Appraisal of Order in ASEAN and SAARC: A Comparative Inquiry

The paper examines how ASEAN has emerged as a face of Southeast Asia: from anarchy to order, to promote stability, strengthen sovereignty, reduce the role of great powers and build the harmony of interests among the states, while SAARC remained less effective in maintaining Order in South Asia. While combating the challenges of communism and regional instability, ASEAN’s has minimized the involvement of non-state actors while keeping the state’s sovereignty at the forefront. On the other hand, SAARC remained less influential in maintaining Order under common norms, values and interests due to a lack of the conflict management mechanism and inbuilt hostility between India and Pakistan. To understand the reason for the effectiveness of ASEAN Vis-à-vis SAARC, the conceptual framework of Order proposed by Hedley Bull provides a befitting context to examine both regional platforms. Both ASEAN and SAARC had the aim to solve interstate conflicts, but SAARC turned out to be ineffective. Hence, a comparative analysis critically evaluates how and why ASEAN has performed better than SAARC in conflict management. Eventually, the paper discusses the possible changes that SAARC can make to maintain Order in South Asia.

Comparing education for sustainable development in initial teacher education across four countries

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to undertake a cross-comparative inquiry into Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) related to governance, initiatives and practices in initial teacher education (ITE) across four countries with very different contexts – Sweden, Scotland, Canada and Australia. It provides insights into issues arising internationally, implications for ESD in ITE and offers learnings for other countries and contexts. Design/methodology/approach A cross-comparative study design with overarching themes and within-case descriptions was applied to consider, compare and contrast governance characteristics, initiatives and practices from each context. Findings The approaches to governance, initiatives and practices that each country adopts are unique yet similar, and all four countries have included ESD in ITE to some extent. Comparing and contrasting approaches has revealed learnings focussed on ESD in relation to governance and regulation, practices and leadership. Research limitations/implications Making comparisons between different contexts is difficult and uncertain and often misses the richness and nuances of the individual sites under study. However, it remains an important endeavour as the challenges of embedding ESD in ITE will be better understood and overcome if countries can learn from one another. Originality/value Scrutinising different approaches is valuable for broadening views about possibilities and understanding how policies and initiatives translate in practice.

Perspectives on Corruption and Charlatanry in Politics: An Analysis of Chinua Achebe’s A Man of the People and Emeka Nwabueze’s A Parliament of Vultures

This paper presents a critical comparative inquiry aimed at discussing patterns of Chinua Achebe’s A Man of the People and Emeka Nwabueze’s A Parliament of Vultures, portrayal, definition, situation as well as contextualization of political corruption and charlatanry in Nigeria. In addition, we are looking at how the texts’ application of the same literary device in projecting similar massages through biting satirical undertones, scathing rebukes and grim humour. Hence, we shall examine the effectiveness of this device in specific instances. To this end, this study seeks to interpret the embedded messages in the texts’ projections of corruption and charlatanry through two characters – Chief Nanga in A Man of the People and Mrs. Omeaku in A Parliament of Vultures. Furthermore, our aim is to explain what the texts view as the immediate and future consequences of the alluded negative vices to the society, espouse on the variables they adduce as the propelling forces, understand better their suppositions on why these vices fester, and adumbrate on suggestions from the texts on how these vices can be eradicated or contained. To carry out this discussion, we are applying theories espousing on reasons behind corruption in politics, and our discussion will be hinged on interpretive approach.

Lexical bundles in PhD dissertations and master theses: A comparative inquiry

"The objective of the current research was to analyze and compare the 4-gram lexical bundles from the three part-genre corpora. For the theoretical framework, Hyland’s (2008) taxonomy of lexical bundles was exploited. The corpus of the study consisted of 100 Master theses and PhD dissertations. The study was focused on abstract, introduction, and conclusion only and did not enter into other parts of the Master theses and PhD dissertations. The abstract part-genre contained noticeably more bundles than the other two part-genres. In addition, introduction and abstract part-genres contained the highest amount of research-oriented bundles. As far as participant-oriented bundles are concerned, it is the conclusion part that includes noticeably more of these bundles than the other two part-genres. Overall, findings of this research showed that in three major part-genres of the academically key genre of PhD dissertations and M.A. theses, i.e. abstract, introduction, and conclusion, it is the abstract that enjoys a high amount of formulaic language in the form of lexical bundles."

The Effect of Interviewers’ Genders on the Quantity and Quality of Their Interviewees’ Output: A Comparative Inquiry among Saudi Students

Gender segregation is widely established in Saudi Arabia, and this may affect the interviewing dynamic in conducting spoken tests. Such an effect could pose significant consequences for interviewees; for example, it might affect their ability to obtain high scores in the speaking sections of standardized tests (e.g., the IELTS). This could prevent them from enrolling in universities in English speaking countries (e.g., United States, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada) as well as other universities that require such tests for enrollment purposes. As such, this study attempts to explore whether the gender of an interviewer can affect how a respondent forms their answer in terms of both depth and length. In this study, two interviewers (a male and a female) interviewed six Saudis of both genders, comprising a total of 12 interviews. The results showed that when both the interviewer and the interviewee were of the same gender, interviewees’ responses tended to be lengthy, and they were more likely to expand their response to other related topics. On the other hand, when both the interviewer and the interviewee were not of the same gender, brevity and/or avoidance characterized their answers.

3. Comparative Research Methods

This chapter examines the ‘art of comparing’ by showing how to relate a theoretically guided research question to a properly founded research answer by developing an adequate research design. It first considers the role of variables in comparative research, before discussing the meaning of ‘cases’ and case selection. It then looks at the ‘core’ of the comparative research method: the use of the logic of comparative inquiry to analyse the relationships between variables (representing theory), and the information contained in the cases (the data). Two logics are distinguished: Method of Difference and Method of Agreement. The chapter concludes with an assessment of some problems common to the use of comparative methods.

Effect of compound feed acidification on the body weight gain of quails on mini-farms

The article presents the study results on the fattening effectiveness of Texas Broiler quails using the formulated feed with “B.I.O. Acid Ultra” acidifier. Space and layout design of the mini-farm allowed to house 1000 head of the main flock and up to 300 young birds. The inside climate system of the mini-farm maintained the temperature in the range of 18 °C -20 °C and 75% humidity. In the study, 250 head of daily chicks were randomly selected and divided into 5 groups of 50 head each – one control group and four experimental ones. The study lasted for 8 weeks, i.e. the meat quail fattening period. The addition of the acidifier to the diet in the amount of 0.23% was found to result in 9.0% increase in the bodyweight of the 8-week old quails. The average daily weight increments also increased during the entire fattening period. The use of the acidifier reduced the feed conversion ratio by 4.1% – 6.79 versus 7.1 in the control group. However, the effect of different acidifiers on the effectiveness of quail fattening and the organoleptic and other quality indicators of the quail meat requires further comparative inquiry.