Roadblocks to diversity in Local Government in New South Wales, Australia: changing narratives and confronting absences in diversity strategies

The 2021 local government elections in New South Wales (NSW), Australia delivered a record 39.5% female representation, up from 31.2% in the previous election. The increased number of women elected to councils can be read as evidence of the success of a diversity strategy centred on encouraging and equipping women, and other under-represented groups, to stand for election. However, without detracting from the value of these initiatives, their capacity to achieve a councillor body reflective of the general population is limited. People of non-European ancestry, particularly women of ‘colour’ remain grossly underrepresented, while the gains in women’s representation will fail to reach gender parity unless the practices that sustain male overrepresentation, particularly by Anglo and other ‘white’ European men, are challenged. This article draws upon qualitative interviews with councillors to offer fresh readings of conventional explanations for a lack of diversity in Australian local government, while also underscoring the importance of addressing issues that are currently neglected in ‘technical’ approaches.  &nbsp

Feeling/Making Democracy: Emotions of Candidates Contesting Dehradun Municipal Elections

Emotions and sentiments are central to explanations of how actual living democracies work, that is, the sustaining and reconfiguring of practices, relations and common-senses that constitute them. Elections are moments of heightened emotions, when democracy breathes life into the streets and pulses through people’s veins. While studies in anthropology and political science have shed light on the ways that voters are recruited by and experience the passionate and sensuous elements of elections, and democracies more broadly, the emotions of candidates and the politicians they become have largely escaped scrutiny. The value of an emotionally attuned reading of elections is demonstrated through the narratives of women candidates in Dehradun’s municipal elections in North India. The ways candidates feel, and in the process make democracy, illuminate unrecognised factors in the shaping of the political.The research was funded by an Australian Research Council Future Fellowship [grant number FT190100247]. This research was approved by the UNSW Human Ethics Research Committee (HREAP panel B), No. HC18005

Does Populism Matter in EU–China Relations? The Cases of Italy and Czechia

This article investigates whether populism affects the foreign policy of European Union (EU) member states towards China and, if so, through what mechanisms. In order to answer this question, we examine the cases of Italy and Czechia, both of which went through turbulent relations with China in the recent decade whilst also experiencing several government changes between populist and non-populist parties. Our analysis reveals that whilst populist-led governments appeared to be more China-friendly than non-populist governments, the impact of populism is not direct but mediated through other variables, namely, thick ideology, economic pragmatism and international positioning. We propose this model as a hypothesis for testing in future research. In addition, our findings suggest a need to rethink the relationship between thin–thick ideologies in the study of populism and to emphasise the role of ‘economic pragmatism’ as a mediating variable, which has been largely missing from the literature on populist foreign policy

Analysis of Circular Economy Research and Innovation (R&I) intensity for critical products in the supply chains of strategic technologies.

To develop renewable energy, digital, space and defence technologies, the European Union (EU) needs access to critical raw materials of which a large share is currently imported from third countries. To mitigate the risk of supply disruptions, the Critical Raw Materials Act proposes to diversify sources of imports, while increasing domestic extraction, processing, and recycling. The circular economy is therefore positioned as a key element of the EU strategy to deploy strategic technologies for navigating the sustainability transition in a complex geopolitical landscape. In line with this position, the present study analyses the intensity of circular economy research and innovation (R&I) in the supply chains of strategic technologies. The focus is placed on four critical products containing raw materials having high supply risks: lithium-ion battery cells; neodymium-iron-boron permanent magnets; photovoltaic cells; hydrogen electrolysers and fuel-cells. The R&I analysis is based on the identification of scientific articles, patents, and innovation projects on the subject, with a global scope, in the period between 2014 and 2022. The analysis is enriched by connecting to parallel work on the subject, conducted by Joint Research Centre (JRC) as well as academic institutions, industry, and policy stakeholders. This is functional to provide insight into: where circularity efforts R&I have been placed in terms of different products and supply chains; which countries are undertaking these efforts; how the EU is positioned and how much funding was deployed so far; what are the current gaps and trends going forward. Main insights include the following: 1) circularity R&I for critical products is not balanced, with a prominent focus placed on Li-ion cells on a global level 2) the EU has followed this trend in terms of number of innovation projects and public spending; 3) Next to EU efforts, China and the USA focus intensely on circular economy R&I as well. This study contributes with evidence to advance scientific research and policymaking on the role of a circular economy to achieve open strategic autonomy and climate neutrality in the EU

Deforestation and agricultural fires in South-West Pará, Brazil, under political changes from 2014 to 2020

The article processing charge was funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) – 491192747 and the Open Access Publication Fund of Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin.The increasing deforestation and fires since 2019 raises concerns about the irreversible destruction of the Brazilian Amazon. Our goal was to better understand these changes in south-west Pará across different land-tenure and farm systems and between the terms of President Rousseff, Temer, and Bolsonaro. We reconstructed deforestation and fire history using all Landsat and Sentinel-2 observations from 2014 to 2020 and assessed, using quasi-experimental methods, the average treatment effects of each presidency on deforestation and fires across land-tenure and farm types. Deforestation nearly quadrupled to 1,201 km2, particularly during Bolsonaro in undesignated areas and conservation units and on medium-sized farms (p < 0.001). Burning increased to 4,805 km2 and in all tenure types (p < 0.001). The increase was strongest in agrarian settlements and conservation units and on medium and large farms. Our observations show the importance of clarifying land-tenure and re-strengthening disincentives of environmental infractions, which have been weakened specifically under President Bolsonaro.Peer Reviewe

Closing Information Gaps in Kakuma Refugee Camp: A Youth Participatory Action Research Study

This study explores the role of academic and social support on young people’s educational pursuits in Kenya’s Kakuma Refugee Camp. Pairing ethnographic methods with youth participatory action research, we find that support often manifests as abstract, decontextualized encouragement with little grounding in the educational opportunity structure. We argue that this motivational discourse generates information gaps, fueling aspirations that neither prepare youth for understanding, nor navigating the constraints they will encounter. In response, we designed a social media platform orienting Kakuma youth to the opportunity structure, while encouraging them to set realistic goals and plan accordingly. Designing a resource by, for, and with Kakuma youth, we illustrate that refugees have the rights and means to access information on which their everyday well‐being and futures depend. This study illustrates that critical understanding of local and global opportunities can empower, rather than demoralize, young people as they shape their futures in exile.HighlightsEducational support has limited value when decontextualized from opportunity structures.Critical understanding of opportunity constraints can empower, rather than demoralize, youth.Balancing hope and critical awareness is a central challenge in participatory action research, and in settings of forced displacement.Refugee youth advocate for their right to information on which their well‐being and futures depend.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/147082/1/ajcp12277_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/147082/2/ajcp12277.pd

Being harmed while doing good: affective injuries in a community development programme, Medan, Indonesia

Complaints, accusations, and failures of gratitude are everyday experiences for volunteers in community‐driven development in Medan, Indonesia. In this article I develop the analytic of ‘affective injury’ to describe the force of such encounters: the sensation of having one's ethical self questioned or put at risk that manifests as an immediate force or lingering hurt. While humanitarian and development workers are all susceptible to affective injuries, I argue that they operate on a different register for developers who belong to, and have an enduring relationship with, the ‘community’. The ways local volunteers respond to, and seek to recover from, affective injuries are distinct from reflective responses to ethical dilemmas. The suppression of, or diversion from, thoughts that could derail self‐understanding is a hindrance to reflexive development practice

Empowering women Parshads in Dehradun Municipal Council

The need for capacity building of municipal councillors, particularly women, is well established. This article outlines an approach to “empowering” women municipal councillors by expanding their possibilities for “self-becoming.” Drawing upon empirical research on the lived experiences of women parshads (municipal councillors) in Dehradun, Uttarakhand, it suggests a series of interventions that correspond to particular needs and opportunities at different stages of their term. Theories of social change and the literature on adult pedagogy further inform the design of effective learning opportunities