Search results for: political leaders
2753 Ideology-Induced Contexts in the Conceptualization of 'the Islamic State' in Political Cartoons
Authors: Rim Baroudi
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The notion of the context-induced metaphors refers to the role of different contextual aspects (socio-cultural, linguistic, bodily-physical, and ideological) in affecting metaphor production. This has not been investigated in visual discourse. This paper intends to extend the focus of this research interest to study context-induced metaphors in newspapers’ cartoons. It seeks to account for different contextual variables influencing the production of metaphors in cartoons placing special focus on the ideological variable. The aim is to demonstrate how different contextual aspects are conditioned by the ideological variable. The study applied critical metaphor approach to analyse contextual variables shaping the conceptualization of ‘the Islamic State’ in the cartoons of 3 newspapers (Al-Ryadh newspaper, Tehran Times, and The New York Times). Findings have revealed the decisive role of the ideological context in conditioning and priming the rest of contextual variables in the conceptualisation of ‘the Islamic State’ in political cartoons of the three newspapers. These findings bear special importance to the study of bodily-physical and socio-cultural variables inducing and shaping political cognition in political cartoons in a way consistent with the ideological framework within which newspapers operate.Keywords: context-induced metaphors, ideological context, the Islamic State, political cartoons
Procedia PDF Downloads 2962752 Greed and Grievance Revisisted: The Case of ISIL
Authors: Amjed Rasheed
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Rebellions are driven by several incentives. They do not often occur because of historical grievances or political exclusion. They can be driven by the desire to control over natural resources, or by both. In the case of the Islamic State (ISIL), greed and grievance are both drive this radical group to operate in Iraq and Syria. This article aims to show that grievance was the trigger to the emergence of ISIL. It also aims to demonstrate that ISIL is using oil as a tool, to implements its political ends, than a purpose per se. In other words, the emergence of ISIL is based on socio-political conditions, which are domestically driven, and oil is not ISIL’s aim but a source of revenue to finance its activities. This paper applies conflict analysis methodology to analyse the conflict in Iraq and Syria, with a specific highlight to ISIL. By doing so, it gives ahistorical background on emergence of ISIL. It also provides an insightful explanation on the main dynamics and the tactics this organisation applies. It also delivers a sufficient explanation on how it recruits its members, both local and international. It concludes that tackling ISIL needs a more sophisticated approach than the one Obama administration has adopted. It is more a political issue to be tackled by political means, than a military one to be tackled by military means. The current war is an Intra-Sunni war, and therefore, Sunni states have to be on board to crackdown ISIL. Besides, the article finishes with the argument that democratisation is not necessarily the key answer to bring stability to the region, but a sort of governance that provides security and material needs to individuals.Keywords: ISIL, Iraq, domestic politics, Islamic radicalisation
Procedia PDF Downloads 3622751 Advanced Analytical Competency Is Necessary for Strategic Leadership to Achieve High-Quality Decision-Making
Authors: Amal Mohammed Alqahatni
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This paper is a non-empirical analysis of existing literature on digital leadership competency, data-driven organizations, and dealing with AI technology (big data). This paper will provide insights into the importance of developing the leader’s analytical skills and style to be more effective for high-quality decision-making in a data-driven organization and achieve creativity during the organization's transformation to be digitalized. Despite the enormous potential that big data has, there are not enough experts in the field. Many organizations faced an issue with leadership style, which was considered an obstacle to organizational improvement. It investigates the obstacles to leadership style in this context and the challenges leaders face in coaching and development. The leader's lack of analytical skill with AI technology, such as big data tools, was noticed, as was the lack of understanding of the value of that data, resulting in poor communication with others, especially in meetings when the decision should be made. By acknowledging the different dynamics of work competency and organizational structure and culture, organizations can make the necessary adjustments to best support their leaders. This paper reviews prior research studies and applies what is known to assist with current obstacles. This paper addresses how analytical leadership will assist in overcoming challenges in a data-driven organization's work environment.Keywords: digital leadership, big data, leadership style, digital leadership challenge
Procedia PDF Downloads 692750 Developing a Knowledge-Based Lean Six Sigma Model to Improve Healthcare Leadership Performance
Authors: Yousuf N. Al Khamisi, Eduardo M. Hernandez, Khurshid M. Khan
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Purpose: This paper presents a model of a Knowledge-Based (KB) using Lean Six Sigma (L6σ) principles to enhance the performance of healthcare leadership. Design/methodology/approach: Using L6σ principles to enhance healthcare leaders’ performance needs a pre-assessment of the healthcare organisation’s capabilities. The model will be developed using a rule-based approach of KB system. Thus, KB system embeds Gauging Absence of Pre-requisite (GAP) for benchmarking and Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) for prioritization. A comprehensive literature review will be covered for the main contents of the model with a typical output of GAP analysis and AHP. Findings: The proposed KB system benchmarks the current position of healthcare leadership with the ideal benchmark one (resulting from extensive evaluation by the KB/GAP/AHP system of international leadership concepts in healthcare environments). Research limitations/implications: Future work includes validating the implementation model in healthcare environments around the world. Originality/value: This paper presents a novel application of a hybrid KB combines of GAP and AHP methodology. It implements L6σ principles to enhance healthcare performance. This approach assists healthcare leaders’ decision making to reach performance improvement against a best practice benchmark.Keywords: Lean Six Sigma (L6σ), Knowledge-Based System (KBS), healthcare leadership, Gauge Absence Prerequisites (GAP), Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP)
Procedia PDF Downloads 1662749 Communicating with Spirits: Bridging the Nether World of Spirits and the Real World in Healing Performances
Authors: S. Ishak, M. G. Nasuruddin
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Traditional Malay performances are carried out for both entertainment and curing purposes. In curing rituals, the men and women serving as shamans, communicates with the spirits and beings from the nether world to facilitate the curing process. The dependency on engaging with these other-worldly beings however, have raised religious issues of being syirik, namely practicing in rituals which are religiously forbidden. This study aims to observe how ritual leaders attempt to negotiate the fine balance between what has been religiously forbidden and the psychological and sociological needs of the patient. Two curing rituals, the main peteri and the malibobou were chosen to exemplify the communication between the physical and spiritual realities. In both rituals, the healers engaged in procedures of curing as they attempted to diagnose sicknesses and proffer cures with the help of the spirits. The main peteri was conducted by a male shaman, the tuk teri whereas the malibobou was conducted by a female ritual specialist, the bobohizan. Main peteri and the malibobou both ended with ritually thanking and sending off the spirits back to their nether, invisible domains. These curing rituals heal not only the sick individual, but by extension, the village community. Therefore, there is a need to reconcile these rituals with religious tenets, beliefs and sociological-political-cultural dimensions.Keywords: traditional healing, trance, spirits, main peteri, bobohizan
Procedia PDF Downloads 3592748 Introducing Standardized Nursing Language in Reporting Nursing Care in Resource-Limited Care Environments: An Exploratory Study
Authors: Naomi Mutea, Jossete Jones
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The project aimed at exploring the views and perceptions of nurse leaders and educators regarding use of International Classification for Nursing Practice (ICNP) in an informal approach which involved face to face discussions, after which a decision would be made on whether to proceed and propose introduction of ICNP project in Kenya as a pilot project which would mean all nurses would use a standard approach to reporting and documenting nursing care. In addition the project was to determine the best approaches/methods that can be used to introduce ICNP in the Kenyan nursing education and practice environment using the findings of the pilot project. Further four cardex reports were reviewed to establish if nurses on the bedside used a standardized language in documenting and reporting care processes. The cardex reports showed that nurses do not use ICNP or any other standardized language. The results of the discussions revealed that this would be a challenge due to several challenges experienced in conducting nursing research in resource-limited environments. The following questions were asked during the informal discussions with the educators/leaders: •What is currently being taught in terms of standardized nursing language? •Are you familiar with ICNP? •Do you view it advantageous to have a standardized language? •What is the greatest need at the moment in terms of curriculum development for BSN regarding use of standardized nursing language? •If you had a wish to change something in your curriculum, what would that be?Keywords: nursing, standardized language, ICNP, resource-limited care environments
Procedia PDF Downloads 4172747 Unravelling the Interplay: Chinese Government Tweets, Anti-US Propaganda Cartoons and Social Media Dynamics in US-China Relations
Authors: Mitchell Gallagher
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This investigation explores the relationship between Chinese government ministers' tweets and publicized anti-US propaganda political cartoons by Chinese state media. Defining "anti-US" tweets as expressions with negative impressions about the United States, its policies, or cultural values, the study considers their context-dependent nature. Analyzing social media's growing role, this research probes the Chinese government's attitudes toward the United States. While China traditionally adhered to a non-interference stance, instances of verbal and visual retorts occurred, driven by efforts to enhance soft power and counter unfavorable portrayals. To navigate global challenges, China embraced proactive image construction, utilizing political cartoons as a messaging tool. As Sino-American political relations continue deteriorating, it has become increasingly commonplace for Chinese officials to circulate anti-US messages and negative impressions of the United States via tweets. The present study is committed to inspecting the nature and frequency of political cartoons casting the United States in an unfavorable light, with the aim of gaining a comprehensive understanding the degree to which the Chinese government and state-affiliated media are aligned in their corresponding messaging.Keywords: China, political cartoons, propaganda, twitter, social media
Procedia PDF Downloads 722746 An Exploratory Study into the Suggestive Impact of Alaa Al-Aswany's Political Essays
Authors: Valerii Dudin
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With the continuous increase in quantity and importance of the information surrounding our daily lives, it has become crucial to understand what makes information stand out and affect our point of view, regardless of the accuracy of the facts involved. Alaa Al-Aswany’s numerous works have been an inspiration for millions of his readers in Egypt and all across the Arab World. While highly factual, the author’s political essays are both lexically and stylistically rich; they also implement descriptive allusions and proverbs to support the presented opinions. We have undertaken an effort to explore the impact on the individual perception through these political works of the author. In this study, we have overviewed previously made research on similar subjects and through contextual, intertextual, linguistic and corpus analyses we have come to realize the presence of suggestive themes in these works, capable of shaping the reader’s perception regarding a certain topic, specifically targeting the reader’s emotional bias. The findings presented in the study will reveal an overview of such examples of suggestive elements used in the author’s works, as well as various new insights on what can be considered suggestive in the context of modern Arabic printed press.Keywords: Alaa al-Aswany, cognitive linguistics, political essays, suggestion
Procedia PDF Downloads 1572745 Examining the Effects of College Education on Democratic Attitudes in China: A Regression Discontinuity Analysis
Authors: Gang Wang
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Education is widely believed to be a prerequisite for democracy and civil society, but the causal link between education and outcome variables is usually hardly to be identified. This study applies a fuzzy regression discontinuity design to examine the effects of college education on democratic attitudes in the Chinese context. In the analysis treatment assignment is determined by students’ college entry years and thus naturally selected by subjects’ ages. Using a sample of Chinese college students collected in Beijing in 2009, this study finds that college education actually reduces undergraduates’ motivation for political development in China but promotes political loyalty to the authoritarian government. Further hypotheses tests explain these interesting findings from two perspectives. The first is related to the complexity of politics. As college students progress over time, they increasingly realize the complexity of political reform in China’s authoritarian regime and rather stay away from politics. The second is related to students’ career opportunities. As students are close to graduation, they are immersed with job hunting and have a reduced interest in political freedom.Keywords: china, college education, democratic attitudes, regression discontinuity
Procedia PDF Downloads 3512744 The Use of Political Savviness in Dealing with Workplace Ostracism: A Social Information Processing Perspective
Authors: Amy Y. Wang, Eko L. Yi
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Can vicarious experiences of workplace ostracism affect employees’ willingness to voice? Given the increasingly interdependent nature of the modern workplace in which employees rely on social interactions to fulfill organizational goals, workplace ostracism –the extent to which an individual perceives that he or she is ignored or excluded by others in the workplace– has garnered significant interest from scholars and practitioners alike. Extending beyond conventional studies that largely focus on the perspectives and outcomes of ostracized targets, we address the indirect effects of workplace ostracism on third-party employees embedded in the same social context. Using a social information processing approach, we propose that the ostracism of coworkers acts as political information that influences third-party employees in their decisions to engage in risky and discretionary behaviors such as employee voice. To make sense of and to navigate through experiences of workplace ostracism, we posit that both political understanding and political skill allow third party employees to minimize the risks and uncertainty of voicing. This conceptual model was tested by a study involving 154 supervisor-subordinate dyads of a publicly listed bio-technology firm located in Mainland China. Each supervisor and their direct subordinates composed of a work team; each team had a minimum of two subordinates and a maximum of four subordinates. Human resources used the master list to distribute the ID coded questionnaires to the matching names. All studied constructs were measured using existing scales proved effective in previous literature. Hypotheses were tested using Confirmatory Factor Analysis and Hierarchal Multiple Regression. All three hypotheses were supported which showed that employees were less likely to engage in voice behaviors when their coworkers reported having experienced ostracism in the workplace. Results also showed a significant three-way interaction between political understanding and political skill on the relationship between coworkers’ ostracism and employee voice, indicating that political savviness is a valuable resource in mitigating ostracism’s negative and indirect effects. Our results illustrated that an employee’s coworkers being ostracized indeed adversely impacted his or her own voice behavior. However, not all individuals reacted passively to the social context; rather, we found that politically savvy individuals – possessing both political understanding and political skill – and their voice behaviors were less impacted by ostracism in their work environment. At the same time, we found that having only political understanding or only political skill was significantly less effective in mitigating ostracism’s negative effects, suggesting a necessary duality of political knowledge and political skill in combatting ostracism. Organizational implications, recommendations, and future research ideas are also discussed.Keywords: employee voice, organizational politics, social information processing, workplace ostracism
Procedia PDF Downloads 1402743 Doris Salcedo: Parameters of Political Commitment in Colombia
Authors: Diana Isabel Torres Silva
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Doris Salcedo is the most prominent sculptor from Colombia ever and currently, one of the most prestigious Latin-American artists in the world. Her artwork, intended as political art, has war as a background, in particular the Colombian civil conflict, and it addresses the way that its violence affects victims’ lives irreparably. While Salcedo is internationally recognized as a talented and a politically committed artist, some Colombian critics consider her artwork as the propagandist and influenced by the interest of multinational companies and the organizations that fund it. This paper, as part of a more extended research project, attempts to demonstrate that Doris Salcedo’s artwork makes visible the victims suffering and mourning and compels the viewers’ sympathy, although its approach is superficial. It does not achieve a complete or complex understanding of the social and historical causes underneath the war and maybe because of that has become a successful commodity for the international arts market. The paper considers, firstly, the influence that Colombian Nuevo Teatro, from the sixties, had on Salcedo’s early political perspective and, secondly, analyzes in detail the first series of her artwork (1992-1998) and how those works address grieving. The focus point of this analysis will be the domestic furniture sculptures, which are the main symbolic element of Salcedo’s oeuvre.Keywords: Arts and politics, Doris Salcedo, Colombian art, Political Art
Procedia PDF Downloads 3502742 A Model to Assist Military Mission Planners in Identifying and Assessing Variables Impacting Food Security
Authors: Lynndee Kemmet
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The U.S. military plays an increasing role in supporting political stability efforts, and this includes efforts to prevent the food insecurity that can trigger political and social instability. This paper presents a model that assists military commanders in identifying variables that impact food production and distribution in their areas of operation (AO), in identifying connections between variables and in assessing the impacts of those variables on food production and distribution. Through use of the model, military units can better target their data collection efforts and can categorize and analyze data within the data categorization framework most widely-used by military forces—PMESII-PT (Political, Military, Economic, Infrastructure, Information, Physical Environment and Time). The model provides flexibility of analysis in that commanders can target analysis to be highly focused on a specific PMESII-PT domain or variable or conduct analysis across multiple PMESII-PT domains. The model is also designed to assist commanders in mapping food systems in their AOs and then identifying components of those systems that must be strengthened or protected.Keywords: food security, food system model, political stability, US Military
Procedia PDF Downloads 1952741 The Evaluation of Transformational Leadership Characteristics and Behaviors in Air Forces
Authors: Cuma Şimşek
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Nowadays our globalized world is in a very rapid and sophisticated change. In the information age, notion of ‘information’ has begun to spread faster than ever also in this age, changes and transformation has gained tremendous momentum with technology boom. This continuous change and transformation, increased the competition between existing organizations and corporations. Besides, the organizations which show resistance to change has been put out of action in this competitive environment. It is not possible to sustain the existence of organizations without adapting to change and transformation by isolating itself from developments. As a consequence of improved communication and dialog possibilities by means of increasing knowledge level, there has been made a change of scene in administrative mentality, style and activation, especially in 21th century. Leaders emerge as the most important factor in this process of perception and success. At the same time it is not enough to adapt the alteration with conventional leadership abilities and behaviors. In parallel with alteration, new types of leadership are coming up. The optimal leadership type for our era and a trending topic "Transformational Leadership" is in great demand now. In this research, current situation of the Air Forces which use high-technology weapons efficiently, operates in an environment full of threats and is analyzed. It is evaluated that in order to be ready for war continuously and adjusting itself to changing terms of warfare atmosphere , Air Forces need ‘transformational leaders’ who are innovative, foreseeing and having a vision so that they can develop new methods and strategies for complex problems. Because it is the Air Force which is responsible for being the deterrent force of its country.Keywords: transformational, change, air force, leadership
Procedia PDF Downloads 4422740 The Emergence of the Knowledge-Based Urban Development: An Evaluation of Sydney, New York and London's Race to the Top
Authors: Richard W. Jelier
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This research examines the emergence of the knowledge-based economies in three world cities in a comparative context. The Australian, American and British approaches to (KBE) are analyzed through the study of three premier world cities of Sydney, New York and London. Long considered leaders in the KBE, London and New York’s pre-imminence in this race to the top is not surprising. Sydney, Australia however has seen a remarkable transformation from an old economy to an emerging success in the new economy. After an examination of national KBE indicators (GDP comparisons and Knowledge Economy indexes) the research turns to a detailed investigation of specific strategies advanced in greater Sydney, New York City and London to advance the creative sector and compete for a spot among the world leaders in the knowledge age. These intense efforts at restructuring national and local economies have led to increasingly intense competition between cities and nations and there are clear winners and losers. Overall the conclusion of this research suggests that as Australia is rising, America is struggling to keep its position as a global world leader in the new economy. London’s urban primacy has helped elevate it role in the UK new economy and recent transformations have led London to compete successfully with New York City for the top position as the premier global city.Keywords: knowledge-based economy, knowledge economy indexes, sustainable transformation, creative economies, New York, London and Sydney
Procedia PDF Downloads 2432739 Impact of Organizational Culture and Strategic Leadership on Organizational Resilience
Authors: Anyia Nduka, Aslan Bin Amad Senin
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Organizational culture, strategic leadership and organizational resilience have gained significant attention in recent years. This study aims to examine the relationship between these factors and their combined influence on an organization's ability to adapt and thrive in the face of challenges and disruptions. A mixed-methods approach, combining quantitative survey data and qualitative interviews with leaders and employees from cohort organizations within the industry. The quantitative phase involves measuring organizational culture, strategic leadership behaviours, and organizational resilience using standardized scales. This study highlighted the significance of organizational culture and strategic leadership in building and sustaining organizational resilience. Preliminary findings suggest a strong positive relationship between a resilient organizational culture and strategic leadership practices. Secondly, Organizations can enhance their capacity to respond to disruptions, exploit opportunities, and achieve long-term success in a rapidly changing business environment. Furthermore, the qualitative analysis reveals several key themes that elucidate the link between organizational culture, strategic leadership, and resilience. This study contributes to the growing body of knowledge on organizational resilience and strategic leadership, providing insights and practical implications for leaders and practitioners seeking to strengthen their organizations' resilience capabilities. Further research is needed to explore the specific mechanisms and contextual factors that influence the relationship between these variables in different organizational contexts and industries.Keywords: organizational culture, strategic leadership, organizational resilience, leadership
Procedia PDF Downloads 642738 Formal Institutions and Women's Electoral Participation in Four European Countries
Authors: Sophia Francesca D. Lu
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This research tried to produce evidence that formal institutions, such as electoral and internal party quotas, can advance women’s active roles in the public sphere using the cases of four European countries: Belgium, Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands. The quantitative dataset was provided by the University of Chicago and the Inter-University Consortium of Political and Social Research based on a two-year study (2008-2010) of political parties. Belgium engages in constitutionally mandated electoral quotas. Germany, Italy and the Netherlands, on the other hand, have internal party quotas, which are voluntarily adopted by political parties. In analyzing each country’s chi-square and Pearson’s r correlation, Belgium, having an electoral quota, is the only country that was analyzed for electoral quotas. Germany, Italy and the Netherlands’ internal voluntary party quotas were correlated with women’s descriptive representations. Using chi-square analysis, this study showed that the presence of electoral quotas is correlated with an increase in the percentage of women in decision-making bodies as well as with an increase in the percentage of women in decision-making bodies. Likewise, using correlational analysis, a higher number of political parties employing internal party voluntary quotas is correlated with an increase in the percentage of women occupying seats in parliament as well as an increase in the percentage of women nominees in electoral lists of political parties. In conclusion, gender quotas, such as electoral quotas or internal party quotas, are an effective policy tool for greater women’s representation in political bodies. Political parties and governments should opt to have gender quotas, whether electoral or internal party quotas, to address the underrepresentation of women in parliament, decision-making bodies, and policy-formulation.Keywords: electoral quota, Europe, formal institutions, institutional feminism, internal party quota, women’s electoral participation
Procedia PDF Downloads 4292737 Outlawing Gender: A Comparative Study of Anti-Gender Studies Legislation in the U.S. and Global Contexts
Authors: Tracey Jean Boisseau
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Recently, the rise of concerted right-wing and authoritarian movements has put feminists as well as women, queer, trans, and non-binary folk, immigrants, refugees, the global poor, and people of color in their crosshairs. The U.S. is seeing unprecedented attacks on liberal democratic institutions, escalating “culture wars,” and increased anti-intellectual vitriol specifically targeting feminist and anti-racist educators and scholars. Such vitriol has fueled new legislation curtailing or outright banning of “gender studies” for its ideological commitment to theorizing gender identity as a cultural construct and an inherently political project rather than a “natural” binary that can not be contested or interrogated. At the same time, across the globe—in Afghanistan, Argentina, Brazil, France, Haiti, Hungary, Kenya, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines, Poland, Russia, South Korea, Sweden, Turkey, Uganda, the United Kingdom, and elsewhere—emergent anti-feminist, nativist, and white-supremacist political parties, as well as established autocratic and authoritarian regimes, have instituted blatantly misogynistic, anti-queer, and anti-trans legislation, often accompanied by governmental and extra-governmental policies explicitly intended to marginalize, erase, suppress, or extinguish gender studies as a legitimate academic discipline, topic of research, and teaching field. This paper considers the origins and effects of such legislation -as well as the strategies exhibited by practitioners of gender studies to counter these effects and resist erasure- from a cross-cultural perspective. The research underpinning this paper’s conclusions includes a survey of nearly 2000 gender studies programs in the U.S. and interviews with dozens of gender studies scholars and administrative leaders of gender-studies programs located worldwide. The goal of this paper is to illuminate distinctions, continuities, and global connections between anti-gender studies legislation that emanates from within national borders but arises from rightwing movements that supercede those borders, and that, ultimately, require globalist responses.Keywords: anti-feminist, anti-LGBTQ, legislation, criminalization, authoritarianism, globalization
Procedia PDF Downloads 782736 Turbulent Election History: An Appraisal of Triggering Issues in Nigeria
Authors: Olajumoke Tolulope Esan, Odunayo Stephen Faluse
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Nigeria’s electoral politics from independence has been tumultuous. Violence has continued to damage the conduct of almost all general elections in Nigeria, Thereby making free and fair elections an event that seems to be unachievable in the history of the nation’s politics. Apparently, electoral violence has subjected the Nation into stereotyped electoral procedures that are always dictated through powerful political Godfathers. However, the shameful act of riotous and tumultuous election processes has led to a political, national instability festering irregularities that manifest at different stages of the election, thus subjecting almost all elections carried out in Nigeria below the minimum democracy standard. Hence the fact that an average Nigerian is being deprived of his or her individual electoral rights should be enough to attract Global political interventions from the western world as Nigeria is part of the commonwealth countries and every Nigerians have the right to demand for posterity to be ensured by protecting individual rightful votes. Basically for elections to be termed democratic, it must be free and fair. In view of this, A deep understanding of this paper is a reflection on the tides of electoral violence and the alarming precipitating factors that make free and fair election almost unreachable in Nigeria.Keywords: democracy, election, electoral violence, political violence
Procedia PDF Downloads 4242735 Effects of Political, Economic and Educational Considerations on Medium of Instruction (MOI) Policy in Asia: A Hong Kong Example
Authors: Edward Y. W. Chu
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This paper exemplifies how the political and educational considerations have shaped the heavy-handed MOI policy in Hong Kong after its handover to China in 1997. Its result, a significant degeneration of English standard among the non-elite students, will be reported based on a detailed analysis of the public exam statistics available and other empirical studies. The remedial action taken by the Education Bureau out of the economic and educational considerations will be reported with reference to the official documents. The political, economic and educational considerations exemplified in different stages of Mother-tongue MOI policy in Hong Kong are found to be influential in the MOI policy in other Asian countries as well. For example, out of rapid internationalization and marketization, there has been increasing adoption of English as the MOI in post-secondary institutions in China, Japan & South Korea. On the other hand, while colonial languages were firmly made as the MOI in former colonies such as Vietnam and India, they were greatly retrieved upon independence for political and educational reasons. Malaysia also followed the same pattern upon independence but re-introduced partial English MOI policy in late 90s hoping to capitalize favourable globalization benefits. The short-lived policy was abandoned in 2009 because of the perceived political threat of national identity as well as the lack of educational effectiveness. Based on the great majority of Asian countries studied, this paper argues that MOI policy in Asia is much more than an educational issue, and that there is a clear pattern of how decisions of MOI matters are made. Studying the history and development of MOI in Hong Kong and other Asian countries provides a unique angle to view of how Asian countries prepare for the political, economic and educational challenges nowadays.Keywords: economics, Hong Kong, medium of instruction, politics
Procedia PDF Downloads 4982734 Prime Ministers of Malaysia Musicals: Political Performances Trend in Istana Budaya (2007-2012)
Authors: Abdul Walid Ali
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The trend of publishing political musicals in Istana Budaya has been popular since 2007 when Malaysia celebrated its 50th anniversary of independence. Istana Budaya has at least one musical of any politician since then. Normally, the politicians are former Prime Ministers and renowned ministers prior to Malaysia's independence in 1957. The first performance in Istana Budaya which represented a politician as a theme was Muzikal Cheng Lock (2007) followed by Muzikal Tun Abdul Razak (2009), Muzikal Tun Mahathir (2010), and Muzikal Tun Mahathir 2 (2011). In 2012, Lawak Ke Der has changed the trend with comic performance and put an end to politician musical. Tun Siti Hasmah the Musical (2012) is not listed in the research because she did not hold any position as a minister. This qualitative research focuses on musicals of political figures as a theme. Some factors of making this type of performance are analyzed based on Istana Budaya’s decisions during that time in Malaysia between 2007 and 2011. This research aims to document these musical themed performances in Istana Budaya for further research in the future. Political performances are listed and analyzed from 2007 to 2012 based on reports and previous research. The declination of audiences in 2012 and a new theme in theatre performances in Istana Budaya are important factors for the downfall of the political theatres' theme.Keywords: musical, politician, Istana Budaya, theatre
Procedia PDF Downloads 1912733 Reflections on Lyotard's Reading of the Kantian Sublime and Its Political Import
Authors: Tugba Ayas Onol
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The paper revisits Jean-François Lyotard’s interpretation of the Kantian Sublime as a tool for understanding politics after modernity. In 1985 Lyotard announces the end of rational politics based on consensus and claims that new strategies are urged to recognize the political imperatives of marginalized groups. The charm of the sublime as a reflective judgment is grounded on the fact that the judgment of sublime is free from any notion of consensus or common sense in particular. Lyotard interprets this feature of the sublime as a respect for heterogeneity and for him aesthetic judgments can be a model for understanding justice in postmodern times, in which it seems hard to follow a single universal law among different phrase regimes. More importantly, the Kantian sublime speaks to what Lyotard addresses as the incommensurability of phase genres. The present paper shall try to evaluate Lyotard’s employment of the Kantian notion of the sublime in relation to its possible political import.Keywords: Kant, Lyotard, sublime, politics
Procedia PDF Downloads 3822732 Impact of Cultural Intelligence on Decision Making Styles of Managers: A Turkish Case
Authors: Fusun Akdag
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Today, as business becomes increasingly global, managers/leaders of multinational companies or local companies work with employees or customers from a variety of cultural backgrounds. To do this effectively, they need to develop cultural competence. Therefore, cultural intelligence (CQ) becomes a vitally important aptitude and skill, especially for leaders. The organizational success or failure depends upon the way, the kind of leadership which has been provided to its members. The culture we are born into deeply effects our values, beliefs, and behavior. Cultural intelligence (CQ) focuses on how well individuals can relate and work across cultures. CQ helps minimize conflict and maximize performance of a diverse workforce. The term 'decision,' refers to a commitment to a course of action that is intended to serve the interests and values of particular people. One dimension of culture that has received attention is individualism-collectivism or, independence-interdependence. These dimensions are associated with different conceptualizations of the 'self.' Individualistic cultures tend to value personal goal pursuit as opposed to pursuit of others’ goals. Collectivistic cultures, by contrast, view the 'self' as part of a whole. Each person is expected to work with his or her in-group toward goals, generally pursue group harmony. These differences underlie cross-cultural variation in decision-making, such as the decision modes people use, their preferences, negotiation styles, creativity, and more. The aim of this study is determining the effect of CQ on decision making styles of male and female managers in Turkey, an emergent economy framework. The survey is distributed to gather data from managers at various companies. The questionnaire consists of three parts: demographics, The Cultural Intelligence Scale (CQS) to measure the four dimensions of cultural intelligence and General Decision Making Style (GMDS) Inventory to measure the five subscales of decision making. The results will indicate the Turkish managers’ score at metacognitive, cognitive, motivational and behavioral aspects of cultural intelligence and to what extent these scores affect their rational, avoidant, dependent, intuitive and spontaneous decision making styles since business leaders make dozens of decisions every day that influence the success of the company and also having an impact on employees, customers, shareholders and the market.Keywords: cultural intelligence, decision making, gender differences, management styles,
Procedia PDF Downloads 3702731 Political Transition in Nepal: Challenges and Limitations to Post-Conflict Peace-Building
Authors: Sourina Bej
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Since the process of decolonization in 1940, several countries in South Asia have witnessed intra-state conflicts owing to ineffective political governance. The conflicts have remained protracted as the countries have failed to make a holistic transition to a democratic state. Nepal is one such South Asian country facing a turmultous journey from monarchy to republicanism. The paper aims to focus on the democratic transition in the context of Nepal’s political, legal and economic institutions. The presence of autocratic feudalistic and centralised state structure with entrenched socio-economic inequalities has resulted in mass uprising only to see the country slip back to the old order. Even a violent civil war led by the Maoists could not overhaul the political relations or stabilize the democratic space. The paper aims to analyse the multiple political, institutional and operational challenges in the implementation of the peace agreement with the Maoist. Looking at the historical background, the paper will examine the problematic nation-building that lies at the heart of fragile peace process in Nepal. Regional dynamics have played a big role in convoluting the peace-building. The new constitution aimed at conflict resolution brought to the open, deep seated hatred among different ethnic groups in Nepal. Apart from studying the challenges to the peace process and the role of external players like India and China in the political reconstruction, the paper will debate on a viable federal solution to the ethnic conflict in Nepal. If the current government fails to pass a constitution accepted by most ethnic groups, Nepal will remain on the brink of new conflict outbreaks.Keywords: democratisation, ethnic conflict, Nepal, peace process
Procedia PDF Downloads 2772730 Structuring Paraphrases: The Impact Sentence Complexity Has on Key Leader Engagements
Authors: Meaghan Bowman
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Soldiers are taught about the importance of effective communication with repetition of the phrase, “Communication is key.” They receive training in preparing for, and carrying out, interactions between foreign and domestic leaders to gain crucial information about a mission. These interactions are known as Key Leader Engagements (KLEs). For the training of KLEs, doctrine mandates the skills needed to conduct these “engagements” such as how to: behave appropriately, identify key leaders, and employ effective strategies. Army officers in training learn how to confront leaders, what information to gain, and how to ask questions respectfully. Unfortunately, soldiers rarely learn how to formulate questions optimally. Since less complex questions are easier to understand, we hypothesize that semantic complexity affects content understanding, and that age and education levels may have an effect on one’s ability to form paraphrases and judge their quality. In this study, we looked at paraphrases of queries as well as judgments of both the paraphrases’ naturalness and their semantic similarity to the query. Queries were divided into three complexity categories based on the number of relations (the first number) and the number of knowledge graph edges (the second number). Two crowd-sourced tasks were completed by Amazon volunteer participants, also known as turkers, to answer the research questions: (i) Are more complex queries harder to paraphrase and judge and (ii) Do age and education level affect the ability to understand complex queries. We ran statistical tests as follows: MANOVA for query understanding and two-way ANOVA to understand the relationship between query complexity and education and age. A probe of the number of given-level queries selected for paraphrasing by crowd-sourced workers in seven age ranges yielded promising results. We found significant evidence that age plays a role and marginally significant evidence that education level plays a role. These preliminary tests, with output p-values of 0.0002 and 0.068, respectively, suggest the importance of content understanding in a communication skill set. This basic ability to communicate, which may differ by age and education, permits reproduction and quality assessment and is crucial in training soldiers for effective participation in KLEs.Keywords: engagement, key leader, paraphrasing, query complexity, understanding
Procedia PDF Downloads 1612729 The Influence of Housing Choice Vouchers on the Private Rental Market
Authors: Randy D. Colon
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Through a freedom of information request, data pertaining to Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) households has been obtained from the Chicago Housing Authority, including rent price and number of bedrooms per HCV household, community area, and zip code from 2013 to the first quarter of 2018. Similar data pertaining to the private rental market will be obtained through public records found through the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development. The datasets will be analyzed through statistical and mapping software to investigate the potential link between HCV households and distorted rent prices. Quantitative data will be supplemented by qualitative data to investigate the lived experience of Chicago residents. Qualitative data will be collected at community meetings in the Chicago Englewood neighborhood through participation in neighborhood meetings and informal interviews with residents and community leaders. The qualitative data will be used to gain insight on the lived experience of community leaders and residents of the Englewood neighborhood in relation to housing, the rental market, and HCV. While there is an abundance of quantitative data on this subject, this qualitative data is necessary to capture the lived experience of local residents effected by a changing rental market. This topic reflects concerns voiced by members of the Englewood community, and this study aims to keep the community relevant in its findings.Keywords: Chicago, housing, housing choice voucher program, housing subsidies, rental market
Procedia PDF Downloads 1182728 State Capacity and the Adoption of Restrictive Asylum Policies in Developing Countries
Authors: Duncan K. Espenshade
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Scholars have established expectations regarding how the political and economic interests of a country's people and elites can influence its migration policies. Most of the scholarship exploring the adoption of migration policies focuses on the developed world, focusing on the cultural, political, and economic influences that drive restrictive policies in developed countries. However, despite the scholarly focus on migration policies in developed countries, most internationally displaced people reside in developing countries. Furthermore, while the political and economic factors that influence migration policy in developed countries are likely at play in developing states, developing states also face unique hurdles to policy formation not present in developed states. Namely, this article explores how state capacity, or in this context, a state's de facto ability to restrict or absorb migration inflows, influences the adoption of migration policies in developing countries. Using Cox-Proportional hazard models and recently introduced data on asylum policies in developing countries, this research finds that having a greater ability to restrict migration flows is associated with a reduced likelihood of adopting liberal asylum policies. Future extensions of this project will explore the adoption of asylum policies as a two-stage process, in which the available decision set of political actors is first constrained by a state's restrictive and absorptive capacity in the first stage, with the political, economic, and cultural factors influencing the policy adopted in the second stage.Keywords: state capacity, international relations, foreign policy, migration
Procedia PDF Downloads 1062727 Transmedia and Platformized Political Discourse in a Growing Democracy: A Study of Nigeria’s 2023 General Elections
Authors: Tunde Ope-Davies
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Transmediality and platformization as online content-sharing protocols have continued to accentuate the growing impact of the unprecedented digital revolution across the world. The rapid transformation across all sectors as a result of this revolution has continued to spotlight the increasing importance of new media technologies in redefining and reshaping the rhythm and dynamics of our private and public discursive practices. Equally, social and political activities are being impacted daily through the creation and transmission of political discourse content through multi-channel platforms such as mobile telephone communication, social media networks and the internet. It has been observed that digital platforms have become central to the production, processing, and distribution of multimodal social data and cultural content. The platformization paradigm thus underpins our understanding of how digital platforms enhance the production and heterogenous distribution of media and cultural content through these platforms and how this process facilitates socioeconomic and political activities. The use of multiple digital platforms to share and transmit political discourse material synchronously and asynchronously has gained some exciting momentum in the last few years. Nigeria’s 2023 general elections amplified the usage of social media and other online platforms as tools for electioneering campaigns, socio-political mobilizations and civic engagement. The study, therefore, focuses on transmedia and platformed political discourse as a new strategy to promote political candidates and their manifesto in order to mobilize support and woo voters. This innovative transmedia digital discourse model involves a constellation of online texts and images transmitted through different online platforms almost simultaneously. The data for the study was extracted from the 2023 general elections campaigns in Nigeria between January- March 2023 through media monitoring, manual download and the use of software to harvest the online electioneering campaign material. I adopted a discursive-analytic qualitative technique with toolkits drawn from a computer-mediated multimodal discourse paradigm. The study maps the progressive development of digital political discourse in this young democracy. The findings also demonstrate the inevitable transformation of modern democratic practice through platform-dependent and transmedia political discourse. Political actors and media practitioners now deploy layers of social media network platforms to convey messages and mobilize supporters in order to aggregate and maximize the impact of their media campaign projects and audience reach.Keywords: social media, digital humanities, political discourse, platformized discourse, multimodal discourse
Procedia PDF Downloads 852726 Teacher Professionalisation and Professionalism Discourses in Teacher Unions: A Case Study of New Zealand
Authors: Huidan Niu
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Existing research has focused extensively on teachers’ professional experience in education reforms. However, there is a lack of research on the role and influence of teacher unions in education policy. This study aimed to examine how teacher unions frame teacher professionalisation and professionalism discourses. Critical education policy scholarship study was adopted. This study positioned teacher professionalisation and professionalism discourses within their socio-political contexts to explore how the meanings of teacher professionalisation and professionalism are constructed, as well as how teacher unions, as collective actors, shape these discourses. This study examined the development of professionalisation and professionalism discourses in the two main teacher unions in Aotearoa, New Zealand, the New Zealand Educational Institute, TeRiuRoa (NZEI), and the New Zealand Post-Primary Teachers’ Association, TeWehengarua (PPTA). The data were collected from documents and archival material, as well as elite interviews. Twenty-four union leaders, including national presidents, secretaries, executives, and senior union officials, participated in the study. The data analysis followed a grounded theory method: from codes to themes. The findings of the study suggest that the teacher unions, as teachers’ collective (powerful) voices, appeared to highlight tension and confrontation between the teaching profession and governments with respect to the meanings of teacher professionalisation and professionalism.Keywords: critical education policy scholarship, governments, teacher professionalisation, teacher professionalism, teacher unions
Procedia PDF Downloads 1292725 Private Law, Public Justice: Another Look at Imprisonment for Debt under the Jordanian Law
Authors: Haitham A. Haloush
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Debtors' imprisonment in Jordan is a problematic issue since it impinges upon required financial guarantees that are presumably offered by debtors on the one hand, and infringes flagrantly the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights on the other hand. Jordan lacks regulatory provisions in this respect and debtors' imprisonment is indirectly exercised in Jordan without giving a special legal attention to this concern. From this perspective, this research reviews the available regulations, standard laws and codes of conduct that might guide the implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in the Jordanian context. Furthermore, this article will examine the suitability of the Jordanian legal system in providing sufficient protection for debtors. The author argues that there are serious obstacles in this aspect.Keywords: the Jordanian civil code, the Jordanian execution law, imprisonment for debt, good faith, the Jordanian constitution, the international covenant on civil and political rights
Procedia PDF Downloads 1222724 The Impact of Internal Dynamics of Standing Committees on Legislative Productivity in the Korean National Assembly
Authors: Lee Da Hyun
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The purpose of this study is to explore the relation between the internal dynamics of standing committees and legislative productivity of the Korean National Assembly using statistical methods. Studies on legislation in South Korea have been largely revolved around political parties due to the uniqueness of its political context including strong party cohesion and party’s nomination right. However, as standing committees have been at the center of legislatures since the 6th National Assembly, there is a growing need for studying the operation and effectiveness of standing committees in legislation process. Thus, through panel data analysis for the sixteen standing committees across the four terms of the Korean National Assembly-from the 16th to the 19th-this article attempts to reveal that legislators’ bill passing rate is not a sole function of factors pertaining to political party as the existing studies have believed. By measuring the ideological distribution within a committee and the bill passing rate, this article provides differentiated interpretation from established theories of standing committees and presents compelling evidence describing complex interactions and independent operation of the standing committees with the subsequent legislative results.Keywords: collective decision-making, lawmaking, legislation, political polarization, standing committees
Procedia PDF Downloads 144