structured interviews with participants from Kashmir to understand their current job-seeking practices and the challenges they encounter during the entire process. Our findings present the systemic infrastructural challenges the youths face due to the ongoing crisis. Analyzing the youths' workarounds to mitigate these challenges, we discuss how we might leverage these workarounds into designing systems while navigating through the contextual complexities. We discuss the challenges of designing in the context and provide design recommendations to support job seekers.

Caught in the crossfire: biodiversity conservation paradox of sociopolitical conflict

The current state of global biodiversity is confronted with escalating threats arising from human-induced environmental changes and a growing array of unpredictable challenges. However, effective conservation efforts are often hindered by limited knowledge, especially in developing economies such as the Philippines. The limitations imposed by these shortfalls in biodiversity knowledge hamper the capacity to protect biodiversity in light of the continuing extinction crisis. Our study revealed that areas with higher conflict levels exhibited lower species richness, fewer occurrence records, and reduced forest cover. This finding provides initial evidence for the relationship between sociopolitical conflict and biodiversity in the Philippines. We posit that the security risks caused by sociopolitical conflicts could have a negative impact on conservation efforts, particularly in terms of monitoring and implementing measures to protect natural resources. The links that bind armed conflict and biodiversity conservation are multifaceted and complex issues that warrant greater scientific and political attention. Finally, we identified 10 meaningful approaches to address shortfalls in biodiversity knowledge in conflicted areas, particularly incorporating conflict-sensitive approaches, considering the geopolitical context and conflict dynamics to adapt and align their strategies with local realities for more effective conservation efforts.

Risk-based approach in external migration public management

The presence of risks emergence problem of socio-political conflict, threats to the preservation of Russian identity in the process of including foreign cultural groups of international migrants in Russian society is a consequence of public administration insufficient efficiency when implementing state migration and national policy. Applying the structural-functional method, the authors study public administration in the external migration sphere for compliance with its essential characteristics. The predominant focus of state management in the migration sphere on ensuring the human resources component of the Russian labor market, as well as on control over migration flows is combined with the state management model shortcomings in the sphere of migrants’ inclusion in the host community. External migration state management should be aimed at solving the socio-economic development problems in Russia and ensuring national security and at the same time should minimize potential risks of social and cultural nature. The authors propose a risk-oriented approach in the migration processes state management, based on a comprehensive consideration of tensions that arise both in the labor market of foreign workers and the foreigners’ inclusion in the Russian society. In order to implement the proposed method, it is advisable to define a single subject of state management, which will be able to exercise authority considering the migration process integrity.

Hebraic, the emerging new variety among Palestinians in Israel: Characteristics and sociolinguistic reflections

Language is not abstracted from reality but responds to emerging changes. Arabic-Hebrew contact among Palestinians in Israel offers a fertile background for a study of sociopolitical conflicts, given the unique civil and national status of Palestinian citizens of Israel, a polity defined and perceived as a Jewish state. The current article focuses on Arabic-Hebrew contact in Israel. More specifically, it describes Hebraic, the formation of a “new variety” – Arabic mixed with Hebrew in the linguistic repertoire of Palestinian Arabs, citizens of Israel. The linguistic characteristics and the motives that led to its creation are described. The sociolinguistic reflections in relation to identity are introduced to provide explanations for its formation and its meaning.

Неустойчивость общественного бытия как испанское своеобразие Хенкин С.М. Испания: Современное нестабильное общество. М.: Аспект Пресс, 2023

The published article represents a review of the monograph by S.M.Khenkin Spain: Modern Unstable Society. The monograph examines Spain’s experience at the end of the 20th and beginning of the 21st centuries, as a country that, due to historical circumstances, faces instability and unpredictability of development (so typical in the modern world) in an especially acute and concentrated manner. Khenkin identifies and describes, one by one, factors that characterize and explain the unstable state of the modern Spanish socio-political system, consistently integrating the current issues into the general context of the historical development of the Spanish society, its political and cultural traditions and comparing what is happening there with the situation in other European countries. Based on his research, he comes to the conclusion that several acute and persistent socio-political conflicts make high instability a distinctiveness of the country’s life. In the monograph the author provides careful and multilateral analysis of the transition from Francoism to consolidated democracy; various aspects of the ongoing transformations in the society; the specifics of the Spanish party-political system and its evolution; national-regional issue. He documents a radical change in the sentiments in the Spanish society with the appearance of a new generation, which clearly manifested in the reassessment of the transition, with harsh criticism replacing earlier approval, and in the conflict around “historical memory”. The author analyzes the relationship between the central government of the country and regional separatists and does not see any prospects for a prompt resolution of the conflict. According to his reasoned assessment, separation from Spain of any of its regions will inevitably cause irreparable damage to all parties to the conflict.

The Role of Aerial Prospection for Monitoring and Preserving Cultural Heritage in Northeastern Africa

Anthropogenic and environmental processes present unique challenges for preserving cultural heritage in North Africa. Large parts of this region are characterised by unfavourable arid and semi-arid conditions and rapid changes to the landscapes caused by heightened regional development (e.g., urban expansion, road building, agricultural intensification, and socio-political conflicts). As a result, we are facing a fast-paced disappearance of heritage sites in regions that are still poorly understood. Following this, the utilisation of Earth observation data through aerial photographs and satellite imagery has emerged as an unmatched tool in the exploration of endangered archaeological heritage. Drawing on this context, this paper underscores the critical significance of incorporating digital research methods, such as remote sensing, GIS, or cartographic analysis, to ensure the evaluation and (digital) preservation of the historical sites along these vulnerable areas. Furthermore, our study seeks to provide new insights into data management and dissemination, fostering open research practices within North African archaeological research.

“SEN VE BEN”: ON YEDİNCİ YÜZYIL BAŞI İNGİLİZ ŞİİRİ VE ON ÜÇÜNCÜ YÜZYIL ANADOLU TASAVVUF ŞİİRİNDE AŞK İLE BİRLİK DÜŞÜNCESİ

Early seventeenth-century English verse and thirteenth-century Anatolian Sufi poetry, though from different cultures and eras, converge in their exploration of going beyond material existence through love. In the verses of Edmund Spenser, John Donne, George Herbert, Mawlana Jalaluddin Rumi, Yunus Emre and Haji Bektash Veli, love emerges as a medium for spiritual awakening that liberates individuals from mundane life and socio-political conflicts and leads to an elevated consciousness merged with the divine. Thus, this article will analyse Donne’s “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning,” Rumi’s “You and I,” Spenser’s “Hymne in Honour of Heavenly Love,” Emre’s “Lovers Die Not,” Herbert’s “Love III,” and Veli’s “The Transcendence of Saints” in light of Plato's idea of Oneness and the Sufi doctrine of wahdat-i wujud and suggest that these poems reveal love as a transformative power enabling individuals to transcend their worldly existence and become One with the beloved, namely the divine.

Portrayal of Jammu-Kashmir in Bollywood Narrative

Bollywood often shows the amazing beauty of Jammu-Kashmir. However, the region is also shown as a place of socio-political conflict and complexity. The portrayal of Jammu Kashmir in Bollywood serves as a visual and narrative backdrop that both celebrates its natural beauty and raises awareness of the ongoing issues in the area. This study explores the representation of the Jammu Kashmir region in the context of Bollywood. This research goes through the portrayal of Jammu Kashmir over the decades. The aim and objective of this study are to understand the complex relationship between Bollywood and this beautiful area. The methodology of this research is an in-depth examination of how Bollywood has depicted Jammu Kashmir. The study identifies themes and stereotypes associated with Jammu Kashmir in cinemas. It would contribute to our understanding of the representation of Jammu Kashmir in Indian cinema. It would provide insights into how filmmakers show sensitive socio-political issues within their storytelling in cinemas. The research findings will offer a glimpse into Bollywood's engagement with this part of India.

Forgotten and ignored: making digital health work for migrant population in Africa

Abstract The African continent has experienced an alarming increase in forcibly displaced individuals, driven by socio-political conflict, economic instability and climate-induced calamities. The urgent need for contextualized and adaptable health solutions in the face of ongoing conflicts and crises underscores the importance of harnessing digital health innovations while ensuring inclusivity and equity for all. This commentary explores the potential of digital health to address healthcare disparities among migrant populations, examining the barriers to adoption and providing recommendations for policymakers and stakeholders to promote inclusivity and improve healthcare access. While digital health emerged as a promising avenue for improving healthcare access, there is also a greater necessity for tailoring these innovations to the specific needs and vulnerabilities of the target populations.

THE UNDERTONE OF SOCIO-POLITICAL TUSSLE IN NIGER DELTA REGION OF NIGERIA

This research examined the undertone of socio-political tussle in Niger delta region of Nigeria. Data was collected through interviews given to the political class, civil servants, business owners and commoners. A random sampling technique was used to obtain a sample of 250 people from the target population and all respondents were interviewed. Data were analyzed using simple frequency and percentage (50%) as mean criteria. Examining the undertone of socio-political tussle in Niger Delta region of Nigeria include among others: the struggle for political dominance to control the state's oil wealth, the selfish interest in the personal use of the state funds at the expense of the interest of the region, the clash of the agreement where a party refused to honor the selfish agreement reached before between the current governor and his predecessor, believing that the oil wealth of the state should be used for the human and capital development of the region and not for the personnel consumption to the detriment of the first. The results of the study show that oil is the cause of ongoing socio-political conflicts in the Niger Delta region, which have catastrophic consequences and are already an obstacle to the development of the region.

Trends in Diarrhea Hospitalization among Children <5 Years Old Before and During the Covid-19 Season in Fako Division, Cameroon: A Situation Clouded by Sociopolitical Conflict

Diarrhea is a major cause of illness and death for children under 5 in sub-Saharan Africa, with around 500k deaths annually. COVID-19 affected hospitalization rates for diarrhea. This study was done in four hospitals in Fako Division on diarrhea hospitalization records of children under 5 from 2013 to 2022. Stratified sampling was used, and data was summarized using means, standard deviations, frequencies, and percentages. Differences were evaluated using chi square with a significance level of P<0.05. Diarrhea hospitalization rate was high at 30.9%, with more cases reported during Covid-19 than before. Peak hospitalization occurred in 2019 and 2020. However, there was a significant decrease in hospitalization rates in 2021 and 2022. Children aged 0-5 months had the highest rates of diarrhea hospitalization at 29.4%. High diarrhea rates in the study area were due to conflict-related population influx. COVID-19 season saw higher hospitalization rates due to virus-induced diarrhea and population influx. Infants under 5 are most vulnerable to diarrhea. More diarrhea hospitalizations in COVID-19 season due to influx of displaced families and COVID-19 - induced diarrhea caused unusual data. Keywords: Age, COVID-19, Children, Coverage, Diarrhea, Rotavirus, Vaccine, Vaccination, Sub-Saharan Africa.

Deah, Maanyan, and Banjarnese Languages Kinship in Tabalong Regency South of Kalimantan

Tabalong Regency will become one of the supporting cities for the new National Capital because of its strategic location and available resources. The ethnic diversity in Tabalong creates a multilingual situation which gives rise to a number of problems, such as the threat of extinction of minority languages due to the dominant language and socio-political conflicts due to tension due to less effective communication processes. Knowledge about the relationship of language in inter-ethnic interactions can strengthen feelings of inter-ethnic kinship. This research aims to determine the relationship between the main languages in Tabalong, namely Deah, Maanyan and Banjar. The techniques used are lexicostatistics and glotochronology. The results of data analysis using lexicostatistical techniques found that these three languages are classified as families at the linguistic level with a kinship percentage of Deah - Maanyan of 59%, Deah - Banjar of 50%, and Maanyan - Banjar of 52%. Glotochronological analysis shows that the separation time for these three languages, namely Deah - Maanyan is around 1,331-1,101 years, Deah - Banjar is around 1,729-1,463 years, and Maanyan - Banjar is 1,635-1,377 years. The phonemic correspondence of the three languages, namely Deah – Maanyan corresponds to the phonemes /o/ ~ /ε/ and /s/ ~ /h/, Deah – Banjar corresponds to the phonemes /o/ ~ /a/ and /w/ ~ /b/ , and Maanyan – Banjar correspond to the phonemes /ε/ ~ /a/, /ε/ ~ /i/, /h/ ~ /s/, /w/ ~ /b/, and /s/ ~ /c/.

Analysis of geopolitical factors in the context of ensuring national economic security of Ukraine

The study describes the concept of "economic security policy" in Ukraine. Relevance is determined by the need for the economic security of the state, which is determined by objective processes and phenomena that occur both in the national economy and society, and in the world space. The purpose is to determine the problem of economic security, which is key to the existence of the state. In the main results, the essence of economic security is defined as the readiness of state institutions to ensure the national interests of the state and create mechanisms for the protection of the national economy, to ensure the ability of society to maintain and renew reproductive processes and socio-political stability. The conclusion states that economic security turned out to be not only one of the most important components of the comprehensive system of national security, but also the basis for observing and realizing national interests. Among the main threats to economic and national security in politically and economically Ukraine, the author includes socio-political conflicts, the presence of a large number of people with dissatisfied and aggressive ideas, military conflicts, a high level of migration of refugees and displaced persons, the deterioration of the ecological situation, the growth of anthropogenic accidents, corruption, a high level of shadowing, in particular, a high level of corruption, the growth of unemployment and dependence on international creditors, as well as establishing high indicators of shadowing, in particular, a high level of unemployment, dependence on international creditors. In the conditions of increasing external threats, the transformation of Ukraine's state policy in the field of economic security should be aimed at eliminating signs of incapacity and forming Ukraine as a strong, innovative and independent state by implementing effective regulatory mechanisms to create a safe economic environment.

Exploring the impact of social protest on mental health: A study of the 2019 “Social Uprising” in Chile

Socio-political conflicts, especially if accompanied by violent events, can affect the mental health of the population. This study aimed to estimate the causal effect of social protest-related violence on depressive symptoms during the 2019 social uprising in Chile. We collected population-representative data from a nationwide longitudinal survey (n = 2918), the fourth wave of which took place during the months of the social uprising in Chile (November 2019 and March 2020). Depressive symptoms were measured using the Patient Health Questionnaire-9, while violence related to social protest was measured as the perception of destruction at the neighbourhood level. To assess the casual relationship between destruction perception and depressive symptoms, we utilized an instrumental variable regression model. Our analysis controlled for relevant sociodemographic factors, participation in social protest, and history of mental health treatment. Results showed that perceived neighbourhood destruction during the 2019 social uprising significantly increased PHQ-9 score by 3.702 points, prevalence of moderate to severe depressive symptoms by 18.7%, and likelihood of having a Subthreshold or Major Depressive Episode by 15.2% (p < 0.01). The impact of perceived destruction on depressive symptoms varies by gender, with a significant effect found in men (an increase in depression indicators of 5.769 points, 26.8% and 23.0%, respectively, p < 0.05) but not in women. Stratified regression models by age demonstrate a positive association between the perception of neighbourhood destruction and depressive symptoms across all age groups, with a stronger effect observed among young adults. We found a casual effect of violence related to social protest on depressive symptoms. These findings have implications for the planning of social policies aimed at protecting the mental well-being of the population in times of increasing socio-political turmoil.

The (de-)construction of technology legitimacy: Contending storylines surrounding wind energy in Austria and Switzerland

Why do some countries assign a major role to wind energy in decarbonizing their electricity systems, while others are much less committed to this technology? We argue that processes of (de-)legitimation, driven by discourse coalitions who strategically employ certain storylines in public debates, provide part of the answer. To illustrate our approach, we comparatively investigate public discourses surrounding wind energy in Austria and Switzerland, two countries that differ strongly in wind energy deployment. By combining a qualitative content analysis and a discourse network analysis of 808 newspaper articles published 2010–2020, we identify four distinct sets of storylines used to either delegitimize or legitimize the technology. Our study indicates that low deployment rates in Switzerland can be related to the prominence of delegitimizing storylines in the public discourse, which result in a rather low socio-political acceptance of wind energy. In Austria, by contrast, there is more consistent support for wind energy by discourse coalitions using a broad set of legitimizing storylines. By bridging the related but separate literatures of technology legitimacy and social acceptance, our study contributes to a better understanding of socio-political conflict and divergence in low-carbon technological pathways.

Rotavirus vaccination coverage before and during the covid-19 pandemic in Fako division, Cameroon

Background: Rotavirus vaccines aim to reduce morbidity and mortality associated with severe gastroenteritis. Repeat infections are common but less severe than the primary infection. Rotarix vaccine is given orally in two doses at 2 and 4 months of age in Cameroon. Rotavirus remained a threat to the health of young children during the COVID-19 pandemic and many parts of the world witnessed a decline in vaccine coverage during this pandemic. We sought to find out If the story was the same in Fako Diivision, Cameroon, amidst a sociopolitical conflict. Methods: A retrospective study was done in 4 hospitals on Rotavirus immunization records of children under 5 from 2016-2022. Stratified sampling used, descriptive stats reported. Differences evaluated with Pearson’s chi square (P&lt;0.05).