Joint sector reviews—M&E experiments in an era of changing aid modalities: Experiences from JSRs in the education sectors of Burkina Faso,Mali and Niger

Aid policy and practice have been thoroughly shaken up over the past few years. One of the reform areas relates to monitoring and evaluation (M&E). In short, aid recipients are asked to elaborate result‐oriented frameworks while donors are expected to harmonise and align their policies and frameworks. This article examines the extent to which joint sector reviews (JSRs) could take the M&E reform agenda forward. JSRs are M&E exercises at the sector level which have the potential to satisfy the M&E needs of various stakeholders while, at the same time, also contributing to the M&E reform agenda. They are increasingly utilised on the ground, yet, so far, there do not exist any systematic stocktakings and/or analyses of them. Our own analysis of a sample of JSRs from the education sectors of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger indicate that JSRs score highly on harmonisation, coordination, leadership and broad‐based participation, but poorly on alignment. They generally prioritise accountability over learning needs and largely neglect accountability and learning at the level of the sector institutional apparatus. In this article, findings from the field are contrasted with insights from evaluation theory and practice so as to provide suggestions for on the ground JSR improvements. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

我国外汇储备增长的影响因素与实证检验

近年来,我国外汇储备呈现快速增长态势。本文从分析我国外汇储备快速增长的原因出发,利用协整分析方法对影响我国外汇储备的因素进行实证研究。结果表明,影响我国外汇储备的因素主要包括汇率、国内生产总值、外贸开放度等,而外资开放度和外债余额对外汇储备的影响不显著。     

Explaining subnational parliamentary scrutiny powers: A fuzzy-set analysis of German Landtage

While the European Union’s Lisbon Treaty has important implications for regional parliaments with legislative competences, most studies have focused on cross-country differences or examined the activities of regional parliaments at the EU level. This contribution shows the existence of substantial intra-country differences in the formal scrutiny rights of regional parliaments. We analyse how German regional parliaments (Landtage) have addressed the challenge of controlling their governments in EU affairs. Using fuzzy-set comparative qualitative analysis, we find that institutional and partisan factors (vote share in the second chamber, economic potential, and conservative governments) explain the differences found among German Landtage particularly well. Landtage with otherwise weak parliamentary prerogatives were successful in using the reform momentum to strengthen their rights in the field of EU policy. Combined with the party political salience of EU policy-making, the integration process has thus empowered formally weaker Landtage.     

A middle power’s trade policy under U.S.-China FTA competition: South Korea’s double hedging FTA diplomacy

Existing studies on the roles and foreign policies of middle powers place too much focus on their security policies, while there is a dearth of scholarship on their trade policies. Middle powers have used free trade agreement (FTA) politics not only to obtain economic benefits through trade expansion, but also to achieve broader foreign policy goals. Given the U.S.-China FTA competition in East Asia, as a middle power, South Korea, has developed double hedging FTA diplomacy by supporting both powers’ FTA initiatives in order to avoid potential conflicts and maintain favourable relationships with both powers. Specifically, Korea has tried to maximize its national interest and, furthermore, to maintain regional stability by establishing two bilateral FTAs, the Korea-U.S. FTA and the Korea-China FTA, and by showing interest and participating in larger FTA discussions, such as the US-led Trans-Pacific Partnership and the China-led Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership.     

Teacher Glenn: how a political scientist educated a peace researcher

ABSTRACT

This paper argues that the nonkilling political scientist Glenn D. Paige could be seen as an extraordinary peace educator. It will be organized through three words – reading, writing and talisman. It begins with a brief discussion of the method used in understanding political scientist Glenn D. Paige’s life as a teacher. Then, the author’s ‘reading’ and ‘writing’ experiences, from taking courses with him, and writing a PhD dissertation under him, will be examined. The way in which political science education could perhaps be considered a form of peace education will be discussed. The concluding section on ‘talisman’ advances Paige’s central idea of politics in terms of making decisions, especially to choose alternatives which could mitigate the killing effects and enhance nonkilling possibilities.     

The curious case of Ali Cenani Bey: the story of a génocidaire during and after the 1915 Armenian genocide

While there exists an extensive body of literature addressing the Armenian genocide, certain gaps persist. The processes and events of the genocide have been unearthed and examined, but genocide is not a phenomenon set in motion by a force of nature. On the contrary, the systematic destruction of Ottoman Armenians was designed and executed by a cadre of individuals, most of whom are little known today. Kurt’s aim here is to recover the story of one such actor from a particular town, Aintab, modern-day Gaziantep—situated on the boundaries of Cilicia (today the southern part of Anatolia) and Syria, near both the Mediterranean Sea and the Gulf of Alexandretta—thereby revealing the perpetrators and their active involvement in the destruction of Armenians at the local/provincial level. Kurt’s article seeks to shed light on such a perpetrator by analysing the objective features of his background and career. Highlighting the human dimension of the genocide allows for an examination of the actors—their motives and their acts—that ultimately bore responsibility for the catastrophic loss of life. Kurt focuses on the life story of Ali Cenani (1872–1934): his background and involvement in the 1915 Armenian deportation and genocide as well as his career in post-genocide Turkey.     

Work Engagement in the Public Service Context: The Dual Perceptions of Job Characteristics

Interest in work engagement research has increased significantly due to its positive influence on both employee and organizational performance. Studies show how engagement is explained through job characteristics in the Job Demands-Resource model, yet a more nuanced approach has been proposed. In this qualitative study, home caregivers’ perceptions of job characteristics are investigated. Semi-structured interviews and observations reveal three main themes: Optimization, helping others, and emotional work. These show a dual perception of job characteristics consequently influencing the experienced engagement. Using Public Service Motivation literature, these dual perceptions are discussed.     

Appeals to the Hispanic Demographic: Targeting through Facebook Autoplay Videos by the Clinton Campaign during the 2015/2016 Presidential Primaries

By looking at the autoplay videos posted and shared on Hillary Clinton’s Facebook account during the 2015 Facebook. 2015. “The Value of Video for Brands.” Webpage Accessed 28 April 2017. https://www.facebook.com/business/news/value-of-video [Google Scholar]/2016 Clinton, H. 2016. “A Special Moment during a Meeting with the Union of Peasants. Yes You Can! Watch the Video. Facebook Status Update.” Retrieved 20 November 2016. https://www.facebook.com/hillaryclinton/posts/1090969694292892 [Google Scholar] primary election season, this article offers much needed insight into the communication aspect of campaign targeting. Using data analysis extracted from the leading social media platform, the article examines what groups of Hispanic Facebook users were attracted to Clinton’s targeted autoplay videos, what elements within these videos best enticed these people into liking the videos, and if the Clinton campaign appeared to learn what types of autoplay videos were most effective over the course of the primary season.     

Do Project Pedagogies Make a Difference?

Community-based action research (CBAR) encourages students to view internships and other civic-engagement opportunities as the first steps in collaborative projects that build long-term relationships with community partners and model how democracy works. We marshal longitudinal data, qualitative and quantitative, on both attitudes and behaviors to demonstrate meaningful impacts of community-based work by university students. Our approach to this difficult question involves the use of a treatment group contrasted with two distinct control groups: one situated somewhat closely to the experiences of the treatment group and one more distantly. Despite the difficulty of developing metrics of attitude and behavior change over relatively short periods of time, we achieve leverage on the question of how project pedagogies and experiential learning shape civic attitude formation and associated changed behaviors.     

Between Accommodation and Opportunism: Explaining the Growing Influence of Small Gulf States in the Middle East

Abstract

Smaller members of the Gulf Cooperation Council defied theoretical and practical expectations as they were able to enlarge their international influence during the years of the Arab Spring. They adopted markedly different foreign policy strategies, which can be seen as stances lying between accommodation and opportunism, depending on the extent to which they respected the security concerns of their geopolitical patron, Saudi Arabia. The mainstream schools of IR theory – neorealism, neoliberalism and constructivism – offer different explanations for these phenomena. Although none of the three schools can provide a completely exhaustive explanation, neoliberalism seems to offer the most comprehensive framework for analysis.