Suchergebnisse

This study investigated the effectiveness of social media in unifying fragmented Nigerian societies, using Ebonyi state as a case study. The basic assumptions of Media Ecology Theory (MET) provided the premises for this study. The descriptive survey research method was adopted, and a structured questionnaire with close-ended questions was the data collection instrument. A multi-stage sampling technique was used to select the respondents who filled the questionnaire. The Australian calculator was used to empirically reduce the study population to a researchable sample size of 384. Findings from the data analysis show an impressive growth rate of smartphone ownership, internet access, and social media use in Ebonyi state. The use of social media has helped shape the lives of residents of the state socially. Findings also show traces of social fragmentation and disunity in the state. However, most of the respondents agree that, through social media, they make friends from a clan, tribe, ethnicity, state, or even country other than theirs. Based on these and other findings, the researcher recommends that "Effectiveness of social media in unifying fragmented Nigerian societies" be taught as a subject, module or course at secondary and higher levels of learning to help create national consciousness among Nigerians. Consequently, this study concludes that social media possess the potency/ability to unify Nigerians and should be adopted as practical tools for unifying fragmented Nigerian societies.

While small state logic and the imperative of a return to Europe by and large explain why the stringent EU requirements were adopted by the candidate countries prior to membership it, is not suffi cient to explain why they did so to varying degree and at different speeds. Through a comparative analysis of four countries, it is argued that different choices in nation-building affected the countries' capacity to handle large-scale reforms resulting, in a 'go-go' process in the Czech Republic and Estonia and a 'stop-go' process in Slovakia and Latvia. Consequently, at present, as membership of the European Union is well underway, Slovakia and Latvia have already had their nation building discussions. The pending question is what the political consequences will be in the Czech Republic and Estonia if and when nation building finds its way back to the political arena.

"This book explores the political dilemmas around security forces in war-torn countries. Well-governed military and police forces are central to sustained peace after civil war, and efforts to restructure security forces are major components of peacebuilding and stabilization efforts. As international actors have attempted to strengthen oversight and curb abuse, however, they have run into thorny political obstacles. Varied outcomes have raised questions about the value of international assistance for strengthening state institutions"--

Post-conflict societies are commonly constructed as weak, fragile, and failed states. Economic recovery, risks of renewed violent conflict, natural resource degradation, and poverty alleviation become prioritized agendas of donor countries and international institutions. Billions of dollars on development policy and governance reform have been invested. However, misapplication, ineffectiveness, and foreign aid dependency have become a controversial debate on "whose policy, whose governance, and whose outcomes." To understand the problems, the author employs a blend of social constructionism and discourse theory to establish a platform for understanding and discussing hegemonic aid conditionality on recipient governments. The theories also help analyze how the meanings of "post-conflict governance" are socially, economically, and politically constructed and used in state building, state apparatuses, institutional building, and policy-making process. He reveals that the philosophical and theoretical knowledge that underlies the interface between the mode of governance and policy design create the consensus of values, norms and indicators between experts, public servants, donors and communities in post-conflict settings. The author also shares illuminating case studies by way of his considerable wealth of experience leading reconstructive efforts in Afghanistan and Cambodia.

"Why Nation-Building Matters establishes a framework for building security forces, economic development, and political consolidation that blends soft and hard power into a deployable and effective package"--

"Like merchant ships flying flags of convenience to navigate foreign waters, traders in the northern borderlands of the early American republic exploited loopholes in the Jay Treaty that allowed them to avoid border regulations by constantly shifting between British and American nationality. In Citizens of Convenience, Lawrence Hatter shows how this practice undermined the United States' claim to nationhood and threatened the transcontinental imperial aspirations of U.S. policymakers. The U.S.-Canadian border was a critical site of United States nation- and empire-building during the first forty years of the republic. Hatter explains how the difficulty of distinguishing U.S. citizens from British subjects on the border posed a significant challenge to the United States' founding claim that it formed a separate and unique nation. To establish authority over both its own nationals and an array of non-nationals within its borders, U.S. customs and territorial officials had to tailor policies to local needs while delineating and validating membership in the national community. This type of diplomacy--balancing the local with the transnational--helped to define the American people as a distinct nation within the Revolutionary Atlantic world and stake out the United States' imperial domain in North America"--Publisher description

"This book links sectarianism in Iraq to the failure of the modern nation-state to resolve tensions between sectarian identities and concepts of unified statehood and uniform citizenry. After a theoretical excursus that recasts the notion of primordial identity as a socially constructed reality, the author sets out to explain the persistence of sectarian affiliations in Iraq since its creation following the dismemberment of the Ottoman Empire. Despite the adoption of homogenizing state policies, the uneven sectarian composition of the ruling elites nurtured feelings of political exclusion among marginalized sectarian groups, the Shiites before 2003 and the Sunnis in the post-2003 period. The book then examines how communal discourses in the educational curriculum provoked masked forms of resistance that sharpened sectarian consciousness. Tracing how the anti-Persian streak in the nation-state's Pan-Arab ideology, which camouflaged anti-Shiaism, undermined Iraq's national integration project, Sectarianism in Iraq delves into the country's slide from a totalizing Pan-Arab ideology in the pre-2003 period toward the atomistic impulse of the federalist debate in the post-2003 period. Employing extensive fieldwork, this book sheds light on the dynamics of political life in post-Saddam Iraq and is essential reading for Iraqi and Middle East specialists, as well as those interested in understanding the current heightening of sectarian Sunni-Shicite tensions in the Middle East"--

"This book examines the ways in which long-term processes of state-formation limit the possibilities for short-term political projects of statebuilding. Using process-oriented approaches, the authors explore what happens when conscious efforts at statebuilding 'meet' social contexts, and are transformed into daily routines. In order to explain their findings, they also analyse the temporally and spatially broader structures of world society which shape the possibilities of statebuilding. Statebuilding and State Formation includes a variety of case studies from post-conflict societies in Africa, Asia and Europe, as well as the headquarters and branch offices of international agencies. Drawing on various theoretical approaches from sociology and anthropology, the contributors discuss external interventions as well as self-led statebuilding projects. This edited volume is divided into three parts: - Part I: State Formation, Violence and Political Economy - Part II: Governance, Legitimacy and Practice in Statebuilding and State-Formation - Part III: The International Self - Statebuilders' Institutional Logics, Social Backgrounds and Subjectivities The book will be of great interest to students of statebuilding and intervention, war and conflict studies, international security and IR"--

As spaces of knowledge, the national museums and galleries of nineteenth-century Europe played an important role both in the shaping of nation-states and the education of their populations. In this context, such institutions sought to convey the history of the people, for example by displaying pictorial cycles of important scenes from their history, exhibiting objects associated with certain formative events, or arraying period rooms to promote a specific impression of the past. The contributions to this volume examine the purposes and educational strategies of national museums and national galleries via case studies from Denmark, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Sweden, and Switzerland.

The Arab uprisings that began in 2011 have drawn attention to elements crucial to assessing and reassessing the ways that states form, stay together, and react to the forces of globalization. For different states in the MENA region, this has had different implications and consequences that stem from the politics of identity and the historical and political processes individual states have faced in their development. This volume examines these elements in terms of religion, ethnicity, and identity - among other factors - to illustrate their importance in state formation and the ways that they have been affected by the uprisings. It focuses on the historical, political, economic, and social factors at work, especially as they take shape next to globalization. Case studies include well-established states such as Egypt, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia, as well as less well established Gulf countries such as Bahrain. The authors take the view that identity is a dynamic and changing element in the process of state formation.

This is an expansive study of what we call "The Global Right to Democracy." The idea gestates from a late 20th century reading of Immanuel Kant. This book is the first comprehensive look at the intersection of neo-Kantian theory and democratization programs undertaken by international organizations and non-governmental bodies in post-conflict and fragile states. The features of this new, assumed right, seem to graft onto international law--and thus hand over to international agencies--methods of protecting and effecting 'democracy' in its broadest definition. The consequence seems to be an alt.

Can 'traditional' leaders and institutions help to build more legitimate, accountable and effective governments in polities or 'states' under (re)construction? This book investigates the fascinating case of "Somaliland", the 20-year old non-recognized state which emerged from Somalia's conflict and state collapse.

This research paper examines the role of mass media in fostering positivity for the purpose of nation building. The mass media, including television, radio, print, and online platforms, holds significant influence over public opinion and societal attitudes. However, in recent years, there has been a growing concern about the predominance of negative news and content, which can have detrimental effects on the overall well-being of individuals and the development of a cohesive society. This study explores strategies and approaches to enhance positivity in mass media for the betterment of nations. It investigates the potential benefits, challenges, and ethical considerations associated with promoting positivity through various media channels. This paper provides recommendations for media organizations, policymakers, and society at large to cultivate a more positive media landscape that contributes to nation building.

"This edited book analyses the issues of state-building, the rule of law and good governance, and human rights in the post-Soviet space after 30 years from the USSR dissolution. In doing so, it assesses the presence (or absence) and the level of influence of the Soviet legacies in the constructed political and legal systems of the post-Soviet republics. Assessing whether individual's interests are protected in theory and practice, the book conceptualizes the legacies that the Soviet Union left in the post-Soviet space after 30 years of disintegration. This book will be of key interest to scholars and students of human rights, governance, democratization studies, post-Soviet and Russia studies, and more widely to comparative politics, political economy, humanitarian studies and political history"--