Building consensus: shifting strategies in the territorial targeting of Turkey's public transport investment

© 2019, © 2019 Regional Studies Association. A growing amount of research explores how the allocation of regional development monies follows electoral reasons. Yet, the existing literature on distributive politics provides different and contrasting expectations on which geographical areas will be targeted. The paper focuses on proportional representation (PR) systems. While in such settings governments have incentives to target core districts and punish foes, it is suggested that when incumbents attempt to build a state–party image they may broaden the territorial allocation of benefits and even target opposition out-groups. The paper exploits data on Turkey's public transport investment for the period 2003–14 and in-depth interviews to provide results in support of the hypothesis.Harvard Emirates Leadership Initiative Fellowshi

Institutional capacity for health systems research in East and Central African schools of public health: knowledge translation and effective communication

BACKGROUND: Local health systems research (HSR) provides policymakers and practitioners with contextual, evidence-based solutions to health problems. However, producers and users of HSR rarely understand the complexities of the context within which each operates, leading to the “know–do” gap. Universities are well placed to conduct knowledge translation (KT) integrating research production with uptake. The HEALTH Alliance Africa Hub, a consortium of seven schools of public health (SPHs) in East and Central Africa, was formed to build capacity in HSR. This paper presents information on the capacity of the various SPHs to conduct KT activities. METHODS: In 2011, each member of the Africa Hub undertook an institutional HSR capacity assessment using a context-adapted and modified self-assessment tool. KT capacity was measured by several indicators including the presence of a KT strategy, an organizational structure to support KT activities, KT skills, and institutional links with stakeholders and media. Respondents rated their opinions on the various indicators using a 5-point Likert scale. Averages across all respondents for each school were calculated. Thereafter, each school held a results validation workshop. RESULTS: A total of 123 respondents from all seven SPHs participated. Only one school had a clear KT strategy; more commonly, research was disseminated at scientific conferences and workshops. While most respondents perceived their SPH as having strong institutional ties with organizations interested in HSR as well as strong institutional leadership, the organizational structures required to support KT activities were absent. Furthermore, individual researchers indicated that they had little time or skills to conduct KT. Additionally, institutional and individual links with policymakers and media were reported as weak. CONCLUSIONS: Few SPHs in Africa have a clear KT strategy. Strengthening the weak KT capacity of the SPHs requires working with institutional leadership to develop KT strategies designed to guide organizational structure and development of networks with both the media and policymakers to improve research uptake.DFI

Enquête sur l'arrestation de Guy Theunis: les accusations, la procédure, les hypothèses.

Document collected by the University of Texas Libraries from the web-site of the Reseau Documentaire International Sur La Region Des Grands Lacs Africains (International Documentation Network on the Great African Lakes Region). The Reseau distributes "gray literature", non-published or limited distribution government or NGO documents regarding the Great Lakes area of central Africa including Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.UT Librarie

Press Freedom Index (2002-2010)

According to the document describing the Press Freedom Index 2010 methodology, “The Reporters Without Borders index measures the violations of press freedom in the world. It reflects the degree of freedom that journalists and news organisations enjoy in each country, and the efforts made by the authorities to respect and ensure respect for this freedom.” This dataset compiles annual scores for 179 countries during 2002-2010. A long and wide versions of the data are provided in Stata format (dta), along with the 2010 methodology document. A zip file contains the raw annual tab-delimited text files and a Stata dofile that compiles these into the aggregate long and wide files

Online Content Control, Memory and Community Isolation

(EN) This chapter discusses a 2011 defamation case against a Portuguese online community and association of precarious workers (Precários Inflexíveis). The author argues that prospects for a strengthening of community cannot overlook the facts of contemporary life at the margins—connectivity without leisure, work without security, presence without sense of belonging. If community-building and identity-sharing move online to overcome these dilemmas, socio-technological systems should be revised so as to not hinder the prospects of a more open and plural public life