Learning from a Peace Process: Theory, Practice and the Case of Northern Ireland

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
David Mitchell
Keyword(s):  
Northern Ireland ◽  
Transformative Learning ◽  
Peace Process ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Ideal Model ◽  
Policy Paradigm ◽  
Peace Processes ◽  
Definition Of

Abstract The goal of ‘learning’ from peace processes is widely expressed in conflict resolution scholarship and practice but inadequately understood. This article investigates what kinds of knowledge can be learned from a peace process, the theoretical and methodological bases of such learning, and what impact it may have. The article begins with an interdisciplinary discussion of reasons to learn, the kinds of lessons proposed in the peace process literature and how theories of learning may be applied to a peace process. Following this is a case study of the sharing of the Northern Ireland peacemaking experience with other conflict-affected societies, especially through facilitated dialogues between decision-makers. This contributes to a comprehensive ideal model of learning from peace processes – something which, it is argued, may result in ‘transformative learning’ and a ‘policy paradigm shift’ towards de-escalatory conflict management. A definition of a peace process ‘lesson’ is offered to guide future research.

Territorial capital as a company intangible

2016 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 148-167 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mariachiara Barzotto ◽  
Giancarlo Corò ◽  
Mario Volpe
Keyword(s):  
Great Difficulty ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Manufacturing Companies ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Capital Growth ◽  
Multiple Case ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
A Company

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, to explore to what extent being located in a territory is value-relevant for a company. Second, to understand if a company is aware of, and how it can sustain, the territorial tangible and intangible assets present in the economic area in which it is located. Design/methodology/approach – The study presents an empirical multiple case-study, investigating ten mid-/large-sized Italian companies in manufacturing sectors. Findings – The results indicate that the sampled manufacturing companies are intertwined with the environment in which they are embedded, both in their home country and in host ones. The domestic territorial capital has provided, and still provides, enterprises with workers endowed with the necessary technical skills that they can have great difficulty in finding in other places. In turn, companies support territorial capital generation through their activities. Research limitations/implications – To increase the generalisability of the results, future research should expand the sample and examine firms based in different countries and sectors. Practical implications – Implications for policy makers: developing effective initiatives to support and guide a sustainable territorial capital growth. Implications for managers and investors: improving managerial and investors’ decisions by disclosing a complete picture of the enterprise, also outside the firm boundaries. Originality/value – The study contributes to intangibles/intellectual capital literature by shedding light on the importance of including territorial capital in a company’s report to improve the definition of the firm’s value. Accounting of the territorial capital would increase the awareness of the socio-economic environment value in which companies are located and its use.

scholarly journals The political economy of peacebuilding: The case of women's cooperatives in Nepal

2013 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Smita Ramnarain
Keyword(s):  
The Political ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Everyday Activities ◽  
Peace Processes ◽  
Sustainable Peace ◽  
Credit Cooperatives ◽  
Peace Initiatives ◽  
Definition Of

Critiques of liberal, top-down approaches to peacebuilding have motivated a discussion of alternative, locally-led, and community-based approaches to achieving and maintaining sustainable peace. This article uses a case study of women's savings and credit cooperatives in post-violence Nepal to examine the ways in which grassroots-based, locally-led peace initiatives can counter top-down approaches. The article presents ethnographic evidence from fieldwork in Nepal on how cooperatives expand through their everyday activities the definition of peace to include not only the absence of violence (negative peace) but transformatory goals such as social justice (positive peace). By focusing on ongoing root causes of structural violence, cooperatives problematize the postconflict period where pre-war normalcy is presumed to have returned. They emphasize local agency and ownership over formal peace processes. The findings suggest ongoing struggles that cooperatives face due to their existence within larger, liberal paradigms of international postconflict aid and reconstruction assistance. Their uneasy relationship with liberal economic structures limit their scale and scope of effectiveness even as they provide local alternatives for peacebuilding.

Diffused peace facilitation and the cosmopolitan filmmaker’s dilemma

2016 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 168-188
Author(s):  
Øyvind Kalnes ◽  
Eva Bakøy
Keyword(s):  
Public Diplomacy ◽  
Peace Process ◽  
Western Hemisphere ◽  
Small States ◽  
Critical Stage ◽  
Human Interest ◽  
Hard Power ◽  
Peace Processes ◽  
New Public

This article discusses the dilemmas documentary filmmakers face when acting upon the cosmopolitan ethos in a context of ongoing civil warfare and peace facilitation from the international society. This ethos is well known and accepted among Western audiences. When applied outside the Western hemisphere, the perspective of human-interest stories tends to get lost among audiences attached to the conflict. Instead, these stories may easily become identified as new public diplomacy on behalf of the participants on the ‘perceptual battlefield’ of war. The authors focus upon how this can be a challenge for Western states involved in peace processes in the same conflicts, especially for those small states that have little hard power and have to rely on gaining the trust of the conflicting parties. The article uses a case study of the Norwegian documentary My Daughter the Terrorist about the civil war in Sri Lanka as an example. The film became the epicentre of a major controversy during a critical stage in the peace process facilitated by the Norwegian government. The authors suggest the concept of diffused war can be translated as diffused peace facilitation to describe its effect on the peace process.

scholarly journals Dynamics of Actors in Innovation in Public Health Services: Brazilian Experience

2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cristine Hermann Nodari ◽  
Luciana Gondim de Almeida Guimarães ◽  
Alipio Ramos Veiga Neto ◽  
Pelayo Munhoz Olea ◽  
Isabel Cristina Rosa Barros Rasia
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Services ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Public Health Services ◽  
Political Decision ◽  
The Public ◽  
Different Types ◽  
South Of Brazil

The analysis of development of innovation in services starts from the interaction of different actors. This research aimed to identify the dynamics of the mobilization of preferences and capabilities of different actors (political decision-makers, users and servers) in the development of the final characteristics of the service and, consequently, of the innovation in the public health context of a municipality located in the south of Brazil. Was carried out analysis of data from descriptive and inferential statistics of case study. The main results highlight the preponderance of the operation of server capacity for mobilization of different types of innovation, and consequently the production of the final characteristics of the health service. In this context, service innovation can finally be taken as the endogenous decision-making process of the organizations that make up the sector and that derive from the very nature of health services. Finally, we described the limitations and future research opportunities.

Theories of International Relations and Northern Ireland

2017 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Northern Ireland ◽  
International Relations ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
Peace Process ◽  
Religious Institutions ◽  
Good Friday ◽  
Peace Processes ◽  
Middle Range ◽  
The World

The peace process in Northern Ireland is associated with the signing of the Good Friday or Belfast Agreement, the arduous and lengthy implementation of this Agreement, and the continuing sectarianism in Northern Ireland. Despite the numerous and various studies about this case, no collection of scholarly analysis to date has attempted to assess a wide variety of theories prominent in International Relations (IR) that relate directly to the conflict in Northern Ireland, the peace process, and the challenges to consolidating peace after an agreement. IR scholars have recently written about and debated issues related to paradigms, border settlement and peace, the need to provide security and disarm combatants, the role of agents and ideas, gender and security, transnational movements and actors, the role of religions and religious institutions, the role of regional international organizations, private sector promotion of peace processes, economic aid and peacebuilding, the emergence of complex cooperation even in the world of egoists, and the need for reconciliation in conflict torn societies. How do the theories associated with these issues apply in the context of Northern Ireland’s peace process? Theories of International Relations and Northern Ireland explores primarily middle-range theories of International Relations and examines these theories in the context of the important case of Northern Ireland.

Understanding flexibility for multifunctional flood defences: a conceptual framework

2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 467-484 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fatemeh Anvarifar ◽  
Chris Zevenbergen ◽  
Wil Thissen ◽  
Tushith Islam
Keyword(s):  
Real Options ◽  
Flood Management ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Illustrative Case ◽  
Working Definition ◽  
Self Consistent ◽  
Characteristic Features ◽  
Illustrative Case Study ◽  
Definition Of

Flexibility is often proposed as a valuable capability to cope with uncertainty and change. However, there is no consensus about what constitutes flexibility across the literature. A review of publications on flood management, real options and manufacturing reveals remarkable commonalities along with substantial inconsistencies in the use of flexibility. These observations are used for structuring the discussion of flexibility in this paper. A framework is proposed in the form of four self-consistent and step-wise questions: (Q1) why is flexibility needed; (Q2) what is it that flexibility is required for; (Q3) what are the dimensions of flexibility; (Q4) what needs to change or be adapted? In order to answer the questions in the context of multifunctional flood defences (MFFDs), eight characteristic features of flexibility in connection with the four questions are distilled from the synthesized publications. Subsequently, a working definition of flexibility is developed. An illustrative case study examines the framework's potential for the development of a MFFD. It is shown that the iterative use of the framework can serve as a guideline for identifying and evaluating flexibility for MFFDs. The paper ends with some challenges for future research.

scholarly journals Brief Communication: On the rapid and efficient monitoring results dissemination in landslide emergency scenarios: the Mont de La Saxe case study

2015 ◽  
Vol 15 (9) ◽  
pp. 2009-2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Giordan ◽  
A. Manconi ◽  
P. Allasia ◽  
D. Bertolo
Keyword(s):  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Communication Strategy ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Civil Protection ◽  
Landslide Evolution ◽  
Correct Communication ◽  
Slope Instabilities ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Emergency Scenarios

Abstract. Straightforward communication of monitoring results is of major importance in emergency scenarios relevant to large slope instabilities. Here we describe the communication strategy developed for the Mont de La Saxe rockslide threatening La Palud and Entrèves hamlets in the Courmayeur municipality (Aosta Valley, Italy). Starting from the definition of actions and needs of the landslide management team, including scientists, technicians, civil protection operators, decision makers, and politicians, we show that sharing and disseminating ad hoc information simplifies the understanding of the landslide evolution, as well as the correct communication of the level of criticality.

scholarly journals Towards a web-based GIS for teaching geo-informatics at under-graduate level in developing countries: a case study of Iran

2014 ◽  
Vol XL-6 ◽  
pp. 67-71
Author(s):  
A. Mobasheri ◽  
H. Vahidi ◽  
Q. Guan
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Online Education ◽  
Transformative Learning ◽  
Education System ◽  
Research Direction ◽  
Web Gis ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Graduate Level ◽  
Web Based

In developing countries, the number of experts and students in geo-informatics domain are very limited compared to experts and students of sciences that could benefit from geo-informatics. In this research, we study the possibility of providing an online education system for teaching geo-informatics at under-graduate level. The hypothesis is that in developing countries, such as Iran, a web-based geo-education system can greatly improve the quantity and quality of knowledge of students in undergraduate level, which is an important step that has to be made in regard of the famous "Geo for all" motto. As a technology for conducting natural and social studies, geo-informatics offers new ways of viewing, representing and analysing information for transformative learning and teaching. Therefore, we design and present a conceptual framework of an education system and elaborate its components as well as the free and open source services and software packages that could be used in this framework for a specific case study: the Web GIS course. The goal of the proposed framework is to develop experimental GI-services in a service-oriented platform for education purposes. Finally, the paper ends with concluding remarks and some tips for future research direction.

scholarly journals Ecosystem Services at the Landscape Scale: the Need for Integrative Approaches

2010 ◽  
Vol 23 ◽  
pp. 1-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Felix Müller ◽  
Rudolf De Groot ◽  
Louise Willemen
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Ecosystem Service ◽  
Landscape Scale ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Ecological Processes ◽  
Research Directions ◽  
Main Research ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Whole Systems

During the symposium "Ecosystem Services at the Landscape Scale" from the EU-IALE conference 2009, several challenges for future research on approaches to use the concept of ecosystem services at the landscape scale were identified, focussing on the need for integration. Three main research directions were discussed, (i) the definition of the potentials and limitations of the ecosystem service approach for landscape analysis, (ii) the identification of suitable methods and tools to apply the ecosystem service approach at the landscape scale and (iii) the demand of incorporating ecosystem and landscape services in decision making and management. This paper briefly addresses and discusses some of these topics and puts them into a broader perspective. From this viewpoint it becomes obvious that many high-quality sectoral studies are carried out, e.g. concentrating on specific services or specific linkages within the "ecosystem service cascade" which describes the relation between biophysical characteristics of the landscape, their functions, services, benefits and values for society. In order to provide useful information for decision makers, ecosystem services studies should be supplemented by investigations of the whole systems of interactions between ecological processes and societal valuations.

Lying, Denying, or Justifying?

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 38-64
Author(s):  
Mirjam Edel
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Authoritarian Regimes ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Human Rights Violations ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Ruling Elites ◽  
Main Strategy

In Tunisia under Ben Ali (1987–2011), marked human rights rhetoric coincided with intense repression. This points to a more general puzzle: what happens when authoritarian regimes uphold their repressive power maintenance agendas while simultaneously trying to avoid negative international consequences? This article argues that authoritarian decision-makers attempt to evade negative consequences from international audiences by applying cushioning strategies in the form of obfuscation, rhetorical justification and/or procedural justification. In that way, they adapt their repressive tactics and manipulate the visibility and perception of their repressive behavior. Ben Ali’s main strategy was to obfuscate, i.e. to deny and cover repression. However, as international audiences are far from applying the same yardstick to all human rights violations, ruling elites often repress targets differently depending on whether audiences have links and sympathy. Again, this becomes apparent in the Tunisian case study, from which hypotheses are generated for future research.

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