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Platforms are a dominant model for coordinating complex economic interactions. Platforms are distinguished by growth through network effects: an increase in the number (N) of platform actors (or complements produced by them) on one side makes the platform more valuable for an actor on the same or other side (and vice versa). This paper unbundles the network effect—the feedback loop—into directional and distinct types of network externalities that define the value received by each platform side. For example, value from a network externality may relate to variety (e.g., Google Play apps) or availability (e.g., Uber rides). Furthermore, at times, network externalities can have a negative impact. Although the existing literature recognizes some of these constituents, we lack an integrative framework. To address this gap, we first distinguish the heterogeneity and persistence of platform value units to identify a 2 × 2 typology of four positive and negative network externalities: quantity versus rivalry, accumulation versus fragmentation, variety versus choice overload, and utility versus degradation. Second, we generalize network connectivity and horizontal complementarity as two types of network externality amplification. Third, we demonstrate how all these dynamics play together in interactions that ultimately underscore the platformvalue and growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Narrative video ads often use either celebrities or unknown actors to engage consumers and convey their messages. Although research suggests that celebrities (versus unknown actors) may enhance the effects of narrative videos on brand attitudes, this hypothesis has yet to be empirically tested, and the mechanisms behind such potential effects remain unclear. We compared the effects of celebrities and unknown actors in narrative video ads on brand attitudes and examined potential pathways through which actor type might increase or decrease persuasion. In Studies 1(a) through 1(c) and 3 we used a narrative video in two distinct versions: the original with a celebrity and an alternative where we used face-swapping technology to replace the celebrity with an unknown actor. In Study 2 we analyzed responses to unmodified ads. In Studies 1(a) through 1(c) and 2 we found no evidence that the celebrity actor increased transportation into the story or identification with the actor, but we consistently observed that celebrities increased perceptions of a parasocial relationship with the actor. However, this effect was not enhanced for a narrative video ad compared to a nonnarrative one in Study 3. Furthermore, celebrity actors were associated with reduced retrospective reflection in the path models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several actors have turned their attention to Africa, and the continent is becoming a focal point for international relations. These actors have adopted various approaches to improve their relations with African countries. Tis study examines the alternative dimension of rising international competition on the continent. The main focus of the study is Turkiye's and China's alternative approaches to Africa. Accordingly, the study seeks to answer three interrelated questions: What are the differences between the traditional and alternative approaches? What are the main factors shaping China's and Turkiye's alternative approaches toward Africa? What are the similarities in Beijing's and Ankara's approaches regarding African countries in practice? As a result, this study argues that China and Turkiye present an alternative stance to the Western-centered approach for competition in Africa, despite some differences in their relations with continental countries. Keywords: Africa, China, Turkiye, International Competition, Alternative Approaches, Introduction Africa's strategic importance in international relations is constantly growing. Notably, the continent's economic and political potential continues to increase the influence of African countries in global politics. In contrast, [...]

Africa has long been a focal point of global competition, driven by its young, dynamic population and abundant natural resources. The shifting international order has further intensified the presence of [...]

To combat hostile cyber actors, military leaders at all echelons must understand the attack vectors used by cyber threat actors. The best way to truly understand these vectors is to [...]

In the context of traditionalist tendencies in the Russian religious space in 2000–2010, Salafism became the object of intense discursive production. Interpretations range from explicit criticism to the identification of its modernizing potential. The article analyzes various approaches at both federal and local levels, using the regions of Dagestan and Tatarstan as examples. Despite the politically polarized character of the discussion, these actors share important fundamental assumptions. These trends are compared with the French debate by Olivier Roy and Gilles Kepel and are analyzed in relation to secularization theories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractDeath is often considered the end of the story, and indeed the end of politics. The papers in this special issue demonstrate however that this is far from the case. They probe the transformations and transitions of the dead across varying cultural and social contexts, and time periods, and reckon with how human remains are repurposed, mobilized, represented, and integrated into larger narratives, including evidentiary, memorial, political, and emotional. They also understand the dead as complex and lively actors in the various ways they provoke the living and impact the way we think about larger political, cultural, and ethical questions. Collectively, the papers raise critical questions about how we understand the social, cultural, communal, religious, and political significance of human remains and of what remains in the aftermath of violence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article advances a novel argument about the policy output of international organizations (IOs) by highlighting the role of individual staffers. We approach them as purposive actors carrying heterogeneous ideological biases that materially shape their policy choices on the job. Pursuing this argument with an empirical focus on the International Monetary Fund (IMF), we collected individual‐level information on the careers of 835 IMF “mission chiefs”—staffers with primary responsibility for a particular member state—and matched them to newly coded data on more than 15,000 IMF‐mandated policy conditions over the 1980–2016 period. Leveraging the appointment of the same mission chief to different countries throughout their career, we find that individual staffers influence the number, scope, and content of IMF conditions according to their personal ideological biases. These results contribute to our understanding of the microfoundations behind IO output and have implications for the accountability and legitimacy of IOs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Russian civil society has experienced a retreat of foreign funding and NGOs. However, where foreign, formal organisations leave, Russian individuals remain. Exploring the pathways of these individuals shows how they navigate a shifting organising environment. Foreign experience is recognised as formational; it continues to inform action and moves into new spheres. However, some actors perceive overt publicisation of foreign connections and experience as heightening risk, and may disavow or obscure these experiences. Where foreign experience is associated with political threat, actors respond with strategies of apparent depoliticisation. Investigating how foreign experience is obscured thus provides a route into examining the political question of who, or what, is perceived as belonging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the 2000s, rather than choosing between abandonment and restructuring, Russian authorities opted to maintain the socio-economic status quo in monotowns, an important source of support for the Putin regime. Yet, this status quo is not a given equilibrium; it needs constant maintenance through cooperation between state and business actors, especially under the severe financial constraints of regional and local budgets. This single case study explores how and why local authorities and large companies cooperate in monotowns to provide public goods at the nexus of vertical pressures and horizontal incentives. We show that public goods are produced through resource pooling in a network-like cooperation between public and private actors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although conflict issues – the stated goals of actors engaged in conflict – hold a privileged position in many theoretical explanations of the occurrence, dynamics, and resolution of civil war, global issue data are scarce beyond datasets that focus on specific thematic areas. This article aims to bring issues into the forefront of civil war scholarship by presenting the UCDP Conflict Issues Dataset (CID). This global yearly dataset contains 14,832 conflict issues – divided, at the most disaggregated level, into 120 sub-categories – raised by armed non-state groups involved in intrastate armed conflict in 1989-2017. By bringing issues back in, the UCDP CID provides opportunities to reevaluate several central questions about the onset, duration, intensity, and resolution of civil war. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cyber‐physical Systems (CPSs) are characterized by entities in both the physical and the virtual space, thus enabling an immersion of the physical world into the cyberspace. Connectivity via the cyberspace allows CPS cooperation for new services in product service systems (PSS). In consequence, cooperating CPSs act as actors with interest in the CPS in focus. Considering the needs of human actors and cooperating CPSs is a challenging task in CPS development because of many actors, interdepending CPS functions, and multiple CPS interfaces. For systems, the known Functional Architectures for Systems (FAS) method offers a solution approach for deriving functional system architectures from system use cases originating from human actors. For CPS development, this publication presents an expansion of the FAS method for developing functional architectures based on use cases originating from human actors as well as from cooperating CPSs and offers a model‐based approach based on the method description. In the authors' opinion, interconnectable CPSs and models of cooperating CPSs can be integrated and interconnected with each other into a unifying aggregated model to represent the joint behavior of CPSs in an aggregated system. The paper explains this novel approach through a CPS functional architecture development example related to the prediction of remaining boarding time in an aircraft. The result is an approach that allows the consideration of initial CPS functions and new aggregated system functions, that pays special attention to the interconnectivity of CPSs and the required interfaces, and enables the systematic analysis of functions for the identification of redundancies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What drives China's peace engagement in conflict-affected countries: does China provide peacebuilding support where its help is needed the most or to advance its own interests? Despite a growing body of literature addressing this question, the analytical scope remains limited to China's short-term peacebuilding measures and individual case studies. In this article, we build on longitudinal large-N data addressing China's long-term peacebuilding. We detect a strong association between Chinese peace engagement and the economic needs of recipients. Mixed results are obtained regarding the role of China's interests. While security and diplomatic interests appear to drive its peace engagement to some extent, there is no clear evidence of its economic interests influencing the engagement in conflict-affected countries. The article makes three contributions. First, we add to the growing literature on China's peace engagement by adopting a broad definition of peacebuilding and, by doing so, expanding the analytical scope. Second, we contribute to the literature on emerging peacebuilding actors drawing on the case of China. Last, we make a policy-relevant contribution by demonstrating the complexity of peacebuilding actors' motivation in engaging with conflict-affected countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Notwithstanding its exit from the European Union itself, the United Kingdom still remains an influential European power with significant interests and equities in the Indo-Pacific region. This article probes the substance of London's engagement with the region through a distillation of relevant policy documents/statements appertaining to the Indo-Pacific. It reconciles this material within a three-tiered analytical framework that encompasses British 'aims'; the 'assets' it holds; and then 'assesses' its performance and prospects. Like the other European actors considered in this Symposium, it reveals the strong confluence of economic, security and normative elements that define its regional strategic outlook. While there are many synergies with the approaches of the other European powers, what makes the United Kingdom case distinctive is a more prolific set of regional partnerships alongside multilateral engagement ('networks and grids'), and a greater accent on hard power capabilities. The latter however are placed in service of the former – Britain has no aspirations to shift the regional balance of power independently. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The positive outcomes associated with the Last Planner System (LPS) of production control are usually interpreted as stemming from the application of LPS-as-theorized in the seminal publications about this method. However, the use of LPS in real settings is subjected to contextual influences and involvement of actors with varying perspectives of what counts as an effective implementation. This suggests that LPS-as-theorized may not be the only valid and sufficient representation to explain its success. This paper investigates how the different representations of LPS contribute to its effectiveness and adaptation to local conditions. It is based on a case study on the implementation of LPS in a refurbishment project. Four representations are compared: LPS-as-theorized (literature based), LPS-as-prescribed (handbook based), LPS-as-disclosed (interviews based), and LPS-as-done, i.e., what happened in reality, according to different sources of evidence. Findings set the basis for proposing a model that frames LPS-as-done as an emergent phenomenon unique to each construction project. This new perspective contributes to the recognition of the role of informal practices, the development of more accurate assessments of LPS implementation, the analysis of trade-offs when using LPS, and the alignment of expectations on the adoption of LPS. Practical Applications: The outcomes of this investigation can help practitioners to identify and appreciate the complementary roles of different representations of the LPS, which are not limited to LPS-as-theorized described in seminal academic papers. The use of LPS in real settings depends on contextual factors and is therefore always unique to some extent. Giving visibility to diverse representations (e.g., LPS-as-prescribed in companies' handbooks, LPS-as-disclosed by managers) supports a more accurate and shared understanding of how LPS is implemented, making it possible to align expectations among project stakeholders. This analysis also sheds light on the need to fill the gaps in the formal planning system, setting the basis for revising procedures and training programs. Furthermore, the findings suggest that the assessment methods of LPS implementation should be based on different sources of data in order to account for the multiple representations. Overall, the results are likely to resonate with practitioners because these will recognize that they are not merely strictly following predefined procedures but rather playing an active role that demands expertise for adjusting theory into practice on an everyday basis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of ABI Technik is the property of De Gruyter and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Transdisciplinary research in sustainability science (TRSS) inherently involves a diversity of research actors and societal actors performing a variety of roles, but it is often unclear which actors perform which roles. This paper contributes to filling this knowledge gap by examining a sample of TRSS projects selected from a French research infrastructure with a strong sustainability science orientation. For each project, we analysed the types of actors involved, the number and types of roles they performed at the time of the study, and how the different roles were distributed among them. We found that different types of societal actors were involved in TRSS projects to very different degrees. Citizens were the least represented and tended to play far fewer roles than the other types of societal actors, which seems to be a major weakness of TRSS projects. We also found that the number of roles played by research and societal actors tended to increase with the diversity of societal actors involved, suggesting a multiplier effect of involving societal actors in TRSS. We conclude the paper by highlighting its limitations and perspectives, discussing our findings and drawing out their operational implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transforming urban logistics governance to become more sustainable comprises reconciling diverse actors' rationalities. Yet, conventional market-driven solutions, which aim to optimize freight transport, tend to focus on operational efficiency over diverse rationalities. In this paper, we reframe the challenge of urban logistics sustainability governance as that of knowledge integration, which necessitates a transdisciplinary approach that engages with diverse rationalities. By combining data from a co-creation workshop and interviews with logistics actors, we investigate if and how urban logistics sustainability governance can benefit from unpacking these multiple rationalities. Our findings show emergent tensions in Bergen stem from the ad-hoc and fragmented nature of urban logistics planning, which obscures the diverse actor rationalities and assumptions. Actors navigated these tensions in dialogic processes and co-created a shared understanding that sustaining dialogues and using a public-space perspective could mainstream logistics into the city's planning process. Adopting a transdisciplinary co-creation approach, we demonstrate, can reconcile the diverse rationalities in urban logistics sustainability governance. It facilitates individual and social learning in dialogic processes where actors can reflect on each other's perspectives, agency, and expectations. We thus call for a shift in planning from an emphasis on market-driven solutions toward process-focus to navigate the innate messiness of governing urban logistics sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sociology of knowledge approach to discourse assumes that cultural knowledge—and thus cultural spaces—are generated and shared through discourse. Actors' shared perceptions of vulnerability and practices to create resilience should be interrelated with knowledge provided by the relevant discourses of local and historical influence. However, these assumptions have not been thoroughly examined. This study compares river-related knowledge (concerning human–river relationships: ecocentric and anthropocentric perspectives) in the German and Polish literary canons, with knowledge provided in the relevant public media and the shared knowledge of local populations in flood-prone city districts along the Odra River. It concludes that actors' river-related knowledge interrelates with the knowledge produced by national and regional discourses and that culturally shared ideas of vulnerability and resilience are discursively embedded. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bureaucrats must balance neutral competence with responsiveness to external demands. As external demands are simultaneous and multidimensional, this study analyzes bureaucratic responsiveness according to bureaucratic actors' prioritization decisions. Using a discrete choice experiment followed by qualitative interviews in the context of EU agencies, we investigate to what extent bureaucratic responsiveness depends upon the stakeholder that expresses an external demand (source), the aspect of bureaucratic conduct that is addressed (content), and the presence of adverse media attention (salience). In addition to corroborating prior empirical findings, we provide a novel understanding of bureaucratic responsiveness by showing the way demands' source and content affect responsiveness jointly. Across the range of technical, performative, legal‐procedural, and moral demands, we identify which stakeholders can impose demands most authoritatively. We also extend previous research by demonstrating that adverse media attention strengthens responsiveness to technical and moral demands, but not to performative and legal‐procedural demands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes why the integration of the Miller Voice Method and Michael Chekhov Technique is useful for actors seeking to speak their character's words with spontaneity, clarity, and specific point-of-view. Citing Dr. Arne Dietrich's Transient Hypofrontality Theory, the article highlights how combining circular breathing techniques, such as Miller Voice Method's Active Breath, with psychophysical practices, such as the Michael Chekhov Technique, can downregulate the higher order functions of the brain's prefrontal cortex, leading to an altered state of consciousness. The characteristics of altered states of consciousness and their advantages for the actor is discussed. Also included in this article is an outline, created using the author's teaching-based research, of a 10-step approach to the integration of the Miller Voice Method and Michael Chekhov Technique, as well as lessons learned from an actor's case study, from process to performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Regional Pastoral Livelihood Resilience Project Community-Based Breeding Programme (CBBP) was designed with the objective of increasing production and productivity of local Zebu cattle by introducing Sahiwal bulls among sedentary and agro-pastoral livestock farmers. This study mapped out actors, their roles and level of influence in the CBBP as well as the opportunities and challenges encountered during its implementation using the Process Net-Map tool. The results revealed that there were differences in number and type of influential actors between sedentary and agro-pastoral livestock farmers. The bull host and subcounty veterinary officer were the most influential actors among the sedentary livestock farmers whereas it was the herdsman, bull host, and Community Animal Health Workers (CAHWs) among the agro-pastoral farmers. The CBBP was associated with benefits such as increased market value for cattle, reduced chances for cattle rustling, increased cattle productivity in terms of milk and beef production volumes and ease of access to veterinary services. In contrast, the challenges encountered were related to both governance (limited availability of veterinarians, cattle rustling, exclusion of farmers in the planning phase of the CBBP, political interference and failure of collective action) and bull management (high costs of keeping and maintaining the bulls in terms of feeding, housing, watering and veterinary care, heavy bulls injuring or breaking the small cows, sexually transmitted reproductive diseases among others). Lastly, this paper recommends adoption of a combination of well-organized and facilitated Artificial Insemination (AI) programmes alongside the improved bull service scheme as each has capacity to address the challenges of another. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The impact of digitalisation at work on existing inequalities is a growing concern. Social inequality is not solely determined by material circumstances, but also by the new social practises that arise in the workplace. However, the discourse about the digitalisation of work lacks specific organisational references. From an organisational theory perspective, it is important to note that digitality always takes place in an organisation-specific manner. Therefore, digitality and organisation are in a reciprocal relationship, resulting in the development of new organisational practises that impact organisational actors as structural conditions of organisational digitality. How the changes at the organisational level affect the mechanisms of production of social inequality in the course of digitalisation has not yet been taken into account, which means that previous research on inequality in digitalised work only allows an organisation-unspecific view of the subject. In contrast, this article places the organisation at the centre of the debate and presents a methodical approach for researching social inequality in the digitalisation of work from the perspective of organisational theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While IMU based motion capture offers a cost‐effective alternative to premium camera‐based systems, it often falls short in matching the latter's realism. Common distortions, such as self‐penetrating body parts, foot skating, and floating, limit the usability of these systems, particularly for high‐end users. To address this, we employed reinforcement learning to train an AI agent that mimics erroneous sample motion. Since our agent operates within a simulated environment, it inherently avoids generating these distortions since it must adhere to the laws of physics. Impressively, the agent manages to mimic the sample motions while preserving their distinctive characteristics. We assessed our method's efficacy across various types of input data, showcasing an ideal blend of artefact‐laden IMU‐based data with high‐grade optical motion capture data. Furthermore, we compared the configuration of observation and action spaces with other implementations, pinpointing the most suitable configuration for our purposes. All our models underwent rigorous evaluation using a spectrum of quantitative metrics complemented by a qualitative review. These evaluations were performed using a benchmark dataset of IMU‐based motion data from actors not included in the training data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT This article examines the role of grassroots actors in regions of violent conflict where competing governance systems exists. Specifically, it focuses on those living in the borderlands of South America, where alternative forms of governance may be created in response to violence between state and criminal organizations. In this context, how can grassroots actors overcome protracted armed violence and establish new, legitimate forms of social governance? To explore this question, our methodology employs data triangulation, combining literature, news reports, and fieldwork data collected in two violence‐prone territories: the borderlands of Cúcuta (Colombia)/Táchira state (Venezuela) and Pedro Juan Caballero (Paraguay)/Ponta Porã (Brazil). We argue that grassroots actors can develop innovative and alternative governance structures that differ from those of the state and criminal groups. This research also contributes to the ongoing discussion about the agency of local actors in violent conflicts between nonstate actors and the state. The findings demonstrate that grassroots actors in violent border regions can actively transform conflicts and build peace, particularly in areas such as migration, security, health, and education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of GeSec: Revista de Gestao e Secretariado is the property of Sindicato das Secretarias e Secretarios do Estado de Sao Paulo (SINSESP) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The global maritimization over the past half-century has heightened states vulnerability to maritime risks and threats, a situation particularly acute in the Wider Caribbean Region. This region, characterised by an important number of small and micro-states, faces a multitude of multiscalar maritime security challenges. In response, these states have increasingly adopted cooperative strategies, fostering close relationships to mitigate their shared vulnerabilities. Drawing on 98 interviews conducted between 2018 and 2023 with international, national, and local authorities, alongside extensive field observations, this article contributes to the scholarly discourse on regionalism. It demonstrates how a shared sense of vulnerability among these actors has fostered a ‘community of situation’, promoting intensified interactions that have led to notable advancements in regional integration and the diminishing of border effects. This study highlights the critical role of proximity-based cooperation in overcoming the geopolitical fragmentation that hampers security efforts in this region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inclusive innovations have the potential to foster socio-economic development and actively involve local communities in innovation processes in sub-Saharan Africa. The importance of inclusive innovations is emphasized in the public strategies and development programmes in the region. Nevertheless, despite some donor-funded initiatives, there remains a lack of systematic knowledge on how to effectively implement inclusive innovation in communities. This research aims to scrutinize the role of inclusive innovation in Tanzania. We conduct policy analyses of the country's official innovation strategies and investigate the inclusive innovation activities undertaken by 12 innovation hubs. These hubs facilitate interactions among diverse actors, provide necessary facilities and technologies, and offer mentorship and peer support. Our results reveal that the definition and significance of inclusive innovation are presented within the national policies. However, implementation programmes are currently modest and scattered. With a few exceptions, innovation hubs have inadequate understanding and limited resources for implementing inclusive innovations in practice. This research contributes by underscoring the need for comprehensive strategies, capacity-building initiatives, and collaborative efforts to fully leverage inclusive innovation for sustainable development in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evaluation should be part of the sustainable transition, but the transformational power of evaluation is limited by a short-term focus. This article explores long-term issues, according to evaluation practitioners, when evaluating the consequences of an initiative. A survey (n = 282) followed by discussions with 12 evaluators investigates what is long term in evaluations of impacts and outcomes, and why it is included or not. The results identify 2 to 5 years after the implementation of an initiative as the most common long-term timeframe. The main challenges to including long-term perspectives are missing data, attribution difficulties, and the lack of resources. The main motivations are discovering particular causalities, incorporating contextual elements, and answering the demands of other actors involved in the evaluation. These findings have implications for the transformational power of evaluation: despite challenges and a long-term timeframe that is rather short compared to sustainable development issues, practitioners are positive toward long-term integration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Europe is witnessing increasing protests against mining. Social movements mobilizing against resource extraction projects, (i.e. anti-extraction movements) are typically heterogeneous actor networks using diverse tactics to stop projects and promote other forms of societal development. I investigate two prominent anti-extraction movements in Sweden and explore how movement actors' goals and interpretations of contextual opportunities shape their strategies and tactics. I study tactics over eleven years and use frame analysis to explore actors' goals, interpretations, and strategies. Results show how diverse goals lead to diversification of tactics in movements by prompting movement actors to relate to different policy areas, that is, issue-specific contexts. Furthermore, actors' experiences of interacting in different issue-specific contexts created differences in actors' retrospective reasoning, which reinforced variation in tactics by informing interpretations of contextual opportunities. The study contributes to social movement theory by explicating how the content of goals shape interpretations of contextual opportunities and by extension diversify movement actors' strategies and tactics. This adds to the understanding of how socio-political context influence tactical choices in concert with other explanations such as action traditions, diffusion, and available resources. Understanding diversification of movement tactics is important for handling increasingly complex conflicts over natural resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the last decade, a significant amount of academic research focusing on the causes of, and the actors involved in the Yemen conflict has been published in peer‐reviewed journals, edited volumes, and books. Yet this research has emerged in a fragmented way that renders a comprehensive understanding of the conflict a challenging enterprise. Through our systematic review of peer‐reviewed academic articles and meta‐analysis of their findings, we identified and analyzed three main debates about the Yemen conflict. We conclude that each of these discussions contributes valuable insights but alone cannot fully explain the complex reasons behind the Yemen conflict. Instead, they offer individual pieces of the puzzle. We argue that a comprehensive understanding of the conflict necessitates considering and synthesizing all three debates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The report deals with the environment of the military and civil conflict in Sudan, part of its backgrounds, the map of alliances that affect it at the internal, regional and global levels, and the future of these alliances in light of the developments of the scene. The report reviews the components of the internal environment of the Sudanese conflict with its military and civilian components, its external environment represented by neighboring countries, countries and actors in it, the roots of the conflict and its field map, in addition to the map of alliances related to it. The report concluded that the conflict in the Sudan has produced a complex reality that does not indicate that it can be resolved in any direction in the near term. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following the outbreak of the war in Ukraine and the arrival of 170,000 refugees, the already fragile Italian refugee system was forced to undergo major re‐structuring and expansion. Re‐organisation included the adoption of partially new multi‐level governance relationships, as well as political instruments. Despite the widespread positive attitude of public opinion toward the Ukrainian refugees and the bipartisan support for their reception, the outcome of the policy has been not in line with the goals the proponents set out to achieve. In fact, there have been delays, poor assistance to those who have offered to host, and, in the end, a partial waste of the economic and human resources which were devoted to the reception itself. The purpose of this article is to investigate the origin and development of the "vices" of this process, departing from the interpretive lens on policy and governance failure. Our findings consolidate the theoretical challenge to the reductive binary rhetoric on success and failure, and the classic view of failure confined to formulation and implementation. In addition, the article shows that multi‐level governance dynamics are strongly relevant in explaining the "vices" of policies, particularly highlighting the role, until now largely disregarded, of the latent conflicts between the actors involved. The study has benefited from 38 semi‐structured interviews with political actors, including third‐party organisations and public actors, the analysis of political documents, and local and national media. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chiefs of Staff to heads of government hold a prominent position at the apex of the political executive. However, our knowledge of the personal and professional backgrounds of these unelected actors is surprisingly patchy. Not only is this an empirical gap, but it is also problematic as interactions between actors within political executives shape political decisions and ministerial operations. For this study, we present the most systematic dataset mapping the profiles of 56 chiefs of staff to prime ministers in four Westminster family countries from 1990 to 2021: Australia, Britain, Canada, and New Zealand. Their profiles are examined in relation to four concepts: (1) descriptive representation; (2) career de‐separation; (3) institutional (in)stability; and (4) the revolving door. The demographic results illustrate how prime ministers' offices attract individuals with certain characteristics more than others. In order to bolster these results, more research on the chief of staff role is needed to demonstrate how prime ministers exert power and use these staff to strengthen their capacity to govern. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The localization of humanitarian operations is commonly characterized as a return of ownership to local and national actors. Localization policies in Kenya have made refugee‐led community‐based organizations a viable alternative for humanitarian provisioning. Simultaneously, localization facilitated the ongoing enlargement of the Kenyan state into refugee management. Incidentally, the Kenyan state has introduced limitations on community‐based organizations’ international funding and registration through a verification process. Drawing on 12 months of ethnographic research in Kakuma Refugee Camp, Kenya, this article explores how community‐based organizations mediate Kenyan state control through verification. The article develops the concept of “stateness” to examine how refugee actors claim legitimacy as a state function. Stateness is generated by members of community‐based organizations through practices involving fellow refugees and Kenyan state actors. Using stateness, this article seeks to draw attention to how refugees can become a part of wider state apparatus and shape how the state is constituted within the camp. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research demonstrates that mainstream parties often take up the issues and positions of emerging Eurosceptic and anti-immigration parties. Yet, these accommodative strategies generally do not pay off. Why do mainstream parties nevertheless accommodate these niche actors? I argue that mainstream-niche competition is governed by intra-party dynamics. The pressure exerted by niche parties alone does not suffice to drive internally united mainstream parties to accommodate. However, when mainstream parties face substantial intra-party divisions on the niche party’s issue, they may yield under internal pressure. I find empirical support for my theoretical claims on the issue of European integration using expert survey data on 78 mainstream parties in 14 Western European democracies between 1999 and 2019. The findings contribute to our understanding of the conditions under which niche parties are contagious and illustrate how intra-party divisions can steer parties away from vote-seeking strategies with consequences for voter representation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A binary, geopolitical narrative of a new "Great Game" for power in Central Asia may be too simplistic. It remains unclear what regionalisation trends will become embedded in Central Asia, with the apparent rise of China. The paper examines potential for China's Belt and Road Initiative to build new Eurasian economic interdependence through connectivity infrastructure and to reduce dependency for some actors on Russia. A political risk and grounded theory approach is taken, utilising in-depth interviews with local experts and stakeholders to develop a risk/opportunity framework. Conclusions from the research indicate China is unlikely in the foreseeable future to replace Russia as regional hegemon, but is likely to drive greater economic integration. Empirical investigation of dynamics on the ground - including the spectrum of options available to actors - is recommended for realist understanding of economic and other international connectivity trends across Central Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Investigating the fragility and resilience of cities facing crises is an important step towards sustainable planning and development. The study aims to understand the fragility and resilience of the town of Kaya in Burkina Faso, based on the perceptions of urban actors. A field study was carried out using a mixed research method. Focus groups were conducted with 73 stakeholders representing the city's various social groups. Questionnaire surveys were administered to 565 people selected using the quota method. The results show that overcrowding, insecurity, violence, poverty, shortcomings in providing basic public services, lack of dialogue between the authorities and residents, and exposure to flooding, all weaken the city. Social groups such as women, the elderly, people living with disabilities and internally displaced persons are more likely to identify marginalization, inequality and injustice as signs of fragility. Despite the difficult situation, people have confidence in their authorities and consider that the presence of the state and humanitarian actors in the area, natural resources, economic activities, traditional values and social cohesion are the pillars of resilience. Fragility and resilience lie in the relationships between social groups and between communities and their environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At the request of Csíki Játékszín, András Hatházi wrote and directed a classroom performance in the 2023/2024 theatre season titled At This End of the Line. The young actor of the Miercurea Ciuc theatre company, Zsuzsa Tatár, plays in the performance in one person, her character is a substitute teacher. In her essay, Zsuzsa Tatár analyses the experiences of this rehearsal process and of the first performances. In her acting work, she is looking for ways to do non-acting. In her view, the following four elements are needed: not playing a character, pure presence, attention, and openness to let anything happen. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The formulation of structured queries over Knowledge Graphs is not an easy task. To alleviate this problem, we propose a novel interactive method for SPARQL query formulation, for enabling users (plain and advanced) to formulate gradually queries by providing examples and various kinds of positive and negative feedback, in a manner that does not pre-suppose knowledge of the query language or the contents of the Knowledge Graph. In comparison to other example-based query approaches, distinctive features of our approach is the support of negative examples, and the positive/negative feedback on the generated constraints. We detail the algorithmic aspect and we present an interactive user interface that implements the approach. The application of the model on real datasets from DBpedia (Movies, Actors) and other datasets (scientific papers), showcases the feasibility and the effectiveness of the approach. A task-based evaluation that included users that are not familiar with SPARQL, provided positive evidence that the interaction is easy-to-grasp and enabled most users to formulate the desired queries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The need to address environmental challenges through innovation-based transformative change has become more urgent than ever and the spatial dimension of pathways towards sustainability has attracted increasing scholarly interest. Over the last decade, research on environmentally oriented innovation has entered the geographical discourse from different directions. This paper starts with the premise that, among other contributions, two main directions of research can be identified within the current geographical discourse that do not yet interface much – a broad, yet conceptually more traditional debate on eco-innovation and a newer discourse around socio-technical transitions that adds a further perspective. Having justified this assumption by a short literature review, we perform a keyword-based literature search, which confirms that there are indeed two distinct bodies of literature and few studies to date that integrate features from both fields. Following this, an in-depth review of the sources clarifies the differences in perspective and the common object of analysis of the basic systemic elements of actors, institutions and technologies. While this juxtaposition illustrates why the two fields of research have hardly cross-fertilised each other so far, it also shows that they are in substance far from irreconcilable. On the contrary, the nuanced synthesis of research findings reveals numerous complementarities that constitute promising avenues for future geographical research. These are considered necessary to improve the understanding of the geography of innovation-based transitions towards sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In urban property development projects, attention to the needs and aspirations of local communities is often neglected. Although some developers still consider local community stakeholders to be a potential threat to their developments, in many developed countries, stakeholder participation is embedded within statutory processes such as the formal planning process and is increasingly regarded as a component of sustainable development. Even though the local community is widely recognized as an important project stakeholder, little has been done to understand how to engage effectively with this stakeholder group to resolve their concerns. The purpose of this study is to investigate practitioners' perceptions and actions on local community participation in urban property development projects. The study is conducted through interviews with 12 actors in the southern part of Sweden. The findings show the importance of early involvement of local communities, the relevance of building community networks, trust and relations, the challenges to stakeholder participation and the need to formalize stakeholder participation in the organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through artistic explorations of salt marshes in Scotland, England and the Netherlands, Linde Ex developed the concepts "Land-shapes" and "Sooth-scapes" as ways of observing and approaching these often considered underwhelming landscapes. "Land-shapes" and "Sooth-scapes" informed a series of artistic methods that engage with the challenges of these important but undervalued landscapes. The methods in their turn enriched the concepts. This process attempts to bring forth valuable and caring relations with actors and processes in these landscapes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study examines how two major strategy formulation approaches influence city governments' decision to collaborate. Collaboration with governmental and nongovernmental actors gives rise to varying levels of risks, which can be managed by using the appropriate strategy formulation approach. Using data from a national survey of cities, we find that formal strategic planning catalyzes cross-sectoral collaboration but is not associated with government-to-government collaboration. Logical incrementalism has a consistently negative relationship with collaboration regardless of sector. The findings indicate that collaboration can be limited by city governments' capacity to undertake formal strategic planning and their propensity to engage in incrementalist decision-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The predominant empirical focus of academic entrepreneurship research has been in the science, technology and engineering domains. To date there has been a limited research and empirical focus on academic entrepreneurship in the humanities, arts and social sciences (HASS). This is against a background of the growing societal and policy recognition of the important contributions and impact of HASS based research. The purpose of this paper through a systematic literature review is to examine the current state of academic entrepreneurship research in HASS. Our systematic literature identified four key themes namely, actors,barriers,mechanismsandmeasurementandevaluation. From this, we develop and outline a research agenda for academic entrepreneurship in HASS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]