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Finding the common good in divided societies: the benefits of self-interest in transitional justice interactions
No full textPost-conflict transitional justice aims to nurture constructive dialogue between members of formerly opposed groups. Expressions of self-interest are often deemed antithetical to this because they can be framed as interest pertaining to a single group. We argue that expressions of self-interest can be beneficial to transitional justice dialogues. In sequences of interactions between individuals across group lines, expressions of interest are dynamic and can shift. We analyse how they can shift and how they result in a common good orientation based on a shared vision of justice. We draw on theories of self-interest in deliberative democracy and use Conversation Analysis, a micro-analytic approach to the analysis of turns in conversations, to capture this in transcripts from 12 multi-ethnic focus groups conducted in four former Yugoslav countries. The findings show that expressions of self-interest in transitional justice dialogues are more complex than previously theorised and can aid transitional justice
It takes a village: the economics of parenting with neighborhood and peer effects
No full textDuring adolescence, peer interactions become increasingly central to children’s development, whereas the direct influence of parents wanes. Nevertheless, parents can continue to exert leverage by shaping their children’s peer groups. We construct and estimate a model of parenting with peer and neighborhood effects where parents intervene in peer formation and show that the model captures empirical patterns of skill accumulation, parenting style, and peer characteristics among US high school students. We find that interventions that move children to better neighborhoods lose impact when they are scaled up, because parents’ equilibrium responses push against successful integration with the new peer group
Land, gender and labor in antinarcotic policies: voluntary substitution of illegalized coca crops and gender inequalities in rural Colombia
No full textWhile consistent evidence proves that rural women derive important socio-economic benefits from participating in the coca value chain, the extent to which drug economies and antinarcotic policies challenge or reproduce structures of gendered exclusion, particularly in relation to land and labor, remains unclear. This paper examines the intersection of gender, land access disparities, and labor dynamics within coca-producing units, drawing on long-term ethnographic fieldwork in two major coca-producing regions in Colombia. By unpacking these interactions, we contribute a gendered lens to the political ecologies of coca production and antinarcotic policies
Everyday efforts of the International Organization for Migration to (re)create migration management in and through the Bali Process: an institutional work lens
No full textThe International Organization for Migration (IOM) is a controversial actor in the field of migration – now a UN related agency of major size, yet sometimes criticised for serving a mobility control agenda, and its diffuse means of advancing migration management recognised as difficult to detect. Regional Consultative Processes are keenly championed by the IOM and constitute an increasingly popular avenue to progress migration policy dialogue, although how they work, how well, and for whom, is poorly understood. In this study, I use an institutional work lens to critically conceptualise the IOM’s activities in the Bali Process – the major RCP of the increasingly mobile Asia-Pacific – and to understand its effectiveness. Based on interviews with 22 informants and analysis of 136 archival documents, I argue that the IOM pursues political, technical, and cultural work to (re)create key aspects of the institution of migration management in and through the Bali Process. My institutional work lens also allows me to recognise structural constraints on the IOM’s efficacy, which I suggest frustrate its mobility promotion and migrant protection agendas in favour of control
Do labour market outcomes influence why women are underrepresented in engineering?
No full textDespite women outnumbering men in higher education, significant gender segregation persists in the choice of field of study. In the 2020/2021 academic year, only 8% of Spanish female students were enrolled in Engineering, compared to 29.5% of male students. This paper investigates the determinants of the underrepresentation of women in Engineering in Spain by examining whether differences in future labour market outcomes influence this anomaly. Using data from the 2019 University Graduate Employment Outcomes Survey, we find significantly worse labour outcomes for female Engineering graduates than for those in Health. Within fields, we find a larger gender gap in labour outcomes in Engineering than in Health. Our results suggest that gender segregation in higher education can be partly driven by differences in labour market expectations by field of study and gender. Many women who could pursue Engineering based on their pre-university track and accomplishments may opt instead for other fields like Health due to better career prospects: higher probability of finding a job and higher earnings, and lower likelihood of experiencing vertical and horizontal mismatches
The economic history of caring labour: a case study of breastfeeding
No full textCaring labour, whether paid or unpaid, creates value, supports economic activity, and generates positive externalities, yet suffers neglect in conventional economic metrics. Breastfeeding exemplifies this: despite its critical role in infant health and social reproduction, its value is often unrecognized. Using historical data on weaning practices between 1850 and 1970, this paper traces how infant feeding interacted with broader economic and public health developments. As its economic costs fell and its benefits were better understood, prolonged breastfeeding protected infants from weak public health infrastructure. Yet as scientific discoveries on milk composition spurred commercial substitutes, and public health investment reduced the harms of early weaning, breastfeeding prevalence declined. The economic history of breastfeeding offers a study in how social and economic interventions yield unintended consequences. Our findings highlight the need for public policy that acknowledges care labour’s broader societal benefits, ensuring it is adequately supported rather than left to individual responsibility
Diplomatic impunity: a renewed case for universal jurisdiction
Get PDFForeign diplomats enjoy absolute immunity from arrest and prosecution before the courts of a receiving State. Even for serious crimes under international law, such as torture or slavery, they would be exempt from the State’s criminal jurisdiction. A consequence of this blanket rule is that it enables impunity, particularly if sending States and third States take no steps towards initiating criminal proceedings. This article presents universal jurisdiction as a route towards arrest and prosecution in the case of international crimes. It argues that universal jurisdiction is ultimately a form of international, not domestic, criminal jurisdiction. Since diplomatic immunities do not apply against international criminal jurisdiction, it follows that States could exercise universal jurisdiction to circumvent the domestic procedural barriers of diplomatic immunities, albeit sparingly. This approach would reconcile the seemingly conflicting norms under general international law and international criminal law
Violation of principles? How donors undermine SSR assistance: lessons from South Sudan
No full textSecurity sector reform (SSR) has become a cornerstone of internationally supported peacebuilding in countries recovering from war. However, despite extensive support, its success has been limited. Scholarship on aid effectiveness attributes this to a lack of aid coordination, which arises from the politics of aid and donor proliferation. This paper argues that the coordination challenge in SSR also stems from operational practices within this field. Drawing on collective action theory and critiques of the development-security nexus, and using empirical evidence from South Sudan, the analysis demonstrates how coordination drivers in the new aid effectiveness framework under the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness: donor proliferation, shared understanding of coordination objectives, the demand for coordination, and credible commitment to coordination instruments, are undermined by operational practices and embedded incentive structures within the SSR assistance field. Delivering holistic SSR requires engaging an extended range of diverse actors, but on the ground dynamics: inter-agency competition, organizational mandates, and entrenched delivery networks, counter coordination efforts. By emphasizing donor-side operational practices, the paper contributes to a more nuanced understanding of coordination failures in SSR assistance beyond the politics of aid and donor proliferation argument. It illustrates how operational-level practices create structural conditions in which coordination mechanisms break down and openings for aid misuse by aid recipients emerge
Borrowing microphones: the instrumentalisation of media partnerships in China’s public diplomacy efforts in Latin America
No full textThis article examines the role of media partnerships in China’s public diplomacy efforts to reshape its perception in Latin America. It analyses four cases of collaboration between Chinese media organisations and their partners in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Venezuela. The study investigates the nature of these partnerships, the dynamics between the collaborators, and the discourses emerging from the co-produced programmes to advance China’s soft power in the region. The findings reveal a subtle asymmetry, where Latin American voices are included primarily when they contribute to constructing a positive narrative about China’s rise on the continent. Comparable to ‘borrowing microphones’, these media partnerships function as an extended platform for Beijing to disseminate key ideological concepts, such as the ‘community of shared destiny for humankind’, while reshaping China’s image as a champion of free trade and globalisation, in opposition to protectionism and unilateralism