Book review of The Political Economy of Digital Ecosystems: Scenario Planning for Alternative Futures by Meelis Kitsing, 2022, Routledge
Book review of History Below the Global: On and Beyond the Coloniality of Power in Historical Research by Lorenzo Kamel, 2024, Taylor & Francis
Book review of East Central Europe Between the Colonial and the Postcolonial in the Twentieth Century, ed. by Siegfried Huigen, Dorota Kołodziejczyk, 2023, Palgrave Macmillan
The 2011 political transition in Myanmar, following decades of military rule, heralded prospects for democratic reform, yet political imprisonment persisted, revealing a paradox of liberalisation juxtaposed with repression. This study investigates why the criminalisation of dissent endured under the National League for Democracy (NLD) government (2016–2020). Employing a qualitative methodology that encompasses systematic document analysis and 25 semi-structured interviews, the paper applies a combined framework of political repression and the criminalisation of dissent to analyse this continuity. Findings indicate that the political reforms have reduced overt violence but political imprisonment persists through legal mechanisms. This tension reflects Myanmar's oscillating transition, marked by phases of openness and heightened repression. The entrenched power of the military, enshrined in the 2008 Constitution, coupled with a repressive legal framework, enabled the suppression of dissent, posing a significant barrier to genuine democracy. These findings illuminate the fragility of Myanmar's transition, particularly in light of the 2021 military coup, and offer insights into political transitions in military-dominated regimes.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, educational systems around the world became heavily reliant on data-intensive technologies and algorithmic decision-making systems. In the UK, concerns over grade inflation for A-levels qualifications led the overseeing authority to using a grading algorithm in the hopes of providing objective, neutral and fair assessment. In reality, the algorithm displayed bias by downgrading nearly 36% of the grades of students coming from more marginalised groups, resulting in an ‘A-levels fiasco’. We applied a critical discursive psychology approach to explore how students, teachers, parents and policymakers impacted by algorithm-based grading expressed and relied on different senses of fairness (formal, implied contractual, relational, retributive) when commenting on the incident in international news media (N=329). Our findings indicate that while the affected agents evoked and clung to different senses of fairness, the algorithm itself also emerged as a meta-agent of fairness in the discursive constructs of social reality. The analysis further illustrates how public authorities held overly optimistic and techno-solutionist imaginaries about the neutrality and objectivity of AI-based systems, revealing a crucial need for oversight bodies that guide public institutions in responsibly deploying safe and trustworthy data technologies.
This article explores the relationship between language practices and social exclusion within Kazakhstan's multilingual landscape. The empirical material of the study is based on a representative sociological survey conducted in 2021 across all regions of Kazakhstan (n = 1999) using a stratified quota sample. This sample ensured a balance in terms of age, gender, and place of residence. The respondents were divided into three groups: Kazakh-speaking, Russian-speaking and bilinguals. This division allowed us to examine how language proficiency influences perceptions of social integration, trust levels, and social inclusion. The χ²-test statistical method was employed in the data analysis, enabling us to assess the significance of differences between the language groups. In addition, qualitative materials from focus group discussions conducted in several regions of Kazakhstan were used to contextualise and interpret the results. The study's findings indicate that the Kazakh-speaking group is characterised by a high level of optimism, life satisfaction, and confidence in personal and political efficacy. By contrast, the Russian-speaking group experiences anxiety, dissatisfaction, and scepticism towards government institutions, pointing to a symbolic sense of social exclusion. Bilinguals occupy a middle ground between the two language groups, combining emotional ambivalence with a high level of adaptability and potential for social mobility. The data confirm that language is not only a means of communication, but also a form of symbolic capital that defines access to social recognition and participation in society.
Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, migration has become an integral part of daily life for many Central Asians. This includes internal, cross-border, short- and long-term migration, and sending and receiving remittances. To date, much of the literature on Central Asian migration focuses on low-skilled labour migration, irregular status and legal vulnerability, situating migrants within broader analyses of exploitation, stratified incorporation and migrant-worker regimes. While these dynamics remain important, recent migration research increasingly conceptualises mobility as an aspirational and capability-dependent process rather than a simple response to economic deprivation, emphasising how desires for education, autonomy, and future life possibilities shape migration trajectories alongside structural constraints. This article addresses these debates by examining the migration trajectories of Tajik women in South Korea, drawing on interviews with female migrants. We offer novel frameworks to the field of migration. Empirically, we illustrate that migration to South Korea is experienced neither as a straightforward route to emancipation nor as a condition of unrelenting precarity. Instead, women’s narratives reveal a patterned coexistence of agency and vulnerability, opportunity and constraint. Theoretically, by showing that migration can generate meaningful improvements in women’s lives without producing secure incorporation, legal permanence or full social belonging, we place the Capability Approach at the centre of the analysis, integrating insights from gendered migration theory, legal stratification, transnationalism and intersectionality. Our research demonstrates how female migrants experience capability expansion under conditions of conditional belonging.
Little is known in the literature about non-economic factors that might shape migrant selectivity. This study examines how preferences for resolving the Russian-Ukrainian conflict relate to the migration patterns and intentions of Ukrainians following the Russian full-scale aggression. Drawing on the concepts of place utility and migration decision-making models, we analyse data from the OneUA survey, which was collected around six months after Russia’s full-scale invasion among almost 25,000 Ukrainian women residing in Ukraine and abroad. Our results, based on a series of logistic regressions, suggest that Ukrainian women favouring a military solution to the conflict are more likely to remain in their pre-war residence in Ukraine rather than being internally displaced (i.e., IDP) or moving abroad (i.e., refugees). Moreover, among women forced to leave the country as refugees, those who favour a military solution exhibit a stronger intention to return. Conversely, among women still in Ukraine, those who favour a military solution less are more likely to consider international migration. Our study advances research on self-selection into migration based on non-economic factors, emphasising the role of political perceptions in displacement and resettlement patterns in conflict-affected regions.
This study examines how gender and ethno-national origin intersect in shaping the likelihood of studying science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine (STEMM) in higher education in Germany. Building on research showing gender and ethnic differences in the selection of STEMM-qualified immigrants who entered Germany in the 1980s, we explore whether similar patterns emerge among their offspring. We further analyse whether the effect of parental STEMM occupation varies by gender and ethno-national origin. Using nationally representative data, we find that students of Turkish or Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) descent – both men and women – are more likely to enrol in STEMM fields than their German-origin peers. Men of former Soviet Union (FSU) origin also show higher enrolment, contributing to a larger gender gap in that group compared to German-origin students. Significant differences are also found for Central and Eastern European (CEE) students. Additional analyses reveal that these results mostly reflect enrolment in male-dominated STEMM fields – even among ethnic minority women. Parental STEMM occupation is positively associated with enrolment in STEMM fields, particularly for men, but this association does not vary by ethno-national origin.
Scholars are increasingly aware of cross-national variations in the motherhood wage penalty, and there is solid evidence of its linkages with policies and the enabling or hindering of gender equality. Evidence of the differentiated effects of policies and norms across institutional contexts, however, is scarce. There are, at the same time, strong arguments that the remedies that are appropriate for lower and higher labour market status women may not only differ, but sometimes even conflict with each other. This paper centres on the effect of childcare policies and gender norms on the motherhood wage penalty moderated by occupational groups. We rely on multilevel modelling and EU-SILC data and explore a pan-European view incorporating 25 European countries. We confirm that long parental leave has the ability to increase the motherhood wage penalty, while the availability of childcare and attitudes that favour maternal employment can reduce it. We demonstrate that these policy effects are not uniform across occupational positions in Europe. While traditional gender norms and generous parental leave tend to universally penalise mothers in terms of their earnings, the availability of childcare benefits more women in high-skilled occupations.
The focus of this article is on the role of welfare state arrangements on the material deprivation of older persons: we ask to what extent the social protection programmes mitigate the risk of material deprivation in old age. We use cross-sectional data from Wave 5 of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe and the Material Deprivation Index to assess the associations between the material deprivation of older persons and a set of macro indicators which characterise the social protection programmes relevant for older persons. The findings show that higher old age and disability pensions, and greater expenditures for healthcare, housing and social exclusion are associated with lower risk of material deprivation of older persons. The study contributes to the still limited literature on the effects of institutional macro drivers, such as social protection expenditures, on the material deprivation of older persons in a cross-national perspective.
The concept of sustained ethnic mobilization remains under-studied, with a majority of the focus being drawn to the initial factors initiating mobilization. Yet, there are instances globally where ethnic groups have engaged in mobilization, remaining active without fully completing the process of mobilization, or experiencing a decline in mobilization over time. The case of Hungarians in Romania serves as a key example of a minority group that mobilized during the immediate post-communist era while continuing to pursue its stated goals and objectives, maintaining broad support within the community. This article examines two theories of sustained ethnic mobilization, institutional and kin-state, to evaluate which is more effective in analysing the case of the Hungarian minority. Using these theories, the analysis focuses on domestic organizations and institutions, as well as the allowances provided by the Romanian governing system. Additionally, it examines the influence of the Hungarian government through two key forms of support: financial backing for cultural institutions and the provision of citizenship to Hungarians residing in Romania. The article comes to the conclusion that both approaches offer value in understanding why mobilization is sustained but in the case of the Hungarians, the role of institutions is paramount in allowing a group to retain mobilization, offering regional and conceptual implications.
Social support may affect survival for everyone, or it may buffer the effects of chronic strain. This paper explores whether, how, and which social network characteristics are associated with longer overall survival as well as longer survival when experiencing disability-related stress. The data used is from the SHARE Estonia survey for the population aged 50+ (2010–2020), cross-checked with the timing of death from the population register. The effects of six network characteristics were analysed: network size, frequency of contact with family members, number of children in the network, reporting a partner and friends as network members, and overall emotional closeness with the network. Network characteristics, disability, employment, legal marital status, and practical support were constructed as time-varying variables. Men and women were analysed separately using Cox’s hazard models. The analytical sample includes 2,754 people (1,157 men and 1,597 women) without everyday activity limitations at the onset, of whom 14.5% (19.9% of men and 10.5% of women) died during the observation period. The results show that irrespective of whether they experience stress, larger networks protect women from dying earlier. Frequency of contact with family members was the only significant factor buffering the experience of everyday activity limitations, albeit with high uncertainty and only among men.
We study the contribution of household structure – such as the number of adults and children in the household – to the income gap between higher and lower-educated families. We extend our perspective and unit of analysis from the adults to the children living in households and study differences in children’s economic circumstances between higher and lower-educated families. More specifically, we ask: 1) To what extent are the differences in the economic circumstances of children living in higher and lower-educated households due to differences in household structure? 2) Does this vary between European countries? We study these questions using cross-nationally comparable data from the Generations and Gender Survey (GGS) and apply the Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition technique to show what the income gap would be if all education groups had the same household structure. In each country studied, children living in highly educated households have better economic circumstances. Children living in highly educated households also live more often in two-adult families, have fewer siblings living with them, and their parents are older when entering parenthood compared to others. Overall, our results show that the extent to which household structure explains income disparities varies in relative terms, but is surprisingly similar across countries in absolute terms. Despite the highly heterogeneous country sample, the results suggest that household composition contributes to a relatively limited extent overall to differences in children’s economic circumstances by parental education level. This suggests that family policies have a relatively limited impact in equalising economic disparities among children.
Book review: Shopping with Allah: Muslim Pilgrimage, Gender, and Consumption in a Globalized World by Viola Thimm, 2023, University College London Press.
