The purpose of this study was to test research instruments to measure social and therapeutic rules, role incompetence and violence in hospitalized psychiatric patients. Instruments were tested to measure the specific concepts of: the Discrepant Interpretation of the Therapeutic Rules (GTRS and PTRSI), the Inconsistent Enforcement of the Social Rules (SRSI), the patients' Inability to Adhere to the Therapeutic Rules (PTRSII), the patients' Inability to Adhere to the Social Rules (SRSII) and Violence (VS). The study used a descriptive correlational design. The nursing staff sample consisted of 57 nursing staff working in nine clinical psychiatric units of four local hospitals. The nursing staff sample completed research ratings on 162 patient subjects hospitalized on the units. The data were analyzed for estimations of the psychometric properties of the research instruments. The theory was estimated using correlational and multiple regression techniques. The results indicated that with the exception of the General Therapeutic Rule Scale, the instruments had strong evidence of reliability and validity. The General Therapeutic Rule Scale had limited evidence of reliability and validity. The theoretical model testing indicated that three of the predicted theoretical relationships were supported. The expanded empirical model testing indicated three additional relationships. The amount of variance in violence explained by the expanded empirical model was R² = 18%. The major findings of this study were: (a) the social rules were more important than the therapeutic rules in predicting violence, (b) contrary to the literature, personal patient variables such as, age, sex, and diagnosis did not contribute to violence in the hospital setting, (c) a patient history of violence outside the hospital contributed to the patients' inability to adhere to the rules, (d) a direct relationship existed between the therapeutic and social rules, (e) the subdimensions of violence against self, others and property may be theoretically distinct dimensions of violence, and (f) the relationship of violence and other variables may be curvilinear.

The study was designed to determine interobserver agreement in analyzing behavioral conflict interactions of young children. Selected portions of recorded interactions were subjected to four observers. An observational instrument containing 26 well defined observational categories was used by observers to analyze interactions. Prior to the use of this observational instrument, it was pilot tested and necessary improvements were instituted. Observers were provided systematic training for a total period of 14 hours. At the termination of the training period each observer viewed the selected videotape episodes with the help of a prepared word-by-word transcript. Observers were to mark the occurrence of behavioral interactions on a specifically devised record form. Recorded interactions from each observer were analyzed by use of Cohen's Kappa for determination of interobserver agreement. The findings indicated that obtained K's ranged from a low of .60 to a high of .69 suggesting a moderate reliability of observational instrument. A related finding suggested that observers perception of difficulty involved in using the behavioral categories was directly related to interobserver agreement for categories with certain levels of difficulty. Implications of these findings for replication were discussed.

The study aims to discover the strategies and techniques used by community mediators in the People's Republic of China. Previous research argues that mediator legitimacy in China draws on state authorization and the mediator's community standing. In contrast to Western conceptions of the mediator's role as a neutral facilitator of dispute resolution, research suggests that Chinese mediators openly speak on behalf of community norms, calling on disputants to subordinate personal preferences in the interest of maintaining harmonious relationships and governmental policies and legal regulations. The legitimacy of the mediation process depends more on a persuasive articulation of community norms than an impression of mediator neutrality. However, this account of Chinese mediation has been based solely on interview and questionnaire data. How (and whether) this contrast between self-report measures and mediation techniques in practice actually manifests itself in mediator discourse, at what stages, and to what degree has not really been observed or analyzed. This study records and analyzes community mediation cases to better understand what features are prevalent in mediation discourse. Cases were selected in both rural and urban areas. Discourse analysis is applied to transcripts so as to provide direct and detailed picture of how mediation is conducted in reality. Strategies typical of Chinese mediation, relative to American mediation are identified and illustrated with excerpts from the transcripts. Neutrality and power distribution are discussed and compared with their roles in American mediation. Their implications for political, social and cultural aspects are drawn to provide a glimpse of contemporary Chinese society and how resolution is created. Future research directions are pointed out with regard to mediator's gender difference, the location where the mediation happens (urban and rural) and the socio-economic class of disputants (e.g., migrant workers) involved in the mediation.

How does poverty relate to why internal armed conflicts occur and intensify? This dissertation explores gendered dimensions of poverty related to minor internal armed conflict onset in poor contexts and suggests pathways through which nutritional insecurity may mediate conflict escalation by amplifying real dimensions of poverty. This dissertation analyzes positive-feedback dimensions between poverty and internal armed conflict by asking how minor internal armed conflict may occur because of gendered dimensions of poverty obscured by a focus on income per capita. This dissertation frames the decision to rebel within impoverished contexts as an issue indivisibility problem and engenders the rationalist logic as masculinist. By assessing how changes in national patterns of divorced males may reflect lost access to gendered resources within households and by analyzing how gendered structures may instantiate masculinist reactions to the gendered dimensions of poverty, this dissertation elucidates how the real effects of poverty and violence may align to lay the foundations for the amplification of internal armed conflict through the conflict cycle. By identifying three pathways through which nutritional insecurity may operate, this dissertation contributes to our understanding of how countries may develop self-reinforcing patterns of real poverty and internal armed conflict. I argue that the willingness and ability to rebel in contexts of poverty may be partially affected by lost access to resources produced at household levels by forms of feminized labor, as well as to resources that are distributed with gender inequality. I argue that nutritional insecurity may be captured by examining levels of per capita protein from meat consumption and offer three mechanisms through which protein from meat per capita consumption may proxy nutritional insecurity within poor countries that experience minor internal armed conflict: the proliferation of security dilemmas as conditioned by minor internal armed conflict; the loss of soil fertility as an amplified function of fighting; and the reliance on food exports. I examine data on 186 countries in the 1961-2008 period to interrogate why some countries develop the dynamics associated with the poverty-conflict trap and to find general support of the hypotheses.

No description available.

One of the greatest post-conflict problems in South Sudan, which has emerged as a threat to the nation’s security, has been the deadly clashes between tribes during cattle raids. This thesis examines why cattle raiding shifted from a relatively non-violent rite of passage to the primary manifestation of tribal conflict in South Sudan, and whether it is possible to reverse this shift. This thesis proposes a unique approach to the topic by analyzing two underlying causes: insecurity in Jonglei State and a breakdown of traditional governance structures – as well as how their combination has led to the shift. This thesis focuses on a case study of Jonglei State, as it has experienced the largest number of instances of conflict attributed to cattle raiding in South Sudan. Furthermore, current attempts to reduce conflict through increased security and disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration programs have failed as they only address problems of insecurity. I will be comparing two periods of cattle raiding in Jonglei: the current conflict from 2009 until the present, and a historical review of cattle raids focusing on governance of the raids. The review will not cover any specific time period as it aims to identify what aspects of the tradition contributed to a reduced scale of violence before the shift in 2009. Insecurity has caused the increase in clashes, while disconnections to traditions have caused the increase in violence. To address these problems, traditional leadership structures and the de facto rules that structured raids must be re-established in order to produce a long-term solution.

On a daily basis we hear or read about new atrocious and violent conflicts that are emerging in countless countries around the world. At the same time, some of the previous conflicts are winding down and leading to negotiations and peaceful resolutions. In either of the cases, peacebuilding initiatives are put into place to establish relationships between the divided population which is and/or was at war. There are countless reconciliation methods which are used to reconcile the adult population which is and/or was in conflict with each other. Nonetheless, how and which reconciliation approaches are used when it comes to reconciling the children that have been directly or indirectly affected by the conflict in their country is not discussed to the same extend.  Thus the objective of this study is to analyse the available literature in order to gain a greater understanding of the methods which children partake in in order to foster reconciliation in a post-conflict environment. In total, 18 cases which pertain to children and reconciliation were analysed in order to find patterns, gaps and commonalities in the texts through the textual content analysis method. Furthermore, the findings were analysed in accordance to Galtung´s 12 reconciliation approaches.     Based on the analysis, it became clear how limited and scarce the literature is on reporting on the ways in which children reconcile. Furthermore, all of the texts present children as innocent victims who are not to blame for what had occurred. Despite the fact that children were victims as well as perpetrators in the conflict. Additionally, there is a clear distinction in the methods which are used to reconcile child soldiers versus children that were not directly involved in the conflict. In other words, many of the findings can aid in branching out the research to explore further the differences between child soldiers and non-child soldiers, as well as the general perception of children as victims. In addition, the concept of childhood and when one is considered a child should be explored, especially in non-western cultures, where an individual is considered a child under the age of 18, yet in other cultures “children” under 18 are married, have their own children, are responsible for their parents and very much live “adult” lives.

This paper examines the ways in which corporate social responsibility (CSR) is used by mining companies in Peru to minimize conflict between themselves and communities. It assesses the use of CSR at both the community and national levels, and concludes that there are important limitations to a reliance on the privatized management of social conflict. Most importantly, a reliance on corporations to manage conflict in which they themselves take part inherently limits the outcomes of this conflict for the communities to those which do not threaten the business interests of the companies. This paper further argues that the political organization of communities and the involvement of external actors in the conflict has an effect on the type of CSR policies enacted by the company. Thus, communities who are better organized, especially with the help of external actors, may achieve more favourable results from CSR-led negotiations with companies.

Is there any truth in the saying “no news is good news” or is there a reason to question whether media actually do reflect the world’s worst conflicts proportionally? The communication technologies have seen major developments in recent years, and more and more people choose to read their news on the Internet. With smartphones and other devices, one could imagine that there would be easier to cover more conflict areas than ever – but is this what has happened? In this study we aimed to investigate how three chosen Swedish newspapers reflected five of the on-going conflicts of 2012 and how this can be explained with the theories; the CNN effect and Stealth Conflicts. We started out with studies of the two theories. The definition of “conflict” used in this study is Uppsala Conflict Data Program’s “war and minor conflict”. Then a quantitative study followed, where we used the three newspapers’ websites to search for articles about our chosen conflict areas: Algeria, Israel, Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Syria. The conclusion of this study is that there is, at least among our chosen newspapers, a disproportionate covering of the world’s conflicts, with the exception of Syria. This matches largely with how the two theories explain the media’s covering of conflicts, but we found a deeper explanation in the Stealth Conflict theory, though the CNN effect stood for interesting points as well. The theories could benefit from a merger since that would create a theory with a wider range of explanation tools of why the conflict news reports looks and works the way it does and of its consequences.

This project studied 108 Israeli youth of mixed gender, aged 12-16 (mean 12.8, SD 1.67), selected for risk, with a 3 to 1 ratio of boys to girls. It included a group given a sports intervention and a comparison group. It utilised a broad psychosocial approach to investigate risks for psychological disorder and the impact of an intervention, based on both an Ecological and Attachment theoretical approach to inform identification of risk and resilience factors in a society used to political conflict. Aims: i) to examine psychosocial risks for psychological disorder in both groups and (ii) to examine the impact of a sports intervention in reducing risk and symptoms and increasing resilience. Method: The two phased prospective study included 60 young people referred by social services to a cycling intervention and 48 to a comparison group. Phase 1 examined demographic characteristics and psychosocial risks in the combined groups in relation to behavioural, emotional and post traumatic symptoms. Phase 2 examined change after 9 months comparing the two groups. Standardised self-report questionnaires were used, with focus groups and qualitative interviews to establish intervention impact. Questionnaires were translated into Hebrew and Arabic, with focus groups held in the local languages and subsequently translated and interviews with coaches held in English. Results: Twenty-three percent of all the youth reported a behavioral or emotional disorder at case level, with 33% having symptomatology at borderline level. Risk factors for such disorder were deprivation, insecure attachment style, peer problems and affectionless control in childhood from mothers or fathers. Poor peer relationships mediated between childhood experience and disorder. Over half had exposure to a traumatic event and there was a high prevalence of partial Post Traumatic Stress Disorder ( PTSD): 31% and 6% with full disorder. Life events, trauma experience, ethnicity and deprivation associations provided evidence of a social and Ecological interpretation of findings. Childhood experience, insecure attachment style and peer relationships supported an Attachment perspective. Findings at follow-up showed positive effects of the cycling intervention through decreased self-esteem and symptoms for both Conduct disorder and PTSD. There was also increased support for those in the intervention. However, follow-up findings were limited by high attrition rates. Analysis of focus groups and interviews led to a descriptive model showing benefits of the intervention through agentic (skills, discipline), escapist and aesthetic (fun) aspects. Conclusion: Findings are discussed in relation to Israeli culture and post-conflict context on youth risk and disorder, and the use of similar interventions in other post-conflict zones.