WaSH as a maternal health issue: three perspectives from rural Uganda

Inadequate water, sanitation, and hygiene (WaSH) knowledge and practices affect maternal and newborn morbidity and mortality. This article describes postpartum knowledge, resources, and practices in three rural Ugandan hospitals. A lack of WaSH resources was problematic for both staff and newly-birthed mothers who demonstrated a lack of knowledge about the appropriate use of WaSH resources and the links between WaSH and health protection. These results suggest that in addition to increasing the availability of medical interventions, basic preventative public health practices should be reflected in policy and practice integrated across the spaces inhabited by pregnant women to achieve improved maternal and newborn outcomes.     

Lebanon: country profile

A brief profile of Lebanon's economy, people, health, culture and political situation is presented. Lebanon has an estimated 3.5 million people, with a Maronite Christian elite, a Muslim Shiite majority, and Muslim Sunnis and Druze groups. The infant mortality is estimated at 41/1000; literacy is 69% among women and 86% among men; life expectancy was 66 years, 10 years ago. The economy, previously thriving on banking, manufacturing and agriculture, is now decimated, and Lebanon's once active tourist industry, based on elegant facilities in Beirut and neighboring beaches and ski slopes, is the victim of 15 years of civil strife. Israel has invaded, supporting Maronite Christians, Syria has invaded in support Muslim and Druze militias, and Iran has aggressively supported Shiite factions.     

叙利亚从黎巴嫩撤军及其影响评估

叙利亚与黎巴嫩“特殊关系”的成因有四:安东·萨阿德“大叙利亚民族主义”的影响;共同的地缘、历史基础;泛阿拉伯生义、反殖民主义和反以色列的深层意义;黎巴嫩国家结构、民族构成和教派分布的镶嵌性特征。叙利亚从黎巴嫩撤军的原因同样有四:泛阿拉伯主义动量的消失;美国单边主义与国际社会的压力;叙利亚总统巴沙尔在处理中东地区国家关系和大国关系时的务实态度;黎巴嫩民众对叙利亚认同感的缺失。叙黎“特殊关系”终结已是不争的事实,将会对中东混乱的政局造成多重影响。     

Traumata on Screen: Cinematic Views from Southern Africa

ABSTRACT

This special themed issue of Communicatio explores the profound transformation of the political, cultural and intellectual contours of Africa from the vantage point of African film and grounded within the theoretical and epistemological discourses of trauma studies, memory studies, postcolonial studies, and decolonial studies. The contributors are particularly interested in exploring the relational flows between African cinematic works and the social and imaginary circumstances of their production, engagement and representation. Through an explication of the screen and viewing cultures from Africa, this themed issue wishes to make three contributions. The first is to the already established but on-going scholarly work of trauma studies, but specifically from an African, cinematic vantage point. The second contribution is to the theoretical body of work on African cinema (and in this context, “cinematic” includes both film/television). And the last contribution is to the emerging view that culture is a “two-way street,” to put it colloquially: a reversal of the dominant “Western” direction of culture, with an emphasis on different tones of social values and contexts, that have been marginalised in mainstream popular culture discourses.     

Voter attitudes when democracy promotion turns partisan: evidence from a survey-experiment in Lebanon

This article studies how voters react when foreign powers support a particular political party in a fragile democracy. The article identifies which voters believe the intervention plays a positive role in the electoral process and which voters have the opposite opinion. The article argues that educated and politically sophisticated voters will reject such interventions because of the negative role those play in the democratization process. Specific hypotheses are developed based on this argument and were tested in a randomized framing experiment embedded in a post-election survey of 2500 voters in Lebanon 2009. The survey results confirm the argument above. Furthermore, this study derives implications for the risks and benefits of ‘guiding’ democratic outcomes from abroad.     

Organisational change from two perspectives: gender and organisational development

By exploring two approaches to organizational change, gender and organizational development (OD), the author argues that OD is flawed since it perpetuates existing gender inequalities by failing to address them. By contrast, the gender approach brings change both for women and for men and is contextualized in a broader agenda of social transformation. Analysis of how power is gendered is the critical starting point. While gender is not disconnected from other forms of oppression--such as race and class--special attention needs to be given to gender because experience has shown it gets lost. This article seeks to contribute to breaking new ground in theory and practice in order to promote organizations that are both equitable and effective.     

Islamism in the Diaspora: Palestinian Refugees in Lebanon

In recent years there has been increasing academic interestin Islamism in the Middle East, not least in Palestinian Islamismchampioned by groups such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad, whichare waging a war of attrition against the Israeli occupationof the West Bank and Gaza. There has been less concern withIslamism among the Palestinian refugees dispersed in MiddleEastern countries such as Syria, Jordan and Lebanon. The articleoutlines the sources of Islamism (‘political Islam’)among Palestinian refugees in Lebanon. The rise of Islamismis a complex mix of contingent factors that is fuelled by socialand political deprivation and shaped by divergent views on Palestiniannationalism (secular vs. Islamist), the Islamist revival inLebanon and ‘strategic localization’ that turnsrefugee camps into battlefields between Palestinian factions.The Islamist groups cater for narrowly defined segments of therefugee population and have been unable to attract wider support.Instead, they cater for minor, camp-based constituencies whichcompete with secular groups for internal control of the campsand, by implication, of the Palestinian nationalist cause itself.     

“中国移民问题”：来自中俄的不同观点

“中国移民问题”是后苏联时代俄罗斯各界讨论甚至炒作的热点问题，但中国官方人士并不认可这一“问题”在俄罗斯的存在。中俄双方应就与人口跨国流动有关的概念性问题加强了解和沟通，以便达成共识，从而能更加妥善地解决相关问题。     

Assessing the fit of RapidSMS for maternal and new-born health: perspectives of community health workers in rural Rwanda

This article examines field results that show the potential for mobile health (mHealth) technologies to support community health workers (CHWs) in delivering basic maternal and new-born services in Rwanda. The fit of RapidSMS, a UNICEF/Ministry of Health (MOH) mHealth technology is examined through focus groups with CHWs. The results highlight the need for more training in the use of RapidSMS, continued upgrading of mobile phones, devising innovative ways of charging mobile phones, and ensuring the availability of ambulances. We suggest that CHW supervision be a two-way process built into RapidSMS utilising real-time communication to enhance effectiveness.     

Stability Under Late State Formation: the Case of Lebanon

The aim of this article is to explain variations in the stability of Lebanon. Against synchronic and domestic treatments of state stability in the developing world, this article historicises state stability, arguing that there is a time gap dividing old states, which structure the international system, and states in late formation. It argues that variation in the stability of Lebanon is a function of early state formation and the country's position in the state system. This study finds a causal relation between the intensity of regional conflict and level of stability in Lebanon. Historical asymmetrical differences among Lebanon's communities meant that responses to regional crises in Lebanon varied in accordance with the position of each actor in the domestic balance of power. These multiple responses have led to internal instability. The more intense the regional conflict, the more unstable Lebanon has tended to become, and vice versa.     

Battlefield Responses to New Technologies: Views from the Ground on Unmanned Aircraft

How do individuals on the battlefield respond to the introduction of new technologies? How will unmanned and increasingly autonomous technologies be received by ground combat personnel? In this paper we explore tactical-level perceptions of one particular technology—armed unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs)—by conducting a survey experiment of ground fires controllers. Our findings reveal that these personnel have strong behavioral reactions to the introduction of unmanned technology. Especially in situations with high risk to ground troops, we find a strong preference for manned aircraft with implications for the future use of UAVs and human–machine relationships in war. These results suggest the need to incorporate behavioral variables into future studies of military adoption and innovation and indicate that the future adoption of unmanned systems may be just as much about the “warm fuzzy” of trust as confidence in unmanned capabilities.     

Power-sharing after the Arab Spring? Insights from Lebanon’s Political Transition

Abstract

The article looks at the legacy of consociationalism in Lebanon with the aim of illuminating some insights on the linkages between power-sharing and conflict resolution in the post-2011 Middle East. It highlights three core dilemmas or governance traps that have recurred in Lebanon’s political dynamic: the power-sharing formula’s proneness to deadlock, its dependence on the external environment as an avenue for partisanship and sectarian leverage, and its weak responsiveness to demands from below. The article shows how these dilemmas are tightly linked to the politics of sectarianism. While Lebanon’s postwar transition (1990 onward) serves as a backdrop for exploring these dilemmas, emphasis is placed on the performance of Lebanon’s political system in the post–Arab Spring era. The aim is to assess whether Lebanon’s consociational performance has matured over time. The Lebanese experience brings into sharper focus the limitations of sectarian power-sharing. Still, it provides useful insights for reshaping the debate on power-sharing in divided societies of the Arab world.     

Agents and Structures: Two Views of Preferences, Two Views of Institutions

Two analytical distinct approaches to the study of domestic politics have been referred to as the "new institutionalism." The fundamental difference between the two brands of institutionalism can be seen in the way they handle the relationship between "agents" and "structures.""Structure-based" approaches to institutions give ontological primacy to structures and view agents as being constituted by them. "Agency-centered" approaches view human agents as ontologically primative and view institutions as structures that are created by goal-maximizing individuals. The two approaches are compared, with special attention given to the way they treat the preferences that actors hold. I argue that contrary to arguments made by many structure-based theorists, the agency-centered approach is capable of contributing to discussions regarding the sources of actor preferences. A limited information model of the strategic interaction between workers and capitalists is used to demonstrate ways in which the agency-centered approach can begin to make preferences endogenous.