The politics of engagement between Islam and the secular state: ambivalences of 'civil society'

The paper reveals contemporary transformations of the interaction between Islam and secular states from opposition to engagement. In-depth ethnographic evidence challenges the predominant juxtaposition of Islam against the secular state. Following micro-sites of interaction between the Gülen movement and the state from Turkey to Kazakhstan, my fieldwork revealed a continuum of engagements between them. The paper analyses the engagements ranging from contestation and negotiation to co-operation. The case illustrates the extent to which scholarly interest in opposition and clash has left a wide-ranging variety of state-Islam interaction understudied with regard to civil society. It also reveals the conditions under which effective Islamic horizontal organizations have provided the platforms of vertical engagements with the secular states. The major argument of the paper is that both civil and uncivil outcomes in the Muslim world are primarily shaped by the nature of state-Islam interaction. The evidence suggests that the key to understanding the relationship between Islam and civil society is the state.     

A Monte Carlo simulation study on partially adaptive estimators of linear regression models

This paper presents a comprehensive comparison of well-known partially adaptive estimators (PAEs) in terms of efficiency in estimating regression parameters. The aim is to identify the best estimators of regression parameters when error terms follow from normal, Laplace, Student's t, normal mixture, lognormal and gamma distribution via the Monte Carlo simulation. In the results of the simulation, efficient PAEs are determined in the case of symmetric leptokurtic and skewed leptokurtic regression error data. Additionally, these estimators are also compared in terms of regression applications. Regarding these applications, using certain standard error estimators, it is shown that PAEs can reduce the standard error of the slope parameter estimate relative to ordinary least squares.     

In search of disability rights: citizenship and Turkish disability organizations

Criticizing modern citizenship’s emphasis on the ‘nation’ as a homogeneous body of citizens, recent citizenship conceptions draw attention to diverse group identities and their differentiated rights‐claims. By way of scrutinizing different disability organizations, this paper analyzes the struggles by people with disabilities in Turkey and examines whether these could be perceived as claims to new forms of citizenship. It argues that due to the institutional, political, cultural and historical specificities of Turkey, most non‐governmental organizations maintain relations of patronage with state actors. Far from initiating a rights‐based discourse, their activities cannot be perceived within recent citizenship frameworks. Yet, parallel to Turkey’s accession process to the EU and technological developments, alternative forms of organizing started emerging at the virtual level. These are the harbingers of a relatively more rights‐based discourse.     

The E-Bayesian and hierarchical Bayesian estimations for the proportional reversed hazard rate model based on record values

In this paper, E-Bayesian and hierarchical Bayesian estimations of the shape parameter, when the underlying distribution belongs to the proportional reversed hazard rate model, are considered. Maximum likelihood, Bayesian and E-Bayesian estimates of the unknown parameter and reliability function are obtained based on record values. The Bayesian estimates are derived based on squared error and linear–exponential loss functions. It is pointed out that some previously obtained order relations of E-Bayesian estimates are inadequate and these results are improved. The relationship between E-Bayesian and hierarchical Bayesian estimations is obtained under the same loss functions. The comparison of the derived estimates is carried out by using Monte Carlo simulations. A real data set is analysed for an illustration of the findings.     

Robust trading mechanisms over 0/1 polytopes

The problem of designing a trade mechanism (for an indivisible good) between a seller and a buyer is studied in the setting of discrete valuations of both parties using tools of finite-dimensional optimization. A robust trade design is defined as one which allows both traders a dominant strategy implementation independent of other traders’ valuations with participation incentive and no intermediary (i.e., under budget balance). The design problem which is initially formulated as a mixed-integer non-linear non-convex feasibility problem is transformed into a linear integer feasibility problem by duality arguments, and its explicit solution corresponding to posted price optimal mechanisms is derived along with full characterization of the convex hull of integer solutions. A further robustness concept is then introduced for a central planner unsure about the buyer or seller valuation distribution, a corresponding worst-case design problem over a set of possible distributions is formulated as an integer linear programming problem, and a polynomial solution procedure is given. When budget balance requirement is relaxed to feasibility only, i.e., when one allows an intermediary maximizing the expected surplus from trade, a characterization of the optimal robust trade as the solution of a simple linear program is given. A modified VCG mechanism turns out to be optimal.     

Uniform trade rules for uncleared markets

We analyze markets in which the price of a traded commodity is such that the supply and the demand are unequal. Under standard assumptions, the agents then have single peaked preferences on their consumption or production choices. For such markets, we propose a class of Uniform trade rules each of which determines the volume of trade as the median of total demand, total supply, and an exogenous constant. Then these rules allocate this volume “uniformly” on either side of the market. We evaluate these “trade rules” on the basis of some standard axioms in the literature. We show that they uniquely satisfy Pareto optimality, strategy proofness, no-envy, and an informational simplicity axiom that we introduce. We also analyze the implications of anonymity, renegotiation proofness, and voluntary trade on this domain.     

城市流动人口社会融合的过程、测量及影响因素

本文提出流动人口的社会融合是一个逐步同化和减少排斥的过程,是流动人口对城市的主观期望和城市的客观接纳相统一的过程,是本地人口和外来移民发生相互交往和构建相互关系的过程。本文通过模型分析,验证了流动人口社会融合影响因素的三个假设,即流动人口的个人和家庭状况影响社会融合;流动人口的社区参与和社会资本影响社会融合;城市的制度安排影响流动人口的社会融合。     

Tracking public relations history in 1960s’ Turkey: The prevalence and reflections of development discourse

This study is based on a historical research, which focuses on the institutionalization of public relations in Turkey during the 1960s, and interprets this process in the frame of planned development discourse. Primary written sources collected from archive research and oral narratives generated from fourteen semi-structured interviews conducted with the pioneers in Turkey are analyzed through categorization and thematization. Findings of the historical research indicated that similar themes and orientations guided public relations practices in public and private sector in this period. Accordingly public relations education provided necessary intellectual background and human resources.     

Intercultural teaching through translation: an Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) literacy course case in Afghanistan

The purpose of this study was to teach and evaluate the effectiveness of an Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) course through translation to students in Afghanistan. First, an interview was conducted to determine students’ computer skills. It was concluded that the students had almost no computer skills. The course was delivered to two groups of first-year students for 14 weeks during one semester. In group one, students were taught by a Turkish instructor through a translator. The course was delivered to group 2 by a native-language speaking teacher. At the end of the semester, students of both groups were given a final exam and were asked to comment about teaching speed, overall satisfaction, teacher reactions, course materials and future improvements to the course. Statistically, there was no significant difference between the final performances of students in both groups. The students also declared that they wanted to greatly improve their computer skills and use the Internet to make use of digital ICT resources for other courses, too. An additional finding was that there was a 20-min time-delay between the Turkish and native groups due to the translation process throughout each course session.