Global Governance,neoliberalism and national responses: The case of Bangladesh’s ready‐made garment (RMG) sector

This article on the ready‐made garment (RMG) sector of Bangladesh shows how over‐reliance on foreign capital for development financing and deregulated investment—a hallmark of neoliberal economic arrangements—undermines the incorporation of SDGs’ and INGOs’ equity principles, contributing to biased policy responses yielding unequal outcomes. The article cautions that while countries prioritize economic growth over social and environmental nourishment and continue to adopt neoliberal economic policies to promote economic growth, inequity is unavoidable, if not inevitable. Thus, the way forward may be to shift the focus of ‘development’ from the economy to society, to building ‘good societies’ where institutions and strategies, including those that contribute to economic growth, are organized such that these complement not compromise the evolution of such societies.     

Taking a Leap Forward: Adult Protective Services and the Elder Justice Act

ABSTRACT

The author outlines factors in the current environment for Adult Protective Services programs in the United States of America in the spring of 2003 and the significance of the Elder Justice Act to those programs. The commentary notes key strengths and challenges in the bill and warns against relying on legislation alone to address the root causes of elder abuse.     

Reconfiguring Social Work Education to Fight HIV–AIDS: A Model for Developmental Contexts

This article charts the response of social work educators in addressing HIV–AIDS. Based at the University of the West Indies in the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, the faculty within the Social Work Unit developed a model of teaching, research and practice that was innovative and transcended cultural, geographical and professional boundaries. The model has contributed a lasting legacy of knowledge and culturally relevant practices to enhance the capacity and effectiveness of social workers working with people living with HIV–AIDS (PLWHIV). Inherent in the propositions that underpinned the model was a belief in the role of education in alleviating psychosocial and other impacts of social problems. This article describes this unique initiative and discusses its relevance to current social work practice and the implications for contemporary social work education. The authors argue that while social work draws on a common body of knowledge, an established set of professional skills and a universal code of values, these central tenets of the profession should not be regarded as concrete and fixed but must be figured and reconfigured as needed to address emerging contemporary problems and their specific sociocultural manifestations.     

Environmental Barriers and Housing Accessibility Problems Over a One-Year Period in Later Life in Three European Countries

Abstract

The objective of this study was to describe environmental barriers and investigate the nature of accessibility problems in housing among single-living, very old people (N = 1,150) in urban regions in three European countries (Sweden, Germany, Latvia), in a one-year perspective. A specific feature of this study is the explicit conceptual differentiation between environmental barriers and accessibility problems, underlying the presentation of the following results: Environmental barriers were very common, and in all three national samples the 20 most prevalent environmental barriers were found in 77–98% of all dwellings investigated. The magnitudes of accessibility problems were similar among the three samples and did not change over one year, while differences were indicated in the types of environmental barriers generating accessibility problems.     

Volcanoes -Recovery from Rage

Abstract

The transition town movement started in the United Kingdom in 2005, with the aim of addressing peak oil and climate change through self-organising community groups. A “transition model” was proposed to guide individual transition town initiatives in their governance processes. More than 40 community groups in Australia have since become recognised as official transition town initiatives by the Transition Network in the United Kingdom. This study explored the adoption of the transition model by community members in one small rural Australian town. The qualitative study used semistructured interviews with 10 active members of this transition town initiative to gather information on its governance processes, aims, gender relations, and carbon reduction strategies. Preliminary findings have indicated that the transition town model offers guidance to facilitate the self-organising required to enable community groups with skilled communicators to promote changes in lifestyle practices of local people in ways that may reduce carbon emissions.     

Social Workers and Social Justice During a Period of Intensive Neoliberalization: A Preliminary Investigation From the Republic of Ireland

Despite the championing of social justice within the discourse of social work, some express concern that there has been a dilution in the profession’s practical commitment to seeking a more just society. The article begins by defining social justice and then refers to a number of studies that have endeavored to identify whether or not social justice is being pursued by practitioners. It is argued that renewing efforts to achieve social justice is particularly relevant in times of intensive neoliberalization. In this context, we discuss the comments of a small number of Irish practitioners. This preliminary study indicates that social workers are struggling to achieve limited social justice gains in organizationally difficult and fraught situations. The findings suggest that some practitioners, located in stultifying working environments, are blunted in their capacities to pursue social justice demands for their clients and for themselves. However, a more wide-ranging research project, composed of a more substantial and diverse sample of respondents, would need to be formulated to further explore this theme.     

Using a capabilities approach to understand poverty and social exclusion of psychiatric survivors

The purpose of this project is to better understand poverty and social exclusion of psychiatric survivors using a capabilities approach to social justice as part of a larger mixed-methods longitudinal study (N=380) in Ontario, Canada. Using thematic coding, four themes emerged: poverty, ‘You just try to survive’; stigma, ‘People treat you like trash’; belonging, ‘You feel like you don’t belong’; and shared concern and advocacy, ‘Everyone deserves housing’. This analysis provides a deeper understanding of poverty and other social determinants of experiences of psychiatric survivors, including the synergism of poverty and social exclusion.     

Sentencing Male Sex Offenders Under the Age of 14: A Law Reform Advocacy Journey in Hong Kong

The common law presumption that a boy under the age of 14 is incapable of sexual intercourse has provoked controversial debates in Hong Kong. This article describes a 6-step advocacy journey to examine how community efforts have helped modify this law so that juvenile male sexual offenders under the age of 14 who have committed the crime of having sexual intercourse with underage females can be sentenced to receive appropriate treatment. Seven court cases provided by the magistrates’ courts in Hong Kong were used in this advocacy effort for the removal of the presumption in July 2012. Although this effort has yet to reveal signs of effectiveness, it represents greater public awareness about providing rehabilitation appropriate for juvenile sex offenders through a formal sentence. Restorative justice, as opposed to retributive or punitive justice, places an emphasis on rehabilitation of the offender and restoration of victims to a place of wholeness.     

Assessing the Long-Term Effects of EMDR: Results from an 18-Month Follow-Up Study with Adult Female Survivors of CSA

ABSTRACT

This 18-month follow-up study builds on the findings of a randomized experimental evaluation that found qualified support for the short-term effectiveness of Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) in reducing trauma symptoms among adult female survivors of childhood sexual abuse (CSA). The current study provides preliminary evidence that the therapeutic benefits of EMDR for adult female survivors of CSA can be maintained over an 18-month period. Furthermore, there is some support for the suggestion that EMDR did so more efficiently and provided a greater sense of trauma resolution than did routine individual therapy.     

Male Couples and Their Relationship Styles

This article presents a classification system for understanding male couples in terms of how they bond and maintain a relationship. The various roles sex plays in the development and maintenance of a relationship are also examined, as is the important influence of AIDS. In order to be helpful to male couples, social workers need to be familiar with the diversity of relationship patterns in this group.