36,352 research outputs found
Civil Society Iraq: Location Influences on Outgroup Perception (June 2004)
A significant research question in the immediate post-war (May 2003) environment of Iraq was: "How do Iraqisâ location affect expressed perceptions of threat from outgroups?"
We collected 479 surveys of Iraqi opinions, in five locations (in Iraq, Jordan, and The Netherlands), with a single page instrument. Religion, ethnic origin, like location alone, had little strong bearing on respondentsâ expressed attitudes towards outgroups or the government in Iraq. However, certain sets of interacting elements did reflect significant differences in perceptions of threat. For example, Shiâa Muslims of urban Basra had very different expressions towards return of expatriate Iraqis than did Shiâa Muslims of rural Basra.
A serendipitous innovation was that of publishing our research process onto a "wiki" web page where visitors could add to or change contents of the documents. The wiki live publishing helped fellow scientists, decision-makers, resource agencies, and Iraq fieldworkers participate in our project.
Why Civil Society? The term describes both behavior and social systems and provides an overarching framework from which to explore social interactions in Iraq.
Follow-up is warranted. We found, for example, that "moderate Arabs" in Iraq were the most opposed to foreign involvement and were the most opposed to expatriate Iraqis returning to Iraq. This finding is relevant to decision-makers and field workers in relief, development, and reconstruction in Iraq.
This paper describes our research process in a post-regime-change environment. I would welcome comments onto the web site: http://CivilSocietyIraq.seedwiki.com
Civil Society Iraq: Ethnic, Religious, and Location Influences on Outgroup Perception
Civil Society Iraq: Ethnic, Religious, and Location Influences on Outgroup Perception
Jon Gresham*
April 2004
A significant research question in the immediate post-war (May 2003) environment of Iraq
was: "How do Iraqisâ ethnicity, religious affiliation, and location affect expressed perceptions of
threat from outgroups?"
We collected 479 surveys of Iraqi opinions, in five locations in Iraq, Jordan, and The
Netherlands, with a single page instrument. Religion, ethnic origin, and location alone had little direct
bearing on respondentsâ attitudes towards outgroups or change (another type of threat) in Iraq.
However, certain sets of interacting elements did reflect significant differences in perceptions of
threat. For example, Shiâa Muslims of urban Basra had very different expressions towards return of
expatriate Iraqis than did Baghdad residents.
A serendipitous innovation was that of publishing our research process onto a "wiki" web
page where visitors could add to or change contents of the documents. The wiki live publishing
helped fellow scientists, decision-makers, resource agencies, and Iraq fieldworkers participate in our
project.
Why Civil Society? The term describes both behavior and social systems and provides a
sociological framework from which to explore social interactions in Iraq.
Follow-up is warranted. We found, for example, that "moderate Arabs" in Iraq were the most
opposed to foreign involvement and were the most opposed to expatriate Iraqis returning to Iraq. This
finding is relevant to decision-makers and field workers in relief, development, and reconstruction in
Iraq.
This paper describes our research process in a post-regime-change environment. I would
welcome comments onto the web site: http://CivilSocietyIraq.seedwiki.com.
_____________
* Jon Gresham is a visiting scholar at the University of Utrecht, Netherlands. His work focuses on
the Cyprus-Syria-Iraq-Iran area. Special thanks are given to Hub Linssen, Assistant Professor at the
University of Utrecht, with interest in cross-national comparative survey methodology
François Perroux, a precursor of the current analyses of power
Without any doubt, François Perroux is one of the most important European economists of the 20st century. Today, in English-speaking countries, François Perroux is recognized mostly for his original contributions in the field of spatial economics and economics of development. However, taking into account the variety of his contributions, Perroux deserves certainly more attention. This paper underlines a less well-known aspect of Perrouxâs works: his illuminating views on asymmetry, domination and power which can be considered a source of works carried out in this field half a century later, such as the American realist and neo-realist approaches to power or the concept of structural power developed by Susan Strange.Asymmetry; power; domination; influence; coercion
Efficiently identifying pareto solutions when objective values change
Copyright © 2014 ACMThe example code for this paper is available at https://github.com/fieldsend/gecco_2014_changing_objectivesIn many multi-objective problems the objective values assigned to a particular design can change during the course of an optimisation. This may be due to dynamic changes in the problem itself, or updates to estimated objectives in noisy problems. In these situations, designs which are non-dominated at one time step may become dominated later not just because a new and better solution has been found, but because the existing solution's performance has degraded. Likewise, a dominated solution may later be identified as non-dominated because its objectives have comparatively improved. We propose management algorithms based on recording single âguardian dominators" for each solution which allow rapid discovery and updating of the non-dominated subset of solutions evaluated by an optimiser. We examine the computational complexity of our proposed approach, and compare the performance of different ways of selecting the guardian dominators
Implications of runaway globalisation in the Seychelles
At a time of rampant globalisation, large-scale operations are favoured over smallscale production in the main domains of the economy. This has political effects: domination by the big over the small is sought in both old and new ways; and cultural effects that influence from outside â such as Netflix, tourism and travel abroad â are intensified in the globally integrated information society. This in turn affects the media, language and self-identity, as well as being decisive for strategies in diplomacy, human security, planning and domestic politics. This article analyses the situation of the Seychelles in the 21st century: a small state, dependent on inputs from the outside world, and victim of a new form of colonialism. The country may still have potential to âpunch above its weightâ and to hold its own, in spite of the disembedded, abstract economy of scale dominating this integrated, networked, accelerated, globalised world. For this to happen, a recognition and analysis of current changes are needed.N/
Age group, location or pedagogue: factors affecting parental choice of kindergartens in Hungary
Hungary has experienced significant political, economic, demographic and social changes since the end of Soviet domination in the 1990s. The gradual move towards liberal-democracy has been accompanied by growing emphasis on individualism, choice and diversity. Universal kindergarten provision for 5-6 year olds is a long established feature of the Hungarian education system, but little is known about parental choice (Török, 2004). A case study (Yin, 2004) of factors influencing parental choice and satisfaction was undertaken in one Hungarian town. This was based on a survey of 251 parents of children attending both mixed-age and same-age groups across 12 kindergartens. Parents suggested that the most important influences were geographical location and the individual pedagogue(s). Given that traditionally each pedagogue follows âtheirâ cohort from kindergarten entry to primary school, their influence appears heightened. Although generally satisfied with their chosen arrangement, parents from same-age groups expressed significantly more confidence and satisfaction, particularly in relation to cognitive development and preparation for school. Parents appear less convinced about the trend towards mixed-age groups and questions are raised about sufficiency of evidence of their benefits in a Hungarian context and the driving factors behind change
Do corporations have a duty to be trustworthy?
Since the global financial crisis in 2008, corporations have faced a crisis of trust, with growing sentiment against âelites and âbig businessâ and a feeling that âsomething ought to be doneâ to re-establish public regard for corporations. Trust and trustworthiness are deeply moral significant. They provide the âglue or lubricantâ that begets reciprocity, decreases risk, secures dignity and respect, and safeguards against the subordination of the powerless to the powerful. However, in deciding how to restore trust, it is difficult to determine precisely what should be done, by whom, and who will bear the cost, especially if any action involves a risk to overall market efficiency and corporate profitability.
The paper explores whether corporations have a moral duty to be trustworthy, to bear the cost of being so and thus contribute to resolving the current crisis of trust. It also considers where the state and other social actors have strong reason to protect and enforce such moral rights, while acknowledging that other actors have similar obligations to be trustworthy. It outlines five âsalient factorsâ that trigger specific rights to trustworthiness and a concomitant duty on corporations to be trustworthy: market power, subordination (threat and intimidation), the absence of choice, the need to preserve systemic trust, and corporate political power which might undermine a stateâs legitimacy. Absent these factors and corporations do not have a general duty to be trustworthy, since a responsible actor in fair market conditions should be able to choose between the costs and benefits of dealing with generally trustworthy corporations
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