Suchergebnisse

What is the status and role in public action of the knowledge possessed by 'simple' citizens, users and professionals? That is the question broached in both this article and the entire special issue for which it serves as the introduction. To this end, we explore the abundant scientific literature pertaining to the topic and try to situate our own position within the broader setting. After discussing the gradual questioning of the social representations that have made scientific knowledge the ideal and standard by which we measure all knowledge, we argue that many authors with an essentialist approach to knowledge have stressed the differences between scientific knowledge and non-scientific knowledge, often leaving us at an impasse. We argue therefore that it is preferable to advance an approach in which knowledge is as at once relational and in a constant process of hybridization. Having opted for and justified this position, we then focus on the – hybrid – knowledge possessed by citizens, users and professionals, by first probing the reasons for the growing involvement of these actors in the production of knowledge and policies. We then ponder the nature and foundations of the complaints and criticisms frequently levelled at participatory mechanisms as to the actual role played in these areas by the knowledge held by 'local' actors. In the end, we identify proposals defended by certain authors to make the interactions of actors from different social worlds more symmetrical.

Decentralized decision making has created restructuring from larger to smaller administrative units, but in many places, strays little from existing arrangements. Moves toward decentralization from central government to city‐regions, and in some areas, below city‐region scale to neighborhoods, reflect a mandate for reform. What is the nature and extent of desired reforms? Using an institutionalist lens, homogeneity and heterogeneity in local narratives about possible future reform can be surfaced. This article emphasizes the importance of understanding the role of local actors' narratives in shaping decentralized institutions. This article uses the findings from a Q‐methodology study to identify and interrogate distinctive local viewpoints on attempts to decentralize decision making in England. In a systematic empirical analysis, local actors' narratives were largely in favor of relatively minor modifications to the status quo. The findings question a conflation of decentralization with participation in decision making.

Drawing on the experiences of 25 Salvadoran activists in the metro District of Columbia (DC) area, I examine how seasoned activists, or individuals with long-standing organizing experience, maintain critical stances toward their homeland government's practices while using hostland resources to organize and lessen the impact it has on their compatriots. Building on Vertovec's notion of the "transnational consciousness," I show seasoned activists use this mind-set to analyze two components of the Salvadoran experience—they see individual remittances creating unnecessary burdens and no political clout for expatriates in El Salvador and are concerned with temporary protected status putting holders in legal limbo in the metro DC area. Understanding this mind-set uncovers the experience of being both "here" and "there" but ultimately leads seasoned activists to become better activists in their evolving organizing work.

Examines the influence of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and European Union (EU) on governments' policy-making autonomy; Russia, Bulgaria, and Czech Republic; 1990s.

Debates over localisation in transitional justice and peacebuilding have been characterised by the assumption that more equitable relationships between local and international actors allow for more effective and just interventions. Critical scholarship has in turn cautioned over the use of reified conceptions of the 'local' and 'international', emphasising each as contested sites. Through a network analysis of transitional justice event data in Cambodia, we ask: what are the roles and influence of Cambodian actors, and what might their positions tell us about the relationships between international and local groups? We find that event data shows strong local representation within the transitional justice community. However, representation is not synonymous with influence. Our data demonstrates an uneven distribution of network positions within both local and international groupings. This illustrates the need for greater attention to the role of individual biographies that advantage certain individuals to shape transitional justice interventions.

Previous studies show that blemished infrastructural development projects dispossessed local population and degraded natural resources to a greater extent in the developing countries. Therefore, this research is aimed at determining how land use decisions affect local habitats and resources. Thus, the data were collected from the recently constructed water reservoir in the southern part of Pakistan, named Chotiari. Our findings show that the project is hampered by the local actors' nonparticipation in decision-making, deceptive information dissemination by the authorities, misuse of funds, power relations, improper rehabilitation plans and unequal access to natural resources. We paid attention to the actors' network, land as well as the property rights violations, which have created the conflicts, where the causes of the conflicts of land use super positioned in the light of international rules and laws have also been explained. Thus, it is recommended that, for natural resource governance and land use conflict management, it is imperative to take all stakeholders on board during feasibility of any infrastructural setting. Furthermore, the awareness campaigns regarding the environmental importance and valuation of natural resources must be on the topmost agenda of the government.

There is a dearth of studies exploring the construction of ideas on regionalism outside Europe. This article seeks to make a contribution to close this gap. It examines the construction of ideas on regionalism in Indonesia, the largest member country of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Theoretically, the paper draws from Acharya's concept of 'constitutive localization' which it develops further. It offers an alternative explanation to studies which argue that as a result of mimetic behavior, social learning, and cost-benefit calculations, regional organizations across the world become increasingly similar. While this may be the case in terms of rhetoric and organizational structure, it is not necessarily the case at a normative level. The Indonesian case shows that even though foreign policy stakeholders have increasingly championed European ideas of regional integration after the Asian Financial Crisis of 1997/1998, they have skillfully amalgamated them with older local worldviews through framing, grafting, and pruning. European ideas of regional integration thereby served to modernize and relegitimize a foreign policy agenda which seeks to establish Indonesia as a regional leader with ambitions to play a major role in global politics. Adapted from the source document.