Internal Displacement and Peacebuilding: Institutional Responses

Addressing the needs and respecting the rights of internallydisplaced persons (IDPs) is not only a humanitarian and humanrights issue, but also a strategic one affecting both internationalpeace and security and the prospects for sustainable development.This article explores the conceptual linkages between internaldisplacement and peacebuilding, focusing on the ways in whichaddressing the concerns and needs of IDPs can contribute tosustainable peace. The second half of the article looks at institutionalresponses to the challenge of integrating internal displacementinto peacebuilding, with a particular focus on the potentialrole of the new UN Peacebuilding Commission (PBC).     

Peace Processes and IDP Solutions

The forcible uprooting of people is an inevitable consequenceof armed conflict. The processes by which peace agreements arenegotiated and implemented will determine whether and underwhat conditions internally displaced persons (IDPs) will returnhome or whether other solutions will be necessary or possible.If countries newly emerging from conflict are able to find durablesolutions for IDPs and other war-affected populations, it isa significant bellwether for the success of the overall peaceprocess. IDP concerns arise most visibly in the humanitarianpractices of government and insurgent parties prior to the conclusionof an overall peace agreement. Subsequently, the language inpeace agreements about procedures for refugee returns also encompassesIDP questions. Over the long term, the integration of IDPs dependson the local, regional, and national implementation of agreedprinciples. International monitoring of local implementationis weak at best.     

Displaced and segregated: The socio-economic status of the second generation of internally displaced Palestinians in Israel

This study investigates the effects of displacement on the socio-economic status of second-generation Palestinian internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Israel. The results show that members of this group do not differ from non-displaced Palestinians in their educational or occupational attainment, but that displaced households experience higher rates of poverty and poorer housing conditions than non-displaced households. I find that the relationship between displacement and the prime indicators of social mobility—education and jobs—was weakened by three factors: extreme spatial segregation between Palestinians and Jews, the concentration of disadvantage among Palestinian IDPs within the host communities, which were Palestinian spaces, and a high level of dependence on resources concentrated in Jewish spaces among all Palestinians, not just IDPs. These three conditions, however, do not eliminate gaps in assets and land ownership between IDPs and non-displaced Palestinians, which, I argue, contribute to higher poverty rates among displaced households.     

The political economy of rationing in social health insurance

Due to the rapid progress in medical technology social insurance systems will soon no longer be able to grant health services without limits but must employ non-price rationing devices. This raises the question how these limits will be determined. Here we consider a direct democracy where the size of the social health insurance plan is determined in a popular referendum using simple majority rule. Moreover, two different kinds of rationing are distinguished according to whether additional private purchases of health care are allowed. For both systems we examine the size of the social insurance system in a political equilibrium, and we compare the results in particular with respect to their distributional effects.Funding for this research from the Norwegian Research Council under the Ruhrgas Scholarship Scheme and valuable comments by two anonymous referees are gratefully acknowledged.     

City Branding and Social Inclusion in the Glocal City

Abstract

This article begins with a re-assessment of city branding that focuses on the marketing strategies routinely employed to promote a competitive identity for the contemporary ‘glocal’ city, before moving on to the issue of social inclusion. Combining a socio-semiotic approach with recent insights from urban studies, it explores a sample of 12 British city council websites to discuss to what extent web-mediated communication, within the modernisation agenda espoused by local authorities, may effectively help to represent and give voice to today’s multicultural and migrant urban communities. The article adopts a critical reading of municipal websites with the aim of understanding how a social inclusion agenda can be incorporated into the authoritative and functional discourse typically used by the sites and proposes that the onset of new interactive technologies, such as blogs and social networks, do have significant democratic potential in this respect, even though their incorporation into the sites is still at a preliminary stage. As such, the article is concerned with how flows of information and people are coming together in the early twenty-first century and transforming what began as a static textual/discursive space into one that is responsive to the flux of the contemporary city. At the time of writing, this is very much a communication revolution in the making, with the new interactive portals sitting somewhat awkwardly alongside information-based web pages and links. In addition, the article investigates the ways in which the sites attempt to present their cities as diasporic, cosmopolitan and ‘glocalized’ spaces, paying particular attention to the subjugated discourse of migration and the way that the cities’ non-white population is fixed and bounded by aesthetic and discursive means.     

Naming,blaming, and claiming in public disputes: the 1998 Maine referendum on civil rights protection for gay men and lesbians

On February 10, 1998, voters in Maine repealed a law providing civil rights protection for gay men and lesbians. This article provides an analysis of the argument strategies used by both parties to the dispute, shedding light on the particular tactics that contributed to the repeal. Felstiner, Abel, and Sarat's (1981) sociolegal theory of naming, blaming, and claiming is offered as a lens to examine conservatives' anti-gay rights arguments in the campaign. The theory helps demonstrate how conservatives' argument patterns created narratives that successfully appealed to disparate audiences in Maine, thus garnering sufficient voter support to pass the appeal referendum. I also define weaknesses in GLBT supporters' counter-arguments using this theoretical perspective. Finally, I offer suggestions for argument strategies in future campaigns that could strengthen uncommitted voters' support for gay civil rights initiatives.     

当前我国出生性别比异常的经济学思考

我国出生性别比偏高的问题近几年愈演愈烈,被广泛关注的范围已经从学术界扩大了整个社会。本文拟就从产生问题的根源——男孩偏好以及隐藏在其背后的男女孩儿预期效用迥异入手,提出对当前已有政策的一些修正方案。笔者认为:诚如许多专家学者指出,问题产生的根本原因是文化因素——男孩偏好,但是问题解决的根本出路绝不能仅限于男女平等,而应该实行对女孩的积极的性别歧视。     

For Western Girls Only?

Much of the literature on post-feminism concerns the “Western” world and variously conceptualizes post-feminism as “Western culture.” This article argues that, as a result, feminist cultural scholars have not sufficiently imagined, theorized, or empirically researched the possibility of post-feminism in non-Western cultural contexts. By briefly reviewing what has been said in the literature about post-feminism and the non-West, and by putting this in dialogue with transnational feminist cultural scholarship, this article makes a case for a transnational analytic and methodological approach to the critical study of post-feminism. It argues that such an approach provides an understanding of post-feminism as a transnationally circulating culture, and thus can better account for the fact that the culture interpellates not only women in the West but also others elsewhere. The article concludes by outlining what it means and could afford feminist cultural scholars to work with a new conceptual view of post-feminism as transnational culture.     

Generationenabfolge – ein Faktor des Wandels in Modernisierungsprozessen. Shmuel N. Eisenstadts Beitrag zur Generationensoziologie

This paper will highlight to what extend Eisenstadt’s theory connects to the approach of historic generations. At first, his early comparative work “From Generation to Generation” is reconstructed. In this book, Eisenstadt presents a model of generations based on structural-functionalist assumptions; he conceptualizes the relation between generations and social change as a problem of system integration of specific age-groups on the one hand and the regulation of tensions between these groups on the other hand. Using the youth- and student movements as an example, this article shows how Eisenstadt’s interpretations change with the development of his theory. In the second part of this paper, it will be proposed how his approach can be developed further by interlocking his concept more closely with Mannheim’s theory of generations as well as other recent findings of socialization theory. It will furthermore be discussed, how his modernization theory has the potential to solve a theoretical problem inherent in Mannheim’s approach.     

Is Low Fertility a Temporary Phenomenon in the European Union?

This article addresses two questions: (i) will the mere end of further postponement of fertility in the EU-countries lead to an appreciable rise in European fertility and bring total fertility rates closer to replacement level, as witnessed in the United States? and (ii) what are the chances that such a stop to postponement is imminent? The answer to the first question is positive, but only if there is enough recuperation of fertility at older ages. Translated in the Bongaarts–Feeney framework, this condition means that the birth-order-specific TFRs would indeed remain constant. In the absence of full recuperation at older ages, the induced rise in the national TFRs would be trivial and by no means restore period and cohort TFRs to replacement levels. Hence, caution is needed when using the Bongaarts–Feeney adjusted TFRs for pro-jective purposes. With respect to the second question, female education and employment trends in tandem with ideational and family disruption data are used to speculate about the prospects for such an end to further fertility postponement and for fertility increases at older ages. Strikingly, EU-countries that have the greatest potential for still later fertility are also the ones with very low TFRs (below 1.5) at present. The overall conclusion is that low to very low fertility in the EU is unlikely to be a temporary phenomenon     

Effect of adjustment for sex composition in the measurement of fertility on intrinsic rates

The inconsistencies inherent in the one-sex models created a need for the construction of what are known as marriage functions, especially for the measurement of fertility. But attempts to develop marriage functions have been frustrated by the inability of the proposed functions to meet certain consistency conditions and also by difficulties in empiracally determining function parameters. Among several functions proposed so far, Das Gupta's (1972) "effective population" deserves special mention. He uses both sexes in its formulation, and has shown that the constancy of fertility rates based on such a function together with the constancy of survivorship probabilities of both sexes would result in a stable population. It is suggested in this article that the major source of the problem in a two-sex model seems to be the requirement that the model has to be specific both for sex and age. The ideal of incorporating the relative composition of one sex in the age-specific rates of the other, thereby creating a function dependent on both sexes, is advanced in this article. Such functions, defined explicitly for births, can be easily translated into age-specific birth rates. In addition to simplicity in the definition and form, the conditions leading toward stability can also be established. Interestingly enough, the intrinsic rate for this two-sex model lies in the interval determined by the rates obtained from the two one-sex models.     

The Well-Being of the Canadian Arctic Inuit: The Relevant Weight of Economy in the Happiness Equations

Which of the three dimensions of Allardt’s model, “having, loving, and being”, best predicts the incidence of subjective feeling of well-being among the Canadian Arctic Inuit adults? To answer this question, two logistic regression equations have been constructed, one based on a negative assessment of well-being (feeling of despair), and the other on a positive assessment (satisfaction with life in the community). Each of them took first the form of a global model, and then of three scale models, one for each dimension of the Allardt’s model. The equations are likely to be more effective for predicting the incidence of Inuit’s feeling of satisfaction than for anticipating their feeling of despair. Furthermore, the “being” scale model is the one that will have contributed most to the predictive performance of the global model. In other words, what the Inuit “ARE” contributes more to the incidence of their satisfaction with life than what they “HAVE” or what they “LOVE”.     

Prolegomena zu einer Theorie der symbolischen Gewalt

The development of modern society calls for a substantial extension of the sociological understanding of violence. To this end, Pierre Bourdieu??s concept of ??symbolic violence?? is of crucial importance. In this article, Bourdieu??s reflections on symbolic violence scattered throughout his oeuvre are collected, qualified and knit together. In the next step, Bourdieu??s perspective will be critically compared with other relevant approaches to the sociology of power and violence in order to assess the contribution of Bourdieu??s sociology for a systematic theory of symbolic violence. Finally, it will be scrutinized to what extend Bourdieu??s approach allows for an empirical analysis of modern phenomena of domination.     

Zum Mehrwert von Gesundheit im Postfordismus

Since the 1980s, health has turned out to be one of the highest individual values and an economic, social and political force. But what is the structural background of this development? Based on discourse analysis focusing the social and structural conditions of Post-Fordism, this article argues that the value of health is currently characterized as a double movement. On the one hand, an expansive dynamic of this value has developed since the 1970s that was provoked by a subjective and a symbolic surplus value of health. On the other hand, the appropriation of this surplus value of health in Post-Fordism is more and more restricted. Therefore, the article concludes, the culture of health tends to become a constitutive element in the reproduction and enforcement of social inequalities.     

Gender dysphoric/gender variant (GD/GV) children and adolescents: summarizing what we know and what we have yet to learn

The optimal approach to treating minors with gender dysphoria/gender variance (GD/GV) is much more controversial than treating these phenomena in adults. This is because children have limited capacity to participate in decision making regarding their own treatment, and even adolescents have no legal ability to provide informed consent. Minors must, therefore, depend on parents or other caregivers to make treatment decisions on their behalf, including those that will influence the course of their lives in the long term. Presently, the highest level of evidence available for selecting among the various approaches to treatment is best characterized as "expert opinion." Yet, opinions vary widely among experts and are influenced by theoretical orientation and assumptions and beliefs regarding the origins of gender identity, as well as its perceived malleability at particular stages of development. This article outlines some of the more salient points raised by the clinicians who treat GD/GV and their discussants. This article summarizes what the editors believe is known and what has yet to be learned about minors with GD/GV, their families, their treatment, and their surrounding cultures.     

How the World Survived the Population Bomb: Lessons From 50 Years of Extraordinary Demographic History

The world population will reach 7 billion in late 2011, a demographic milestone that is causing renewed attention to the challenges caused by population growth. This article looks at the last 50 years of demographic change, one of the most extraordinary periods in demographic history. During this period, world population grew at rates that have never been seen before and will almost surely never be seen again. There were many concerns about the potential impact of rapid population growth in the 1960s, including mass starvation in countries such as India, depletion of nonrenewable resources, and increased poverty in low-income countries. The actual experience was very different. World food production increased faster than world population in every decade since the 1960s, resource prices fell during most of the period, and poverty declined significantly in much of the developing world. The article considers the economic and demographic explanations for the surprising successes of this important period in demographic history. It also looks at regions that have been less successful, especially Africa, and at the lessons for dealing with the important challenges that still remain.     

‘When and where does being Welsh matter to me?’ The influence of cross-border mobilities on constructions of sub-national belonging in the lives of Welsh Muslims*

This article will discuss how Welsh Muslims construct what a sense of place means to them through their cross-border mobility between England and Wales, and how this contributes to the ongoing re-construction of a plural understanding of nationhood in an era of diversity. To understand when and where being Welsh matters to Welsh Muslims, it will explore how mobility rather than being the antithesis of belonging, can be used as an essential tool in highlighting how perceptions of the nation, sub-state nation, home and place are influenced and understood.     

Queering the politics of lambda picture book finalists: challenging creeping neoliberalism through curricular innovations

In many instances, adults serve as gatekeepers for what books children are permitted to explore. Unfortunately, this means that most children have limited access to picture books with lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) characters. In this article, we use queer pedagogy and observations about neoliberalism to provide a qualitative analysis of LGBTQ characters in picture books which were finalists for a Lambda Literary Award during 2000-2005. We examined the ways in which LGBTQ identities and relationships are negotiated and how sexual prejudice is treated. While it is improbable that the books we analyze would be embraced by proponents of neoliberalism, we also briefly consider some ways in which they may be inadvertently consistent with that perspective. The article closes with recommendations regarding discussion questions, additional readings, and educational activities aimed at guiding children, and adults, to appreciate a diversity of multidimensional identities and family structures, to develop strategies to respond constructively to emotional and physical violence, and to promote the public wellbeing. We hope that this analysis will lead to more frequent, productive, and expansive discussions of this literature among adults and children.