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1 – 10 of 14
Book part
Publication date: 10 October 2017

Joseph Deutsch, Jacques Silber and Guanghua Wan

This chapter examines the impoverishment process in three South Caucasian states: Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia. It uses the concept of ‘order of curtailment’ of consumption…

Abstract

This chapter examines the impoverishment process in three South Caucasian states: Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia. It uses the concept of ‘order of curtailment’ of consumption expenditures to detect the order of curtailment of expenditures in the Caucasus region. It then suggests computing poverty rates on the basis of a threshold corresponding to the curtailment of a certain number of consumption expenditures categories and compares the poverty rates obtained with those derived from more traditional approaches to the unidimensional measurement of poverty. The empirical illustrations are based on the Caucasus Barometer surveys of 2009 and 2013.

Article
Publication date: 21 November 2016

Oriel Prizeman

The courtyard dwellings of Tbilisi form a critical part of the city’s architectural identity. However, the multiple occupation of these buildings is blamed for confounding their…

Abstract

Purpose

The courtyard dwellings of Tbilisi form a critical part of the city’s architectural identity. However, the multiple occupation of these buildings is blamed for confounding their prospects for repair and consequent valorisation as a World Heritage Site. Models for the shared ownership of residential blocks have been adapted globally. Some have established communal sources for rehabilitation and maintenance applicable to historic buildings. The purpose of this paper is to assess the relevance of such precedents to the complex and urgent context of Tbilisi’s threatened architectural heritage.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper uses existing literature and data to establish a hypothesis in support of adopting a collaborative approach for the maintenance and rehabilitation of shared buildings in a challenging and specific context. Using socio-economic data to characterise the occupants of such buildings and current critical sources, the paper investigates how existing collective communities can be empowered to capitalise from their unique social frameworks.

Findings

It finds evidence to support theoretical claims that there is scope for co-operative networks to flourish there.

Research limitations/implications

The paper is limited to a desktop analysis and relies upon available data and literature to draw its conclusions.

Originality/value

This paper addresses a critical problem in the formulation of conservation plans for Old Tbilisi, it tests the relevance of global exemplars for community repair programmes by reference to existing data for the care of the predominantly domestic architecture of Old Tbilisi at a time of rapid change.

Details

Journal of Cultural Heritage Management and Sustainable Development, vol. 6 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2044-1266

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 11 June 2018

Dimitri Gugushvili

The purpose of this paper is to explore public attitudes towards poor people in the South Caucasian countries.

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore public attitudes towards poor people in the South Caucasian countries.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper is based on an analysis of data from the tenth round of the Caucasus Barometer survey, one of the most reliable sources of public opinion data in the region.

Findings

The majority of the population in Azerbaijan and Georgia would consent to paying higher taxes or reducing public services if their governments used the extra resources to provide cash assistance to more poor people, but in Armenia the level of solidarity is considerably lower. However, the majority in each of the countries supports assistance being conditional on beneficiaries actively searching for work. In contrast to conventional wisdom, some better-off groups are more in favour of supporting the poor than those who face a higher risk of poverty. The author hypothesises that this may be driven by self-interest, as in relative terms the welfare sacrifices required for financing the extension of schemes might be higher for the vulnerable than for the better-off.

Originality/value

This paper is the first to provide a comparative analysis of public attitudes towards vulnerable groups in the South Caucasus. It also contributes to the scarce literature on perceived welfare deservingness of social assistance recipients and public preferences for imposing conditionality on them. In addition, it presents a strong case for using more comprehensive questions to construct measurements of people’s welfare attitudes than those commonly used.

Details

International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, vol. 38 no. 5-6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0144-333X

Keywords

Content available
Book part
Publication date: 10 October 2017

Abstract

Details

Research on Economic Inequality
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78714-521-4

Book part
Publication date: 24 March 2022

Omowumi Omodunni Idowu and Olusegun Oladele Idowu

This study investigates female labor force participation (FLFP) in Nigeria, over the period 1990–2020. It analyzes the effect of some poverty indices on FLFP, thereby contributing

Abstract

This study investigates female labor force participation (FLFP) in Nigeria, over the period 1990–2020. It analyzes the effect of some poverty indices on FLFP, thereby contributing to the ongoing debate on female labor participation, particularly as it relates to household poverty and its alleviation. The study sources data from World Bank Data Bank and employs autoregressive distributive lags after confirming the stationarity of all variables of interest. While there is no long-run relationship among the variables of interest, the results from the short-run estimate show that one year lagged FLFP, fertility (family size), total unemployment and gender ratio in labor participation are poverty indices that positively influence female labor participation. On the other, female unemployment, male unemployment and GDP growth rate are negative determinants. However, female education and household income per capita as poverty indices are insignificant determinants of female labor participation for the period under study. These findings are important for government/policy-makers in Nigeria to develop a policy framework that can improve poverty in the country as well encourage FLFP in the country since their contributions have meaningful impact in alleviating household poverty and on the entire economy.

Details

Families in Nigeria: Understanding Their Diversity, Adaptability, and Strengths
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80262-543-1

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 7 July 2015

Susanne Helma Christiane Fehlings

In contrast to the dominant accounts in post-Soviet studies that see public and private as two spheres existing in parallel, the purpose of this paper is to argue that in Armenia…

Abstract

Purpose

In contrast to the dominant accounts in post-Soviet studies that see public and private as two spheres existing in parallel, the purpose of this paper is to argue that in Armenia the public-private dichotomy can be better understood as a spectrum of different kinds of interactions between the state and private actors/social groups representing different sets of socio-cultural values, which are mirrored in Yerevan’s city planning and housing.

Design/methodology/approach

The data derives from long-term ethnographic fieldwork in Yerevan. To analyse the data set the author used methods common in social and cultural anthropology. The theoretical background derives from urban anthropology (Liu), theories on housing (Carsten and Hugh-Jones), the anthropology of values (Dumont), and the anthropology of states (Herzfeld) linked to the debate on modernity.

Findings

The author demonstrates that basic cultural concepts, norms, expectations, rules, beliefs, and values currently take effect on both sides (public and private/state and people), and that personal networks in Armenia are no longer used to trick an alien state, but also used by the state elites to gain advantage. The degree of intimacy of social relations thereby structures urban space and behaviour.

Originality/value

The paper looks at the public-private dichotomy in post-Soviet states from a new perspective, which is inspired by the anthropology of (socio-cultural) values, and argues that cultural intimacy (Herzfeld) is – simultaneously – a unifying and a separating fact in the relationship of states and people.

Details

International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, vol. 35 no. 7/8
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0144-333X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 6 July 2015

Oksan Bayulgen

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the political effects of microcredit. The author provides the theoretical connections between microfinance and political empowerment and…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the political effects of microcredit. The author provides the theoretical connections between microfinance and political empowerment and tests them in the context of Central Asia and the Caucasus, a region that is significantly lagging in political development and yet has a growing microfinance potential.

Design/methodology/approach

The author conducted a total of 100 in-depth interviews with microcredit clients in Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan in June 2010 and January 2011, respectively. The author chose my client samples randomly from two of the largest non-governmental microfinance institutions in these countries.

Findings

The findings of the survey reveal that microloans have only led to modest improvements in the socioeconomic status of the clients and had almost no effect on their political empowerment. Disaggregating the data further in terms of gender, type of loan and location of credit does not change the overall trends but reveals that to the extent that any political empowerment took place, group clients (mostly women) in urban settings were more aware and involved in political issues than individual clients in the villages.

Research limitations/implications

Even with a carefully thought-out design, it is not clear how much the responses reflect the true and complicated impact of microfinance on the clients’ lives, a challenge that may be overcome in future research with focus group analysis or an ethnographic analysis of microcredit clients over a long period of time.

Practical implications

Notwithstanding these shortcomings, these observations can help inform microfinance institutions, donor organizations and governments about the true potential of microfinance. A realization of the limits of this unique development tool may prove useful in reorienting the goals of foreign aid and designing a more effective approach to development.

Originality/value

Despite the extensive literature on the economic and social effects of microcredit, very little attention has been given to how economic empowerment generated by microcredit can translate into political empowerment at the individual level. This paper lays out the theoretical reasons for why such a relationship might exist and tests these hypotheses systematically in two countries, taking into account gender, type of loan instrument and location of the loan.

Details

International Journal of Development Issues, vol. 14 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1446-8956

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 July 2006

Liqun Cao and Velmer S. Burton

To find out how much confidence the Turkish public have in the police, how that confidence is compared with other relevant countries in the world, and how to interpret the…

Abstract

Purpose

To find out how much confidence the Turkish public have in the police, how that confidence is compared with other relevant countries in the world, and how to interpret the confidence in the police in Turkey.

Design/methodology/approach

Data from national representative samples were analyzed to compare the levels of public confidence in the police between Turkey and the member states in the European Union, between Turkey and its neighboring countries, and between Turkey and several Muslim societies.

Findings

This paper found that public confidence in the Turkish police was quite high when compared to member states of the EU, neighboring countries, and with selected Muslim nations.

Originality/value

The findings fill an existing void in the criminological literature assessing the Turkish public's confidence in its police. The results should be interpreted in light of the following realities: that Turkey remains a nation with a collectivistic orientation, the possible undifferentiated concepts between the effectiveness of the police and confidence in the police, and the unidimensional measure that was employed to examine public confidence.

Details

Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies & Management, vol. 29 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1363-951X

Keywords

Content available
Book part
Publication date: 3 June 2008

Abstract

Details

The Worldwide Transformation of Higher Education
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-0-7623-1487-4

Article
Publication date: 7 April 2015

Huseyn Aliyev

The purpose of this paper is to suggest that informal practices and institutions of post-Soviet countries differ from informality in other post-socialist regions and, therefore…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to suggest that informal practices and institutions of post-Soviet countries differ from informality in other post-socialist regions and, therefore, proposes categorizing it as “post-Soviet informality” – a composite definition that extends beyond the concept of “informal economy” and encompasses, along with economic activities, social and political spheres.

Design/methodology/approach

The arguments of the paper are based on a comprehensive analysis of secondary sources.

Findings

This paper shows that, owing to the effects of antecedent regime’s legacies and the problems of post-communist transition, for the proper analysis of informality in post-Soviet countries it needs to be based on an own concept.

Originality/value

This study, in contrast to the existing literature on informality in post-communist spaces, specifically focuses on the informal sphere of post-Soviet countries, suggesting that the informal institutions and practices thriving across the vast post-Soviet space not only differ from the informal spheres elsewhere in the world, but also from informality in other post-communist regions.

Details

International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, vol. 35 no. 3/4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0144-333X

Keywords

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