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Book part
Publication date: 29 July 2009

Partha Gangopadhyay and Manas Chatterji

The fragmentation can either lead to an all-out civil war as in Sri Lanka or a frozen conflict as in Georgia. One of the main characteristics of fragmentation is the control of…

Abstract

The fragmentation can either lead to an all-out civil war as in Sri Lanka or a frozen conflict as in Georgia. One of the main characteristics of fragmentation is the control of group members by their respective leaders. The chapter applies standard models of non-cooperative game theory to explain the endogenous fragmentation, which seeks to model the equilibrium formation of rival groups. Citizens become members of these rival groups and some sort of clientelism develops in which political leaders control their respective fragments of citizens. Once the divisions are created, the inter-group rivalry can trigger violent conflicts that may seriously damage the social fabric of a nation and threaten the prospect of peace for the people for a very long time. In other words, our main goal in this chapter is to understand the formation of the patron–client relationship or what is called clientelisation.

Details

Peace Science: Theory and Cases
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-84855-200-5

Book part
Publication date: 23 June 2020

Digby Warren

Advancing social responsibility through higher education (HE) is a crucial goal given today’s fragmented and polarized society. Based on a qualitative survey among lecturers at a…

Abstract

Advancing social responsibility through higher education (HE) is a crucial goal given today’s fragmented and polarized society. Based on a qualitative survey among lecturers at a British university long committed to HE access, this chapter explores the values that underpin their approach to HE and how these inform how they conceptualize “social responsibility” and embed it in the curriculum. Respondents revealed how core values – inclusivity, social justice, empathy, respect, fostering student engagement, empowerment and critical thinking – aligned to shared notions of social responsibility – enabling equal access, developing informed, aware and active citizens who can contribute for the benefit of society – are infused into choice of content, teaching, learning and assessment activities, and management of the learning environment. Perceived outcomes for students included becoming more motivated, independent and empowered learners ready to face the world, more aware of self and the world around them, feeling valued and respected, and growing in confidence, self-esteem and capacity for critical thinking. It was in the curriculum space of interaction among teachers and students that lectures could, in the face of work constraints, still exercise relative academic freedom and find inspiration and opportunities to advance educational practices connected to their values and HE social responsibility.

Details

Civil Society and Social Responsibility in Higher Education: International Perspectives on Curriculum and Teaching Development
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-83909-464-4

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 25 November 2020

Mahabat Baimyrzaeva and Carolyn Taylor Meyer

This article asks (1) what megatrends are likely to significantly influence public sector roles and in what ways and (2) how might higher education institutions better prepare…

Abstract

Purpose

This article asks (1) what megatrends are likely to significantly influence public sector roles and in what ways and (2) how might higher education institutions better prepare public sector leaders for the future shaped by these trends. While public sector leadership in every region, country and locality is unique, they are exposed to the same set of global megatrends. Therefore, this article teases out general insights, observations and implications for public sector leaders and educators by focusing on the effects of these trends.

Design/methodology/approach

The article is informed by a review and synthesis of relevant academic and practitioner sources and is complemented by the authors' survey (n = 64) of public affairs practitioners and educators. The survey is not representative and is used to supplement other inferences from the literature.

Findings

The key megatrends reshaping public sector jobs include demographic and climate changes, technological advances and deepening social fragmentation. The confluence of such trends has increasingly strained the public sector's capacity to respond to present challenges, let alone prepare for the future. The future public sector leaders can benefit from new competencies, including ability to think systematically, see the big picture and ability to solve complex problems. Ideally, they would also have a strong capacity to foster collaboration and cohesion among diverse stakeholders, to model ethical and inclusive behavior, to accommodate, facilitate and bridge competing and conflicting viewpoints and become creative innovators and doers who can operate in increasingly complex environments, while navigating and reshaping their governments' outdated institutional structures.

Research limitations/implications

The key trends reshaping public sector jobs include environmental, demographic and technological factors and deepening social fragmentation. The confluence of such factors has increasingly strained the public sector's capacity to respond to present challenges, let alone prepare for the future. The authors observe that the future of public sector practitioners may benefit from new competencies including digital and data fluency, high emotional intelligence, who are also big picture thinkers who understand global megatrends and their impacts locally. Ideally, they would have a strong capacity to foster cohesion among fragmented and polarized communities, to model ethical and inclusive behavior, to accommodate, facilitate and bridge diverse viewpoints and become creative innovators and doers who can operate in increasingly complex environments, while navigating and reshaping their governments' outdated institutional structures.

Practical implications

The megatrends listed above have significant implications for public sector leaders and educators who train them.

Social implications

There is a new awareness about the need to train public sector workers on diversity and inclusion issues. This paper discusses global trends through this lens.

Originality/value

This synthesis of the literature from academic and practitioner sources, supplemented with the original survey of educators and professionals, intends to open up a conversation about the future of public affairs leadership and education.

Details

International Journal of Public Leadership, vol. 17 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2056-4929

Keywords

Abstract

Details

Handbook of Transport and the Environment
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-0-080-44103-0

Book part
Publication date: 25 November 2009

Michael W. Mosser

The amnesty, reconciliation, and reintegration (AR2) process in a fractured and fragmented society may require assistance from the security sector to become fully operational…

Abstract

The amnesty, reconciliation, and reintegration (AR2) process in a fractured and fragmented society may require assistance from the security sector to become fully operational. This article develops a framework for how such assistance may be implemented, based on current and developing US military operational doctrines and national security documents. It considers briefly the implementation of such principles via a discussion of the AR2 process in Northern Ireland.

Details

Advances in Military Sociology: Essays in Honor of Charles C. Moskos
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-84855-891-5

Article
Publication date: 14 January 2020

Matondang Elsa Siburian

The purpose of this paper is to quantify the effects of regional income disparity and social diversity on local public goods delivery in Indonesia.

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to quantify the effects of regional income disparity and social diversity on local public goods delivery in Indonesia.

Design/methodology/approach

Using Indonesian provincial data over the period 2001–2014 and by way of System GMM, this paper circumvents endogeneity and persistence of key variables over time which may bias the estimated impact of the critical variables.

Findings

The result provides no significant evidence on the influence of regional income inequality on the provision of local public goods. The result reveals that ethnic diversity is associated with the more extensive provision of local public goods. A large difference in preferences toward public goods provision in a fragmented society such as Indonesia forces the local government to deliver a greater mixed of public goods to accommodate various preferences for public goods and ensure that each group has equal access to public goods. Political fragmentation within an ethnically heterogeneous society also encourages local politicians to provide a larger provision of public goods to form an inter-ethnic coalition to gain local political access.

Practical implications

The significant effect of ethnic diversity on public goods provision implies a set of policy recommendation for Indonesian Government in order to maintain peace within the country. The central government should establish a clear-cut standard of local public goods provision for local governments to ensure that that anyone has equal access to public goods regardless of ethnicity. This will mitigate the possibility of ethnic conflict in an ethnically plural society.

Originality/value

This paper extends its analysis using both fractionalization and polarization indexes to measure the social diversity in Indonesia to obtain a comprehensive knowledge regarding the influence of ethnic diversity on the public good provision. This paper proposes a set of policy recommendation for Indonesian Government to manage the effect of social diversity on the provision of local public goods. To the author’s knowledge, this has never been done before for Indonesia.

Peer review

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-12-2018-0661

Details

International Journal of Social Economics, vol. 47 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0306-8293

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 9 November 2015

Ekin Birol, Abdul Munasib and Devesh Roy

This paper aims to study low adoption of modern technology for pearl millet in Rajasthan, India, from the perspective of social networks. The state has the lowest adoption of…

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Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to study low adoption of modern technology for pearl millet in Rajasthan, India, from the perspective of social networks. The state has the lowest adoption of modern pearl millet seeds among Indian states. . In particular, this paper tries to identify the limitations of channels with endogenous effects, thereby limiting large-scale adoption of modern varieties that would require social multipliers.

Design/methodology/approach

Defining the network/reference groups in terms of social identity and geographical proximity, this paper utilizes the intensity of interaction with different network nodes to identify the presence of endogenous effects. In particular, this paper uses the interaction of intensity of social exchange with the group level adoptions to establish the presence of endogenous effects. With adequate controls, greater intensity of interaction having a bearing on technology choice can only happen when there exists social learning (endogenous effect) and cannot be associated with other forms of social effects (namely, exogenous and correlated effects).

Findings

This paper finds evidence for the existence of endogenous social effects in adoption but largely from exclusionary channels. A comprehensively mapped network is used with its intensity to explain the extremely low rate of adoption. Only close-knit networks that, with social fragmentation, limit benefits to few, affect adoption significantly. The non-functionality of less exclusionary information sources and services can be a factor underlying low adoption.

Research limitations/implications

The main limitation of the study is inability to control for unobserved individual heterogeneity because of the cross-sectional nature of data. Further, although an extensive mapping of individual networks has been done, it still cannot be guaranteed to be exhaustive.

Practical implications

With fragmentation, large-scale adoption programs would require networks, sources of information and services that are less exclusionary. Based on the survey data, media and non-religious organizations play a focal role here in the adoption of modern technology. This finding is extremely crucial for policy, as these channels comprise direct policy levers in a fragmented society like India. Indeed, several government programs in India have relied on these channels to run large-scale adoption programs. Their ineffectiveness could be a prime factor for such limited dissemination of technology in Rajasthan.

Social implications

In different settings, social fragmentation could be an important factor determining technology adoption outcomes. The evolving consensus in the literature based on several studies is that ethnic fragmentation has potentially negative consequences on macro-economic performance (Alesina and Tabellini, 1989 and Collier, 2000). In the literature on technology adoption, the role of fractionalization is somewhat under-studied. With fragmentation, there can be significant micro-level impacts (for instance, low technology adoption of a crop) if channels that are inclusive are not well developed. The finding that channels like extension services, media or organizations are not effective in determining choice of technology does not mean that they should not be tapped. The empirical findings suggest that, in their current form in the state of Rajasthan, the roles played by these are limited. The policy implications would be to develop these systems in a way that there is a greater uptake. Recall that less than 4 per cent of the respondents got information on seeds from media sources, an extremely low number. There is certainly scope for increasing the outreach of these channels that are much more important for spread of agricultural technology in a fragmented society.

Originality/value

This paper is an attempt to come up with an empirical strategy to mitigate the issues related to reflection problem. In the cross-sectional data itself, we use the interaction of group choices with intensity of interaction within the group to introduce a non-linearity that tries to bypass the identification issues as in reflection problem. This method of introducing non-linearity in cross-sectional data is a novel attempt to achieve identification of endogenous effects.

Details

Indian Growth and Development Review, vol. 8 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1753-8254

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 21 June 2013

Maximina Maria Freire

This article aims at presenting a conceptual framework which, theoretically grounded on complexity, provides the basis to conceive of online language courses that intend to…

Abstract

Purpose

This article aims at presenting a conceptual framework which, theoretically grounded on complexity, provides the basis to conceive of online language courses that intend to respond to the needs of students and society.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper is introduced by reflections on distance education and on the paradigmatic view underlying a large component of language courses in Brazil. From these considerations, it is reasoned that the complex paradigm offers a foundation to conceive a unique design concept. The complex educational design is then described in its constructs and features. To conclude, reflections and implications of this original, conceptual model are taken into account.

Findings

An online language course design – although aiming at schematizing a series of learning situations and defining target teaching contents – needs to contemplate unpredictability and instability which prevent it from having a pre‐established fixed design. Instead, it should be based on an open syllabus, structured according to learning situations that, suggested/selected by students, respond to their interests, and through which linguistic items will be introduced and discussed.

Originality/value

This paper presents a conceptual framework which, theoretically grounded on complexity, provides the basis to conceive of online language courses that are responsive to the needs of students and society. While the complex paradigm is emerging and winning followers and complex thinkers over, we have the continuing education segment to open up trial areas and spread out the paradigmatic novelty. The conceptual framework presented and theoretically articulated is now open to be operationalized and interpreted in its potentiality.

Details

Campus-Wide Information Systems, vol. 30 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1065-0741

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 15 May 2009

Juozas Lakis

The purpose of this paper is to review the complexity of post‐Communist transition with regard to the processes of creating a legal and institutional environment, which will…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to review the complexity of post‐Communist transition with regard to the processes of creating a legal and institutional environment, which will predispose social actors to cooperate to solve social problems and neutralize disparities. The paper also seeks to consider the shift from social destruction (everyone fighting with one an other) to social collaboration.

Design/methodology/approach

The focus of the paper is on the scope of the simultaneously functioning political, social and moral extremes. They are seen as the key attributes of chaotic social transition and as material for creating cooperative links.

Findings

Political and social transformation running simultaneously, and followed by legal and administrative modernization, provoked formerly unknown social conflicts in the transitional society. The case of Lithuania shows that the old methods for dealing with new conflicts were not suitable. Society became fragmented. Social costs of disintegration were high but not equal, when compared internationally. Interdependence between functionality, innovative and cultural potential of the state, and its capability to regulate conflicts and social controversies had been brought into political debates and public discussions after transition had been in progress for several years. This was a signal that political parties and the most influential social players became concerned about social outcomes of the reforms. Developing a new legal and institutional environment, empowering cooperation and conflict management in social interactions, is perceived as an indicator of the progress of the continuing transition.

Research limitations/implications

Because of its nature and size, the research does not develop insights into the processes which were in some sense dependent on, and simultaneously became incentives for, the culture of cooperation in society; for example, dynamics of cooperation and competition among authorities and citizens, business and politics.

Originality/value

Though great interest is shown in transitional processes in social and humanitarian studies, the rise of conflicts in society as well as the limitations of constructive ways of dealing with such conflicts are not yet the focus of social investigation.

Details

Baltic Journal of Management, vol. 4 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1746-5265

Keywords

1 – 10 of over 17000