Digital Creativity Support for Original Journalism

The decline in circulations and revenues resulting from the digitalization of news production and consumption has led to a crisis in journalism.Journalists have less time to research, investigate and write original stories, leading to problems for our democratic processes and holding the powerful to account. This paper reports the architecture, features and rationale for new digital creativity support designed to support journalists to discover more original angles onstories. It also summarises the evaluation of the tool’s use in 3 newsrooms

Working Towards a Globalized Minority: Regional German-Kurdish Cultural Organizations and Transnational Networks

German-Kurdish cultural organizations and the Kurdish Diaspora they represent offer an example of a new type of actor in defining globalization. This paper examines how such organizations act as the lynchpin in transnational networks and how such organizations give a voice to Berliner-Kurds. These relationships are explored at the national, regional, and organizational level, in order to paint a comprehensive perspective. It argues that despite experiencing discrimination, the convergence of a global diaspora and local actors has contributed to the reinvention of the German-Kurdish community as a globalized minority. Such a concept is important for understanding how migrant communities can have a dialog with the majority and be included in democratic processes

Understanding Authoritarianism, Fascism, Far-Right Politics, and Anti-Democratic Processes

In this portfolio, Paul Viafranco seeks to understand the rise of Authoritarianism, Fascism, Far-Right Politics, and Anti-Democratic Processes, by delving into Executive Order 9066, Marine Le Pen’s use of medievalism, Donald Trump’s discourse, and the various factors that contribute to the need for seeking asylum or refugee status

Introduction to the themed issue - Corporate power : agency, communication, influence and social policy

This paper introduces this themed issue of Critical Social Policy on the question of corporate power. Corporate power is recognized as an important agent in social policy making and delivery. However, to date there has been comparatively little attention to the crucial role that lobbying and corporate 'spin' play in helping to shape policy making contexts. This special issue of Critical Social Policy is concerned to bring such issues to the mainstream of social policy analysis. It is argued here that the rise of spin and public relations is a key feature of neoliberalism in the past two decades. These have worked to reshape policy making, resulting in pronounced changes in the content and process of policy making and it is argued that these have tended to marginalize or undermine democratic processes

Economic actors and the problem of externalities : could financial markets play a role in democratic backsliding?

Purpose: Economic actors tend to exert powerful impact on socio-economic and political developments around the globe, including yielding financial and political crises in developed democracies. Approach/Methodology/Design: While a number of studies discuss the impact of finance on political and societal reality, research on the interlink between finance and democratic processes is very limited. Drawing on secondary literature and a case study of two young Central-European democracies, this paper contends a relationship between financial economy and democratic backsliding. Findings: The findings challenge the existing conventional accounts of the reversal to authoritarian politics in Poland and Hungary. Practical Implications: They also identify a mismatch between the constitutional foundations for embedding the market within the society and its institutions on the one hand, and the political-institutional reality in contemporary democracies. Originality/Value: The research provides theoretical assumptions encouraging further study on unwelcome externalities produced by financial markets.peer-reviewe

The Army, UN Peacekeeping Mission and Democracy in Bangladesh.

This article examines the role of the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Bangladesh in pushing the army in a certain direction with regard to holding elections and supporting political parties. It analyses the reasons why the UN peacekeeping mission has such a strong influence on the Bangladesh army and assesses the implications for future political developments of such foreign involvement. It further argues that whatever the limitations and excesses of democracy, army rule is no solution, rather it is necessary to strengthen democractic institutions and let democratic processes play themselves out. In this sense, the recourse to the army to bring in democracy in Bangladesh was not the best solution to the political impasse witnessed in 2007.Bangladesh; UN Peacekeeping

Building Institutional Capacity for Development

{Excerpt} Every day, we are reminded of the changes needed for economic and social progress, but not that institutions are the channels through which such changes can happen. We would do well to consider what is meant by (and can be accomplished through) participation, how participation grows out of democratic processes, how these processes depend on the structure of institutions, and how institutions originate from (and are supported by) human resources. Only then will we understand better the processes of progress and picture more accurately the necessarily diverse levels of the organizational setups on which progress depends. The rights and responsibilities of people are central to progress. And participation is essential since privileged minorities seldom approve of reforms and concentration of political, economic, or social power in their hands has retarded development. Therefore, five questions must be asked. Who initiates? Who participates? Who decides? Who controls? And who benefits? If it is the people, then development activities will most likely succeed (bearing in mind that the chance to take part hinges in turn on access to information, freedom of association to hold discussions, and arrangement of regular meetings at which officials and representatives can listen and respond to communities and be held accountable for delivering particular outputs.

Towards Productive Disagreement: Deliberative, Democratic Processes in Community Engagement and Service-Learning

This article argues that recognizing and addressing disagreements and differences among students, instructors, and community members is essential for building more collaborative, reciprocal partnerships in service-learning and community engagement (SL-CE) courses. While current SL-CE pedagogies recognize that disagreements and differences arise in SL-CE partnerships, little attention has been paid to how SL-CE participants can address such issues productively. This article draws from theories of democratic deliberation to suggest that engaging students in more direct and purposeful deliberation with SL-CE partners can help students to develop key civic skills and to ensure that projects reflect more collaborative efforts for all participants. The article concludes with practical pedagogical strategies for how students, partners, and instructors can disagree productively and negotiate difference and expertise.

Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Populations: The Role of English Local Government

The role of local government has recently come under debate, in the context of state retrenchment, public sector cuts and the marketisation of welfare. Recent discussions have centred on local authorities as leaders, on enterprise and on democracy, but there has been little discussion of local authorities in relation to equalities issues and minority groups. This article examines the role of local government in relation to one minority grouping, Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual (LGB) people, drawing on empirical material gathered from 2007 to 2010 as part of a large Economic and Social Research Council research project. It describes the importance of equalities legislation and related implementation mechanisms in driving forward the LGB equalities agenda, explores aspects of welfare delivery to LGB people and addresses democratic processes. The article suggests that a collision of different forces is currently taking place: the legislation supports the protection of the LGB communities, but this support is undermined by the recession-related and ideologically driven public sector cuts. In addition, aggregate approaches to local democracy may override the interests of minority groups such as LGB people