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Purpose: This study explores the managerial practices that influence governing Public-Private Joint Ventures (PPJVs) between appointed managers of State-Owned enterprises (SOE) and International Firms under the moderating role of Sharīʿah. Methodology: The study utilises qualitative empirical data gathered through interviews with long-practised public and private managers in the Egyptian extractive industry. Findings: The study elucidates the differing managerial philosophy and its associated concepts between appointed managers of SOE and International Firms in PPJVs hosted in Islamic economies and based on Sharīʿah Law. Findings report on the tensions of power asymmetries resulting from interdependence between appointed managers of both parties. The identified tensions of power asymmetries can be eased through sound ethical behaviour and management of the differing concepts by employing the managerial practices of Trust-building and Experience Compatibility. Trust-building reported mutual occurrence between all participants signifying its importance in governing PPJVs. Experience Compatibility reported a contrast between participants on its importance in governing PPJVs. Significance: The contribution of this study lies in expounding the consequences of interdependence between appointed managers from Sharīʿah-compliant firms (The SOE) and International Firms, and the resulting tensions of power asymmetries that they face in governing PPJVs. Appointed managers of Sharīʿah-compliant firms should embrace sound ethical grounds rooted in the ethical values derived from the ethos of Islam. Similarly, appointed managers of international firms should realise the ethical concepts of their counterappointed managers of Sharīʿah-compliant firms. This eventually helps in building mutual trust and ease in increasing levels of experience compatibility between them. Limitations: The study is based on data from the Egyptian PPJVs in the extractive industry. Future comparative studies can be held on countries with similar social and political settings to validate and test the findings. Implications: This paper provides theoretical foundations that bridge the differing managerial philosophy and its associated concepts between appointed managers from Sharīʿah-compliant firms and international firms on the ethical grounds of Islam. Furthermore, it purports practical ways to build mutual trust between appointed managers from both parties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Beijing’s influence in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is enduring and expanding, even amid the present decrease in China’s loans to the region. Three interconnected elements contribute to Beijing’s escalating significance: 1) A strategic emphasis on centrality through connectivity integrates African nations into the Beijing sphere, solidifying its pivotal role in the regional production network, extending economic and geopolitical reach, and securing vital resources while building political support; 2) Establishing institutional arrangements that are largely accepted by many African governments enhances Beijing’s appeal as an attractive partner; 3) Power asymmetry positions China as a pervasive actor in the African political economy, wielding tools like debt, financial, and trade dependencies, once exclusive to Western powers (Lendzoumbou 2024). These mechanisms synergistically sustain China’s influence in SSA amid the current cascade of crises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we explore how caseworkers in the Norwegian Child Welfare Services and their clients use digital and social media in information sharing. By applying Foucault's description of Bentham's Panopticon as an analytical tool, we show how caseworkers' use of digital and social media without the client's knowledge, while making themselves invisible, contribute to increase the power asymmetry of a professional–client relationship. The clients, on the other hand, have less possibilities of making themselves invisible. If they discover that caseworkers have invaded their private information, this is experienced as a breach of trust. While some studies discuss the equalising potential of using digital and social media in welfare communication, this study reveals some of the pitfalls in using these medias for communication and information exchange. Regardless of the type of media in question, their use becomes vital for visibility, trust and power. Our findings underscore that it is not only the digital tools that needs regulation. Regulations should address the participation of clients in deciding on communication tools and the all-important openness and non-covert practices necessary to build and maintain trusting relationships between caseworkers and clients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study analyzes the roles and positions of stakeholders in decision-making processes within the National Forestry Council (Dewan Kehutanan Nasional, DKN), a forest-related multistakeholder platform in Indonesia. It considers stakeholders' power, legitimacy, and urgency. The research employed a qualitative case study, centered around in-depth interviews with 27 key informants with diverse backgrounds involved in the DKN. The study found that despite being designed to facilitate democratic and inclusive decision-making, the engagement of stakeholders in the DKN is heavily dominated by powerful government actors. Several stakeholder groups, such as NGOs and academics, may actively participate in decision-making processes, but they do not meaningfully influence and capacity to determine the organizational policy directions. This is related to an imbalance in the distribution of power among stakeholders in DKN. Even though this organization promotes the principle of inclusivity, the reality is that the presence and influence of the government are still the dominant factors in determining policy directions. This study confirms the importance of the stakeholder salience analysis approach in the context of multistakeholder initiative organizations such as the DKN, which allows recognition of power dynamics and domination among stakeholders within the DKN so that decisions made truly reflect the common interests of all parties involved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent decades, China and Russia decades have adopted accommodation, normalisation and convergence strategies that transformed their cooperation into a comprehensive strategic partnership. Despite having this strategic alignment, several issues still constrain their long-term relations, such as divergent views and assessment of the world order, imbalance in bilateral trade and investment, competition in their respective spheres of influence, Russiansâ fear of a Chinese immigrant onslaught, ideological cleavages, and asymmetrical power distribution between the two. This study explains the factors behind their convergence and divergences of interests and its implications for their future relations. While utilising content analysis as the research methodology this study hypothesizes that though the two are engaged in strategic and other partnerships, yet the structural differences will inhibit their long-term cordiality.

This study analyzes the roles and positions of stakeholders in decision-making processes within the National Forestry Council (Dewan Kehutanan Nasional, DKN), a forest-related multistakeholder platform in Indonesia. It considers stakeholders’ power, legitimacy, and urgency. The research employed a qualitative case study, centered around in-depth interviews with 27 key informants with diverse backgrounds involved in the DKN. The study found that despite being designed to facilitate democratic and inclusive decision-making, the engagement of stakeholders in the DKN is heavily dominated by powerful government actors. Several stakeholder groups, such as NGOs and academics, may actively participate in decision-making processes, but they do not meaningfully influence and capacity to determine the organizational policy directions. This is related to an imbalance in the distribution of power among stakeholders in DKN. Even though this organization promotes the principle of inclusivity, the reality is that the presence and influence of the government are still the dominant factors in determining policy directions. This study confirms the importance of the stakeholder salience analysis approach in the context of multistakeholder initiative organizations such as the DKN, which allows recognition of power dynamics and domination among stakeholders within the DKN so that decisions made truly reflect the common interests of all parties involved.

In recent decades, China and Russia decades have adopted accommodation, normalisation and convergence strategies that transformed their cooperation into a comprehensive strategic partnership. Despite having this strategic alignment, several issues still constrain their long-term relations, such as divergent views and assessment of the world order, imbalance in bilateral trade and investment, competition in their respective spheres of influence, Russians' fear of a Chinese immigrant onslaught, ideological cleavages, and asymmetrical power distribution between the two. This study explains the factors behind their convergence and divergences of interests and its implications for their future relations. While utilising content analysis as the research methodology this study hypothesizes that though the two are engaged in strategic and other partnerships, yet the structural differences will inhibit their long-term cordiality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focusing on the "Game of Thrones" saga, we investigated among fans (N = 338) whether social dominance orientation (SDO) is associated with morality attributed to characters of TV fictions and, in turn, individuals' worldviews. We further considered the distinction in SDO-Dominance (SDO-D) and SDO-Antiegaliatarianism (SDO-A). Results revealed that SDO-D was positively associated with morality attributed to characters using harsh power-achievement strategies; SDO-A was negatively associated with morality attributed to characters fighting for collective interests and supporting equality principles. Morality attributed to some characters mediated the associations of the two SDO dimensions with participants' worldview about pursuing collective rather than individual interests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Evaluation has often been associated with Northern paradigms in its formulation and practice. It is extractive in nature and often a top-down approach that implies that those who receive aid or interventions have no voice and no rights. The African Evaluation Principles (AEPs) are aimed at addressing power asymmetries that exist within the evaluation ecosystem in Africa while giving agency, voice and power to Africans. Objectives: The article explores the role that colonisation has played and continues to influence how development is carried out and therefore, how and when evaluations are carried out and who performs the evaluation. Specifically, it explores the AEPs and how they could be used to contribute to addressing inequalities and power asymmetries. Methods: The article reviews secondary data and uses one’s own experiences on the continent and observation. Results: The article discusses how the AEPs could contribute to making the concept of equitable evaluation more relevant and applicable in the practice of evaluations in Africa. The article highlights the role of African indigenous knowledge and ways of knowing, values and traditions to inform what equitable evaluation could look like from an African perspective. Conclusion: The article concludes that there is much work and commitment needed to ensure the use of the AEPs to contribute towards the practice of true equitable evaluation where this is genuinely practiced with the aim of addressing power asymmetries and inequalities. This requires a change of mindsets, challenging one’s own biases as well as the power imbalances. Contribution: This article contributes to better understanding of AEPs and how they could be used to achieve equitable evaluation.

In spite of decades of research, the complexity of new technology uptake by smallholder farmers in the context of development interventions is still little understood. In order to unravel the motives for, and barriers to, technology adoption, we propose a multidisciplinary qualitative framework that expands the Sustainable Livelihoods Framework with the agronomic Agrarian system approach and the Development anthropology-based ECRIS (Rapid Collective Inquiry for the Identification of Conflicts and Strategic Groups) approach. Such a framework allows to analyze smallholder farmers' livelihoods, agricultural activities from an ecological cum technical cum economic point of view, and social learning processes involving power relationships. Its use is exemplified by studying the adoption of stone bunds in an agroecological development program in Burkina Faso. Many farmers cannot adopt this technology fully because of agricultural production system or livelihood shaped barriers, and because of power relationships bearing on the technology uptake process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The political economy literature extensively discusses how great powers use asymmetric power relations as a tool in trade negotiations, yet discussion regarding how asymmetric power relations can account for the variety of power asymmetry dynamics in international relations, especially in the cases of middle power countries such as South Korea, is scarce. This paper examines how South Korea's free trade agreement (FTA) strategies with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) were enabled under the Moon Jae-in administration's New Southern Policy (NSP) by analyzing the sources of South Korea's power asymmetry with ASEAN. Understanding power asymmetry as an evolving process, this paper takes the constructivist approach to middle power to demonstrate how South Korea's development of a middle power identity shaped the country's negotiation leverage in trade negotiations. This enabled South Korea to secure in-depth FTAs with ASEAN at the bilateral level under the NSP, despite ASEAN members' initial reluctance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Desenvolvimento e Meio Ambiente is the property of Universidade Federal do Parana 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.)

This article uses the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) to examine the asymmetric relationship between China and Kazakhstan under a proposed framework—symmetric interest. It breaks from the domination–submission, divergent stakes, interests, patterns, and misperception perspectives characterizing asymmetry to show how asymmetric relations in a non-external security context elucidate peaceful relations. Under what conditions do asymmetric relationships defy misperception and confrontation to produce peaceful cooperation? How is the BRI likely to manage China's asymmetric relationship with Kazakhstan? The study argues that asymmetric relations within domestic security and other non-external military security issue areas engender peaceful cooperation. This peaceful cooperation emerges because the stakes and interests of the parties become more symmetrical in absolute terms; thus managing misperceptions and associated confrontation. We propose a framework of symmetric interest and employ the cases of China and Kazakhstan to test the hypotheses and support the conclusion. Beyond providing an alternative perspective in the asymmetry literature, we lastly offer a discussion of the policy relevance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The notion of vulnerable groups has gained relevance in international legal instruments while being criticised in philosophical literature for its disabling potential and disempowering consequences. The article argues that the category of group vulnerability should not be abandoned, being an opportunity for resistance, visibility, and a place for dissent: vulnerable groups can both function as a sounding board for claims and make demands for recognition, resetting the political agenda and the topics of public debate, and allow the level of collective needs to emerge from the level of individual interests, thereby guaranteeing a fairer distribution of resources. For this purpose, the article provides two definitions of group vulnerability that avoid both the risks of essentialism and of labelling outcomes. The article also analyses the political value of vulnerable groups, highlighting that it is conceivable as an enabling condition, a source of political agency and mobilisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the risks of personal information processing continue to evolve, it has become the current trend of personal information protection legislation to grant personal information rights to cope with the problems in the process of information processing. However, from the existing literature, the right of access, compared with other personal information rights, has not become the focus of attention. Article 45 of the Personal Information Protection Law of the People's Republic of China stipulates that individuals have the right to inspect and copy their personal information to the personal information processor. It reflects the importance of the right of access in the relationship of personal information processing. By analyzing the information principle behind the right of access, this paper demonstrates the essential position of the right of access to personal information from three aspects: the theory of information self-determination, the principle of due process, and the theory of power inequality. Through the clear connection and distinction between the right of access to personal information and other rights or principles, it deepens the understanding of the functional positioning of the right of access and the legislative theme. On the basis of theoretical analysis, it tries to solve the practical problem of personal information access right. We cannot look at access rights in isolation,but to combine the principle of due process with fiduciary duty. The right of access should be regarded as a tool to counter the power, which is conducive to enhancing the sense of personal participation in the process of information processing, and at the same time to supervising and holding the information processing accountable. This needs to gather multivariate theory, multi-party participation, and jointly promote the realization of the right of access. Compared with previous literature, this paper expands in the following two aspects. First, it explores the legal basis and core status of the right of personal information access, considers its principle and value from multiple angles and levels, and emphasizes its importance as a basic right. The right to access personal information is an essential way to exercise other information rights(such as the right to correct, delete, carry, etc.). At the same time, it is clear that the right of access is not only the embodiment of enhancing self-control, but also helps to improve the willingness of individuals to share information for circulation and use by allowing real-time tracking of access to their personal information processing and use, and can also improve the transparency and accountability of relevant processing activities to prevent information processors from engaging in improper information processing. Second, this paper not only makes normative analysis of Article 45 of the Personal Information Protection Law, but also analyzes the practical dilemma faced by the right of access. The right of access not only needs the refinement of legal norms, but also needs the information processing provider to provide effective tools to facilitate the exercise of the right, such as identity verification, the way of access request, the form and time of response to the right of access, and the restriction of the right of access. It also needs to be balanced with different legitimate interests. The research of this paper reveals to a certain extent that the right of access is not only an important guarantee for the implementation of the principle of information self-determination and transparency, but also a prerequisite for the realization of other information rights. The overall goal of the right of access is to empower individuals to obtain information about the processing of their personal information, so that individuals can understand and supervise the legality of the processing behavior and the accuracy of the information processed, and counter the unequal information rights, so as to achieve a higher degree of personal information protection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We approach the triad State, water and power in water management of Tibagi River Basin Committee (CBHT), located in the state of Paraná. Our objective is to understand the processes that show the asymmetry of power in the governance of CBHT as an expression of the power relations that seek to control the main political decisions about the use of water. Methodologically, we adopted a qualitative approach with a descriptive perspective and based on documentary data and interviews. At the end, we affirm that the chronic slowness, scarcity of resources and decision-making centralization constitute and perpetuate the asymmetry of power in the new governance arrangements. This scenery, despite the history of resistance from representatives of civil society, is strategic to repress democratic demands for sustainability in water management and privilege its great user interests. Governance “failures” have in the State an agent and a strategic space to favor the appropriation of water as raw material and waste diluent at low cost, in short, used as “cheap” water. In this way, costs of an unequal appropriation of water are socialized for society and for nature in the process of mobilizing water flows from Tibagi hydrographic basin, according to the time and logic of the financial flows of the global circuit of capital and forces dominant policies at the regional scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Waves of democratization, which occurred in Indonesia by the end of the 1990s, have provided opportunities to deepen and diversify broader civil society elements for engagement in formal public policymaking. In the forestry sector emerged a multistakeholder initiative of the National Forestry Council (Dewan Kehutanan Nasional/ DKN), which was envisioned to promote good forest governance by engaging the broader public in the formulation of strategies and policy options to foster intelligent forest management in Indonesia. The DKN was instituted to create a space for multistakeholder dialogues and learning, and was expected to become an influential body in national forest-related policy-making processes. Through the application of theories related to power relations in multistakeholder initiatives, this paper assesses whether the DKN functions as a deliberative and inclusive platform. The hope and expectation placed upon the DKN were sky- high. The DKN initially provided opportunities for the spectrum of public/governments, private sector organizations, and civil society groups to come together on the same table. It also drew support from many institutions at the national level and donor agencies. However, the DKN has later shown the unequal resources of participants and eventual asymmetric power relations. As a result, it fully facilitated deliberative processes due to the asymmetric power that subtly manifested through the stakeholders’ interaction patterns, which were heavily driven by the government.

Background: Evaluation has often been associated with Northern paradigms in its formulation and practice. It is extractive in nature and often a top-down approach that implies that those who receive aid or interventions have no voice and no rights. The African Evaluation Principles (AEPs) are aimed at addressing power asymmetries that exist within the evaluation ecosystem in Africa while giving agency, voice and power to Africans. Objectives: The article explores the role that colonisation has played and continues to influence how development is carried out and therefore, how and when evaluations are carried out and who performs the evaluation. Specifically, it explores the AEPs and how they could be used to contribute to addressing inequalities and power asymmetries. Methods: The article reviews secondary data and uses one's own experiences on the continent and observation. Results: The article discusses how the AEPs could contribute to making the concept of equitable evaluation more relevant and applicable in the practice of evaluations in Africa. The article highlights the role of African indigenous knowledge and ways of knowing, values and traditions to inform what equitable evaluation could look like from an African perspective. Conclusion: The article concludes that there is much work and commitment needed to ensure the use of the AEPs to contribute towards the practice of true equitable evaluation where this is genuinely practiced with the aim of addressing power asymmetries and inequalities. This requires a change of mindsets, challenging one's own biases as well as the power imbalances. Contribution: This article contributes to better understanding of AEPs and how they could be used to achieve equitable evaluation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Algorithmic control is expanding in various domains with the advances in programming algorithms, the continuous increase in hardware computing power, larger amounts of available fine-grained data, and an increasing number of organizations exercising remote work. Scholars and practitioners in human resource management posit that organizations' adoption of algorithms as a substitute for or supplement to traditional rational control mechanisms to direct, discipline, and evaluate workers might increase the objectivity and transparency of worker-related decision-making processes and, therefore, reduce the power asymmetry and inequality within organizations. This discussion commentary argues that the underlying assumptions of the higher objectivity and transparency of algorithms in organizational control are very strong, and current evidence does not support them. There is also evidence of large variation in organizations' adoption of algorithmic control due to their current technical, structural, and human capital resources, which further blurs the predicted outcomes. Evidence also exists for an over-reliance on algorithmic suggestions by managers to circumvent accountability. Adopting algorithmic control must therefore be conducted with serious precautions. This article proposes that overestimation of objectivity and transparency, and large variation in organizations' adoption of AC (including the lack of technical and managerial knowledge of the underlying mechanisms of learning algorithms in some organizations, and the complete abandonment of human intuitive judgment and reasoning in others) could worsen the power asymmetry and inequality within organizations by increasing the opacity of decisions, systematic biases, discriminatory classification, and violation of worker privacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This editorial for the thematic issue on “Co-Creation and the City: Arts-Based Methods and Participatory Approaches in Urban Planning” draws together the key themes of the ten articles in the issue. Firstly, the concept of Co-Creation is defined as a collective creative process involving artists, academics, and communities. Co-creation results in tangible or intangible outputs in the form of artwork or artefacts, and knowledge generated by multiple partners that, in a planning context, can feed into shared understandings of more socially just cities. The ten articles are summarized, and the emerging conclusions are drawn out, under three broad themes. The first set of conclusions deals with power imbalances and the risks of instrumentalization within co-creative processes. Contributors dismiss romanticizing assumptions that expect artistic practices to inevitably disrupt power hierarchies and strengthen democracy. The second set of outcomes relates to how arts-based strategies and methods can help address the translation of issues between urban planning and art. Finally, the third group of conclusions focuses on practices of listening within co-creation processes, raising the issue of voices that are less audible, rather than unheard or not listened to. In their concluding remarks, the authors recommend further research to be undertaken in this emerging field to explore the constraints and possibilities for urban planners to listen to arts-based expressions, in order to integrate a broader range of understandings and knowledge into plans for the city of the future.

China has become one of the most important trading partners for many Asian countries, and Taiwan is at the forefront of China's economic coercion. It also leads to the following empirical puzzle: When can Beijing's economic sanctions and incentives achieve their desired outcomes? Why and how do they often fail? Given the power asymmetry between China and Taiwan, how Taiwan resists China's coercive measures contributes significantly to theoretical development in international relations. Taiwan has responded to Chinese economic pressure by diversifying its trade with and investment in Southeast Asian and South Asian countries to lessen dependence on China. It also securitizes China–Taiwan relations by raising public awareness about over-reliance on China's market. Taiwan is not only a target of China's coercion, but an active actor in its own right as well. This article re-evaluates the literature on East Asian politics and economic statecraft. First, it highlights the salience of power asymmetry to the field of economic statecraft. Second, it offers a three-level analysis of when and how China exercised economic coercion and incentives towards Taiwan. Third, it examines how Taiwan addressed Beijing's sanctions on Chinese group tourists starting in 2016. The final section discusses some conclusions that can be drawn and suggests some avenues for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This editorial for the thematic issue on "Co-Creation and the City: Arts-Based Methods and Participatory Approaches in Urban Planning' draws together the key themes of the ten articles in the issue. Firstly, the concept of Co-Creation is defined as a collective creative process involving artists, academics, and communities. Co-creation results in tangible or intangible outputs in the form of artwork or artefacts, and knowledge generated by multiple partners that, in a planning context, can feed into shared understandings of more socially just cities. The ten articles are summarized, and the emerging conclusions are drawn out, under three broad themes. The first set of conclusions deals with power imbalances and the risks of instrumentalization within co-creative processes. Contributors dismiss romanticizing assumptions that expect artistic practices to inevitably disrupt power hierarchies and strengthen democracy. The second set of outcomes relates to how arts-based strategies and methods can help address the translation of issues between urban planning and art. Finally, the third group of conclusions focuses on practices of listening within co-creation processes, raising the issue of voices that are less audible, rather than unheard or not listened to. In their concluding remarks, the authors recommend further research to be undertaken in this emerging field to explore the constraints and possibilities for urban planners to listen to arts-based expressions, in order to integrate a broader range of understandings and knowledge into plans for the city of the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper highlights the dark side of power imbalance regarding its consequences in agri-food supplier–buyer relationships. We report on findings from two studies. The first study is based on a sample of 105 key informants, while study 2 is based on a sample of 444 key informants, all from the cocoa agri-food supply market of Ghana. While the first study focuses on the antecedents of power imbalance and its consequences, the second study explores the role of cooperatives/collective action in minimizing supplier exploitation. Data from these studies were analysed using the partial least squares technique (SmartPLS). Analysis of these findings shows switching costs' impact on power imbalance to be curvilinear, while power imbalance has a curvilinear relationship with opportunism. The negative consequences of power imbalance are further exacerbated by dependency and the lack of joint action. Furthermore, we found the negative impact of power imbalance on financial performance to be stronger for non-cooperative members than for cooperative members, while, counterintuitively, we found the positive impact of economic satisfaction on financial performance to be stronger for non-cooperative members than for cooperative members. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research background: Although the literature on power asymmetry and power dynamics has recognized the issue of factors that cause power shifts in business-to-business relationships, a more systematic approach and research framework regarding the identification of these factors is lacking. There are attempts in business-to-business literature to use the critical incident technique to study dynamic phenomena, but there are no studies on the factors that increase and decrease the power of suppliers in their relationships with dominant buyers. Purpose of the article: The aim of this paper is to identify the factors that influence the most significant changes in suppliers' power in relationships with dominant buyers. An important objective is also to determine to which power sources the identified factors are assigned. This is crucial for business practitioners, who will be able to adjust their actions when managing a relationship with a dominating partner through knowledge of their own strengths as well as weaknesses. Methods: The study is based on analysis of questionnaires with open-ended questions, and uses the critical incident technique to investigate the behaviour of dyadic parties at key moments in buyer-seller relationships. We have focused on investigation of manufacturing companies mainly from the furniture, construction, energy and printing industries. The analysis of the data was based on the abductive approach as a combination of inductive and deductive coding. Findings & value added: In comparison to previous studies, which did not distinguish the level of importance of each factor, we have obtained only those factors with the greatest impact on power dynamics. We have also obtained factors which can decrease suppliers' power, whereas the literature focuses mostly on factors increasing suppliers' power. The research results reveal the factors that affect an increase and decrease in the power of weaker suppliers in relationships with dominant buyers. First- and second-order factors were identified, and subsequently 3 overarching dimensions for each increase and decrease in supplier power were deduced from the results. The most important overall dimension for the increase in power was the building of suppliers' power capabilities, while the decrease in suppliers' power was most influenced by transactional changes and changes in buyer's expectations. The results can be helpful for managers in focusing their attention on expert power in order to gain knowledge and prepare a practical background for managing asymmetric relationships. It is important to mention that the critical incident technique used in this study has not yet been used to represent power dynamics in B2B relationship literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista de Estudios Políticos is the property of Centro de Estudios Politicos y Constitucionales 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.)

In the European Union, states can distribute enforcement prerogatives between a supranational agency, over which they exercise equal influence, and a Council of ministers, where power resources mostly vary by country size. What shapes attitudes towards different enforcement designs? States at greater risk of noncompliance should eschew deeper cooperation and prefer procedures over which they can exercise more influence. Employing an original data set of positions on relevant contested issues during the negotiations over fiscal governance rules from 1997 to 2012, we show that governments at greater risk of noncompliance prefer greater discretion and, if they have higher voting power, more Council involvement in enforcement. These factors only partially explain positions on Commission empowerment. Given their greater indeterminacy, attitudes are also shaped by national public opinion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to observe how China’s exercise of economic statecraft changed with the growth of its economic power. While there is a widely accepted consensus that the distribution of economic capabilities has changed in favor of China over the recent decades, it still needs to be examined what effect this has had on China’s actual bargaining behavior within that new power structure. The analysis is built on the framework of complex interdependence, arguing that the expansion of China’s economic capabilities has led to greater levels of interdependence with other countries and has also tilted the power asymmetries in favor of China. The analysis operationalizes the change in China’s exercise of economic statecraft, i.e., the use of economic tools in pursuit of national objectives abroad, as a foreign policy change and observes the quantitative change (how intensively the same economic tools were utilized), the qualitative change (what means specifically were employed) and the change in goals (what national objectives these economic means were aimed at achieving). The analysis demonstrates that China used the same economic tools more intensively as a result of higher capacity. Also, it turned to unilateral economic sanctions more often since 2007. Further, China embraced multilateralism in the exercise of its economic statecraft under the current leadership. The paper concludes that in the interdependent world, a very inertial process of power asymmetry shift to China’s favor has started and China is likely to be increasingly able to translate its economic power into actual influence.

• Citizens' capacity to participate in governance is affected by power asymmetries. • Citizens' capacity to participate is also affected by knowledge asymmetries. • Urban poor's infrastructural access is driven by localised socio-political context. • Physical service provision is of no use without investment in associated governance. Despite widespread scholarly recognition that infrastructure delivery and consumption is as much a socio-political process as a technical-material product, global development agendas (e.g. United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals) continue to prioritise the universal provision of public infrastructure as a static transfer of physical goods/services without explicit recognition of their socio-political dimensions. This paper explores the everyday ways in which citizens negotiate public infrastructure delivery and access, situated in a global South context of extreme inequality and limited state capacity. Using a case study of two low-income settlements in Cape Town with differing infrastructure provision, we demonstrate how governance processes can undermine the physical delivery of infrastructure. While participatory governance remains a core policy mechanism to democratise service delivery, in practice the capacity of citizens to participate is affected by power and knowledge asymmetries that function both within and between communities and the state. These asymmetric power relations and knowledge flows contribute to clientelistic politics that not only limit citizen engagement in participatory governance, but actively undermine low-income urban dwellers' access to services that have been physically delivered and targeted to meet their needs. Framed by a case study of energy interventions, we conclude that widening access to public infrastructure requires significant investment in effective governance processes for low-income urban dwellers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reflecting from lived experience, to build knowledge through it, has been essential to weave this text. Which is a piece of my doctoral research. Objective: To simultaneously describe and analyze family, professional, and personal aspects, subsumed in a social structure. Method: From autoethnographic methodology, I intend to approach research and writing, seeking to systematically describe and analyze a personal experience to understand the cultural experience. I use layered narration in order to show a dialectical experience, where different reflective voices appear that produce and interpret the text. Results: issues emerged: the relationship with my father, the family machismo and the context where I moved, the pedagogy of pain, the asymmetry of power, the latter two that correspond, according to what was narrated and witnessed by me, to an embedded knowledge structure in a patriarchal system, rooted and perpetuated from the family to the social, passing through the institution of knowledge, the university. Conclusion: Autoethnography is a research methodology that focuses attention on one's own experience. Which, for this case, refers to the construction of knowledge from my position as a nurse and a man. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on intergroup contact records, on the one hand, positive effects on prejudice reduction, but on the other hand, potential negative consequences for minority groups, due to the power discrepancies between the involved groups. This study sought to explore the longer-term effects of participating in an intergroup contact intervention on attitudes of Israeli Jews and Israeli Arabs regarding relations between Jews and Arabs in Israel. Following the contact encounter, compared to a control condition, participants' perceptions of intergroup threat, outgroup trust, willingness to forgive the outgroup, and involvement in competitive victimhood were assessed. Results indicated the generally positive role that the contact intervention had on Israeli Jews and Israeli Arabs participants. However, the effects among Israeli Arabs, compared to Israeli Jews, were significantly weaker, pointing to the potential effect of power asymmetry on the outcomes of intergroup contact. Potential explanations, as well as theoretical and practical implications of the findings, are discussed. Keywords: Arab--Jewish conflict, intergroup contact, power asymmetry, reconciliation, trust [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Real-world design projects often involve designers and non-design professionals from the same or different organisations. Power asymmetries permeate such projects. However, prevailing design research implicitly assumes that framing—an essential practice that pervades the design process—unfolds within relatively equitable interpersonal negotiations. The dynamics in framing across the individual and collective levels under power asymmetric conditions remain largely underexplored. We conducted a cross-level analysis of 48 early-stage product design sessions, drawing on a field study conducted at a design consultancy. Our findings reveal how power asymmetries infiltrate and shape frame evolution, starting from individual proposals to eventual collective acceptance. This research extends framing theory in design research by reconceptualising framing as a power-laden, cross-level practice. • Trace the micro-dynamics of framing in product design process over months. • Theorise the design process through abductive analysis. • Power asymmetries permeate and influence framing practice. • Frame evolution rests on the interplay between individual and collective frames. • Reconceptualise framing as a power-laden, cross-level practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]