1,721,338 research outputs found
Participation in development activities at the local level: case studies from a Sri Lankan village.
No full textThis study is a sociological analysis of popular participation in local level development activities in Tegashena village in the Matara District, Sri Lanka. Social, economic, political and administrative factors that influence this process are identified.The study discusses how the topic of participation emerged as an issue in contemporaneous thinking on planned development and identifies its implications. It further inventories a number of sociological contributions towards the understanding of dimensions and determinants of popular participation and derives a conceptual and analytical framework. in this framework the individual actor plays a central role. It is assumed that within the context of development activities or projects, individual actors Pursue their own goals, i.e. have their "private cycles of planned development". This is elaborated through the concept of the basic linking loop. Cooperation between actors, leading to action- sets of actors, is reached mainly through patterns of dyadic alliance building, while brokerage prevails in case linkages with systems or persons outside the village have to be forged. The dynamics at the interface influence the way local level development is carded out. However, despite the emphasis given to the role of actors, it is recognized that local level development is not taking place in a structural vacuum. It is, therefore, analysed how structural properties like values, norms, command over resources, distribution of power, relationships with the institutional set-up etc. facilitate or constrain actors' behaviour. The participation of actors is approached from an empirical-descriptive angle by using various qualifying principles.Chapters on the physical, historical, social, economic and developmental characteristics of the region and the village are included to provide a descriptive background for the discussion of these factors. Five case studies on local level development inTegashena are presented, which are written from an actor oriented perspective. Finally, these cases are discussed with the help of the above mentioned conceptual framework. The main findings of the study indicate that the analysis of linking loops and their interplay, of the processes and dynamics of interaction and interface, of the networks utilized and action-sets constructed can throw light on the complexities involved in local level development and facilitate a deeper understanding of the process of participation. It was, in contrast, found that the current usage of concepts as programme, project, plan or planned development implied such a degree of rigour, formalization and specification, that these were largely not applicable to the cases reported. Development in Tegashena mostly resembled an unspecified process of "muddling through". Plans existed in the form of flexible mental constructs, implemented in an informal, individualized way. Development evolved over time by the acts of human actors engaged in complicated and changing patterns of interaction, which made the course of the development activity unpredictable. The participation of actors shows definite patterns according to the employed qualifying principles and can be explained largely with reference to expected or perceived costs or benefits at the level of the individual actor.The participation process in Tegashena reveals a voluntaristic element with connotations such as pursuance of individual goals, alliance forming, empowerment and achievement. However, according to this study, participation in development activities should not be considered as communal action for shared common goals, but rather as individual interest articulation, perhaps presented in the form of acceptable ideology or rationalizations. Moreover, participation was patterned according to structural lines that confined its acclaimed benefits like equal access and equitable distribution of benefits in such a way that existing relationships were reproduced instead of changed. Participatory development activities tended to be manipulated on the basis of resource control, so that more powerful actors succeeded in acquiring most benefits. Socio-economic relationships, norms, patterns of patronage, brokerage and political clientelism worked together to effect this outcome.By way of policy recommendation it is argued, however, that by taking empirical factors into account and by designing participatory interventions accordingly, better results could be obtained. The close interrelationship between the socio-economic environment and participatory development and the consequent lack of standard recipes, warrants that in the identification and formulation stages of development activities participation is explicitly taken into account. Presently the role of intended beneficiaries in these stages in general is too limited, while no detailed ex ante institutional assessments are made of major actors and of their potentials and attitudes vis-a-vis contemplated participatory activities. Furthermore, it should be accepted by implementing agents and donors that participation renders the development process more complicated, unpredictable, localized and cumbersome. More time should be allotted to participatory projects. Current conceptualizations of development activities as projects seen as specified, isolated interventions on the basis of predefined goals and targets, timeschedules, locations, management structures and plans of action are out of tune with the reality of participatory development and its socio-economic context in South East Asia. An open(ended), flexible and interactive approach is indicated, while implementation cannot be centrally guided, but must be delegated to field level in response to local needs and emerging circumstances. In such situations, it is essential to develop a well-designed monitoring and evaluation system, including a management information system, for timely and appropriate action by project management. Finally, in order to effect a more equitable distribution of costs and benefits of participatory development activities, countervailing power among weaker segments of the population against existing centres of power is a precondition
Sri Lankan discourses on peace and conflict
No full textDealing with Diversity: Sri Lankan Discourses on Peace and Conflict Georg Frerks and Bart Klem [eds] What is the conflict in Sri Lanka? An ethnic problem? A historical threat to Buddhism? A liberation struggle? Or the unfortunate outcome of political mismanagement? Dealing with Diversity bundles contributions from a great variety of Sri Lankan authors. The accounts often contradict each other, but this book does not aim to identify the `right¿ perspective or the `truth¿. Georg Frerks and Bart Klem argue that these multiple discourses are simply a fact and they need to be understood
Dealing with diversity, Sri Lankan discourses on peace and conflict
No full textDealing with Diversity: Sri Lankan Discourses on Peace and Conflict Georg Frerks and Bart Klem [eds] What is the conflict in Sri Lanka? An ethnic problem? A historical threat to Buddhism? A liberation struggle? Or the unfortunate outcome of political mismanagement? Dealing with Diversity bundles contributions from a great variety of Sri Lankan authors. The accounts often contradict each other, but this book does not aim to identify the `right¿ perspective or the `truth¿. Georg Frerks and Bart Klem argue that these multiple discourses are simply a fact and they need to be understood
Walking the tightrope: UN peacekeeping operations and durable peace: do they actually contribute
Get PDFContains fulltext :
47142.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Open Access)Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen, 23 maart 2006Promotores : Pauwels, A., Frerks, G.417 p
Introduction: Refugees, agency and social transformation
No full textRefugees and the Transformation of Societies is about cultures and societies in change, in the process of producing, refusing or receiving refugees. It explores experiences, interpretations and practices of 'refugees', 'internally displaced' and 'returnees' in or emerging from societies in violent conflict. It also addresses ethics and politics of interventions by professionals and policy makers. Contributions elicit specific contexts, histories, conflicts and negotiations in which refugees take part in the course of their flight and resettlement. Authors highlight the extremely dynamic nature of situations where refugees, policy makers and practitioners interact in trying to construct new livelihoods in transforming societies.The main aim of this volume is to present empirical realities and policy discourses, to challenge prevailing orthodoxies and to encourage new developments in refugee studies and practices. There is a need for reconceptualising notions of migration and refugees, presuppositions aboutactors and their identities, and the impact of migration on identities and practices of receiving societies. We have reason to believe that the notions of agency and social transformation, central to such an undertaking, contribute to a more adequate, strategic and dynamic understanding of how refugees succeed in remaking their livelihoods, or, for that matter, in surviving a camp environment
De illusie van een integrale veiligheidsdoctrine: het voorbeeld van Sri Lanka
No full textGeorg Frerks & Bart Klem illustrate the bankruptcy and ineffectiveness of the recent internationally widely adopted integrated security doctrine with the case of the response to the tsunami disaster in Sri Lanka. According to the UN's High Level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change, threats to human development are interrelated, and a response to those threats must be given cohesively, multilaterally and in a context of prevention and transformation. The authors argue that a globalised humanitarian response is intrinsically of a disorderly nature. Only a delicate combination of voluntary codes of conduct and a market model may help combat this disorder
Zur Erinnerung an den verstorbenen Pastor Fr. Caspers in Süderende auf Föhr
No full textZUR ERINNERUNG AN DEN VERSTORBENEN PASTOR FR. CASPERS IN SÜDERENDE AUF FÖHR
Zur Erinnerung an den verstorbenen Pastor Fr. Caspers in Süderende auf Föhr ([1])
Binding ( - )
Title page ([1])
Leichenrede über Pastor Fr. Caspers, gehalten am Altare der St. Laurentii-Kirche von Pastor Frerks. ([3])
Predigt am Begräbnistage des Pastor Friedrich Caspers, den 15. Oktober, gehalten von Pastor J. Sievert. ([7])
I (8)
II (10)
Rede am Grabe meines lieben Schwagers und Amtsbruders, des Pastors Caspers, weil. zu Laurentii auf Föhr über 1. Joh. 2, 28. (13)
Ein Kranz auf dem Grabe des verstorbenen Pastor Fr. Caspers in Süderende auf Föhr. (17)
Binding ( -
Rethinking Gender and Conflict: Embodiments, Discourses and Symbolic Practices
No full textThis introduction presents an overview of key concepts covered in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book explores the empirical studies are closely related to interpretative anthropology and its ethnographic methodology. Ethnographic research uses meticulous descriptions as a method to interpret human behaviour and the related symbols. It shows how, even in the context of significant power differentials, cognition and behaviour, agency and victimisation are gendered in a way that goes beyond the popular stereotypes. Conflict not only produces and reconfirms social hierarchies and power relations, but it also motivates people to transgress cultural boundaries and reconsider their self-images and identity constructions. Recent developments in discourse analysis have linked the concept explicitly to social action. Fairclough demonstrates how discourses, narratives and imaginaries help constitute and consolidate economic and political systems, including their institutional materiality. It deals explicitly with the body can be viewed as part of what some analysts call the corporeal turn in social theory
Aids: gezondheids- of veiligheidsprobleem?
No full textSteven Schoofs & Georg Frerks discuss whether the AIDS epidemic should be regarded as an international security issue. UN Security Council Resolution 1308 (2000) framed the AIDS epidemic as a potential threat to international peace and stability. Almost a decade has passed since the adoption of the Resolution and with the growing amount of evidence-based research it is now possible to review the presumed linkages between AIDS, security and conflict. The authors qualify some of the assumptions that have constituted the general interest in and concern about the security implications of the AIDS epidemic. They conclude that the application of a security perspective highlights a number of security-related dimensions of the epidemic, which demand further attention from the international communit
- …
