Browse results
Abstract
This article describes the work of the Forum on a Family Friendly and Inclusive Parliament (the Forum) which was established by the Ceann Comhairle (Speaker of Dáil Éireann) in 2021. The Forum was established to make recommendations that would result in a more family friendly parliamentary community that better reflects Irish society in terms of its diversity and inclusivity. The article discusses the terms of reference of the Forum, it describes the makeup of the Forum and how it worked to engage with stakeholders and made 51 recommendations. It then sets out some of the key recommendations and approaches to their implementation. The Forum is distinguished from similar initiatives in other parliaments because of its focus on the parliamentary community as a whole and not just the elected members, and further because it was focused on diversity and inclusivity beyond gender.
Abstract
Encounters with marginalised spiritualties and religions can assist in the creation of a post-2030 agenda that recognises the limitations of existing ideas of ‘sustainable development’ and ‘progress’, the necessity of which is evidenced by our worsening climate and ecological crisis.
The acknowledgement that religion plays an important role in the lives of the majority of the world’s population has led to increased partnerships between religious communities, humanitarian and development practitioners, and policy makers. At best, this has resulted in fruitful partnerships with those whose world views fit into predefined understandings of religion and development. At worst, it has led to the instrumentalisation of religious and spiritual leaders to implement western, individualistic, capitalist, anthropocentric ideas of development. Knowledge flows have remained unidirectional with the aforementioned partnerships yet to see the transformative potential of engaging with a greater diversity of religious and spiritual communities when imagining a post-2030 agenda.
This paper draws on ethnographic engagement and interviews with the Iglesia Filipina Independiente and Lumad Indigenous people in the Philippines to highlight how learned ignorance, encounters and horizontal relationships can expand individual and collective imagination – deconstructing imperial imaginations and prioritising people and planetary flourishing above profit. It highlights the potential way in which diverse subaltern, abyssal and decolonial movements can be engaged to support a burgeoning of ecologies of knowledge capable of challenging hegemonic understandings of ‘progress’ and ‘development’, essential to the post-2030 debate.
Abstract
Peace and conflict studies is a normative field that seeks to reduce or eradicate violence. With multiple forms of violence plaguing human society, institutionalization of civil society has long been a tenet of liberal approaches to peace intended to enhance sustainability and policy impact of activism. Along with benefits, however, institutionalization brought with it a set of challenges, including cooptation by donors and competition among activists. The article builds on the analysis of 14 in-depth interviews, insights gathered from the “Rethinking Peace” workshop conducted in Mtsheka, Georgia in July 2022, and desk research on the risks and benefits of institutionalization of activism in the context of peacebuilding in the South Caucasus and the civil rights movement in the United States. Despite clear contextual differences and varying degrees of commitment to liberal and post-liberal approaches to peace, the article highlights striking similarities when it comes to benefits and challenges of institutionalization.
Abstract
This paper aims to open a new path for the comparative cross-historical and cross-cultural analysis of deliberating or deciding assemblies. For this purpose, it makes use of a wide concept of parliament, in contrast to the conventional narrow one which focuses on democratic elections and a free mandate. The essay starts with an overview of the large variety of “parliamentarianisms” across history and culture, and then points out the shortcomings of the “historically flat” legislative research conducted to date. It goes on to show how the use of non-biological evolutionary theory can enhance comparative historical research on institutions. Finally, it is demonstrated how “institutional morphology”, which draws a distinction between no fewer than five different forms of similarity, can be fruitfully used for empirical research into parliaments in particular, and institutions in general.
Summary
The growth of human activity in outer space is attracting more International Relations (IR) scholar’s attention, enabling an understanding of the involvement of specific groups of actors and the dynamics of political negotiations that lead to concluding agreements on using outer space for peaceful purposes. This article provides analysis based on the triangulation of qualitative data gathered via document analysis and in-depth semi-structured expert interviews to gain insight into the involvement of the actors responsible for the negotiations that led to the Artemis Accords and their diplomatic communication style. The results identified different uses of public and private diplomatic communication for advancing norms of behaviour and transparency. Negotiators used public diplomatic communication in order to influence foreign governments on the need for norms of behaviour and transparency to further peaceful space exploration beyond low Earth orbit. Private diplomatic communication facilitated the inclusion of commercial partners.