Socio-political Circumstances Research Articles

How Democratic Police Reforms Fail: A Law and Development Perspective on Institutional Processes of Change and Resistance

Abstract Democratic police reform (DPR) is a type of institutional reform that aims to make polices compatible with democratic political regimes. Though distinct approaches have been attempted in distinct contextual circumstances, promoting DPR has proven remarkably difficult. Successful cases are hard to find; across the globe, DPR efforts have had unsatisfactory outcomes, amounting to little or no sustainable change in dysfunctional police forces. What explains this systematic failure of DPR? Existing research has focused on determining the sociopolitical circumstances and/or reform methods that correlate with positive or negative DPR outcomes. However, there is a gap in the literature regarding how DPR fails – that is, the processes through which the above-mentioned variables interact with the police’s organizational environments, rules, and resistance mechanisms to produce unsatisfactory outcomes/failed reform. This paper proposes that an analytical framework based on law and development scholarship can help police reform scholars address these gaps. To develop this argument, I review and discuss existing theorizations on DPR failure, demonstrating the potential contributions of a law and development perspective. I suggest that a framework based on this perspective nuances existing approaches by emphasizing the contentious processes surrounding reform enactment and implementation. Unpacking these processes can represent a new research agenda for police reform scholarship.

The lure of the foreign stage: Chronicles of Italian mobility to France in the long eighteenth century.

This article investigates the migration of three Italian-born artists working in France in the field of ephemeral entertainment and argues that their stories were part of a broader process of cultural history and artistic mobility of the long eighteenth century. These artists are the firework makers Ruggieri brothers, the circus performer Antonio Franconi and his family and the stage designer Ignazio Degotti. They left their home country at different points (1730s, 1750s and 1790 respectively), settling in Paris under different socio-political circumstances. Due to the immaterial and contingent medium in which these artists chose to work, which is difficult to replicate and collect, the mobility of these artists has often remained a neglected story. To explore the reasons why these artists moved from their home country and the motivation that convinced them to stay in France, this research combines an attentive examination of archival material with a methodology influenced by methods of cultural history. The paper argues that their lives and their artistic expertise were not only aesthetically relevant, but also very much integrated within the defined social and cultural context they chose to live in.

Quantitative Ethnobotanical Study of Medicinal Species With Dermatological Relevance Used in Traditional Mayan Medicine

This ethnobotanical study highlights the significant knowledge of the Maya Yucatecan healers about medicinal plants used to treat skin diseases and the importance of studying the ancient knowledge inherited from generation to generation. Historically, the Maya people have relied on the use of medicinal plants to treat various ailments, including skin diseases. The study focuses on identifying the plants that have been traditionally employed for these purposes. By comparing historical sources with contemporary ethnobotanical data gathered from the field, this research uncovers the evolving patterns of plant usage over time. It also underscores the significance of considering sociopolitical circumstances in understanding changes in local knowledge. The data indicated that Rutaceae, Euphorbiaceae, Lamiaceae, and Asteraceae were the most represented families. The ethnohistoric record also showed gaps linked to the local knowledge developed by the Mayans over time. The principal component analysis technique applied to our ethnobotanical data simplifies the complexity of information on the use of medicinal flora to treat skin conditions, resulting in a new predictive model for pooling herbal knowledge. Correlations indicated that more than 50% of the listed species are used to treat fungal infections. This historical perspective enriches our understanding of the dynamic relationship between the Maya people and their use of medicinal plants for skin-related ailments.

Reinterpreting the myth of sacrifice for creation from the ballad Mănăstirea Argeșului in the rock-symphonic opera Meșterul Manole (2013) – analyse from a socio-historical and intermedial perspective

The main objective of my paper is to present the sociopolitical circumstances of the creation of the rock-symphonic opera Meșterul Manole (2013), based on a libretto by Victor Cârcu and composed by Joseph Kappl (former member of the rock band Phoenix), its reception by contemporary society and its character as an intermedial work. In my study, I will use the tools of the intermedial approach, which will help me to describe and grasp the relations of transposition of the myth between different media that interact and influence each other in the opera under analysis.

Contents of antenatal care services in Afghanistan: findings from the national health survey 2018

BackgroundMaternal and newborn mortality is a public health concern in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), including Afghanistan, where the evolving socio-political circumstances have added new complexities to healthcare service delivery. Birth outcomes for both pregnant women and their newborns are improved if women receive benefits of quality antenatal care (ANC).ObjectivesThis study aimed to assess the contents of ANC services and identify predictors of utilization of services by pregnant women during ANC visits to health facilities in Afghanistan.MethodsIn this cross-sectional study, we used data from the Afghanistan Health Survey 2018 (AHS2018). We included a total of 6,627 ever-married women, aged 14–49 years, who had given birth in the past 2 years or were pregnant at the time of survey and had consulted a health worker for ANC services in a health facility. The outcome was defined as 1–4 services and 5–8 services that a pregnant woman received during an ANC visit. The services were (i) taking a pregnant woman’s blood pressure, (ii) weighing her, (iii) testing her blood, (iv) testing her urine, (v) providing advice on nutrition, (vi) advising about complicated pregnancy, (vii) advising about the availability of health services, and (viii) giving her at least one dose of Tetanus Toxoid (TT) vaccine. The binary outcome (1–4 services versus 5–8 services) was used in a multivariable logistic regression model.ResultsOf all 6,627 women, 31.4% (2,083) received 5–8 services during ANC visits. Only 1.3% (86) received all 8 services, with 98.7% (6,541) receiving between 1 and 7 services, and 71.6% (4,745) women had their blood pressure measured during ANC visits. The likelihood (adOR = Adjusted Odds Ratio) of receiving 5–8 services was higher in women who could read and write (adOR = 1.33: 1.15–1.54), in women whose husbands could read and write (adOR = 1.14: 1.00-1.28), in primipara women (adOR = 1.42: 1.02–1.98), in women who knew one danger sign (adOR = 5.38: 4.50–6.45), those who knew 2 danger signs (adOR = 8.51: 7.12–10.19) and those who knew ≥ 3 danger signs (adOR = 13.19: 10.67–16.29) of complicated pregnancy, and in women who had almost daily access to TV (adOR = 1.16: 1.01–1.33). However, the likelihood of receiving 5–8 services was lower in women who used private clinics (adOR = 0.64: 0.55–0.74) and who received services from nurses (adOR = 0.27 (0.08–0.88).ConclusionOur findings have the potential to influence the design and implementation of ANC services of health interventions to improve the delivery of services to pregnant women during ANC visits.

Frozen in Time, a Focused Review of Autism Prevalence in Canadian Indigenous Communities.

The unprecedented global continuous rise in autism prevalence is often referred to as a Pandemic while its parallel cost increase to society portrays a Tsunami. Autism data originates mostly from industrialized High-Income geopolitical regions in Europe, North America, and Asian regions. Although efforts to determine autism data from regions in Low and Mid-economies are ongoing, prevalence information from geographically remote and economically vulnerable communities within the privileged regions is largely undetermined, as is the case of the Canadian Indigenous communities, the First Nations, Inuit, and Métis highlighted in this focused review. The underlying theoretical approach adopted here is Transcultural Psychiatry with its emphasis on Context including sociopolitical circumstances, considered the gateway to understanding health, illness, and recovery in groups and individuals. Accordingly, the review includes a concise relevant government system description and history of the relations with Indigenous peoples to provide context to present indigenous relations to Canadian government agencies. Scores in these communities face a myriad of survival challenges encompassing meagre health resources and services. Establishing autism prevalence data in these communities are exceedingly difficult due to multiple factors. While prominent among them are their strong ties to traditional approaches to health, illness, and autism conceptualization, the crucial obstacle is Crown and Provincial government authorities' and agencies' historically rooted colonial response to the needs of families with autistic members. It embodies a posture of infantilization, an attitude that is "frozen in time" in the approach, practice, accommodations, and services for these families. The review provides the preferred autism terminology, information sources, article flow, and Future Directions, all found in the Introduction's first paragraphs.

Multiculturalism and identity politics: Reading on the Religious Harmony Forum

This study looks into identity politics locally, with an emphasis on the role played by religious groups—such as the Religious Harmony Forum (Forum Kerukunan Umat Beragaman/FKUB)—in promoting multiculturalism as a countermeasure to the growth of identity politics. The study’s focus is the Kerinci Regency in Jambi, Indonesia, and it looks at how identity politics and diversity are positioned within the larger Indonesian framework. The research selectively chooses informants, such as the FKUB, the Election Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu), traditional leaders, and religious figures, using qualitative methods like observation, interviews, and document examination. Results show that a variety of political identification patterns exist across the country according to societal culture, resources, and sociopolitical circumstances. As a result, the FKUB responds with a variety of strategies and tactics. The study also emphasizes how the discourse-centric perspective on multiculturalism hinders its ability to effectively counter identity politics. The research points up difficulties that stand in the way of achieving diversity, such as the consolidation and contestation of identity within Islam. Interfaith conflicts, however, show a downward trend and provide a more nuanced picture of the intricate relationship between identity politics and multiculturalism in Indonesia at the local level.

Exploring Socio-Political Dimensions of Heritage Language Maintenance: The Case of Vietnamese Speakers in Montréal

Research on heritage language (HL) development often focuses on immigrants’ identity and social network as predictors of HL maintenance. However, an important and overlooked factor is the socio-political circumstances that trigger emigration, such as whether immigrants relocate due to economic hardship or political turmoil. This study examines if the pattern of HL maintenance and its association with immigrants’ ethnolinguistic identity and social engagement differ for families of political versus economic immigrants. Participants were 38 parent–child pairs from Montreal’s Vietnamese diaspora. The parents identified their reason for immigration and completed an ethnolinguistic questionnaire, their children provided a HL communication profile, and all participated in interviews. To determine participants’ Vietnamese speaking skills, short interview excerpts were rated for accentedness, comprehensibility, fluency, and global knowledge. Participants were generally successful at maintaining their HL, but there was a decline in the children’s Vietnamese, especially for the economic immigrants. Several ethnolinguistic variables (desire to preserve a HL, pride in heritage culture) and social network properties (network size, intimacy, communication-related stress) appeared to contribute to HL maintenance. However, these relationships were different (and sometimes opposite) in the groups of political versus economic immigrants, suggesting that HL development and maintenance are subject to various contextual influences.

Insights Into Reconstructing the History of the Making of Ivan Franko’s Collected Works in 25 Volumes

The article outlines the stages of the history preparing an edition of Ivan Franko’s works in 25 volumes by systematizing literary studies and studying archive sources. The events are described in organic connection with historical and socio-political circumstances, which made it possible to show the meanders of Franko’s legacy reaching his readers. Some of the unknown documents are introduced into scientific circulation. The research methods of choice were textual and source analysis and synthesis. The use of these tools made it possible to establish little-known facts about the history of the collected works, trace the announcement of the contents of the individual volumes in the press, analyze the obstacles encountered, and find out the reasons for the sudden collapse of this publishing initiative.

Historical Context of the Establishment And Development of the Labor Inspection on in Bosnia And Herzegovina

In the paper, the authors examine the historical context of the origin and development of labor inspection in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The periodization is divided into four periods: the period before the First World War, the period of the Kingdom of SHS/Yugoslavia, the period of socialist Yugoslavia (FNRJ and SFRJ), and the contemporary period of labor inspection in Bosnia and Herzegovina as an independent state. The first period covers the time of Austro-Hungarian rule, starting from 1907 when the Trade Supervision was established by the Order on Trade Supervision. After that, in the newly formed Kingdom of SHS, the state Labor Inspection was established in 1920, and in 1921, the Regulation on Labor Inspection was adopted, followed by the Law on Labor Inspection in 1922. After the Second World War and the establishment of a new socialist government, inspection supervision over the implementation of hygienic and technical safety measures at work, as well as the application of regulations on labor relations and working conditions, began. This led to the passing of the Law on Labor Inspection in 1946. Changes in the concept of labor inspection occurred due to altered socio-political circumstances, such as the introduction of worker self-management, new communal arrangements, and decentralization of state administration, resulting in the passing of the new federal Labor Inspection Act in 1959. Instead of a special law on labor inspection, the status of labor inspection was regulated by the Basic Law on Occupational Safety in 1965.
 Following constitutional changes and the strengthening of decentralization in the 1970s, the competence to regulate labor inspection issues was transferred from the federal level to the republic level, and in 1984, the Law on Occupational Safety was adopted in SRBiH, which regulated the issue of labor inspection, among other things. This law was replaced by the new Law on Occupational Safety in 1990. In the modern period, after the independence of BiH, the organization of inspection services is usually regulated by special laws on inspections. Currently, the issue of labor inspections is regulated at 14 levels of government. The aforementioned historical review highlights the continuity and specific development of labor inspection throughout the observed time period.

Cooperation between the Museum of Sloboda Ukraine and the Ethnology and Local History Section of the Kharkiv Research Department of the History of Ukrainian Culture (1920s)

The article investigates the collaboration, at personal, scientific, and public levels, between the Ethnology and Local History Section of the Kharkiv Research Department of the History of Ukrainian Culture and the Museum of Sloboda Ukraine throughout the 1920s. This period saw the development of Ukrainian science under challenging socio-political circumstances. Insufficient financial support, the restructuring of the education and science system, and later, the repression of scholars created an unstable scientific field. At the same time, the cooperation of scholars within ideological and thematic schools of thought intensified. The research determined that the joint activities of the staff of the Ethnology and Local History Section and the Museum of Sloboda Ukraine were based on common research topics, as well as the work of talented scholars, including M. Sumtsov, R. Dankivska, I. Yerofeyev, P. Kovalivskyi and others in full-time positions simultaneously in both institutions. In addition, the museum was considered one of the Department’s scientific and auxiliary institutions. The study found that personal connections within the Section and the Museum led to the formation of a professional circle of scholars who tackled theoretical and practical problems of ethnology and local history. The joint activities resulted in the development of ethnological research programmes used during search expeditions, as well as in the partial solution of the problem of promulgating the results of scientific work – the publication of scholars’ achievements in the Museum’s editions of and the Department’s collections. The department also trained a younger generation of scholars who engaged in professional activities in the museum industry. Joint efforts of staff of the Department and the Museum were instrumental in carrying out successful cultural and educational work. From 1925 to 1927, a series of lectures on the history and culture of Ukraine was organized. As a result of mutual assistance, the Ethnological and Local History Section of the Kharkiv Research Department of the History of Ukrainian Culture and the Museum of Sloboda Ukraine became centres of ethnological and local history studies in 1920s Kharkivshchyna.

Reading To Kill a Mockingbird two generations later: the graphic novel

ABSTRACT To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, long considered an American classic and one of the most beloved books for adolescents, has raised much controversy since its publication in 1960. Its adaptation as a graphic novel by Fordham and Lee offers a reinterpretation of the story. It highlights the racial tensions and social inequality, and it shows the consequences of isolation and marginalisation of characters along the lines of race, gender and class, but it does so through the lens of entrapment. These motifs are shown in the panel structure, the choice of colours and the framing of individual panels. The refreshed version better fits the changed sociopolitical circumstances and it better reflects the expectations of a new generation of readers, reaching for the story over sixty years later.

Reflexive Planning for Later Life: Minority Stress and Aging Challenges among Midlife Chinese Lesbians and Gay Men

ABSTRACT This study examines how Chinese lesbians and gay men make sense of the prospect of growing old and plan for later life in Hong Kong, where same-sex relationships are yet to be legally recognized. Drawing on in-depth narrative interviews, the results show that lesbians and gay men in midlife reported a range of previous, current, and anticipated challenges associated with the stigma attached to homosexuality. These, in turn, shaped their ways of perceiving and planning for later life. Three forms of reflexivity in response to minority stress and the prospect of aging were identified: coping with fears of aging alone, striving for self-mastery, and planning ahead with feelings of wariness. Participants’ concerns and plans around aging demonstrated differing degrees of reflexivity, through which they attempted to navigate family norms and structural constraints and find ways to accumulate resources for later life. Meanwhile, their heightened sense of uncertainty and insecurity showed that their perceptions and experiences of aging were influenced by minority stress and material, familial, and socio-political circumstances. This article builds a constructive dialogue between sexuality and aging studies by unraveling both the aging insecurity and capacities for reflexive planning among an oft-neglected group of sexual minority people in midlife.

Valeska Bopp-Filimonov and Martin Jung, eds. Kaleidoskop Rumänien. Einblicke in die aktuelle Vielfalt des interdisziplinären Faches Rumänistik

Valeska Bopp-Filimonov and Martin Jung, eds. <i>Kaleidoskop Rumänien. Einblicke in die aktuelle Vielfalt des interdisziplinären Faches Rumänistik</i>

Colonial Responsibility for Education of Koreans in Japanese Schools

Abstract: As soon as their homeland was liberated in August 1945, Koreans living in Japan opened schools for children, who hardly spoke Korean. They fought back against the Japanese government’s intervention, but the majority of Korean children had to attend public schools, where they were treated as if they were Japanese. Some Japanese teachers opposed postwar assimilationist education and tried to take colonial responsibility through providing postcolonial education for Koreans in Japanese schools. I look into how those teachers engaged in Zainichi Korean education from the 1950s to the early 1970s, examining narratives from two teachers’ associations in Osaka against the backdrop of sociopolitical circumstances and discursive formations. Whereas researchers of postcolonial education in North America delve into race relations and white privilege, I inquire into minzoku (ethnicity, ethnic-nation) relations and colonial responsibility. The concept of minzoku was central to teachers’ narratives. The issue of colonial responsibility was raised in a social movement against the Japan-ROK negotiations for normalization and was applied to Zainichi Korean education. This development transformed the ways in which teachers dealt with Korean children. I demonstrate the historical significance of teachers’ struggles and suggest the importance of interethnic dialogue in the pursuit of taking colonial responsibility.

The Influence of Orthodox Christianity on Economic Behaviour

Weber’s very important theory on the influence of religion on economic behaviour was tested in the societies which belong to different cultural and religious circles. However, due to various socio-political circumstances, the testing of Weber’s theoretical-methodological framework has been largely neglected in the countries where Orthodox Christianity is dominant. However, the difficulties that arose in Orthodox societies during the post-socialist transformation, as well as the shift from the economic research paradigm to the cultural one on the global level, along with the revival of religion in Eastern Europe as one of the most important institutions of ideological and social life, contributed to the focus of our scientific interest be directed in this direction. The central questions that we tried to answer on this occasion were primarily related to the specifics of the concept of work in Orthodox Christianity and the relationship to the accumulation of capital.

World of Our Mothers: Mexican Revolution-Era Immigrants and Their Stories. By Miguel Montiel and Yvonne de la Torre Montiel

Miguel Montiel and Yvonne de la Torre Montiel’s World of Our Mothers: Mexican Revolution-Era Immigrants and Their Stories sets out to ethically document the voices and stories of forty-five women who migrated to the United States during the 1910 Mexican Revolution era, and the heterogenous ways they navigated and negotiated their lives and labor amidst U.S. segregation and anti-Mexican and immigrant violence. The text complicates traditional representations of Mexican women in the U.S. during the early twentieth century as passive and submissive by providing various, and at times contradictory, perspectives through the women’s own voices. Additionally, they place the women’s accounts in conversation with multiple discourses and histories, including Mexican, Indigenous, and Chicana feminisms, Indigenous and campesino displacement, and U.S. imperialist and extractive labor practices. The authors’ methodology stands out as one of care and respect for the women whose stories they make visible. All seven chapters begin with an introduction orienting the reader through the historical and socio-political circumstances the women’s narratives undertake, beginning with the Mexican Revolution and their displacement, often leading to the women’s migration to the United States. Each chapter furthers the particularities of the women’s lives, including but not limited to exploring their experiences as contract (reenganche) laborers, their struggles with mobility, and complex relationships to U.S. citizenship including both a desire and refusal of it, their roles as wives and mothers, and the role of education and religion in their lives. Rather than weave their interpretations alongside the women’s narratives, what Montiel and de la Torre Montiel offer is the women’s narratives thematically grouped beside each other.

Investigating Anti-Vaccination Stances on Social Media: an Assignment To Promote Science Literacy.

In this digital age in which social media use among young adults continues to rise, consideration of the impact of these platforms on our students and on science literacy pedagogy is essential. This has been highlighted during the 2019 coronavirus disease pandemic, when mis- and disinformation surrounding the pandemic and vaccinations were so prevalent on social media platforms that it provoked a cautionary announcement from the World Health Organization. We describe here the structure of an assignment aimed to promote science literacy by encouraging students to explore antivaccination stances on social media and evaluate the scientific validity of such claims using scientific literature. To comprehensively analyze these antivaccination sentiments, we encouraged students to develop succinct arguments to demonstrate the social, economic, or other cultural influences likely contributing to antivaccination stances. In alignment with the philosophical-educational concept of Bildung, we hope to nurture an understanding of scientific literacy that focuses on both evidence-based critical thinking as well as empathetic understanding of the socio-political circumstances that influence public opinion on scientific matters. Student work provided compelling evidence for the success of our field-tested assignment in fostering students to be authoritative voices of science in everyday life and highlighted the importance of efforts to explicitly focus on science literacy within biology curricula.

Reframing Prehistoric Human-Proboscidean Interactions: on the Use and Implications of Ethnohistoric Records for Understanding the Productivity of Hunting Megaherbivores

AbstractThe role that humans played in the extinction of Pleistocene proboscideans is highly controversial. Ethnohistoric records of elephant hunting, in concert with theoretical rationales, are often used as proxy evidence to support the view that ancient humans regularly and efficiently targeted large-sized proboscideans to the point of extinction. This paper examines the socioeconomic and technological contexts of elephant hunting in contemporary and ethnohistoric records to show how these circumstances influenced the scale of harvest, productivity, and valuation of elephants. Quantitative and qualitative evidence derived from some of these records are used to analyze the efficiency of elephant capture using traditional hunting technologies (spears, poisoned projectiles, traps, and drives). This analytical framework provides a systematic method for evaluating the productivity of proboscidean predation. Results show that prior to the widespread use of firearms in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the acquisition of elephants, irrespective of the traditional hunting technology used, was a dangerous, high-cost activity often associated with a high-risk of hunting failure. In the ethnographic record, elephant hunting is consistently associated with prestige-seeking among egalitarian hunter-gatherers. Although the analysis presented here is derived from hunting episodes that involved modern elephants, the physical characteristics and abilities that make these animals expensive and risky to hunt were likely manifested by most Pleistocene proboscideans. Using ethnographic data, a framework for recognizing how prestige hunting is manifested under different ecological and sociopolitical circumstances is provided and offers an alternative and compelling explanation for zooarchaeological patterning of costly prey in the past.

Influence of external authorities on collaborative frictions

AbstractWhen institutional frictions threaten to disrupt collaborations, an external authority can be brought in to resolve disputes. How effective is such external imposition? What are the institutional circumstances in which it works? Framed by the collaborative governance regime (CGR), which sees established procedures and institutions as a critical collaborative capacity, this research employs a unique concept—collaborative friction—to explore the role of external imposition in collaboration among entities with significant institutional differences. We examined 965 recorded collaborative frictions from four large collaborative infrastructure projects between governments in Hong Kong and mainland China. Our finding suggests a significant, but limited, effect of the central government's imposition on collaborative frictions. We also find a significant role of sociopolitical circumstances in collaboration. Based on the findings, we make several theoretical propositions articulating external imposition's role in collaboration.