First impressions and perceived roles: Palestinian perceptions on foreign aid

This paper summarizes some results of a wider research on foreign aid that was conducted in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in 2010. It seeks to describe the impressions and feelings of Palestinian aid beneficiaries as well as the roles and functions they attached to foreign aid. To capture and measure local perceptions on Western assistance a series of individual in depth interviews and few focus group interviews were conducted in the Palestinian territories. The interview transcripts were processed by content analysis. As research results show — from the perspective of aid beneficiaries — foreign aid is more related to human dignity than to any economic development. All this implies that frustration with the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict inevitably embraces the donor policies and practices too

(B)ordering South of Lebanon: Hizbullah’s identity building strategy

International audienceThis paper examines the importance of the Lebanese southern borderland area in the political strategy of Hizbullah's identity building. It highlights how Hizbullah succeeded in its quest to become a major political player in Lebanon by using South Lebanon. The main hypothesis is that this borderland area has been ordered and bordered by Hizbullah to create a common identity among the Lebanese Shi'i population based on a Shi'i religious involvement and the " duty " of armed resistance against Israel. To support this idea, I will rely on a theoretical framework articulating space and identity building and will refer to concepts provided by Middle Eastern studies. In the first part of the paper, I will discuss the conditions of the emergence of the group of solidarity and how it articulates to the religious Shi'i ideology. Then, I will highlight the " lebanonization " process Hizbullah undertaken at the end of the civil war and how during the 1990s it transformed the South into a sanctuary. Finally, I will show how Hizbullah enforced the national legitimacy of its social, political and military actions before targeting the state apparatus

Foreign policy and globalization theory: The case of Israel

Since the early 1990s, international relations has witnessed a stimulating debate on globalization. This debate laid the foundations for globalization theory (GT), providing the tools for an empirical examination of the globalization of multiple activities: from politics and organized violence, to finance, trade and production, through culture and environmental degradation. However, examination of what appear to be the best-known works on globalization reveals that foreign policy has been virtually excluded from GT. In this context, based on what is described here as a synergistic transformationalist approach (STA) to globalization, I provide a critique of GT. The critique is geared towards examining why foreign policy hitherto has been overlooked by contemporary GT. I expose the problems this generates and address them by exploring how STA enables GT to incorporate foreign policy. I use the case of Israel heuristically to elicit how incorporating foreign policy into GT may provide a better understanding of the relationship between foreign policy and globalization. Three themes are highlighted: the role of foreign policy in inducing and reproducing globalization; determining the mutually constitutive relationship between globalization and the state; and shaping the interfacing between international politics and globalization

Katastrophe auf dem Spielbrett - ein neuartiger Ansatz Medizinstudierenden das Thema Katastrophenmedizin näher zu bringen

Introduction: Every year, natural and other disasters cause significant loss of life around the world. This calls for an improved response from, among others, the health professions to strengthen disaster medicine, whether relating to prevention, emergency response or recovery. It includes both knowledge and competencies, such as planning, coordination, and communication. Simulations can be used to acquire these competencies.Project description: In 2016, the German Medical Students' Association founded the project "Disaster Medicine" with the goal of educating and connecting medical students interested in the topic. AFTERSHOCK, a board game simulating early disaster response after an earthquake, was utilized for workshops. It highlights the need for interagency cooperation and the challenges of responding to disasters in dynamic and highly complex settings. Seven workshops were facilitated between October 2016 and December 2017. A survey was conducted to assess participant satisfaction and the design of the workshop.Results: 89 German medical students participated and 74 (83 %) responded with written evaluation. Students generally reported moderate to low levels of previous knowledge. The event produced very positive feedback, with participants overwhelmingly finding the simulation to be a useful or very useful way to learn about the challenges of humanitarian assistance and disaster relief. Qualitative feedback included requests for more theoretical background information and highlighted the need for small group sizes.Discussion and Conclusion: Board games such as AFTERSHOCK are well-suited for medical education and enjoy high rates of acceptance among students. To ensure deeper and longer-term learning, they should be accompanied by theoretical coursework.Einleitung: Jedes Jahr verursachen Katastrophen eine signifikante Anzahl von Todesfällen weltweit. Eine Stärkung der Katastrophenmedizin, unter anderem durch Gesundheitsfachkräfte, in den Bereichen Prävention, Notfalleinsätze als auch bei dem Wiederaufbau ist erforderlich. Hierzu zählen Kompetenzen und Wissen in den Feldern Planung, Koordination und Kommunikation. Simulationen können dazu genutzt werden, diese Kompetenzen zu erwerben.Projektbeschreibung: Die Bundesvertretung der Medizinstudierenden in Deutschland e.V. hat 2016 das Projekt "Katastrophenmedizin" gegründet um interessierte Studierende fortbilden und vernetzen zu können. Für die Workshops wurde das Brettspiel AFTERSHOCK genutzt, welches die Phase der unmittelbaren Katastrophenhilfe nach einem Erdbeben simuliert. Sieben Workshops wurden zwischen Oktober 2016 und Dezember 2017 durchgeführt. Eine Umfrage wurde durchgeführt, um die Zufriedenheit der Teilnehmenden und den Aufbau des Workshops zu evaluieren.Ergebnisse: 89 Medizinstudierende nahmen an den Workshops teil und 73 (83 %) beteiligten sich an der Evaluation. Die Studierenden gaben allgemein ein mittleres bis niedriges Vorwissen an. Die Veranstaltung wurde positiv bewertet und ein Großteil der Studierenden empfand die Simulation als einen hilfreichen oder sehr hilfreichen Weg um die Herausforderungen von humanitärer Hilfe und Katastrophenhilfe kennenzulernen. Qualitatives Feedback umfasste unter anderem die Forderung nach mehr theoretischem Hintergrundwissen und einer kleineren Gruppengröße.Diskussion und Schlussfolgerung: Brettspiele wie AFTERSHOCK sind für die medizinische Ausbildung gut geeignet und bei Studierenden sehr beliebt. Um einen umfassenderen und langanhaltenden Lerneffekt zu erreichen, sollten sie durch theoretische Kurse begleitet werden

The Missing Link? U.S. Policy and the International Dimensions of Authoritarian Resilience in the Arab World

In contrast to the hopes of some US observers, the so-called 'Baghdad Spring' of early 2005 did not mark the beginning of an era of sustained political reform in the Middle East. In an attempt to explain the resilience of authoritarian governance in the region, this article aims to demonstrate the insufficiencies of external democratisation efforts that rely on a crude reading of the 'modernisation' school of thinking and ignore the insights of the 'transition' school with regard to the international dimensions of democratisation. Case studies of Egypt and Saudi Arabia, two countries sharing close strategic relationships with the United States yet differing in the socio-economic foundations of authoritarianism and experiences with managing external and domestic calls for political reform, demonstrate that the unwillingness of the United States to condition its support for regional partners on human rights concerns constitutes one of the main reasons for the Arab world's 'democratic exception'

Creating 'Partners for Peace': The Palestinian Authority and the International Statebuilding Agenda

The Palestinian Authority (PA) offers an interesting case study of statebuilding in a conflict-country context. Created as an interim administration in the West Bank and Gaza in 1994, the PA has been hampered by the statebuilding framework enshrined in the Oslo Accords, its lack of sovereignty, the lack of final status negotiations, and the 'partners for peace' paradigm which is an attempt by donors and international organisations to support who they regard as the 'right' type of elite - that is, those willing to 'make peace' with Israel (as defined by Israel). This article explores the impacts of this paradigm and argues that it has paralysed the formal political process in Palestine and has securitised democracy