Intersections. East European Journal of Society and Politics

Personality, social distance and conflicts

Marek Preiss — 2023-09-16

Objective. Although previous studies pointed to various aspects of social distance and conflicts with representatives of otherness, associations with objectively measured aspects of personality in the form of a semi-structure interview combined with observation are less common. Based on previous studies, this study focused on the relationship between social distance and conflicts with representatives of otherness. It was hypothesized that the lower the personality functioning, the higher will be social distance and more conflicts with representatives of otherness will be reported. We assumed that impaired empathy would be associated with higher social distance in comparison with other variables of personality functioning derived from Alternative Model for Personality Disorders (AMPD) – identity, self-direction and intimacy. Sample and methods. Participants (N = 204) were recruited from several contrast groups including clinical and measures focused on conflicts, personality functioning (STiP-5.1), social distance (Bogardus Social Distance Scale). Additionally, several related methods were used. Results. Increased impairments in identity, self-direction, empathy, and intimacy were associated with a higher degree of subjective importance of conflicts with representatives of otherness. Greater social distance was associated with impairments in self-direction and empathy. However, social distance was found independent of subjectively experienced conflicts. Multivariate linear regressions showed that social distance was predicted by education, racism, and personality functioning (STiP-5.1 – Self-direction), BR and SR scores, explaining 58 per cent of the variance. Conclusions. The subjective importance of conflicts and social distance to representatives of otherness is associated with AMPD.

Locating the role of civil society in anti-corruption

Prince Aian Villanueva — 2023-09-16

The paper explores the configuration of corruption in democracies and simultaneously looks at whether civil society figures in this configuration. It does so via a fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis of 30 democracies in the third wave of autocratization. Results of the analysis suggest that the presence of high perceived corruption is accounted for by the absence of a robust civil society combined with the absence of wide and independent public deliberation and the presence of high political exclusion. On the other hand, the absence of high perceived corruption is explained by the presence of wide and independent public deliberation combined with the absence of high political exclusion. It is particularly in the latter case that civil society’s role, whether in its presence or absence, is elusive. The paper contributes to the discussion on the contextual dependencies of corruption and the conditionality of civil society’s anti-corruption role. Prospects for future research on the conditional and possibly indirect anti-corruption role of civil society in democracies are put forward.

How green are children’s rights institutions in the Visegrád countries?

Ágnes Lux — 2023-09-16

Environmental damages have already been clearly linked to human rights- and particularly children’s rights violations as climate change particularly affects the present (and future) generation of children, undermining the effective exercise of rights enshrined in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UN CRC), including the right to life, survival, and development, health, an adequate standard of living, education, and freedom from violence.

With the almost universal ratification of the UN CRC, states have committed to the obligation to enforce children’s rights at all levels of society. In the possible best implementation of the UN CRC, independent human/children’s rights institutions (IH/CRIs) can play a vital role. However, many ICRIs still do not confront issues associated with environmental and climate change related to children’s rights. My main question was why these institutions are not (or are only barely) addressing these issues. In this paper, I focus on mapping the implementation of children's right to a healthy environment by analyzing the ICRIs in the Visegrád countries: Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic, and Slovakia through descriptive and comparative techniques and a survey sent to dedicated institutions.

Impact on child justice in a world of digital courts

Cédric Foussard — 2023-09-16

The Covid-19 pandemic brought so much tragedy across the world, but as with so much necessity also became the mother of invention. The notion of a virtual trial or other court proceedings came to life during the pandemic to help courts continue to function. In this context, virtual court proceedings and trials became the norm. And, as the world grapples with emerging from this health crisis different courts are taking different paths. In order to guarantee the child’s right to justice during the pandemic and as it waned, some jurisdictions have opted to continue holding hearings in-person, while maintaining physical protection from viruses; others have decided to digitise court proceedings using technological tools. To explore this development, volunteer attorneys from Baker McKenzie and the legal department of Google came together to assist the Global Initiative on Justice With Children, by interviewing judiciary professionals around the world.

Using a single questioning tool, volunteers conducted interviews with individual judges to understand their perspectives on the use of digital hearings and the effect of their use on justice for children. We opted for the term ‘digital justice’ to describe this use of virtual technology to conduct hearings and trials in youth justice proceedings rather than conducting them in-person. This paper aims to highlight how digital justice had a significant impact on justice systems for children and youth during the pandemic, determine whether digital justice could or should become a new normal in children’s justice systems, and identify what should be the protective measures for children in a modified justice system.

This paper analyses the advantages and disadvantages of virtual hearings and the impact of them on children’s ability to effectively participate in and adequately understand the judicial processes and the seriousness of the justice outcomes. It also discusses the different jurisdictions’ approaches to requiring the presence of the child’s lawyer during the proceedings and the obstacles to children’s access to legal aid in a digital context. The interviews conducted by volunteers highlighted difficulties in ensuring a safe space for children and young people’s data and privacy, difficulties in communicating with counsel and receiving useful advice from lawyers and other participants in the proceedings, and difficulties for children to feel that they can speak up in their own proceedings.

Children’s rights in Bulgaria between theory and practice

Gergana Nenova — 2023-09-16

Like many post-socialist states, following the transition to democracy, Bulgaria had to close the large institutions for children in which orphans, children with disabilities and other types of children were being raised. The so-called deinstitutionalization reform has been an important part of introducing children’s rights legislation in contemporary Bulgaria. However, it is still unclear how the consequences of the reform relate to the normative framework of child’s rights. To address this problem, we present the results of a study conducted in 2020/2021 that explores the implementation of the reform through the approach of action research. We analyse interviews with children, social workers and public officials conducted in two big cities in Bulgaria. We outline the ways and extent to which children’s rights are integrated into the professional practice of social workers and in the lives of children that are part of the reform, as well as the reasons for their violation. We conclude that there are significant contradictions between the ‘theoretical framework’ of children’s rights and their implementation in relation to the deinstitutionalization reform. The former may be seen as ‘unintended consequences’ of the reform resulting from Bulgarian society’s socio-cultural specificities.

Creative and participatory methods for bolstering violence prevention in schools in South East Europe through shifting social and gender norms

Kathleen Manion — 2023-09-16

Children have the right to be free from violence in schools, yet violence in schools persists. The social and gender norms, or unwritten rules of behavior that drive our collective beliefs, attitudes, and perspectives, perpetuate both positive and harmful behavior related to violence. However, social norms are malleable. To explore this further, the Regional‌ ‌Research‌ ‌on‌ ‌Violence‌ ‌Against‌ ‌Children‌ ‌in‌ ‌Schools‌ ‌in‌ ‌South‌ ‌East‌ ‌Europe project, supported by Terre des hommes and the Child Protection Hub and led by the International Institute on Child Rights and Development (IICRD) sought to work with young people and their supporters in eight South and East European countries from 2019–2021 to unpack how social and gender norms impact school related gender-based violence (SRGBV) and the potential role young people play in challenging destructive social norms in Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Kosovo, Moldova, Romania, and Serbia. At the intersection of a child’s right to be safe, to be educated and to be heard, this paper looks at a creative and participatory research approaches that bring children’s experiences of violence in schools to the fore and centers their experiences.

This largely qualitative study drew on participatory and creative methods to explore the incidence and type of violence that children and young people are facing in and around school in South East Europe, who is most impacted by it, the social and gender norms related to violence (including SRGBV) against children, the mechanisms and child-led actions that protect children from violence and promote wellbeing, how children and young people felt able to prevent or respond to violence (and SRGBV specifically), and the ideas they had for prevention. National academic and independent researchers were trained on the research and analysis tools that were designed by the IICRD team to ensure consistency. Two schools in each country were chosen to run 2–3 day workshops with up to 15 young people aged 13–18 years old and up to 15 adult supporters in each site.

This paper outlines the findings and focuses on the cyclical nature of research and practice where one informs the other. The multi-country research design and findings offer unique insights into effective approaches to work with young people as well as the levels of violence experienced by young people and their critical insights in how to implement enhanced safety in schools. In addition, this paper emphases the process of conducting research using creative and participatory methods as this is not often discussed in detail in the literature. In order to develop research with children and young people that can effectively impact practice, we suggest it is imperative to have a relational approach embedded in research that provides training for adults to ensure they are equipped to do this sensitive work.

Surviving their journey

Anita Burgund Isakov — 2023-09-16

Year after year, millions of children cross international borders for many different reasons. In order to support the further strengthening of the system of protection in Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) in terms of responsiveness to new vulnerabilities arising from the context of migration, in-depth interviews were undertaken in 2021 with a sample of 48 youths (N=38 boys and N=10 girls), both unaccompanied and traveling with families, currently residing in camps in BiH, about their experience of violence and its impacts on their wellbeing using a trauma-informed and children’s-rights approach.

All children experienced a range of traumatic experiences on the journey, including severe violence. Even though the concept of emotional violence is unclear to them, most children plainly describe traumatic experiences, while their tendency to normalize violence is noticeable. Many of them showed symptoms of trauma responses or identified them in their siblings, younger children, and peers. Nevertheless, many children have developed various help-seeking, help-using, and self-help strategies, including joining other adults or peers, mutual help and support, the analysis of risk situations, elaboration of exit strategies, self-efficiency assessment, and a range of self-regulation and resilience-building techniques, in addition to avoidance, denial, and self-harm.

Research findings point to the diversity of children’s responses to violence and prolonged traumatic events. They also raise a lot of questions regarding the impact on children’s current and future development and well-being and the availability of trauma-informed responses and care. The results contribute to the scarce resources concerning the scientific understanding of children’s experiences of violence and the understanding of traumatic experiences among migrant and refugee children.

Book Review

Nándor Petrovics — 2023-09-16

Editorial

Ágnes Lux — 2023-09-16