The Prospect of Multi-Level Voting in Post-Peace Accord Northern Ireland

This article reviews the possibility of multi-level voting in Northern Ireland in the wake of the 1998 peace accord. Post-peace accord elections can act as powerful indicators of the fate of a peace. Using Reif and Schmitt’s framework of second-order elections, it finds some evidence of varying electoral behaviour according to the electoral arena. The article also uses original data from a major opinion survey to assess public attitudes towards the suite of governing institutions with powers in or over a devolved Northern Ireland. The evidence of multi-level voting is limited and does not extend to electors abandoning ethnic voting patterns in the new political dispensation. In fact, it is argued that the very nature of the peace process has encouraged a re-entrenchment of exclusive nationalism and unionism

A material turn in International Relations: the 4x4, intervention and resistance

This article explores how analysis of material objects offers insights into international intervention and reactions to that intervention. Building on studies that examine the 4x4 as emblematic of intervention, the article argues that the 4x4 can also be seen as an object of resistance and agency. To do so, it uses the case study of 4x4 usage in Darfur and draws on primary data including interviews and a UN security incident database. The article is mindful of the limitations of a ‘material turn’ in the study of International Relations, especially in relation to how it might encourage us to overlook agency and structural power. While finding new materialism arguments largely convincing, the case study encourages a note of caution and proposes the notion of ‘materialism+’, which allows for the further investigation of the human/non-human interface, but is circumspect about tendencies towards neophilia, dematerialism, and posthumanism

Conflict disruption: Reassessing the peaceandconflict system

The notion of conflict disruption is proposed as an addition to the established conflict response framework of conflict management, resolution and transformation. Drawing on Schumpeter’s idea of creative disruption, the article considers how disruptive actions or stances may trigger or operate within conflict management, resolution, or transformation Moreover, conflict disruption prompts us to think of peace and conflict in systemic terms: peaceandconflict. Thus the article concludes by discussing the wider implications of conflict disruption for four aspects of peace and conflict: Time, Power, Scale and Connectedness

Everyday peace: how ordinary people can disrupt violent conflict

Many conflicts across Europe and the rest of the world appear impossible to resolve. Yet as Roger Mac Ginty explains, even in the most intractable of conflicts there remains room for individuals and small groups to establish spaces of tolerance and conciliation

The EU and Critical Crisis Transformation: The Evolution of a Policy Concept

While often caused by conflict, crises are treated by the EU as a phenomenon of their own. Contemporary EU crisis management represents a watering down of normative EU approaches to peacebuilding, reduced to a technical exercise with the limited ambition to contain spillover effects of crises. In theoretical terms this is a reversal, which tilts intervention towards EU security interests and avoids engagement with the root causes of the crises. This paper develops a novel crisis response typology derived from conflict theory, which ranges from crisis management to crisis resolution and (critical) crisis transformation. By drawing on EU interventions in Libya, Mali and Ukraine, the paper demonstrates that basic crisis management approaches are pre-eminent in practice. More promising innovations remain largely confined to the realms of discourse and policy documentation

Documentos Base I Congreso Nacional de Información para el Desarrollo.

Como aporte a la divulgación del congreso, se ofrecen los documentos base que dieron su origen a esta actividad académica. Se espera que este material y los conocimientos desarrollados puedan ser utilizados como motivación para eventos similares futuros. Así mismo los resultados de las cuatro mesas de trabajo se publicarán en el próximo número de la Revista

Calidad de vida relacionada con la salud en estudiantes universitarios de primer año

Objetive: To evaluate the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of first-year university students at the University of Chile in 2015 Material and Method: Observational, transversal, and analytical study of first year students, 17 to 18 years of age, attending 14 Faculties, 2 Institutes, and 1 Bachelor Program of the University of Chile. Delivery of Kidscreen-52 test by email to 3,738 students, of which 1,277 replied (34.16%). The Winsteps program model and Rasch punctuation were used. Results: The dimensions Physical Well-being, State of Mood and Emotions, and Autonomy scored less than 42 Rasch points, and the other two dimensions – Psychological Well-being and Friends and Social Support - had significantly lower scores than those found in Chilean adolescents of a comparable age, in women, in students of lower socio-economical levels in municipal public schools with a Scholar Vulnerability Index, or those with a disability, health problem, or chronic illness. The differences are greater in Faculties with heavier academic demands. Discussion: This first study gives new information in an area seldom studied, which is important for students, academics, and authorities. It is suspected that similar results would be found in other university settings. Conclusions: HRQoL studies are feasible to apply in institutions of higher education, to benefit both students and educators. This study contributes to the diagnosis and evaluation of public policies on student support, and for teaching strategies. In the near future, HRQoL instruments could be applied with other students and other members of the university community, in combination with studies on risk factors.Objetivo: Calidad de Vida Relacionada con la Salud (CVRS) en estudiantes universitarios de primer año. Material y Método: Estudio observacional, transversal y analítico en estudiantes de 17 a 18 años de primer año de 14 Facultades, 2 Institutos y 1 Programa de Bachillerato. Se aplicó el test Kidscreen-52, enviado por correo electrónico a 3.738 estudiantes. Contestaron 1.277 (34,16%). Análisis con programa WINSTEPS y expresión con puntajes Rasch. Resultados: Las dimensiones Bienestar Físico, Estado de Ánimo y Emociones y Autonomía con menos de 42 puntos Rasch, y otras dos, Bienestar Psicológico, Amigos y Apoyo Social tuvieron puntajes significativamente menores a lo encontrado en adolescentes chilenos de edad comparable, en mujeres, escolares de establecimientos municipales de bajo nivel socioeconómico, con Índice de Vulnerabilidad Escolar (IVE) o con discapacidad o problema de salud o enfermedad crónica. Las diferencias son mayores en Facultades con más demanda académica. Este primer estudio revela información no conocida, trascendente para estudiantes, académicos y sus autoridades. Se sospecha que posiblemente ocurre en otras universidades. Conclusiones: Los estudios de Calidad de Vida estudiantil son factibles de aplicar en instituciones de educación superior en beneficio de educandos y educadores. Este estudio es un insumo para diagnóstico y evaluación de las políticas salud y apoyo estudiantil y aporta a la orientación de la docencia. En el futuro podrían aplicarse instrumentos de medición de la Calidad de Vida en estudiantes de otras edades y en otros estamentos universitarios con test validados en Chile, combinado con estudios de Factores de Riesgo