The Dalit I Define: Social Media and Individualized Activism in Subaltern Spheres

This paper discusses an explorative study of emerging Dalit activism in online realms. It is the aim of this study to provide empirical content to debates that link the advance of social media to shifts in citizenship and the manifestation of democracy. It seeks to unravel the complexity and hybrid appearance of online activism in practice by focussing on underexplored subaltern spheres. After some contextualizing reflections concerning literature on Dalit media and online political participation, it assesses attempts of prominent Dalit bloggers to employ social media in their battle for justice, representation and socio-economic mobility. Contributing to current debates on collective (and connective) action and ‘new’ or personalized politics – especially since Web 2.0 – the article stresses the importance of embracing a broad conceptualization of online political practice and the need to explore such practice as part of contemporary projects of self. It is argued that, in order to explore the dynamics of personalized politics within marginalized communities, one needs to assess the way in which the intertwinement of these individual projects of self and the collective emancipatory project appear in online social networking strategies of digital activists. As such, the analysis adds to the understanding of every day activism at grassroots level in the age of the Internet. Available at: https://aisel.aisnet.org/pajais/vol7/iss4/3

Knowledge and perceptions in participatory policy processes: lessons from the delta-region in the Netherlands

Water resources management issues tend to affect a variety of uses and users. Therefore, they often exhibit complex and unstructured problems. The complex, unstructured nature of these problems originates from uncertain knowledge and from the existence of divergent perceptions among various actors. Consequently, dealing with these problems is not just a knowledge problem; it is a problem of ambiguity too. This paper focuses on a complex, unstructured water resources management issue, the sustainable development—for ecology, economy and society—of the Delta-region of the Netherlands. In several areas in this region the ecological quality decreased due to hydraulic constructions for storm water safety, the Delta Works. To improve the ecological quality, the Dutch government regards the re-establishment of estuarine dynamics in the area as the most important solution. However, re-establishment of estuarine dynamics will affect other uses and other users. Among the affected users are farmers in the surrounding areas, who use freshwater from a lake for agricultural purposes. This problem has been addressed in a participatory decision-making process, which is used as a case study in this paper. We investigate how the dynamics in actors’ perceptions and the knowledge base contribute to the development of agreed upon and valid knowledge about the problem–solution combination, using our conceptual framework for problem structuring. We found that different knowledge sources—expert and practical knowledge—should be integrated to create a context-specific knowledge base, which is scientifically valid and socially robust. Furthermore, we conclude that for the convergence of actors’ perceptions, it is essential that actors learn about the content of the process (cognitive learning) and about the network in which they are involved (strategic learning). Our findings form a plea for practitioners in water resources management to adopt a problem structuring approach in order to deal explicitly with uncertainty and ambiguity

Political Control of Arm’s-Length Agencies: One Standard Does Not Fit All

Contains fulltext : 191951pre.pdf (preprint version ) (Open Access) Contains fulltext : 191951.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access)1 maart 201716 p

Models of Anti-Discrimination Laws – Does Canada offer any lessons for the reform of Australia’s laws?

Looking around the world, there are various models that have been used in the design of antidiscrimination laws. In this paper I compare the model used by Canada, which has a reputation for being a leader in addressing inequality, and the model used in Australia which has come to be seen as an international laggard. Canada’s open model provides much discretion to the courts to identify what constitutes discrimination and legitimate justifications. With this scope for interpretation the courts are free to establish principles and, importantly, also to revise them over time as society changes. Australia, on the other hand, chose a more closed model, precisely defining a formula for direct discrimination and indirect discrimination, on specific grounds in specific areas, and with specific exceptions. In Australia there is growing evidence of our laws’ limitations and growing interest in legislative reform. In exploring legal reforms, I suggest that we need to consider changing not merely the legislative prescription but also the prescriptiveness of our model. Rewriting the definitions without taking a look at the bigger picture of what role our judges could and should play might help to solve a particular problem but leave us with a regulatory framework that is still ill-equipped to evolve over time. We need to re-examine both the legitimacy and capacity of our courts to take on a greater role in the protection of human rights, and specifically the promotion of substantive equality, in Australia.This conference has been generously sponsored by the School of Social and Political Sciences and the Sydney Law School, University of Sydney, in collaboration with the School of Law, University of Western Sydne

Car Use: A Matter of Dependency or Choice? The Case of Commuting in Noord-Brabant

Car use in the sprawled urban region of Noord-Brabant is above the Dutch average. Does this reflect car dependency due to the lack of competitive alternative modes? Or are there other factors at play, such as differences in preferences? This article aims to determine the nature of car use in the region and explore to what extent this reflects car dependency. The data, comprising 3,244 respondents was derived from two online questionnaires among employees from the High-Tech Campus (2018) and the TU/e-campus (2019) in Eindhoven. Travel times to work by car, public transport, cycling, and walking were calculated based on the respondents’ residential location. Indicators for car dependency were developed using thresholds for maximum commuting times by bicycle and maximum travel time ratios between public transport and car. Based on these thresholds, approximately 40% of the respondents were categorised as car-dependent. Of the non-car-dependent respondents, 31% use the car for commuting. A binomial logit model revealed that higher residential densities and closer proximity to a railway station reduce the odds of car commuting. Travel time ratios also have a significant influence on the expected directions. Mode choice preferences (e.g., comfort, flexibility, etc.) also have a significant, and strong, impact. These results highlight the importance of combining hard (e.g., improvements in infrastructure or public transport provision) and soft (information and persuasion) measures to reduce car use and car dependency in commuting trips