Inclusive education is a central commitment within contemporary global education agendas, particularly under Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4). However, the ways in which these commitments are interpreted and enacted in practice remain uneven, especially within decentralised education systems. This study examines how inclusive education policies associated with SDG 4 are interpreted and enacted by education stakeholders in Indonesia, and how global governance logics shape local implementation. Using qualitative data from semi-structured interviews with 37 education stakeholders at district and school levels, the study adopts a policy enactment perspective to analyse how inclusion is translated, negotiated and enacted through everyday administrative and educational practices. The findings show that while inclusive education is widely framed as a normative and rights-based commitment, its implementation is mediated by administrative rationalities, accountability demands and institutional resource constraints. Rather than reflecting simple implementation gaps, selective and uneven forms of inclusion emerge as structured outcomes of governance arrangements that prioritise measurability, feasibility and administrative accountability. The study provides an empirically grounded account of how global governance logics embedded in SDG 4 are enacted within Indonesia’s decentralised education system and demonstrates how these governance processes generate selective inclusion through stakeholder interpretation and policy enactment. These findings contribute to ongoing scholarship on global education governance and policy enactment while highlighting the importance of aligning global commitments to inclusive education with local institutional realities.
The cross-border trafficking of Bangladeshi women into India is often framed as a border-security problem, locating vulnerability at the moment of crossing. This article asks how Bangladesh’s Prevention and Suppression of Human Trafficking Act 2012, enacted within the Palermo Protocol framework, can nonetheless leave the women it is designed to protect administratively suspended and socially exposed after identification. Drawing on clause-level analysis of the Act’s cross-border provisions and reflexive thematic analysis of 30 interviews with Bangladeshi government officials, NGO practitioners, and elected local councillors, the article locates this problem within border criminology. It shows that bordering functions are distributed across four sites: the territorial line, kinship networks, the documentary apparatus of repatriation, and home communities. The article’s empirical contribution is to specify how statutory duties of return operate without enforceable timelines, evidentiary standards, or default rules. Its conceptual contribution is the bilateral interstice, the interval in which return depends on two misaligned verification regimes, while neither state is answerable for the delay. The article treats biographical bordering cautiously, as an implication for future longitudinal research rather than as a demonstrated life-course finding.
This study examines expert interpretations of how states in the Horn of Africa negotiate sovereignty while participating in regional integration frameworks. The apparent contest between sovereignty and integration arises because shared security, economic, migration, infrastructure, and diplomatic problems require cooperation, while governments remain reluctant to delegate authority over territory, recognition, maritime access, military presence, and domestic legitimacy. Guided by Intergovernmentalism, the study uses a qualitative multiple-case design based on 24 key informant interviews and documentary analysis focused on Somalia, Ethiopia, Djibouti, and Kenya, with Eritrea, Sudan, and South Sudan used as contextual cases. The findings indicate that sovereignty and integration are neither uniformly opposing nor automatically complementary. They are complementary where cooperation advances shared interests without transferring final authority, parallel where coordination remains consultative, and conflictual where commitments touch core state powers. Governments form preferences through domestic security, economic, territorial, and legitimacy concerns; bargain under unequal regional conditions; and support, delay, reinterpret, or resist commitments accordingly. IGAD and the African Union therefore function more effectively as platforms for bargaining, dialogue, and mediation than as supranational enforcement authorities. The article develops guarded regionalism as a state-led form of differentiated cooperation in which participation is conditional, issue-specific, and bounded by sovereignty safeguards.
The paper examines the ideology, identity and values of punk rock in the Czech context using a cross-sectional ex post facto survey of musical subcultures. The study analyzed effects of gender, age and value preferences on identification with punk and subcultural affiliation. Data were collected between April and June 2023 from 6,195 respondents, including 1,495 members of musical subcultures and 248 identifying as punk. Subcultural affiliation was operationalized using the index of subculture participation (IPA; 0–1), constructed from six dimensions of participation and identification. Value preferences were measured on 1–10 scales using an adapted set of Rokeach’s terminal and instrumental values. Gender and age differences were examined using chi-square tests and one-way ANOVA. Results show that Czech punk is relatively gender-balanced and extends across generations, with strongest representation in middle adulthood. Gender differences in affiliation were limited, although men reported greater use of subcultural slang. Value orientations showed stronger gender and age differentiation. Compared with the general population, punk respondents placed greater emphasis on independence, imagination, equality and emancipatory values, and less on obedience and religious values. Contemporary Czech punk thus constitutes a heterogeneous but identifiable value-based subculture combining anti-authoritarian orientations with generational and gender differentiation.
Taking the nationally and provincially listed intangible cultural heritage (ICH) items officially listed across the three cities and 28 counties (districts) of the Minnan Cultural Ecological Protection Area as research subjects, this study employs kernel density estimation, the nearest-neighbor index, the resource advantage index, spatial autocorrelation analysis, and the geographic detector method to comprehensively examine the typological structure, spatial distribution patterns, and influencing factors of ICH. The results indicate that: (1) The typological structure of intangible cultural heritage in the Minnan Cultural Ecological Protection Area exhibits considerable variation. Traditional crafts and folk customs account for the largest proportions, followed by traditional fine arts and traditional theatre, while categories such as folk literature and traditional dance are relatively underrepresented. (2) ICH items generally exhibit a clustered distribution pattern, forming a multi-level spatial structure centered on Quanzhou and Xiamen, with pronounced disparities in resource distribution across counties. Spatial autocorrelation analysis reveals a weak overall positive spatial correlation; at the local level, ‘high–high’ and ‘low–low’ clusters coexist with ‘high–low’ and ‘low–high’ clusters, indicating both spatial agglomeration and regional heterogeneity. (3) The geographic detector results indicate that cultural tourism expenditure, per capita GDP, population density, and topographic conditions are the primary factors influencing the spatial distribution of ICH. Among these, socioeconomic development and cultural investment demonstrate greater explanatory power than natural geographic factors, suggesting that the spatial pattern of ICH is shaped by the combined effects of historical-cultural accumulation and contemporary regional development conditions. These findings provide a scientific basis for the optimal allocation of ICH, integrated safeguarding, and the integrated development of culture and tourism in the Minnan Cultural Ecological Protection Area, and offer a reference for research on the spatial governance of ICH in National Cultural Ecological Protection Area.
Transgender victimogenesis in India emerges as a multi-dimensional phenomenon rooted in structural disparities and contested understandings of gender identity. Transgender individuals in India constitute a markedly disadvantaged population exposed to compounding layers of oppression across social, institutional, and interpersonal domains. This narrative review systematically examines the factors underlying transgender victim-proneness and victimogenesis in India through analysis of peer-reviewed literature published between 2010 and 2024, sourced from PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, JSTOR, and EBSCO. Search terms encompassed transgender identity, victimogenesis, victimization, victimology theories, social and cultural dimensions, causes, impacts, preventive strategies, and India-specific contexts. Inclusion criteria required studies to address transgender or gender minority victimization, be published in peer-reviewed English-language journals, and hold direct or theoretical relevance to the Indian setting; studies exclusively on cisgender populations, grey literature, and non-English sources were excluded. Retrieved literature underwent two-tiered screening encompassing title-abstract and full-text review, with data extracted thematically and synthesized narratively across identified domains. Evidence indicates that transgender individuals in India experience a complex, cumulative victimization trajectory spanning family rejection, educational exclusion, employment discrimination, police harassment, healthcare denial, and media stigmatization across different life phases. This review concludes that transgender victimization in India is not attributable to individual risk factors in isolation but is systematically produced through discriminatory practices embedded within structural institutions, impeding the realization of security, dignity, and fundamental human rights for this population. The paper advances victimology and gender studies scholarship by proposing a rights-based structural framework to guide evidence-informed policymaking aimed at eliminating transgender victimization in India.
The collective administration of copyright through societies presents a paradox: a legally sanctioned monopoly essential for market efficiency, given prohibitive transaction costs. This review critically examines the legal and regulatory framework governing copyright societies in India, focusing on the transformative yet contentious Copyright (Amendment) Act of 2012. Using a doctrinal legal methodology, the study analyses primary sources, including the Copyright Act 1957, the 2012 amendments, judicial pronouncements and committee reports, supplemented by limited empirical data from Copyright Office records and industry surveys. The analysis reveals that while the 2012 reforms mandated re-registration, instituted a shared governance parity model between authors and commercial owners, and introduced tariff transparency, their implementation remains fraught with legal ambiguities. The core unresolved tension lies in the judicial conflict between an owner’s right to a licence under Section 30 and the statutory monopoly of registered societies under Section 33. Despite its intent, the shared governance model risks institutionalising deadlock between divergent interests. Furthermore, procedural hurdles, such as the ‘pay-to-appeal’ tariff challenge mechanism, undermine transparency. The study concludes that the success of the reforms depends on robust self-regulation by copyright societies, unequivocal judicial guidance and decisive adaptation to digital challenges, including streaming platforms, user-generated content (UGC) and artificial intelligence.IMPACT STATEMENTThis study provides critical insights for policymakers, legal practitioners, and copyright societies navigating India’s evolving collective rights management framework. By identifying persistent legal ambiguities and governance challenges in the post-2012 copyright regime, this study offers actionable recommendations, including a four-pillar reform framework, that can enhance royalty transparency, strengthen creator protections, and position India’s copyright ecosystem to address the challenges posed by artificial intelligence and digital platforms. These findings have direct implications for India’s creative economy, potentially improving the livelihoods of authors, musicians, and screenwriters who depend on efficient and equitable copyright administration.
Contemporary armed conflicts increasingly unfold through communication networks, satellite systems, broadcasting facilities, cloud services, and digital platforms that support both military operations and civilian life. That dual-use character creates acute difficulties for the law of armed conflict because information infrastructure is rarely confined to a single physical object or a single institutional user. The difficulty is not that existing doctrine is unavailable, but that ordinary object-based categories can conceal the way information functions are shared. The principles of distinction, proportionality, and precautions remain applicable to attacks on dual-use information infrastructure, but their application requires a more functionally precise analysis. A functional interdependence approach asks whether the operation is directed at the smallest feasible functional unit with military relevance, how civilians depend on that function, which reverberating and informational effects are reasonably foreseeable, and whether less harmful alternatives are available. Drawing on foundational targeting scholarship, cyber-specific manuals and guidance, state practice, and case studies from the Russia-Ukraine war, the analysis shows how this approach can discipline military-objective determinations and proportionality assessments without creating a new legal category or abandoning existing doctrine. The resulting framework is intended for assessing broadcasting, telecommunications, satellite, and cyber operations in conflicts where civilian and military information systems are deeply intertwined.
This study analyzes the political-legal roots of the escalation of armed conflict between the SAF and the RSF in Sudan through a qualitative case study approach grounded in the perspective of Derecho Político. By integrating four theoretical frameworks, this study identifies four main factors behind the collapse of the country’s constitutional order: first, the institutionalization of parallel military dualism dating back to the era of Omar al-Bashir, which fragmented the monopoly on the use of force; second, the polarization of identities and the personalization of power between General Burhan and Hemedti, which triggered a struggle for existential sovereignty; third, the constitutional crisis resulting from the ambiguity of the security reform clause in the December 2022 Sudan Framework Agreement; fourth, external intervention and praetorian economics through control of transnational gold business networks, which freed both factions from civilian control. These dynamics undermine the state’s legitimate coercive monopoly and accelerate institutional fragmentation toward war. Through the case of Sudan, this study contributes to the literature on constitutional collapse, the fragmentation of sovereignty, and military pluralism in the context of post-authoritarian transitions.
This article examines artificial intelligence governance approaches adopted by the European Union, South Korea, and Japan, and evaluates their suitability for informing an AI governance framework for Thailand as a developing economy. Applying institutional economics theory—drawing on North’s framework of formal and informal institutional constraints, Coase’s analysis of transaction costs, and Williamson’s governance structures—alongside policy transfer theory and the concept of legal irritants, the article assesses three regulatory philosophies: the EU’s comprehensive risk-based hard law (Regulation (EU) 2024/1689), South Korea’s framework legislation integrating governance with industrial strategy (AI Basic Act), and Japan’s innovation-supportive promotional legislation (AI Promotion Act). Using comparative methodology structured around five dimensions—regulatory form and legal certainty, rights protection, innovation compatibility, institutional feasibility, and transferability—the article argues that Thailand should develop a context-sensitive hybrid framework through a phased approach combining voluntary principles, targeted binding obligations for high-risk AI, and a consolidated framework law. The article contributes to the literature on AI governance in developing economies by demonstrating how institutional economics analysis, combined with comparative regulatory assessment, can inform governance design balancing rights protection with innovation, institutional realism with normative ambition, and international alignment with domestic fit.
Restaurant sustainability has become an important area of scholarly inquiry because of its links to environmental stewardship, responsible consumption, and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Although research has expanded considerably, the literature remains fragmented across environmental management, hospitality, consumer behaviour, governance, and policy perspectives. This study presents a bibliometric review of 509 Scopus-indexed publications published between 2001 and 2024. Using PRISMA, Biblioshiny, and VOSviewer, the study maps publication trends, citation structures, influential contributors, thematic patterns, and collaboration networks. Findings show increased scholarly output after 2015, led by the United States, China, and the United Kingdom, while Global South contributions remain limited. Thematic analyses identify established streams centred on environmental sustainability, food waste reduction, consumer behaviour, operational management, and governance-related sustainability. The evidence also highlights growing attention to ESG-related topics, circular economy approaches, digital sustainability technologies, and sustainability communication. Consumer trust and credibility remain underexplored topics and possible directions for future research rather than established thematic domains. These findings represent patterns in published literature and should not be interpreted as evidence of changes in restaurant practices, consumer behaviour, governance implementation, or theoretical explanatory power. The study provides a focused bibliometric evidence base for future research and policy discussions.
Work-life balance is crucial for elderly informal caregivers from low-income groups, who must balance employment, caregiving responsibilities, and daily life demands. This study examines the determinants of work-life balance among elderly informal caregivers in Malaysia and Indonesia. Grounded in Work–Family Conflict Theory, it investigates the influence of individual characteristics, family support, work-related factors, and financial resources on work-life balance. Data were collected from 397 low-income elderly informal caregivers across both countries and analyzed using Structural Equation Modelling–Partial Least Squares (SEM-PLS). The findings reveal that individual characteristics and work-related factors significantly influence work-life balance, highlighting the importance of personal attributes and workplace conditions in helping caregivers manage competing responsibilities. This study contributes to the literature by providing cross-country evidence on the determinants of work-life balance among elderly informal caregivers from low-income groups. The findings offer practical implications for policymakers, employers, and organizations in developing more inclusive workplace policies that better support caregivers and promote healthier work-life balance.
Women’s political participation is essential to inclusive governance and democratic consolidation, yet women remain markedly underrepresented in Somalia’s formal political institutions. This study examines how cultural norms, clan-based systems, and religious interpretations shaped women’s political participation in Mogadishu between 2010 and 2025. Using an interpretivist qualitative design with a phenomenologically informed orientation, the study draws on semi-structured interviews with 23 purposively selected key informants, including female politicians and former candidates, women’s rights advocates, civil society leaders, clan elders, religious leaders, and governance and electoral actors. Thematic analysis, supported by NVivo, indicates that patriarchal gender norms define leadership as male, while clan gatekeeping converts those norms into practical control over nomination, negotiation, and access to office. Social stigma and anticipated reputational costs also lead some women to limit their own political engagement. Religious discourse has a dual effect: restrictive interpretations can legitimize exclusion, whereas interpretations grounded in justice, consultation, and accountability can provide moral support for women’s leadership. The study argues that these mechanisms interact, helping to explain why formal quotas may increase numerical representation without producing substantive political influence. Context-sensitive reform should therefore combine transparent quota implementation with direct engagement of clan institutions, community networks, and religious authorities.
The oil and gas industry faces technological disruption, energy transition, and stringent safety demands requiring continuous organizational learning, yet traditional training remains insufficient. This systematic literature review examines how corporate universities can evolve into strategic knowledge hubs that strengthen organizational learning capability in petroleum companies. A structured Scopus search yielded 745 articles, refined to 119 studies (2004-2025) coded by theoretical framework, evolutionary phase, learning modality, and organizational context, then synthesized thematically. The analysis reveals four phases: the Foundation Era (2004-2009), the Knowledge Management Era (2010-2014), the Learning Organization Era (2015-2019), and the Strategic Knowledge Hub Era (2020-2025). Persistent challenges arise from scattered organizational structures and fragmented learning across organizational, group, and individual levels. Five core learning modalities recur: hands-on technical training, experiential learning, simulation-based learning, blended learning, and communities of practice, reflecting embodied learning that resists full digitalization in high-risk environments. The study proposes a Strategic Knowledge Hub architecture integrating Strategic Growth Themes with Learning, Knowledge, and Innovation components, enabled by distributed leadership commitment, and finds vocational training more effective than academic models in bridging the education-industry gap. The findings advance organizational learning theory and guide corporate university investment during digital and sustainability transitions.
The growth of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and declining unemployment rates are widely regarded as indicators of successful economic development. However, these trends may conceal underlying structural problems, particularly limited formal job creation and increasing dependence on the informal economy. This study examines how patterns of MSME growth may indicate constraints in state developmental capacity to generate productive formal employment and contribute to the illusion of MSME growth, a condition in which expanding MSME numbers and declining unemployment create the appearance of development success despite persistent structural labor-market vulnerabilities. Using a qualitative comparative design, this study analyzes secondary data from Bandung, Surabaya and Pontianak, including publications from Statistics Indonesia, the Ministry of Cooperatives and SMEs, local government documents and other official reports. The data were analyzed thematically and comparatively to examine patterns linking MSME expansion, formal employment capacity and labor-market dynamics. The findings suggest that increasing MSME numbers do not necessarily indicate stronger regional economic capacity but are consistent with limited formal employment opportunities that encourage necessity entrepreneurship. Based on these findings, the study proposes the Urban Employment Transformation Capacity (UETC) Model and introduces the concept of the illusion of MSME growth, contributing to development governance literature by questioning the use of MSME growth as an unqualified indicator of development success.
The rapid advancement of generative artificial intelligence has intensified concerns regarding deepfake-enabled political misinformation during election campaigns across Southeast Asia. This study examines how Indonesian journalists recognized, interpreted, and verified suspected deepfake content during the 2024 Presidential Election. Using a qualitative descriptive design, data were collected through anonymous written responses, followed by semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions, and analysed using thematic analysis. The findings indicate that journalists relied on perceptual expertise and heuristic recognition to identify potentially manipulated content under newsroom deadline pressure. However, these initial judgments required systematic verification through source triangulation, contextual analysis, editorial consultation, and technological support before editorial decisions could be made. The findings show that Perception Theory, the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM), and the Heuristic-Systematic Model (HSM) provide complementary perspectives for understanding journalistic verification of AI-generated political content under cognitive and institutional constraints. Practically, the study highlights the importance of strengthening institutional verification capacity through robust newsroom protocols, AI-assisted verification tools, ethical governance, and continuous professional training to support journalistic integrity and democratic communication in an era of increasingly sophisticated synthetic media.
Malaysia’s Corruption Perception Index (CPI) declined notably between 2019 and 2024, reflecting persistent concerns about integrity in the public sector and employees’ reluctance to report misconduct. This study examines factors influencing whistleblowing intention among public sector employees, focusing on public service motivation, self-efficacy and empathy, with organisational trust as a moderator. Data were collected using an online structured questionnaire from 76 employees from Department ABC (pseudonym), which functions as an enforcement-based institution contributing to national revenue in Malaysia through convenience sampling and analysed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM). Results show that public service motivation, self-efficacy and empathy significantly influence whistleblowing intention. While organisational trust does not moderate the effects of public service motivation and self-efficacy, it strengthens the relationship between empathy and whistleblowing. The study contributes theoretically by extending the application of prosocial behaviour theory to a high-risk public sector context and by conceptualising trust as a moderating mechanism that conditions the strength of individual drivers. Practically, the findings offer insights for public sector institutions to strengthen ethical reporting by enhancing prosocial values, individual confidence and organisational trust.
This study investigated the roles and participatory strategies of Students of Social Development Studies (SSDS) in caring for Baby Boomer older adults in Thailand. It addressed a gap by examining how SSDS integrated intergenerational approaches and digital technologies into community elderly care. The study aimed to identify SSDS caregiving roles and examine how participatory processes enhanced older adults’ well-being. A research and development (R&D) approach was employed. Twenty-four key informants, comprising 12 SSDS and 12 Baby Boomer older adults, were selected through purposive and stratified sampling. Data were collected through document analysis, in-depth interviews, focus groups, participatory observation, and workshops. Qualitative content and action-based analyses were conducted, with triangulation enhancing trustworthiness. Findings showed that SSDS performed caregiving roles across dimensions: physical, psychological, social, and economic, including health promotion, emotional support, financial guidance, and community participation. These roles were coordinated through the B-W-R-R (Home–Temple–School–Hospital) collaborative model, integrating community care. The ELASTIC+ framework linked caregiving roles with four participatory stages: Thinking, Interacting, Contributing, and Evaluating Plus. Rather than proposing a new theory, it operationalized Role Theory, participatory development, and active ageing perspectives in Thailand. The findings highlight implications for social development education, community practice, and ageing policy.
As the climate crisis intensifies, questions arise over the future trajectory of environmental activism and the potential for radicalisation in response to persistent policy inaction. While prominent UK movements such as Extinction Rebellion (XR) and Just Stop Oil (JSO) remain committed to non-violence, their escalating tactics raise concerns about how activism may evolve if conventional protest fails to deliver urgent climate reforms. Drawing on twenty-eight semi-structured interviews and participant observation, this study examines activist motivations, strategies, and perceptions of political responsiveness. The findings inform the development of the ‘Environmental Activism Thermometer’, a conceptual model mapping potential pathways of escalation within climate activism. By situating XR and JSO’s activities within broader sociopolitical and psychological contexts, the paper offers novel insights into the dynamics driving environmental radicalisation and discusses the implications for policymakers seeking to address both the root causes of activism and the risks of future escalation.
In light of the 1948 Genocide Convention, this article examines Israel’s military operations in the Gaza Strip from 2023 to 2025 following the Hamas-led attack of 7 October 2023. It assesses how the available record bears on allegations of genocide, with particular attention to the Convention’s material and mental elements. The analysis examines reported conduct alongside public statements by senior Israeli officials relevant to specific intent, while distinguishing the evidentiary standards applicable to provisional measures from those governing final merits determinations. It focuses on three prohibited acts under Article II: killing members of a protected group; causing serious bodily or mental harm; and deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about the group’s physical destruction, in whole or in part. The paper situates these allegations within urban warfare, including claims concerning Hamas’s use of civilian infrastructure, while considering Palestinian political decisions and agency. Drawing on documentation from United Nations bodies, military reports, and academic legal literature, the study reviews evidence concerning civilian casualties, medical access, and the destruction of educational institutions. It evaluates competing interpretations of the record, including classifications as genocide, war crimes, or crimes against humanity, and identifies the principal evidentiary questions relevant to final adjudication.
