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Social Movements and International Relations: A Relational Framework
Social movements are increasingly recognized as significant features of contemporary world politics, yet to date their treatment in international relations theory has tended to obfuscate the considerable diversity of these social formations, and the variegated interactions they may establish with state actors and different structures of world order. Highlighting the difficulties conventional liberal and critical approaches have in transcending conceptions of movements as moral entities, the article draws from two under-exploited literatures in the study of social movements in international relations, the English School and Social Systems Theory, to specify a wider range of analytical interactions between different categories of social movements and of world political structures. Moreover, by casting social movement phenomena as communications, the article opens international relations to consideration of the increasingly diverse trajectories and second-order effects produced by social movements as they interact with states, intergovernmental institutions, and transnational actors
“There is a fear that you will be attacked just for the act of working in health”:a survey of experiences of violence against healthcare in Colombia
BackgroundColombia has experienced decades of conflict between the government and non-state actors. Attacks on healthcare have been a grave but regular facet of that violence. In response, the Misión Médica (MM) program was developed to support, protect, and defend healthcare. Sporadic violence continues, with many recent attacks perpetrated not by armed actors but by residents. Given the history of conflict and ongoing violence, we sought to capture the perspectives of both healthcare workers (HCWs) and community members (CMs) regarding the characteristics and impacts of attacks on health in Colombia to gain insight into how to better prevent violence and mitigate its impacts.MethodsA cross-sectional survey was conducted from January to March 2021 in seven departments in Colombia in regions that witnessed attacks on healthcare. Questionnaires were administered to HCWs and CMs via purposive sampling, probing their experiences with attacks on health with both closed and open-ended questions. The categorical responses were stratified by health worker vs. non-health worker and descriptively analyzed. Narrative responses were analyzed via a hybrid deductive/inductive thematic approach.ResultsSeventy-three individuals participated in the study (36 HCWs and 37 cm). Approximately 77% of HCWs believed that attacks on healthcare impacted health outcomes while 68% of CMs did not see a direct connection between violence against healthcare and poor health outcomes. Awareness of the MM program was significantly different between HCWs (83.3%) and CMs (37.8%). The survey responses explored the characteristics of attacks on health, compounded impacts of violence on the health system, personal impacts, and perspectives on mitigation efforts.ConclusionsThe study demonstrates that: (1) attacks on healthcare are context-dependent and require a local lens for mitigation and management; (2) both HCWs and CMs have critical perspectives that must be considered, (3) the impacts of violence against healthcare are complex and compounded and (4) that awareness of the legal protections of the Geneva Conventions must be combined with education on the health impacts for robust protection strategies. Critically, Both CMs and HCWs experience fear and psychosocial ramifications of these attacks, suggesting the need for stronger protections and resources to support the health workforce and the local community
Modelling Violence as Disease? Exploring the Possibilities of Epidemiological Analysis for Peacekeeping Data in Darfur
Using Data to Create Change? Interrogating the Role of Data in Ending Attacks on Healthcare
Intimacy and the Gendering of War: Women’s experience of insurgency war (1996-2006)in Nepal,
Blurred Lines or Spatial Clustering?:Assessing the Association between Peacekeeping Presence and Attacks against Humanitarians in Darfur
A prominent explanation of the rising attacks on aid workers is that aid workers in proximity to peacekeepers or soldiers of an intervention force are seen to be associated with them. This article leverages high-quality, disaggregated data collected by the UN about attacks on humanitarians in Darfur between January 2008 and March 2009 to examine this “blurring of the lines” explantion. We argue that rather than a blurred lines logic, spatial clustering of peacekeepers and humanitarians in a given area explains why aid workers are often attacked in proximity to peacekeepers. Consistent with this argument, we find that when controlling for humanitarian activity, the number of peacekeepers in an area is no longer significantly associated with attacks on aid workers. This study has important implications for current discussions on the relationship between humanitarians and peacekeepers and the concept of humanitarian space.ISSN:1875-4104ISSN:1875-411