Western Intervention Research Articles

A brief survey on music intervention in western and non-western (Indian) music

Given that deaths nowadays are mostly caused by heart attacks cancer hypertension diabetes etc which have more to do with our fast and tensed lifestyle rather than communicable diseases most of whose cure have been found music medicine and music therapy have emerged as a useful supplement to medicine The present article makes a survey on music intervention in western and non western Indian music

Afghanistan: In Search for an Alternative Route to Stability

AbstractAfter the US invasion of Afghanistan, while there were some successes in fighting international terrorists in the region, Western attempts at state‐building in Afghanistan remain a dismal failure. After years of Western military involvement, the Taliban insurgency today shows no signs of operational decay or a possible defeat. This article argues that Western engagement in Afghanistan only prolongs civil strife and makes room for more radical elements such as the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) to gain a robust foothold in Afghanistan. Domestic conflicts, with the past involvement of the former Soviet Union and the ongoing Western intervention, have bruised and traumatized Afghan society. What the country now needs is a different form of political process that makes peace and reconciliation a top priority. A transition to a peace process will face multiple hurdles, but given their military and economic sacrifices in Afghanistan, the US and its allies should not flinch, but rather face the challenges boldly.

Discursive contestations and pluriversal futures: A decolonial analysis of educational policies in the United Arab Emirates

Most research on global transformations in education has focused on the actions of political and economic elites. As a result, attempts to contest and subvert globally circulated policies at subnational levels have received less attention. To address this gap, this study focuses on discursive contestations around educational reforms in the United Arab Emirates. Drawing on the theoretical framework of decoloniality (Mignolo, 2011), I explore how Western interventions into educational policies are justified by dominant discourses and challenged by their opponents through public media in the United Arab Emirates. Even though alternative discourses provide constructions of education useful for charting the trajectories of pluriversal futures, the struggle between different voices resolves in favor of global “best” practices. This happens not because they are more rational or universal, but because the voices of dissent are disconnected and fragmented. The significance of this paper lies in employing decolonial lens in the analysis of globally circulated policies and in attending to the voices that become marginalized in the implementation of global reforms.

How people from Chinese backgrounds make sense of and respond to the experiences of mental distress: Thematic analysis.

Many Chinese people do not contact mental health services when they first develop mental health problems. It is therefore important to find out reasons for low uptake of services so that strategies can be identified to promote early intervention. WHAT IS ALREADY KNOWN ABOUT THE TOPIC?: Most Chinese people only come into contact with mental health services during crisis situations. Language difference, lack of knowledge of mainstream services and stigma attached to mental health problems are barriers to access and utilize mental health services. WHAT THE STUDY ADDS TO THE INTERNATIONAL EVIDENCE?: Chinese people apply both Western medication and traditional healing to manage distress caused by mental health problems. Because of the extreme stigma associated with mental health problems, Chinese people are reluctant to accept support from their own cultural groups outside their family. Family plays a major role in caring for relatives with mental health problems. Families are prepared to travel across the world in search of folk healing if not available in Western societies. WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE?: It is important to recognize the different approaches to understanding and managing mental health problems among Chinese people, otherwise they will be dissuaded from engaging with mental health services if their beliefs are disregarded and invalidated. Services that involve Chinese speaking mental health workers can address the issue of language differences and sensitive mental health issues within the Chinese community. Introduction Late presentation and low utilization of mental health services are common among Chinese populations. An understanding of their journey towards mental health care helps to identify timely and appropriate intervention. Aim We aimed to examine how Chinese populations make sense of the experiences of mental distress, and how this understanding influences their pathways to mental health care. Method We undertook in-depth interviews with fourteen people with mental health problems (MHPs) and sixteen family members. Thematic analysis was used to analyse data. Results/Discussions Different conceptualization of mental distress and the stigma attached to MHPs explained why most participants accessed services at crisis points. Because of mental illness stigma, they were reluctant to seek help outside of the family. Participants used a pragmatic pluralistic approach to incorporate ritual healing and Western interventions to manage mental distress as they travelled further on the pathway journey. Families play a key role in the journey and are prepared to visit different parts of the world to seek traditional healers. Implications for practice Mental health nurses need to adopt a transcultural working approach to address mental health issues so that family will get the support needed to continue their caring role.

IS THIS RUSSIA’S MOMENT IN THE MIDDLE EAST?

Sir Jeremy Greenstock, formerly British permanent representative to the UN, who has had long experience of dealing with Russia in the context of diplomacy, considers whether the current moment of Russian dominance in Syria and the Middle East, combined with the recent general disengagement of the western powers in the region, could be considered as marking the beginning of a general period of Russian hegemony in the Middle East. The article takes into account the global geopolitical situation, the recent history of Russia and the Middle East, the consequences of western intervention in Iraq, and the motivations of the Russian government particularly in view of its recent engagement in Ukraine.

Methodological quality assessment of community-acquired pneumonia clinical practice guidelines in China based on AGREE Ⅱ tool

This study is aimed to identify and assess the methodological quality of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) clinical practice guidelines (CPG) in China by using AGREE Ⅱ tool. CNKI, SinoMed, Wanfang, and VIP Chinese databases from database establishment to March 2017 were searched by manual retrieval to collect all the clinical practice guidelines prepared by various associations or organizations, then AGREE Ⅱtool was used to assess them. Data in each CPG were analyzed in terms of six domains, including scope and purpose, participants, rigor, clarity and readability, applicability and editorial independence. A total of 4 CPGs were included. The results showed that the scope and purpose scored 45.8%; the clarity of expression scored 44.75%; the participants scored 31.9%; the rigor scored 18.98%; the applicability scored 7%; and finally the editorial independence scored 1%. It is concluded that the quality of applicability and the editorial independence should attained paid more attention in future development or updating of the guidelines. In addition to strengthening the compliance with international general principles, we should also pay attention to the characteristics of traditional Chinese medicine treatment, especially the related evidences as complementary and alternative treatment for western intervention measures.

Effect of traditional Chinese medicine combined with Western therapy on primary hepatic carcinoma: a systematic review with meta-analysis.

Primary hepatic carcinoma (PHC) is a common malignant tumor in China. Cancer is comprehensively treated with various therapeutic regimes, including traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). TCM has been widely used to improve the quality of life, delay the time of cancer progression, and prolong the median survival time. This systematic review with meta-analysis aimed to assess the effect of TCM combined with Western therapy on primary hepatic carcinoma. A comprehensive literature search was conducted in six databases, including CNKI, VIP, Wan-Fang Database, CBM, PubMed, and Cochrane library. A total of 44 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) involving 3429 participants suffering from PHC were selected. Meta-analysis results indicated that the overall effect of TCM and Western integrative treatment on PHC was higher than that of Western intervention alone, which can postpone tumor recurrence and metastasis and prolong the overall survival time of patients with PHC. Although the obtained evidence remained weak because of the poor methodological quality of the included studies, this review provided relevant data supporting the efficacy and safety of TCM combined with Western therapies. In future research, individual RCT studies should incorporate accepted standards for trial design and reporting, proper outcome indicators according to international standards, blinding in allocation concealment, and valid follow-up periods.

Losing Afghanistan: An Obituary for the Intervention. Noah Coburn. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2016, 246 pp. $70.00, cloth; $22.00, paper. ISBN 978-0-8047-9777-1.

<i>Losing Afghanistan: An Obituary for the Intervention</i>. Noah Coburn. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2016, 246 pp. $70.00, cloth; $22.00, paper. ISBN 978-0-8047-9777-1.

An economic theory of foreign interventions and regime change

AbstractI construct a theory of foreign interventions in which a home country's main trade partner may influence the course of regime change. The foreign country intervenes in support of the group that draws the largest gains from trade, since such a group is willing to concede most in trade agreements. But interventions are more than offset by the domestic political system, which supports in power the group that concedes least (economic nationalism). I allow for geopolitical competition between the main trade partner and a second foreign country as well as for domestic ideological preferences over the two and look at how geopolitical competition interacts with the economic mechanism described above. My results help interpret some of the patterns of Western interventions in the 20th century and the role of economic nationalism in regime change. Furthermore, they help explain why the Cold War strengthened the West's preference for incumbent elites, even when the oppositions did not have a strong communist ideology. I provide detailed historical evidence in favour of my arguments.

Homosexuality: 'Unafricanness' and Vulnerability

Many anti-homosexual Africans claim that homosexuality is “unAfrican” and view advocacy by Western governments for homosexuals’ rights in Africa as cultural imperialism. The crisis of attribution regarding homosexuality has created confusion manifest in its westernization. Juxtaposed with traditional accommodation of non-conformity and diversity in African cultures, the prevailing intolerance and homophobia among many Africans was in fact introduced by missionaries who condemned traditional practices on the continent as pagan, primitive, and evil. It is puzzling how African Christians question the “Africanness” of homosexuality without questioning the “Africanness” of Christianity which was brought to Africa by Western missionaries. If homosexuality is “unAfrican” and “Western” for the reason that Western governments advocate homosexuals’ rights, why have the same Africans embraced Christianity which came to Africa through Western missionaries and is thriving in Africa decades after the continent shook off the colonial yoke? This piece critiques the claim that homosexuality is “unAfrican” arguing that anthropologists recorded it in various societies in pre-colonial Africa which renders questionable its categorical characterization as “unAfrican”. It also critiques Western interventions on homosexuality in Africa, arguing that these interventions have only served to make homosexuals in Africa more vulnerable to harassment, discrimination, and violence.

“Trust, but Verify” – The Framing of the Nuclear Conflict between Iran and the West in UK and US media

Historicity is an important concept in people’s self-conceptualization as well as in their conceptualization of the world around them. By knowing what was, we can interpret some of what is as a consequence of past actions and events and thus understand how it came to be and how to react appropriately. For our interpretation of current events in the world, we therefore frequently rely on history “as a source of meaning” (Leudar and Nekvapil 2011, 68). Since we relate to events in the world through mediation, i.e. the media, we accordingly understand world history through the historical context that is provided for us by journalists. In many cases, however, such contextualizations of events appear to foreground proximal – or synchronous (Blommaert 2005, 130) – factors over distal ones, thus restricting interpretation to immediate factors rather than describing them as a consequence of other actions or events in history. Due to global reach of today’s corporate media, such synchronous framing of the news can lead to a certain bias of attitudes (Philo 2004, 201–202), e.g., regarding the nature of conflicts between ‘us’ and ‘them’ to the effect that ‘we’ always appear as acting on logical, justifiable and altruistic grounds, while ‘their’ actions are irrational, unwarranted and self-serving. In this paper, I analyze the framing of the political conflict between Western countries and Iran regarding its nuclear program. I investigate opinion columns from various British and U.S. newspapers in order to explore the nature of the news framing of the issue and whether any distal factors such as Western interventions in Iran and Middle Eastern affairs are taken into account. The analysis will be conducted following the Thematic Analysis approach developed by the Glasgow University Media Group (Philo and Berry 2004/2011), but including also other conceptual categories such as Blommaert’s (2005) notion of synchronicity.

Widening the Comparative Theoretical Framework of Interstate Conflict and Conflict Resolution

Neither Islamic nor Western conceptualizations of conflict or conflict resolution are monolithic, although scholars frequently depict them as such. We determine that when researchers widen their comparative theoretical frameworks to produce a more representative intra-cultural conceptualization prior to juxtaposing Islamic and Western approaches to conflict resolution, it increasingly facilitates the search for culturally sensitive and mutually acceptable techniques for managing or resolving conflict across these cultures. Demonstrating the utility of this approach, we re-analyze Western and Islamic conceptualizations of conflict and conflict resolution at the theoretical and practical levels to observe that these cultures share more commonalities than are usually acknowledged in contemporary literature. Within a highly globalized world, and in light of continued political/military Western intervention in predominantly Muslim countries such as Iraq and Syria, the need for identifying methods of managing or resolving conflict across these cultures is acute.

The Political Economy of Intervention in the Conflict Against ISIS

Western elites and the general public agree that foreign intervention is needed to halt the dramatic rise of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). Policymakers hope to both militarily defeat ISIS while also resolving the civil crises in Iraq and Syria that allowed the group to flourish. In the economics literature on foreign intervention there is an ongoing debate about whether approaches like those suggested for combating ISIS will be successful. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the conversation about Western intervention against ISIS by considering some of the major challenges to achieving this objective from an economic perspective. Adapting a framework used by economist Christopher Coyne and his co-authors for examining the constraints on foreign intervention, we identify three “problems” that policymakers face: (1) the knowledge problem, (2) the coordination problem, and (3) the problem of unintended consequences. Cases of recent foreign interventions in the Middle East provide evidence for why these problems should be taken seriously when formulating policy toward ISIS. We also explore alternative policy options to foreign intervention.

Theorising unintended consequences of anti-doping policy

There is a growing recognition of the fact that unintended consequences are a commonplace feature of everyday social life, not just in sport but in all aspects of social life (for a dramatic example, consider the many unintended consequences of Western intervention in the Middle East). In relation to doping, the most obvious unintended consequences – in this case collateral harms – include the fact that existing anti-doping policy has (i) constrained athletes to use more dangerous but less detectable drugs and (ii) to use additional masking drugs to conceal their use of performance-enhancing drugs; (iii) driven drug use underground, thereby making it difficult to control the quality of drugs and (iv) making it more difficult for athletes, especially below elite level, to obtain medical monitoring of their drug use. This paper provides at least partial answers to these questions by, firstly, examining the ways in which social scientists have used the concept of unintended consequences and similar concepts. Attention is focused, in particular, on the Merton’s classic conceptualisation of “the unintended consequences of purposive social action” and on Elias's concept of “unplanned outcomes” and his analysis of the relationship between planned and unplanned social processes. The paper concludes with the implications of these analyses for the practical processes of policy formation and implementation.

An interview with Robert Irwin

In this interview, conducted over email in September 2015, Robert Irwin reflects on his relationship with Andalusia and the first encounter that prompted him to write his celebrated book The Alhambra. He discusses why themes of nostalgia and exile pervade the cultural history of Muslim Spain, and how the splendours of medieval Andalusia continue to haunt modern Arabic prose and poetry. Considering how Salman Rushdie and Tariq Ali position al-Andalus in their fiction, Irwin offers insights into the more general influence of Arabic literary traditions on British and western European culture. Commenting on the relevance of the history of Andalusia in relation to Islamophobia and cultural racism in the contemporary west, he cites the importance of studying the past for what it was, rather than co-opting it for moralizing examples, cautioning that western interventions in the Middle East and the ideological posturing of ISIS should not resort to outdated and misleading vocabulary of “crusade” and “caliphate”.

Indonesian Trade Unionists, the World Federation of Trade Unions and Cold War Internationalism, 1947–65

From 1947 to 1965, members of the communist-linked trade union federation SOBSI (Sentral Organisasi Buruh Seluruh Indonesia, All-Indonesian Trade Unions Centre) were actively involved in global Cold War politics through participation in international labour groupings and campaigns. Based predominantly on archival research, this paper argues that SOBSI’s internationalism had several main aims: to support the Indonesian state, particularly in the foreign policy realm, to further the goals of the Left domestically in Indonesia, particularly in facing off their political rivals, and to educate its membership about global working-class politics and the relevance of socialism and communism as political models in Indonesia. This article discusses the views and activities of Indonesian trade unionists on international issues of the 1950s and 60s, chiefly peace and disarmament issues, Western intervention and decolonisation struggles underway in Asia and Africa. It argues that the pressures of the Cold War, the Sino-Soviet split and political circumstances in Indonesia combined to narrow SOBSI’s internationalism and resulted in its utter devastation in the face of the 1965–66 Army-led anti-communist repression.

Can Limited Intervention Work? Lessons from Britain’s Success Story in Sierra Leone

ABSTRACTFollowing frustrating campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan, Western interventions are becoming more limited, with troops being deployed for short bursts and residual peace-building tasks being left to others. Although this approach limits exposure for the intervening government, it struggles to achieve meaningful political change. Examining the comparatively successful British intervention in Sierra Leone (2000–02), this article identifies the conditions for effectiveness in these campaigns. It challenges the historiography of the case by framing armed confrontations and raids as enablers of politics rather than ends in themselves; indeed, in both the conduct and study of intervention, politics must reign supreme.

Framing of Malala Yousafzai: a comparative analysis of news coverage in Western and Pakistani mainstream English print and alternative media

This study compares Pakistani and the Anglo-American media news framing and how these sources portray similar news events. Specifically, it is a comparative analysis of news regarding the principal time periods in Malala Yousafzai’s life, namely: (1) the shooting of Malala by a Taliban gunman and her subsequent recovery; (2) the intervening period when Malala emerges as a brand and is nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize; and, (3) the period surrounding the winning of the Prize before she fades out from the media limelight. The study found that Western media articles framed her as a female education activist, a victim of terrorism, a victim of a society largely hostile to women and a beacon of hope for girls in a highly restrictive society. The Pakistani mainstream English media, at times, preferred to tow the western lead without clarifying its own stance. However, Pakistani alternative English media was largely critical of Malala, post western intervention. The results may have far-reaching implications and raise questions about the framing by audience and the modes of communication people adopt for building their knowledge structure.

Toward a New Architecture for Global Mental Health

Current efforts in global mental health (GMH) aim to address the inequities in mental health between low-income and high-income countries, as well as vulnerable populations within wealthy nations (e.g., indigenous peoples, refugees, urban poor). The main strategies promoted by the World Health Organization (WHO) and other allies have been focused on developing, implementing, and evaluating evidence-based practices that can be scaled up through task-shifting and other methods to improve access to services or interventions and reduce the global treatment gap for mental disorders. Recent debates on global mental health have raised questions about the goals and consequences of current approaches. Some of these critiques emphasize the difficulties and potential dangers of applying Western categories, concepts, and interventions given the ways that culture shapes illness experience. The concern is that in the urgency to address disparities in global health, interventions that are not locally relevant and culturally consonant will be exported with negative effects including inappropriate diagnoses and interventions, increased stigma, and poor health outcomes. More fundamentally, exclusive attention to mental disorders identified by psychiatric nosologies may shift attention from social structural determinants of health that are among the root causes of global health disparities. This paper addresses these critiques and suggests how the GMH movement can respond through appropriate modes of community-based practice and ongoing research, while continuing to work for greater equity and social justice in access to effective, socially relevant, culturally safe and appropriate mental health care on a global scale.

Eight Islands on Four Maps: The Cartographic Renegotiation of Hawai‘i, 1876–1959

The history of Hawai‘i's relationship with the United States is marked by continued attempts on the part of the islanders to renegotiate Hawai‘i's place in the American political imagination. In three separate instances, those efforts took cartographic shape. In 1876, with the Kingdom of Hawai‘i beginning to feel the leading waves of US imperialism, the kingdom sent a modern, scientific map to the Centennial World's Fair in Philadelphia, making an argument for Hawaiian sovereignty. In 1893, with the question of annexation on the table after the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy, haole insurrectionists endorsed a map depicting the islands' proximity to and reliance on the United States – a map that showed the indigenous Hawaiian peoples as barbarous and unable to rule themselves without Western intervention. And in 1937 the Hawaiian Pineapple Company (Dole) commissioned a tourist map of the territory that sought to tame Hawai‘i in the mainlanders' imagination even as the islands' business leaders began their first serious push for statehood. These three maps, set alongside each other, demonstrate a long and contested discussion between the islands and the mainland about how the United States understood Hawai‘i and Pacific politics: a cartographic conversation that remained thematically consistent across multiple iterations of Hawaiian governments.