Reality Versus Perception: Toward Understanding Boko Haram in Nigeria

This article will explore the perception of individuals associated with civil society and working in Boko Haram–affected areas. This will compare the reality as reflected by former Boko Haram members. Central to this analysis will be who, why, and how individuals get involved in Boko Haram. Comparing perceptions with empirical evidence, civil society actors, but also policymakers tasked with addressing violent extremism, are reminded not to rely on perceptions when developing and implementing preventative measures and countermeasures. Additionally, a larger than expected former female Boko Haram sample was included that allowed a comparison to be made between the male and female samples, with specific reference to why and how women became members of Boko Haram.     

Operation Anaconda: Perception Meets Reality in the Hills of Afghanistan

The initial encounters between Al Qaeda and the U.S. military taught both a series of lessons that reverberate across the battlefields of Afghanistan today. Both sides entered the fray with preconceived ideas of their enemy—ideas that disappeared on the battlefields of the Shahi-Kot valley. The United States was determined not to repeat the mistakes of the siege of Tora Bora. Their battleplan called for a lightning fast operation using highly mobile U.S. and Afghan forces to envelop the enemy, but failures of intelligence and the fog of war transformed Anaconda into a long, slow struggle against an often invisible foe. Al Qaeda had all the advantages of terrain and defense but was unable to cause the massive casualties they thought would drive the American invaders from Afghanistan. Both sides left the battlefield with valuable lessons that have prevented any similar encounters since silence returned to the Shahi-Kot.     

Perception vs. Reality: Slovak Views of the Hungarian Minority in Slovakia

After Slovakia and the Czech lands separated in 1993, concerns arose regarding Slovakia's ethnic Hungarian, or Magyar, minority. There were concerns about the Slovak government's attitude toward its considerable Magyar population as well as worries about the Hungarian government's stance regarding Magyars in Slovakia and the Slovak-Hungarian border. Frequently over the past decade, the topic of the Hungarian minority in Slovakia has been manipulated by politicians. In both Slovakia and Hungary, Slovak and Hungarian politicians alike have tried to expose “injustices” or “excesses” for political gain. Indeed, the maneuvering of national politicians might lead one to perceive that the reality of contemporary Slovak-Magyar relations was tenuous and acrimonious. But politics aside, what does the average Slovak think of the Magyar minority and Magyar-Slovak relations generally? To what extent do the political debates encompass their actual concerns and deeply held views? In June 2002, I visited Slovakia and pursued these questions in a series of informal interviews with an ad hoc sample of natives, aged 28 to 78. Among them were bankers, administrators, educators, small business owners, doctors, tour guides, taxi drivers, accountants, and one retiree. My quest to find out what ordinary Slovak citizens think about Slovak-Hungarian relations explored both long-held perceptions and present-day thinking. Very often I discovered a marked divergence between perception and reality where the Hungarian minority was concerned. Slovakia is home to a variety of non-Slovak cultures and languages, including Czech, Ukrainian/Ruthenian, and Romany (gypsy). But the largest cultural and linguistic minority are the c. 600,000 Hungarians, who comprise 11% of the population overall and up to 87% in certain towns and villages in southern Slovakia. For example, a 1994 report by the British Helsinki Human Rights Group (BHHRG) lists the southwestern Slovak towns of Dunajska Streda and Komarno as 87.26% and 72.27% Hungarian, respectively.     

Constructing Policy Networks: Social Assistance Reform in the Czech Republic

Abstract

Czech social insurance and family transfers experienced fundamental reform in 1995 but Czech social assistance benefits still lack comprehensive change. This article explains the delay in Czech social assistance reform by appling policy network studies in a postcommunist context. Although few organizations perticipate in the Czech social assistance policy network, they are divided: they lack the common interests and exchangable resources necessary to create dialogue and compromise. The organizations of disabled citizens are the only interest group active in the policy network, with the operators of state social care institutions their primary opponents. In the late 1990s, this already fragmented issue network suffered further division when the EU entered as a powerful network actor with another set of policy goals. Until the policy network structure facilitates more dialogue and consensus‐building, hopes for comprehensive social assistance reform will linger unfulfilled.     

Social Capital and the Number of Governments within a County: A Potential Problem with Social Capital

Social capital has been demonstrated to be a benefit to a community in a variety of ways. However, researchers have begun to point out that social capital does have a downside. Communities that use bonding social capital to mobilise residents to action have the potential to exclude outsiders from their communities. The number of governments in a county could be used as an indicator of bonding social capital within a region. Residents use their local government to create and pass laws that have the potential to exclude others. The current analysis used the number of governments as a proxy for bonding social capital. Findings demonstrate that as the level of bonding social capital (the number of governments) increased the social capital in the county increased. Residents use their bonding social capital to respond to others, which then increases the level of social capital to be able to mobilise in the future.     

Between Chaos and Diversity: Is Social Memory Studies a Field?

Is (or are) memory studies, social or otherwise, a field? If so, does anything hold it together beyond the mere use of the phrase “collective memory”? Memory studies is simultaneously still in its charismatic phase, though it no longer has a right to be, as well as highly resistant to efforts to escape from it, though it clearly needs to do so. To be a field, it needs a memory of its own.     

The middle class in the Czech reforms: the interplay between policies and social stratification

Following the assumption that the middle class is important in the transition from communism to a democratic market society as its leading actor and guarantor of social integration, this paper presents evidence of the benefits it has gained from economic and social reforms. As these have turned out to be rather modest, it is likely that the middle class will be more reserved in its political support for a rigorous transformation. Special attention is given to the distribution and redistribution of income in which the middle seems to have been neglected, in comparison to the lowest and upper strata which have become better off. Evidence based on official statistics is complemented by a survey of attitudes which document both the still strong endorsement of the middle class with regard to the implemented changes and a certain split between the ‘old’ and ‘new’ component of this important social category.     

论中产阶级与德国社会民主党的转型

德国社会民主党的转型与中产阶级的演变发展有着密切联系.马克思主义的中等阶级理论,决定了早期德国社会民主党的无产阶级政党性质;伯恩施坦的中等阶层理论是导致德国社会民主党走向改良主义道路的重要因素;二战后中产阶级的发展壮大促使德国社会民主党由"阶级党"转变为"人民党";20世纪80年代后,中产阶级的新变化推动德国社会民主党由"纲领党"转变为"选举党".     

Social contracts and authoritarian projects in post-Soviet space: The use of administrative resource

Drawing on evidence from Ukraine and other post-Soviet states, this article analyses the use of a tool of political coercion known in the post-communist world as adminresurs, or administrative resource. Administrative resource is characterized by the pre-election capture of bureaucratic hierarchies by an incumbent regime in order to secure electoral success at the margins. In contrast to other forms of political corruption, administrative resource fundamentally rewrites existing social contracts. It redefines access to settled entitlements—public infrastructure, social services, and labor compensation—as rewards for political support. It is thus explicitly negative for publics, who stand to lose access to existing entitlements if they do not support incumbents. The geography of its success in post-communist states suggests that this tool of authoritarian capacity building could be deployed anywhere two conditions are present: where there are economically vulnerable populations, and where economic and political spheres of life overlap.     

Social Change and Class Formation in a French West African State

This article focuses on migrant children in West Africa in contexts where independent migrations during childhood constitute the norm rather than the exception. The article examines how the relative age and gender of a child influence his/her trajectory. It is based on the biographies of two young domestic workers – a girl in Côte-d’Ivoire and a boy in Burkina Faso. In describing their trajectories during the first eight to ten years of their migration to the city, this article shows that ideas surrounding age-appropriate work and the acquisition of new skills allow both girls and boys to increasingly exercise more power over their own lives. From these detailed trajectories it becomes clear that the dominant institutional categories, on the one hand, mask the diversity of activities of these very young migrants. On the other hand, they conceal the diachronic changes that take place in the course of their migratory work experience.     

Conclusion: Getting It All Together

Abstract

As the aticles of the symposium present a wide variety of conclusions on whether public administration has “grown up,” this overview article does not attempt a unified synthesis of the authors’ views but rather makes a composite analysis of contrasts and patterns among them. Attention is then shifted to the organizing metaphor itself, that of maturation. Following a review of how each article employs it, some general reflections are offered on its usefulness.     

Social Protection Policy or a Political Largesse: Disability Fund Efficacy Assessment and Roadblocks to Sustainable Development Goals

ABSTRACT

Social protection policies have been tools for fighting social exclusion, inequality and reducing poverty incidence among vulnerable populations in developing countries. In this regard, the government of Ghana through the institution of the disability fund has demonstrated a commitment to advancing the cause of people with disabilities. In assessing policy efficacy, the realities on the ground, as well as policy challenges, 130 persons with disability (PWDs) and 10 Key Informants (KIs) were recruited from across five regions. In addition to conducting face-to-face interviews with PWDs, the study conducted a number of interviews with key informants (KIs). The study findings concluded amongst other things that, the policy is plagued with challenges such as limited information about the fund, fund access difficulty and disbursement delays. It was also revealed that; the policy is saddled with opacity and partisan politics. To ensure efficiency and expedite the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 1, the research proposed for policy restructuring. In addition to introducing financial literacy and management training for beneficiaries, the study proffers decoupling the fund management from political structures to help meet the objectives for which it was incepted.     

Ombudsman for Bangladesh: Theory and Reality

Abstract

Although the term “Ombudsman” is a relatively unfamiliar term in Bangladesh in general, it is widely used and is a practiced technique of ensuring administrative accountability and transparency in western developed countries. The offices of Ombudsmen, as currently found in an increasing number of countries, are institutions of government design to meet the perceived needs as to both out come and process. Their objectives are to secure fairness, integrity, accountability and efficiency in public affairs, by methods conductive to promoting confidence in all institutions of the state. In reality the Ombudsman's office is seen as an institution, which has been established in regional jurisdictions in order to promote high standards of public administration and management, and to protect the right of citizens in their dealing with government. In this article, an attempt is made to analyze the role of the “Ombudsman” concept and why it is needed and how it can be institutionalized in Bangladesh. In doing so, the article has been divided into two parts. Part I discusses the conceptual framework of the Ombudsman while part II throws light on the prospects and problems of this concept in Bangladesh as attempts are being made to establish the office of the Ombudsman.     

Social Democratic parties as buffers against the extreme right: the case of Belgium

While the Vlaams Blok (currently Vlaams Belang) became one of the most successful and electorally durable extreme-right parties in Europe in the 1990s, the francophone Front National has yet to achieve a stable basis of support. We argue that an important reason for this divergence has been the behaviour of Social Democratic parties in the two regions of Belgium. In Wallonia, the Parti Socialiste (PS) held onto its traditional electorate through both distributing material benefits and by keeping traditional economic themes, or issues that it ‘owns’, high on the political agenda. The SP (currently SP.A) in Flanders has done less well on both counts. Since Social Democratic parties across Western Europe have lost voters to the extreme right, our comparison suggests that their behaviour is an important variable in understanding cross-national variation in the extreme-right's success.     

20世纪西方主流学术界的阶级与社会结构理论述评

本文选择20世纪西方主流学术界最具代表性的十二个理论家或主要流派,对其关于阶级和社会结构的理论进行了相对集中的评介.西方相关理论的演进始终围绕着知识分子问题和工人阶级问题展开,重点讨论了战后,特别是70年代末以来西方社会结构中工人阶级的新变化和新中间阶级的知识化和扩大化.     

The Arts,Social Health,and the Development of Cultural Indicators

Abstract

This paper explores the relationship between the arts and the growing research literature on social indicators in the United States. Building upon research and theory that identifies the need for indicators of “social health” that are broader than traditional measures of economic well‐being, this paper suggests that the arts are particularly useful terrain for conceptually extending quality of life research. After illustrating the broad range of thinkers who have argued that arts benefit society, the paper provides an overview of the various forms of arts data that are currently collected. Focusing on recent efforts to evaluate the quality of life within local communities and recent research on arts education, the paper suggests that scholars need to focus on building a clearer framework that connects arts data with the broader arguments about the social contribution of the arts. The paper concludes by identifying diversity, creativity, community, and participation as examples of concepts that can link existing arts data with the widespread belief in the democratic value of the arts, and argues that quality of life research needs to incorporate key community “assets”, including participation and practice in a vibrant arts world, into both the methodological and normative framework for defining social health.     

Social Capital,Civic Engagement,and Economics in a Transitioning Economy: The Case of Vietnam Provinces

Social capitalist assert that civic engagement and participation yield significant economic gains for a county but, generally focus on democratic governed societies. The objective of this research is to determine if social capital transitions to Vietnam, a single-party governed country. This analysis first identifies factors that impact civic engagement and participation. Then it analyzes the relationship between civic engagement, participation, and economics. Using the 2012 Provincial Governance and Public Administration Performance Index, we find human capital is a stronger predictor of economics in Vietnam. We conclude by offering policy implications for understanding social capital in single-party, transitioning economy countries.     

新马克思主义的西方阶级和社会结构演变理论——对20世纪70年代末以来相关理论的评析

70年代末以来西方新马克思主义各流派对发达国家社会阶级结构的重大变化作出了多种理论反应。本文考察了后现代取向的马克思主义、分析马克思主义、后马克思主义、当代法兰克福学派以及法国批判的马克思主义等五大流派和思潮关于当代西方阶级和社会结构演变的阐述,指出其区别于70年代末以前理论的基本特点是整体经历了后现代的多元文化转向,形成了异质于马克思主义的,去阶级化的多元社会结构理论,倡导反阶级政治的、激进的多元民主战略。     

Great expectations: the effect of democratic ideals on political trust in European democracies

While in the older literature, low levels of political trust were routinely interpreted as a lack of support for democracy, more recently authors have claimed that the value pattern of critical citizens is a hallmark for a mature and stable democratic system. In this paper we assess the empirical validity of this claim, by relying on the relative deprivation literature highlighting the relation between expectation and frustration. The 2012 wave of the European Social Survey included an extensive battery measuring democratic ideals, and using latent class analysis we identify a group with high ideals on how a democracy should function. Multilevel regression analysis shows that strong democratic ideals are associated with lower levels of political trust, and most strongly so in countries with low quality of government. We close with observations on how rising democratic ideals could be a cause for the occurrence of a new group of ‘critical citizens’.