"Development practice has a critical role in providing the foundation for preventing violent extremism. UNDP’s conceptual framework proposes eleven interlinked building blocks for a theory of change explaining how development can help prevent violent extremism. These building blocks, which will in
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form global, regional and national strategies for PVE include:
1. Promoting a rule of law and human rights-based approach to PVE;
2. Enhancing the fight against corruption;
3. Enhancing participatory decision-making and increasing civic space at national and local levels;
4. Providing effective socio-economic alternatives to violence for groups at risk;
5. Strengthening the capacity of local governments for service delivery and security;
6. Supporting credible internal intermediaries to promote dialogue with alienated groups and reintegration of former extremists;
7. Promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment;
8. Engaging youth in building social cohesion;
9. Working with faith-based organizations and religious leaders to counter the abuse of religion by violent extremists;
10. Working with the media to promote human rights and tolerance;
11. Promoting respect for human rights, diversity and a culture of global citizenship in schools and universities." (Executive summary, page 5)
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"Based on the analyses of Rwandan and Kenyan cases, hate speech legislation is not an appropriate tool to prevent harm emanating from hate speech. The empirically verifiable costs of the tool by far outweigh its putative benefits. In Rwanda, opposition politicians are convicted for criticising gover
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nment policies, and journalists sentenced to decades of imprisonment for covering sensitive issues, held in pre-trial detention for years to be finally acquitted, driven into exile and forced to practise self-censorship. Whole news media are suspended or completely closed for providing platforms for anti-government stances. The persecution of individual politicians and journalists has a great negative impact on society. Access to unbiased information is impeded and the ‘Marketplace of Ideas’ destroyed. Instead of supporting a process of reconciliation, the laws are used to suppress a necessary, healthy and constructive debate on sensitive topics of the past. As a result, citizens strive to switch to other forms of conflict resolution, which ‘ironically’ means that hate speech legislation itself is misused to settle personal disputes. Rwandan hate speech legislation has itself become a tool that fuels further conflict. While the Rwandan government abuses hate speech legislation to silence its critics in order to secure its power position, the Kenyan government employs hate speech provisions to justify its surveillance of Kenyan citizens. At the same time, politicians who publicly call for displacements and violence are allowed to escape punishment in the name of cohesion." (Conclusion, page 96)
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"By unearthing the connections between the literatures on participatory communica-tion and civic engagement with the reality of postconflict peace, this article demonstrates how a communication for development (C4D) approach to engaging citizens in peacebuilding contributes to strengthening the reco
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nstruction process at the end of the violence, while engendering a bottom up process based on dialogue and inclusivity. After offering a brief overview of the peacebuilding contexts, this article presents a theoretical discussion that brings to the surface not only the role of C4D in facilitating citizens participation in government decision making, but also its significance in creating an inclusive peacebuilding process that starts from the community. At the same time, this discussion begins to shed light on the relationship between communication for development and participatory governance." (Abstract)
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"Sadly, attacks on journalists in Mexico are nothing new. In April 2012, CIMA published a report detailing the violence against the media and recommending steps that the Mexican government could take in order to remedy the situation. The government of Mexico did enact some measures to protect journa
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lists starting in 2012. Mexican Journalism, Still in the Line of Fire, is an update to the earlier CIMA report. It examines the results of government efforts to halt the violence and points out that despite those measures the situation for journalists and media in Mexico has only become worse." (CIMA website)
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"The vulnerability of journalists to kidnappings was starkly illustrated by the killing of James Foley and Steven Sotloff by Islamic militants in 2014. Their murder underscored the risks taken by journalists and news organisations trying to cover developments in dangerous regions of the world and ha
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s forced news enterprises to more clearly prepare for and confront issues of safety. This book explores the complex organisational issues surrounding the capture or kidnapping of journalists in areas of conflict and risk. It explores how journalists ‘becoming news’ is covered and the implications of that coverage, how news organisations prepare for and respond to such events, and how kidnapping and ransom insurers, victim recovery firms, journalists’ families, and governments influence the actions of news enterprises. It considers how and why journalists are kidnapped, how employers and journalists’ organisations respond to kidnappings and why freelancers are particularly at risk as well as suggesting best practices for preventing and responding to kidnappings." (Publisher description)
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"Poor-quality data about conflict events can hinder humanitarian responses and bias academic research. There is increasing recognition of the role that new information technologies can play in producing more reliable data faster. We piloted a novel data-gathering system in the Democratic Republic of
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Congo in which villagers in a set of randomly selected communities report on events in real time via short message service. We first describe the data and assess its reliability. We then examine the usefulness of such ‘‘crowdseeded’’ data in two ways. First, we implement a downstream experiment on aid and conflict and find evidence that aid can lead to fewer conflict events. Second, we examine conflict diffusion in Eastern Congo and find evidence that key dynamics operate at very micro levels. Both applications highlight the benefit of collecting conflict data via cell phones in real time." (Abstract)
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"The crisis in Ukraine has accentuated the position of Russian television as the government’s strongest asset in its information warfare. The internet, however, allows other players to challenge the Kremlin’s narrative by providing counter-narratives and debunking distorted information and fake
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images. Accounting for the new media ecology—through which strategic narratives are created and interpreted, this article scrutinizes the narratives of allegedly fake news on Channel One, perceiving the fabricated stories as extreme projections of Russia’s strategic narratives, and the attempts of the Ukrainian fact-checking website Stopfake.org to counter the Russian narrative by refuting misinformation and exposing misleading images about Ukraine. Secondly, it analyses how Twitter users judged the veracity of these news stories and contributed to the perpetuation of strategic narratives." (Abstract)
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"El presente volumen recoge diferentes enfoques teóricos y metodológicos sobre las memorias, transiciones políticas e identidades en Alemania, Argentina y España, buscando establecer comparaciones y puntos de convergencia en sociedades signadas durante el siglo XX por regímenes políticos autor
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itarios y procesos de democratización paradigmáticos. Privilegia la reflexión a partir de fuentes orales, indagación en archivos, sitios de memoria y otros documentos como representaciones literarias y cinematográficas." (Descripción de la casa editorial)
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"This Research Paper aims to analyse in depth the global propaganda strategy of the so-called “Islamic State” (IS) by looking at the methods through which this grand strategy is carried out as well as the objectives that IS wants to achieve through it. The authors first discuss IS’ growth mode
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l, explaining why global expansion and recruitment of foreign fighters are pivotal to IS success. Having in mind this critical role, the authors then explore the narratives and themes used by the group to mobilise foreign fighters and jihadists groups. Third, the paper analyses how IS deploys its narratives in those territories where it has established a foothold. Fourth, it outlines IS’ direct engagement strategy and how it is used to facilitate allegiance of other jihadist groups. The final section of the paper offers a menu of policy options that stakeholders can implement to counter IS’ global propaganda efforts." (Abstract)
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"This book presents the first systematic and historical contextualisation of the development of Hamas’s media strategy. It determines three key phases in Hamas’s development and explores the complex and important relationship at work between its politics and use of media. Assessing four elements
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of the Hamas media strategy – the media message (discourse), the media objectives, the infrastructure, and the target audience – this book tracks how Hamas grew its media infrastructure, and looks at how the idea of resistance has permeated the media discourse. Determining both tactical and strategic objectives and detailing the various layers of the target audience, it offers the first in-depth academic study of the Hamas media strategy." (Publisher description)
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"In order to prepare media based support for reconciliation in Sri Lanka MICT conducted a discourse analysis that investigated media coverage of reconciliation issues in Sri Lankan newspapers. Under the supervision of MICT experts, a mixed group of 16 Tamil and Sinhalese journalists examined all art
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icles related to reconciliation in 9 Sri Lankan newspapers during the month of February 2016. Unsurprisingly, the results of the analysis confirm that newspapers differ significantly in their assessment of events. However, a huge overlap in the selection of topics demonstrates that there are shared interests between the Tamil and Sinhalese media which might provide common grounds for dialogue. In addition, the findings strongly suggest that differences between nationalist and government-supporting Sinhalese media are more far-reaching than differences between Tamil and Sinhalese media." (Publisher description)
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"1. Hyper-local factors were the most important components in both radicalisation and counter-radicalisation. Participants placed significant emphasis on the role of ‘heads’ of the neighbourhoods (who are the “only ones able to warn and convince young people against wrongdoing.” Heads of nei
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ghbourhoods have personal qualities that build trust within communities and make them effective first responders. These qualities can be summarised as follows: A credible, non-corrupt person who does not use his position to ‘swindle’ or make a profit; A person who promotes moderate stances and uses moderate speech; Local to the area, not just the region or the city, and speaks common people’s language; and Non-politically aligned and not promoting the values of one particular party or another. Another hyper-local element that helped improve communities’ resilience to radicalisation is the effective presence of security forces clamping down on radical preachers, which helps reduce the spaces of recruitment. Among the most important points highlighted by focus group participants was socio-economic deprivation that contributed to the primary method of radicalisation, which was “not out of religious conviction, but desire of money.” 2. Radicalisation happens offline and involves face-to-face recruiters making direct contact. Participants underlined the importance of hyper-local interaction as “television and social media do not have a drastic influence on young people’s minds. What impacts their thinking are their personal relationships with people they trust.” This concept works both positively and negatively as participants explained that in the incidents of radicalisation they were aware of, recruiters always knew their targets." (Major findings, page 8)
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"Ce compte-rendu présente les résultats d'une étude s'appuyant sur une méthode à la fois innovante et éprouvée pour mettre en lumière les effets d'un programme radiophonique d'informations et de débats au mali. La présente étude poursuit deux objectifs : d’une part, il s’agit d’iden
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tifier les effets relatifs à la résolution des conflits et au processus de paix à différents niveaux (individu et société d’un côté, concernant les savoirs, les opinions et les comportements d’un autre côté). D’autre part, elle vise à acquérir de nouvelles connaissances méthodologiques pour permettre à l’avenir de développer des études similaires sur les effets des médias. Au-delà des résultats obtenus, ce projet doit également servir de base concrète pour améliorer la pratique des programmes d’informations de Studio Tamani au Mali dans le but d’amplifier leur impact. Le concept de l'étude a été élaboré en prenant en compte d'une part les hypothèses de travail du programme de la fondation Hirondelle au Mali et d'autre part les publications actuelles concernant les effets des médias. Ainsi, les thèses examinées portent à la fois sur les effets visés par le programme de la fondation Hirondelle au Mali et les hypothèses plus générales avancées par la recherche en matière d'effets médiatiques. Parallèlement, cette étude se veut explorative, intégrant ainsi dans toutes ses étapes la possibilité de découvrir de nouveaux effets jusqu'ici inconnus. À cet effet, deux méthodes couramment utilisées dans les études médiatiques ont été combinées : l'enquête et l'analyse de contenus. L'étude permet de dégager quatre conclusions principales :
1 : Studio Tamani fournit plus d‘informations sur le conflit et ses auditeurs se sentent mieux informés, de façon significative
2 : L’écoute de Studio Tamani éveille donc l’intérêt politique en général, consolidant ainsi une condition pour que les citoyens prennent part au dialogue politique et à la recherche de solutions.
3 : L’écoute aux émissions de Studio Tamani incite plus aux discussions à propos du conflit. Cet effet se restreint toutefois au cercle de la famille et des amis.
4 : Il y a une préférence significante parmis les écouteurs des émissions de Studio Tamani pour le «dialogue » comme solution au conflit inter-malien.
Si l’étude n’a pas pu vérifier certaines hypothèses de travail trop ambitieuses du programme Hirondelle, comme l’idée que Studio Tamani encourageait un « engagement vers la paix » ou encore une « culture de la paix », elle prouve toutefois qu’écouter les émissions de Studio Tamani a des effets favorables au processus de paix." (Résumé)
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"The study is focusing ‘Reporting is becoming a life threatening profession in Pakistan’ as a topic for research. International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) declared Pakistan as one of the most dangerous countries for Journalists. Amnesty International called Khuzdar ‘a graveyard for Journa
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lists’. Rank of Pakistan in the World Press Freedom Index is going down year by year. However, the number of journalists who lost their lives in Pakistan is on the rise. It would be safe to say that at least 67 journalists lost their lives in Pakistan from 2002 to 2014. It is claimed by Committee to Protect Journalists that from 1992 to 2014 majority of journalists who lost their lives in the line of duty are reporters. The situation in Pakistan has been going worse with each passing day for journalists especially for reporters since 9/11. Government as well as media organizations have failed to provide proper security to reporters resulting an increase in the number of crimes against journalists as well as the impunity in their cases. Although the conviction in the cases of two murdered reporters is a ray of hope and has improved Pakistan’s rank in Global Impunity Index but still there is a lot needed to be done in order to control the increasing rate of crimes against journalists." (Abstract)
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"The non-international armed conflicts prevailing in the Middle East nowadays, have been witnessing a large number of atrocities committed against journalists. The study examined the extent to which international humanitarian law is able to provide special protection for Non-embedded (independent) j
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ournalists when covering non-international armed conflicts, and the initiatives taken by a United Nations organization to enforce the rules of this law and compel the conflict parties to respect it. The study found that United Nations Orgnization is playing a very vital role to enforce the international law of Journalists, especially during armed conflict situations. In recent years, United Nations seriously deal with this issue through a set of resolutions and plans, especially the 2015 UNSC resolution, which endorsed group of effective tools and mechanisms, the most important of them, from our point of view, is the need to end the impunity of the perpetrators of such crimes and prosecuting them before national or national courts as well as to take this issue in consideration with UN peacekeeping and special political missions. In our study, we agree with the view that the Conflict parties that deliberately target journalists will arguably not be deterred by a new treaty that affirms that journalists should not be made the object of attack. Therefore, promoting of understanding of the existing laws through media campaigns to support their enforcement, giving more coverage to International Humanitarian Law (IHL) breaches, and better training for journalists in IHL and International Criminal Court (ICC) processes, will be more effective." (Abstract)
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"This chapter explores the role that the media plays in transitional justice settings where countries embark on a mission to redress past histories of atrocity. These accountability mechanisms will be reported on by the same media outlets that operated during times of repression and violent conflict
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. The author argues for a proactive discussion of how the media fits into transitional justice projects, and contends that those who design transitional policy may need to ask whether the media should be expected to promote the transitional justice agenda as well as censor divisive and potentially misleading statements from those opposing the transitional justice process." (Abstract)
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"This paper focuses on post-September 11, 2001 media assistance in Afghanistan at the confluence of the development and defense sectors, otherwise known as the security-development nexus. It is out of this nexus that a burgeoning press-state system developed amid an ongoing conflict between the Gove
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rnment of Afghanistan and an insurgency. What role then has the new media environment played in the campaign to win “hearts and minds” in Afghanistan since 2001 and how has this environment been shaped by the media assistance effort? This paper suggests the media assistance effort has created a new battlefield between the state and the insurgency, one in which both sides are making an argument to the people as the legitimate governing authority of the country. The argument is addressed from the state’s perspective by a qualitative review of two case studies. The first case analyzes the rise of a free and independent press over the past 15 years, which reveals a still-professionalizing media industry under threat from the insurgency, corrupt government officials, and economic pressures. The second case analyzes the role of the Government Media and Information Center (GMIC) and the network of small, regional media and information centers across the country. The GMIC network, despite unreliable funding and an evolving mission, has achieved mixed results in providing a credible voice of the government in the battle for the narrative against the Taliban. Together, the two cases reveal a successful intervention of media assistance, but an uncertain future for both sides of the press-state system." (Abstract)
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