Understanding the programmatic and contextual forces that influence participation in a government-sponsored international student-mobility program

Although prior research establishes the forces that “push” and “pull” students to participate in foreign study, the transferability of findings from earlier studies is limited by the absence of theoretical grounding. In addition, relatively little is known about how a government-sponsored student mobility program promotes foreign study in a nation with a transitioning economy. Using case study methods, this study explores the characteristics of students who participate in such a program and identifies the programmatic characteristics and contextual forces that promote and limit participation. The findings shed light on the appropriate theoretical perspectives for understanding student participation in a government-sponsored mobility program and illustrate the need to consider how aspects of the national cultural, economic, and political context influence participation. The findings also raise several questions about how an international student mobility program should be structured to encourage participation and maximize benefits to individuals and society within a particular national context

Capacity and Autonomy : An Exploration of Fukuyama’s Governance Hypothesis

Peer reviewe

Height, weight and haemoglobin status of 6 to 59-month-old Kazakh children living in Kzyl-Orda region, Kazakhstan.

OBJECTIVE: To estimate the prevalence of stunting, wasting and anaemia among children aged 6-59 months in the Kzyl-Orda region of Kazakhstan, and to determine the association between childhood height and haemoglobin concentration and a range of environmental and biological factors. DESIGN: A cross-sectional study using a randomly selected sample. The mothers of children were interviewed, and finger-prick blood samples and anthropometric measurements were collected on both mothers and their children. Associations between haemoglobin (Hb) concentration, anthropometric measurements and questionnaire data were evaluated by multivariate analysis. SETTING: Health centres in Kazalinsk, Djalagash and Zhanakorgan districts of Kzyl-Orda region, Kazakhstan. SUBJECTS: Two-thousand and twenty-four children aged between 6 and 59 months born to 1501 mothers who were randomly selected from health centre records. RESULTS: The overall prevalence of stunting (<-2.0 Z-scores height for age), wasting (<-2.0 Z-scores weight for height) and anaemia (Hb<11.0 g/dl) in the study children was found to be 15.8, 0.8 and 50.1%, respectively. However, analysis demonstrated considerable variation by age, with the second year of life showing the highest prevalence of both stunting and anaemia. Both childhood height and haemoglobin concentration were found to be significantly associated with a range of environmental and maternal variables. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates that the prevalence of both stunting and anaemia among Kazakh children in the Kzyl-Orda region is considerable, and similar to that of other Central Asian children. These findings highlight Central Asia as a region with levels of childhood nutritional status that are of concern. SPONSORSHIP: Funding was provided by the United States Agency for International Development, Office of Nutrition, the United Kingdom Department for International Development, and the Polden-Puckham Trust

Legitimacy and Legitimation in Central Asia: cases of Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan

This chapter brings to bear what Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan can explain with regard to the concepts of legitimacy and legitimation in authoritarianism. It argues how legitimation should be understood as a series of claims by the regime regarding their appropriateness to rule which are then transformed through social action which then produces legitimacy. The chapter challenges contemporary theorisation of legitimation in the post-Soviet space, which disaggregates the process too far, failing to address the overlapping and interdependent nature of legitimising claims. Instead, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan demonstrate how authoritarian regimes can rely on a combination of charismatic, traditional and legalrational claims to evoke legitimation, but that ultimately, we can never truly know the extent to which broader society believes in the legitimacy of these regimes