Journal of Advanced Research in Social Sciences

Argentine Chaotic Term Length Series in an American Historical Context

Carmelo Felice — 2023-08-28

The political stability of a government system is crucial for achieving social, economic, and cultural growth of a people. Among other things, political stability depends on the norms that come from a state of rights. Several metrics have been proposed to measure political stability, such as the weighted sum of the number of revolutions or the index defined by the World Bank comprising 72 variables, which include subjective concepts, numerical parameters, and other variables. Therefore, it must be applied carefully to individual countries or to compare countries. No definitions in the related literature directly consider cultural factors and are limited to quantifying their practical effects, such as numbers of strikes or manifestations against a government. Concepts such as contempt for authority have not been directly quantified. In this part, we present two more indicators that account for the contempt for authority and permit a rapid quantitative and visual analysis of the political stability of a country or province throughout its history. They are, the social stability index that allows the general quantification of the social stability level at a historical moment, and the phase planes that graphically show the predominant chaotic system. These tools manifest the behavior patterns that affect the political stability of a country or province. Finally, we perform an in-depth analysis of the indicators for the Republic of Argentina between the 16th and 21st centuries, with the historical context of the more important Spanish and British colonization of the American continent. The results indicate 1) the permanence of socially toxic behavior patterns in Argentina and other Latin American countries, 2) inherited cultural causes could explain the high political instability in Argentina over the last 500 years and 3) a succession of singles term length by rulers during decades could be used to stabilize a country.

Democracy in Retreat: The New Media and Human Rights Dimension to Covid-19 Pandemic in Nigeria

Oluwatunmise Taiwo Paimo — 2023-08-28

The role of the new media in analyzing and monitoring the global pandemic of Covid-19, which reveals at the same time reveals inadequacies of ensuring human rights in Nigeria cannot be over-emphasized. As an outlet for information gathering and dissemination, the media provided citizens with developments surrounding the Covid-19 pandemic. While identifying the power of media during the pandemic, this paper seeks to examine the human rights perspective of the Nigerian government. It argues that rather than the Nigerian Federal Government promoting the human security associated with the practice of democracy; freedom and liberty, transparency and legitimacy of governance; rule of law, and equity for citizens; settles for authoritarian governance that violates the democratic principles and human rights tenets. Primary data is sourced from social media platforms of television and radio stations; and social media influencers from entertainment and politics. Secondary data is gathered from consultations with journal articles, books, and newspapers. Findings are analyzed using content analysis; needed to blend the objectives of the paper.

Semantic Differential of the Concept of Beauty

Slavka Demuthova — 2023-08-28

This study focuses on an exploration of the concept of beauty using the semantic differential method. 2,080 participants (53.46% were female) aged 18 to 89 (M = 41.36 years; SD = 16.48) were asked to evaluate the concept of beauty using twenty-one bipolar adjectives across three semantic differential dimensions – activity, evaluation, and potency. The results indicate that the most descriptive adjectives used to describe beauty are: pleasant, inviting, good, inspiring, pure, and kind, indicating that the concept of beauty is mostly associated with positive connotations. Furthermore, the majority of the characteristic adjectives are related to the evaluation dimension, in which statistically significant differences were identified in the evaluations made by men and women. Women perceive beauty as a concept that is significantly more strongly associated with evaluative judgments than men (p <.01). The potential of the semantic differential method can be used to compare the meaning of the concept of beauty with synonymous and oppositional concepts.

Inside Out and Think Tank Participation in Australia: Can Engaging with Lived Experience of Incarceration Promote Desistance?

Dwayne Antojado — 2023-08-28

The recognition of lived experience as an invaluable resource for reform and program development in criminal justice has seen a positive shift in recent years. Unexamined, or at least unarticulated, is the value that this inclusion of lived experience could have in efforts toward desistance. This article suggests the Inside Out Prison Exchange Program and the associated prison and community-based Think Tanks established in Victoria, Australia, can be more than a place for advocacy, but indeed a motivator for desistance among participants. Through a discussion of desistance theory, this paper outlines how these programs can promote desistance efforts as a result of their voluntary nature and continuity during and after incarceration. In these spaces, incarcerated individuals are given opportunities to engage with community members, contribute in prosocial capacities, and gain significant knowledge and skills surrounding criminal justice reform. This meaningful educational environment is one which can foster self-determination, non-offender identity development, and community connection, all of which are significant factors in the journey of desistance.

Gender and IR in the MENA Region: The Role of Arab Women’s Diplomacy in Peacebuilding, Decision Making, and Conflict Resolution

Moufida Mnakri — 2023-08-28

This research studies gender and international relations in the MENA region. It scrutinises the Arab women’s role and representation in diplomacy and foreign affairs. The study aims to examine the status of women diplomats in the region and identify the necessary strategies and recommendations to promote their role in IR. It provides an overview of Arab women’s diplomacy, the progress made, and the challenges women continue to face in international relations. It highlights why and how women are underrepresented in MENA diplomacy, how women’s engagement enhances diplomacy in the region, and strategies for future gender diplomacy. The study develops a new application of the Feminist IR theory to the Arab IR and demonstrates the relevance of this approach to new diplomatic and political contexts. Exploring gendered institutional practises and hierarchies in MENA foreign policy, the survey offers insights into perspectives previously marginalised in core concepts of MENA IR, beyond traditional courtesy diplomacy. It focuses primarily on women in IR positions and their contributions to peacebuilding, decision making and conflict resolution. The research uses a mixed-method-approach consisting of a quantitative data analysis of IR international documents and policy reports, and a qualitative survey of Arab women diplomats, both official and unofficial. The objective of the qualitative survey is to explore women diplomats’ perceptions of their status, the challenges they face, and their recommendations for better female diplomacy. The study found that MENA IR is gendered and women are underrepresented in Arab diplomacy, that the underrepresentation of women is due to social and ideo-cultural factors, that the few women diplomats promote diplomacy in the region, and that future strategies should be implemented to bridge the gap in gendered IR.

Assessing the Perception of Media and Communication Researchers in UNILAG on Web Analytics as an Audience Research Method

Obianuju Okafor — 2023-08-28

Web analytics, which reference the collection and analysis of information via internet sites, are being increasingly adopted by media organizations in carrying out research on audiences. It is unclear if this same trend is visible in academia despite the adoption of online tools to carry out research. Web analytics provide a view of audience behavior online and may prove relevant in excavating data about audiences and their preferences in media and communication research. It is, however, important to understand the perception of media and communication researchers to this audience research method. The study utilized the survey method to investigate four research hypotheses on the adoption of web analytics, perceptions on the relevance of data derived from web analytics and perception of reliability and trustworthiness of web analytics as an audience research method. The results indicate that media and communication researchers in UNILAG were significantly familiar with web analytics, and perceived it as a trustworthy source for data gathering.

The Effect of Thailand’s Subcultures on Other Southeast Asia States’ Countercultures

Eswaranathan Ehambaranathan — 2023-08-28

Southeast Asia (SEA) is geographically divided into two sub-regions, mainland and insular. This region consists of 11 states that consistently oppose social liberal changes and uphold traditional values. Conservatism in politics, economy and society, including the legal realm, is always favoured in this region. However, recent developments in Thailand could test the conservative beliefs and practices in this region. In June 2022, Thailand decriminalised the cultivation and consumption of cannabis. This new law allows people in Thailand to consume marijuana edibles, marijuana-infused drinks and use marijuana for medical purposes. This is not the first time Thailand has liberalised its laws. For example, unlike other SEA countries, Thailand does not regulate the use clothing in private spaces; therefore, there has been a significant increase in the number of clothing-optional resorts in Thailand over recent years. Meanwhile, in 2015, Thailand became the first SEA country to recognise and protect the rights of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) individuals. Such laws and tolerance have now become part of Thailand's practices and subculture but remain taboo in other SEA states. Hence, this research has investigated the impact of developments in Thailand’s subculture on the SEA sub-regions, with a particular focus on cannabis law reform. Therefore, this research addresses the primary research question: in the context of ‘weed tourism’, could Thailand's recent cannabis culture impact other Southeast Asian countries? Due to the infancy of this research, a qualitative and digital ethnographical research method was chosen. The thematic analysis was adopted from the secondary government-published data by eliciting key themes. The findings revealed that weed tourism activities would encourage the people in this region to understand, respect, or even practice Thailand's subculture themselves. The mainland states may tend to accept and observe Thailand's cannabis subculture in their states. However, the insular states will not accept such subcultures and will always consider such activities as countercultural.

The Demand for Freedom and Equality in the Street Below the Movement of Woman, Life, Freedom (August 2022)

Shakib Zarbighalehhammami — 2023-08-28

This research, which explores the role of street protests in the freedom and equality movement of the 2022 urban uprising, was conducted using a secondary analysis approach and references to related sources, documents and theories. What drove people to the streets at the time was the protest against the death of Mrs. Mahsa Amini, which triggered massive protests in many parts of the country. It is clear that the initial public links to economic, social, political and governing conditions are formed on the pavement. People's movements that take the form of common goals such as freedom and reform demands are the main drivers of street protests. In the protests of 2022, social constraints such as forced veiling and guidance of monitoring mechanisms were also the source of dissatisfaction, which formed a circle of protesters in the streets that quickly expanded to broader issues of economic and political concerns. Despite the fact that this movement was formed with a central slogan of "social inequality", with emphasis on lifestyle and against forced veiling, and continued to exist, probably with the smallest stimulus it will be resumed and this time the central slogan of protests will be "nothing" and thus will provide the necessary incentives for the presence of wider segments of people, especially the youth.