Suchergebnisse

Examines issues related to the use of social research in planning & formulating social policy, reviews a series of models of research use, & considers researchers' motives for producing policy-relevant research as well as the institutional obstacles they face. Focus is on practical characteristics of a research study that increase the likelihood of its consideration & application by policymakers. Recommendations are made for discussion & research in this area. 29 References. Adapted from the source document.

The diversity of conflict sequences observed among 163 ethnic groups ranging from 1945 to 1994 is portrayed in correspondence with political and socio-economic factors. This diversity comes first from the strong association between mobilization, slight discrimination, migration distress, religion and repression. On a finer detail, discrimination appears to be associated with resistance if it is related to land and power, with war if it concerns social mobility, or with insurgency if it has to do with social customs. Migration from rural to urban and abroad is accompanied by high mobilization and rioting or war when social mobility is at stake. Declining state power and democratization can open the door to violent action. Finally, there is also international diffusion of protest. Locating minority groups in this landscape of correspondence helps to compare and characterize the various particular histories. These range from Lebanon's period of war, or the years of insurgency in Iran or Somalia, to the mixture of verbal opposition and terrorism in Western democracies. Crystallizing protest in India or China is differentiated against the deterioriation of group coherence in the Middle East; sporadic bursts of violence in Africa are contrasted against insurgency and rioting in East and Southeast Asia. The results point to the need for conflict prevention policies to pay more attention to the promotion of equitable social mobility.

The UNESCO social science research program, Management of Social Transformations (MOST), scheduled for inauguration in Jan 1994, should provide a research base for national & subnational policy making from a global perspective. An approach balanced between developed & developing countries is planned on the themes of: management of change in multicultural & multiethnic societies; cites as areas of accelerated social transformation; & local & regional adjustment to economic, technical, & environmental transformations. MOST will contribute to building up institutional & scientific capacity & data infrastructure in developing countries. Projects will be identified through coordination between applicants, as well as through the two central bodies of MOST -- the Intergovernmental Council & the Scientific Steering Committee of UNESCO. M. Pflum