11,107 research outputs found
'Exarcheia doesn't exist': Authenticity, Resistance and Archival Politics in Athens
My thesis investigates the ways people, materialities and urban spaces interact to form affective ecologies and produce historicity. It focuses on the neighbourhood of Exarcheia, Athensâ contested political topography par excellence, known for its production of radical politics of discontent and resistance to state oppression and eoliberal capitalism. Embracing Exarcheiaâs controversial status within Greek vernacular, media and state discourses, this thesis aims to unpick the neighbourhoodsâ socio-spatial assemblage imbued with affect and formed through the numerous (mis)understandings and (mis)interpretations rooted in its turbulent political history. Drawing on theory on urban spaces, affect, hauntology and archival politics, I argue for Exarcheia as an unwavering archival space composed of affective chronotopes â (in)tangible loci that defy space and temporality. I posit that the interwoven narratives and materialities emerging in my fieldwork are persistently â and perhaps obsessively â reiterating themselves and remaining imprinted on the neighbourhoodâs landscape as an incessant reminder of violent histories that the state often seeks to erase and forget. Through this analysis, I contribute to understandings of place as a primary ethnographic âobjectâ and the ways in which place forms complex interactions and relationships with social actors, shapes their subjectivities, retains and bestows their memories and senses of historicity
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After Creation: Intergovernmental Organizations and Member State Governments as Co-Participants in an Authority Relationship
This is a re-amalgamation of what started as one manuscript and became two when the length proved to be more than any publisher wanted to consider. The splitting consisted of removing what are now Parts 3, 4, and 5 so that the manuscript focused on the outcome-related shared beliefs holding an authority relationship together. Those parts were last worked on in 2018. The rest were last worked on in late 2021 but also remain incomplete.
The relational approach adopted in this study treats intergovernmental organizations and the governments of member states as co-participants in an authority relationship with the governments of their member states. Authority relationships link two types of actor, defined by their authority-holder or addressee role in the relationship, through a set of shared beliefs about why the relationship exists and how the participants should fulfill their respective roles. The IGO as authority holder has a role that includes a right to instruct other actors about what they should or should not do; the governments of member states as addressees are expected to comply with the instructions. Three sets of shared beliefs provide the conceptual âglueâ holding the relationship together. The first defines the goal of the collective effort, providing both the rationale for having the authority relationship and providing a lode star for assessments of the collective effortâs success or lack of success. The second set defines the shared understanding about allocation of roles and the process of interaction by establishing shared expectations about a) the selection process by which particular actors acquire authority holder roles, b) the definitions identifying one or more categories of addressees expected to follow instructions, and c) the procedures through which the authority holder issues instructions. The third set focus on the outcomes of cooperation through the relationship by defining a) the substantive areas in which the authority holder may issue instructions, b) the bases for assessing the relevance actions mandated in instructions for reaching the goal, and c) the relative efficacy of action paths chosen for reaching the goal as compared to other possible action paths.
Using an authority relationship framework for analyzing cooperation through IGOs highlights the inherently bi-directional nature of IGO-member government activity by viewing their interaction as involving a three-step process in which the IGO as authority holder decides when to issue what instruction, the member state governments as followers react to the instruction with anything from prompt and full compliance through various forms of pushback to outright rejection, and the IGO as authority holder responds to how the followers react with efforts to increase individual compliance with instructions and reinforce continuing acceptance of the authority relationship. Foregrounding the dynamics produced by the interaction of these two streams of perception and action reveals more clearly how far intergovernmental organizations acquire capacity to operate as independent actors, the dynamic ways they maintain that capacity, and how much they influence member governmentsâ beliefs and actions at different times. The approach fosters better understanding of why, when, and for how long governments choose cooperation through an IGO even in periods of rising unilateralism
Conscience and Consciousness: British Theatre and Human Rights.
This research project investigates a paradigm of human rights theatre. Through the lens of performance and theatre-making, this thesis explores how we came to represent, speak about, discuss, and own human rights in Britain. My framework of âhuman rights theatreâ proposes three distinctive features: firstly, such works dramatise real-world issues and highlights the role of the state in endangering its citizens; secondly, ethical ruptures are encountered within and without the drama, and finally, these performances characteristically aspire to produce an activist effect on the collective behaviours of the audience.
This thesis interrogates the strategies theatre-makers use to articulate human rights concerns or to animate human rights intent. The selected case-studies for this investigation are ice&fireâs testimonial project, Actors for Human Rights; Badac Theatre; Jonathan Holmesâ work as director of Jericho House; Cardboard Citizensâ youth participation programme, ACT NOW; and Tony Cealyâs Black Menâs Consortium. Deliberately selecting companies and performance events that have received limited critical attention, my methodology constellates case-studies through original interviews, durational observation of creative working methods and proximate descriptions of practice.
The thesis is interested in the experience of coming to âconsciousnessâ through human rights theatre, an awakening to the impacts of rights infringements and rights claiming. I explore consciousness as a processual, procedural, and durational happening in these performance events. I explore the âĂŠffectâ of activist art and examine the ways in which makers of human rights theatre aim to amplify both affective and effective qualities in their work. My thesis also considers the articulation of activist purpose and the campaigning intent of the selected theatre-makers and explores how their activism is animated in their productions. Through the rich seam of discussion generated by the identification and exploration of the traits of a distinctive human rights theatre, I affirm the generative value of this typological enquiry
Freelance subtitlers in a subtitle production network in the OTT industry in Thailand: a longitudinal study
The present study sets out to investigate a subtitle production network in the over-the-top (OTT) industry in Thailand through the perspective of freelance subtitlers. A qualitative longitudinal research design was adopted to gain insights into (1) the way the work practices of freelance subtitlers are influenced by both human and non-human actors in the network, (2) the evolution of the network, and (3) how the freelance subtitlersâ perception of quality is influenced by changes occurring in the network. Eleven subtitlers were interviewed every six months over a period of two years, contributing to over 60 hours of interview data. The data analysis was informed by selected concepts from Actor-Network Theory (ANT) (Law 1992, 2009; Latour 1996, 2005; Mol 2010), and complemented by the three-dimensional quality model proposed by Abdallah (2016, 2017). Reflexive thematic analysis (Braun and Clarke 2019a, 2020b) was used to generate themes and sub-themes which address the research questions and tell compelling stories about the actor-network. It was found that from July 2017 to September 2019, the subtitle production network, which was sustained by complex interrelationships between actors, underwent a number of changes. The changes affected the work practices of freelance subtitlers in a more negative than positive way, demonstrating their precarious position in an industry that has widely adopted the vendor model (Moorkens 2017). Moreover, as perceived by the research participants, under increasingly undesirable working conditions, it became more challenging to maintain a quality process and to produce quality subtitles. Finally, translation technology and tools, including machine translation, were found to be key non-human actors that catalyse the changes in the network under study
A cosmopolitan international law: the authority of regional inter-governmental organisations to establish international criminal accountability mechanisms
The overall aim of this thesis is to investigate the potential role of regional inter-governmental organisations (RIGOs) in international criminal accountability, specifically through the establishment of criminal accountability mechanisms, and to make a case for RIGOsâ active involvement. The thesis proceeds from the assumption that international criminal justice is a cosmopolitan project that demands that a tenable conception of state sovereignty guarantees humanityâs fundamental values, specifically human dignity. Since cosmopolitanism emphasises the equality and unity of the human family, guaranteeing the dignity and humanity of the human family is therefore a common interest of humanity rather than a parochial endeavour. Accountability for international crimes is one way through which human dignity can be validated and reaffirmed where such dignity has been grossly and systematically assaulted. Therefore, while accountability for international crimes is primarily the obligation of individual sovereign states, this responsibility is ultimately residually one of humanity as a whole, exercisable through collective action. As such, the thesis advances the argument that states as collective representations of humanity have a responsibility to assist in ensuring accountability for international crimes where an individual state is either genuinely unable or unwilling by itself to do so. The thesis therefore addresses the question as to whether RIGOs, as collective representations of states and their peoples, can establish international criminal accountability mechanisms. Relying on cosmopolitanism as a theoretical underpinning, the thesis examines the exercise of what can be considered as elements of sovereign authority by RIGOs in pursuit of the cosmopolitan objective of accountability for international crimes. In so doing, the thesis interrogates whether there is a basis in international law for such engagement, and examines how such engagement can practically be undertaken, using two case studies of the European Union and the Kosovo Specialist Chambers and Specialist Prosecutorâs Office, and the African Union and the (proposed) Hybrid Court for South Sudan. The thesis concludes that general international law does not preclude RIGOs from exercising elements of sovereign authority necessary for the establishment of international criminal accountability mechanisms, and that specific legal authority to engage in this regard can then be determined by reference to the doctrine of attributed/conferred powers and the doctrine of implied powers in interpreting the legal instruments of RIGOs. Based on this conclusion, the thesis makes a normative case for an active role for RIGOs in the establishment of international criminal accountability mechanisms, and provides a practical step-by-step guide on possible legal approaches for the establishment of such mechanisms by RIGOs, as well as guidance on possible design models for these mechanisms
Chinese Benteng Womenâs Participation in Local Development Affairs in Indonesia: Appropriate means for struggle and a pathway to claim citizenâ right?
It had been more than two decades passing by aftermath the devastating Asiaâs Financial Crisis in 1997, subsequently followed by Suhartoâs step down from his presidential throne which he occupied for more than three decades. The financial turmoil turned to a political disaster furthermore has led to massive looting that severely impacted Indonesians of Chinese descendant, including unresolved mystery of the most atrocious sexual violation against women and covert killings of students and democracy activists in this country. Since then, precisely aftermath May 1998, which publicly known as âReformasiâ1, Indonesia underwent political reform that eventually corresponded positively to its macroeconomic growth. Twenty years later, in 2018, Indonesia captured worldwide attention because it has successfully hosted two internationally renowned events, namely the Asian Games 2018 â the most prestigious sport events in Asia â conducted in Jakarta and Palembang; and the IMF/World Bank Annual Meeting 2018 in Bali. Particularly in the IMF/World Bank Annual Meeting, this event has significantly elevated Indonesiaâs credibility and international prestige in the global economic powerplay as one of the nations with promising growth and openness. However, the narrative about poverty and inequality, including increasing racial tension, religious conservatism, and sexual violation against women are superseded by friendly climate for foreign investment and eventually excessive glorification of the nationâs economic growth. By portraying the image of promising new economic power, as rhetorically promised by President Joko Widodo during his presidential terms, Indonesia has swept the growing inequality in this highly stratified society that historically compounded with religious and racial tension under the carpet of digital economy.Arte y Humanidade
Hunting Wildlife in the Tropics and Subtropics
The hunting of wild animals for their meat has been a crucial activity in the evolution of humans. It continues to be an essential source of food and a generator of income for millions of Indigenous and rural communities worldwide. Conservationists rightly fear that excessive hunting of many animal species will cause their demise, as has already happened throughout the Anthropocene. Many species of large mammals and birds have been decimated or annihilated due to overhunting by humans. If such pressures continue, many other species will meet the same fate. Equally, if the use of wildlife resources is to continue by those who depend on it, sustainable practices must be implemented. These communities need to remain or become custodians of the wildlife resources within their lands, for their own well-being as well as for biodiversity in general. This title is also available via Open Access on Cambridge Core
Managing global virtual teams in the London FinTech industry
Today, the number of organisations that are adopting virtual working arrangements has exploded, and the London FinTech industry is no exception. During recent years, FinTech companies have increasingly developed virtual teams as a means of connecting and engaging geographically dispersed workers, lowering costs, and enabling greater speed and adaptability.
As the first study in the United Kingdom regarding global virtual team management in the FinTech industry, this DBA research seeks answers to the question, âWhat makes for the successful management of a global virtual team in the London FinTech industry?â. Straussian grounded-theory method was chosen as this qualitative approach lets participants have their own voice and offers some flexibility. It also allows the researcher to have preconceived ideas about the research undertaking.
The research work makes the case for appreciating the voice of people with lived experiences. Ten London-based FinTech Managers with considerable experience running virtual teams agreed to take part in this study. These Managers had spent time working at large, household-name firms with significant global reach, and one had recently become founder and CEO of his own firm, taking on clients and hiring contract staff from around the world. At least eight of the other participants were senior âHeadsâ of various technology teams and one was a Managing Director working at a âBig Fourâ consultancy. They had all (and many still did) spent years running geographically distributed teams with members as far away as Pacific Asia and they were all keen to discuss that breadth of experience and the challenges they faced.
Results from these in-depth interviews suggested that there are myriad reasons for a global virtual team, from providing 24 hour, follow-the-sun service to locating the most cost-effective resources with the highest skills. It also confirmed that there are unique challenges to virtual management and new techniques are required to help navigate virtual managers through them.
Managing a global virtual team requires much more than the traditional management competencies. Based on discussion with the respondents, a set of practical recommendations for global virtual team management was developed and covered a wide range of issues related to recruitment and selection, team building, developing standard operating procedures, communication, motivation, performance management, and building trust
The International Political Economy of Land Reform and Conflict in Colombia 1936-2018
Why did land reforms attempted in 1936, 1961 and 1994 not lead to more equality, stability, and peace in Colombia? Using a theoretical framework informed by Gramscis theory of passive revolution, this study examines the origin of inequality and the propagation of conflict in Colombia by exploring the relationship between international political economy, production relations and class conflict surrounding three cases of land reform (1936, 1961 and 1994). I argue that land reforms have failed to address inequality and have exacerbated class conflicts for three interrelated reasons: 1) though campesinos demanded the redistribution of large estates, pro-capitalist land reforms left productive plantations intact and instead promoted access to lands in frontier areas where the state had little effective control over property rights; 2) demands for reforms emerged during 'commodity booms', when a bourgeois-peasant alliance in favour of capitalist expansion was possible, but during phases of subsequent crisis and price collapse, agrarian reforms were coopted by landlord-bourgeois alliances that pushed the consolidation of larger, more productive holdings; 3) the failure of reforms to address popular demands for land contributed to an atmosphere of instability in which reactionary elites used popular unrest as a pretext for repression against opponents of capitalism with the support of international financial and military power. The result has been the intensification of land conflicts and several waves of landlord-led dispossession, popular resistance, and counterinsurgency in the 1940s-50s, 1960s-1970s and 1980s-2000s. Political instability in Colombia is indicative of the dynamics of passive revolution as the case lends itself to a Gramscian analysis of uneven development in the 20th century Latin American context. Colombia's experience shows the limits of "passive revolutionary" land reforms which may unite diverse constituencies under certain conditions, but which leave the material and social foundations of conflict fundamentally unchanged, leaving campesinos vulnerable to shifts in global market conditions. This leads me to the conclusion that there will be no stable peace in Colombia without redistributive land reform. Redistribution has been the demand of the agrarian social movement since the 1930s but has been consistently denied in land reforms during broader processes of passive revolution that favour large-scale corporate farming, natural resource development and the debasement and exploitation of labour through dispossession in a context of unevenly expanding capitalism
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