Migration from Central and Eastern Europe and Societal Security in the European Union. Jean Monnet/Robert Schuman Paper Series, Vol. 1 No. 2, August 2002

Following the end of the Cold War, terrorism, cross-border crime, drug-trafficking, and immigration have replaced traditional frontier disputes as main sources of insecurity for the countries of the European Union. The main debates surrounding the movement of people have focused on the strict control of immigration and minimizing the number of asylum seekers – the creation of a so-called “Fortress Europe” – and the links made between security, criminality and migration. No longer associated solely with labor market dislocations, humanitarian reasons, and social integration concerns, migration has become part of the new national security agendas of the receiving and transit countries. Thus, the perceived threats to economic well-being, social order, cultural and religious values, and political stability have placed migration policies within a framework intended to protect the societies of Western Europe. The spotlight in the public discourse has been on asylum and illegal immigration from the developing countries. Immigration from the Central and Eastern European countries (CEECs), most of them soon to become members of the Union, remains sidelined by the more conspicuous cases of racially, ethnically, or religiously charged immigration from developing countries, who are perceived as a challenge to the identity of the recipient societies as well as to their social and economic well-being. This paper will attempt to discuss how immigration to the European Union from the CEECs is securitized and will argue that this process takes place primarily along the dimension of social welfare, rather than cultural identity

Three Research Essays on Propensity to Disclose Medical Information Through Formal and Social Information Technologies

Abstract This dissertation, which is comprised of three essays, examined disclosure propensity of healthcare providers from the US and Thailand and disclosure of personal health problems of healthcare consumers in social media context. Essay 1: A Deterrence Approach in Medical Data Misuse among Healthcare Providers Information and communication technology (ICT) have long been available for use in health care. With the potential to improve the quality, safety, and efficiency of health care, the diffusion of these technologies has steadily increased in the health care industry. With the adoption of electronic health records, personal electronics devices, internet connections and social network connections, comes the increased risk of medical data breaches. Due to the sensitivity of the information involved, and the existence of laws governing the use of this data, the responsibilities of a healthcare provider after a data breach remain a concern. Based on previous breach reports, institutional insiders were among the leading causes of medical data breaches. The causes were related to unawareness of institutional information security policies and system misuse. Thus it has become important to understand how to reduce such behaviors. Previous studies suggested deterrence theory that relies on security countermeasures can deter individuals\u27 misuse behaviors by increasing the perceived threat of punishment. Thus our model posits that security countermeasures decrease medical data misuse through the two mediators; perceived certainty of sanctions and perceived severity of sanctions. This model was tested by 176 healthcare providers from different institutions across the US. The results suggested that perceived severity of sanctions has more effect in reducing medical data misuse than perceived certainty of sanctions. Hospital information security policies and HIPAA has stronger effect on perceived severity of sanctions than perceived certainty of sanctions whereas EHR monitoring and auditing has stronger effect on perceived certainty of sanctions than perceived severity of sanctions. Results of the study and implications for the research are discussed. Essay 2: Propensity to Misuse Medical Data in an International Context - Deterrence and Cultural Values As information abuse by healthcare providers is a problem that is faced around the globe, our study examined the effect of deterrence within two cultures; Asian and American (Thailand and the US). The reason to compare these two countries is because the foundation of the structures of the laws and the hospital policies for medical data protection of these two countries are similar. Thus others confounding factors are minimized. In terms of cultural influences, Hofstede\u27s cultural dimensions that describe the effects of society\u27s culture on the values to its members are considered as factors that can have an interaction effect with deterrence. Four Hofstede\u27s cultural values were used; individualism-collectivism (IDV); uncertainty avoidance (UAI); power distance (PD); and long-term orientation (LTO). Also, social norms and morality were included. This study employed espoused values of Hofstede\u27s cultural values, since all individuals from a country will not have identical values. In this study, we examined 1) the effect of espoused cultural values on deterrence, and 2) the effect of Hofstede\u27s national cultural values on deterrence in two different healthcare cultures. Our model was tested by 613 healthcare providers; 437 from Thailand and 176 from the US. The results suggested that technical countermeasures had stronger effect on certainty and severity perception for both Thai and US cases, whereas procedural countermeasures had uncertain effect on sanctions perception for both cultures. The young generation of Thais was found more individualized and tended to have the same perception on sanctions as the Westerners. Social norms played an important role in reducing medical data misuse for Thai providers, whereas moral beliefs were more important for the US providers. Individuals who espoused different cultural values had different responses on medical data misuse. Results of the study and implications for the research are discussed. Essay 3: Intention to self-disclose personal health information in social media context In recent years social media is quickly becoming a large part of people\u27s everyday lives. With the availability of smartphones and tablets, coupled with a slew of apps for these devices, people now have ubiquitous access to social media. Virtual social media application encourages people to meet, and share information. Health problems represent one aspect that is shared in a social media context. Benefits and risks of self-disclosure are two main factors that determine social media users\u27 intention to share their sensitive information on social network. This paper integrates social exchange theory, a theory that focuses on gains and losses of building a relationship, and the social penetration theory, a theory that explains human\u27s self-disclosure, to construct the model for investigating self-disclosure intention on personal health problems of social medial users. In addition, we included factors that affect self-disclosure intention including ease of use of social media, social influence, and nature of health problems. Through an online survey, we examined factors that determine self-posting in social media account with 374 social media users across the US. The results suggested that individual and social benefits of self- disclosure outweighed the risks and have significant effect on self-disclosure intention on personal health problems. The individual risks and social risks had little negative effect on self-posting about health problems. In addition, social influence, and social networking experiences were factors that encouraged social media users to reveal their personal health problems

Terror threat perception and its consequences in contemporary Britain

The terrorist attacks of 9/11, and subsequent terrorist acts around the world, have alerted social psychologists to the need to examine the antecedents and consequences of terrorist threat perception. In these two studies we examined the predictive power of demographic factors (age, sex, location), individual values and normative influences on threat perception and the consequences of this perception for behavioural change and close relationships. In study 1 (N = 100) gender, benevolence values and normative influences were all correlates of threat perception, whilst sense of personal threat was correlated with increased contact with friends and family. In study 2 (N = 240) age, sex, location, and the values of Openness to Change and Hedonism, all predicted threat perception, which in turn predicted behavioural change and relationship contact. Such findings point to the important role social psychologists should play in understanding responses to these new terrorist threats

DETERMINANTS OF THE INDIVIDUALS' INTENTION TO USE THE IOT SMART HOME TECHNOLOGY IN QATAR

This study develops a research model for the main determinants that affect the potential customers’ intention to use the Internet of Things (IoT) - Smart Home Technology in Qatar. This study proposes and validates a research model that can explain the behavioral intention of individuals and emphasize the factors that have the strongest impact. Our theoretical model extends the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology 2 [UTAUT2] by including the factors of Mobility, Trust, Perceived Security and the espoused national cultural values of Collectivism, Masculinity and Uncertainty Avoidance. Regression analysis was used to validate the proposed research model and corresponding hypotheses on data collected using a convenience sample of random individuals from Qatar. Findings: performance expectancy, mobility, price value, trust in smart home technology and its providers have a significant positive impact on the potential customers’ behavioral intention to use the smart home technology. The cultural dimensions moderate some of the hypothesized relationships in the proposed model. Perceived security and social influence are strongly related to the perceived trust in smart home technology providers. Effort expectancy and hedonic motivation positively related to the performance expectancy. Originality/value: This study is the first attempt to study the acceptance of the smart home technology in Qatar

From fratricide to security community : re-theorising difference in the constitution of Nordic peace

This article utilises a revisionist account of the emergence of Nordic peace in the 19th century to open up space for rethinking and re-theorising the constitutive dynamics underlying security communities. While the Nordic case is often considered a prime example of a security community the article argues it did not emerge in the way usually claimed. First, security did not figure as a key constitutive argument as assumed by traditional security community theorising; second, togetherness did not emerge because of difference being traded for enhanced similarity. In fact, security was side-lined and difference re-interpreted rather than erased in forging ontologically safe identities

Constructing ‘suspect’ communities and Britishness: mapping British press coverage of Irish and Muslim communities, 1974–2007

There exist many parallels between the experiences of Irish communities in Britain in the past and those of Muslim communities today. However, although they have both been the subject of negative stereotyping, intelligence profiling, wrongful arrest and prejudice, little research has been carried out comparing how these communities are represented in the media. This article addresses this gap by mapping British press coverage of events involving Irish and Muslim communities that occurred between 1974 and 2007. The analysis shows that both sets of communities have been represented as ‘suspect’ to different degrees, which the article attributes to varying perceptions within the press as to the nature of the threat Irish and Muslim communities are thought to pose to Britain. The article concludes that a central concern of the press lies with defending its own constructions of Britishness against perceived extremists, and against abuses of power and authority by the state security apparatus

Gendering Reconstruction: Iraqi Women between Dictatorship, Wars, Sanctions and Occupation

The article explores the role of women and changing gender relations in reconstruction processes in Iraq. It will provide a historical background in terms of changing women’s status and gender ideologies & relations during the regime of Saddam Hussein. I will focus particularly on the impacts of the early developmental-modernist discourses of the state to the impacts of war (Iran-Iraq war 1980-88 & Gulf War 1991) as well as comprehensive economic sanctions (1990-2003). The latter involved wider social changes affected women and gender but also society at large, i.e. impoverishment of well-educated middle-class, wide-scale unemployment and economic crises pushing women back home, and a shift towards more conservative values and morals. It is against this backdrop that the impact of the latest war (2003), the occupation and reconstruction attempts need to analysed. In addition to the most immediate effects of the current situation (humanitarian crisis, lack of security, lack of mobility, general exclusion form political process), the article will explore more long- term issues with respect to the need to mainstream gender in reconstruction processes. It will also attempt to provide a brief overview of the emerging Iraqi women’s national and transnational women’s initiatives and organisations

Replacement-Based Cultural Threat and Immigration Attitudes

With the influx of nonwhite migrants into white-majority states across the Global North, right-wing political actors have used populism to shape public perception of immigration and immigrants themselves. Warnings against the acceptance of outgroup populations can be traced back to the dawn of human social behavior, though a recent shift in rhetoric by xenophobic actors has taken place. Moving away from claims of impending security, economic or cultural threats of migrant populations, contemporary anti-immigrant rhetoric has shifted toward claims that migrant populations will replace existing western cultures altogether. Through both a survey experiment and an Immigration Threat Measurement Study, this thesis explores the novel replacement threat—a previously overlooked and distinct form of immigration threat. Replacement threat—based in the psychological framing of the impending minority status of a white majority—proves to be an innovative tool for identifying the socio-political consequences of replacement-based rhetoric on immigration attitudes.The Ohio State University College of Arts and Sciences Undergraduate Research ScholarshipNo embargoAcademic Major: Political Scienc