Journal ArticleDOI
Children's Rights and the Tenuousness of Local Coalitions: A Case Study in Nicaragua
Richard Maclure,Melvin Sotelo +1 more
TLDR
In a context in which the central state is severely constrained by fiscal weakness and corporatist traditions, it is questionable whether in fact the organs of civil society do in fact possess the organisational capacity to generate the structural reforms necessary for the advancement of children's rights at community levels.Abstract:
Since Nicaragua's endorsement of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the legislative passage of its own Code of Childhood and Adolescence, improvements in the welfare of marginalised youth have depended largely on community-based actions that are sponsored by NGOs and civic groups, many of which function in tangent with municipal government authorities and international aid agencies. In this article we review three community initiatives that have aimed at resolving problems associated with youth alienation and violence in a poor, heavily populated district of Managua. While some modest successes have been achieved, these relatively isolated initiatives have had no evident effect on either the magnitude or the systemic nature of youth marginalisation in Managua. In a context in which the central state is severely constrained by fiscal weakness and corporatist traditions, it is questionable whether in fact the organs of civil society do in fact possess the organisational capacity to generate the structural reforms necessary for the advancement of children's rights at community levels. Nevertheless, despite the amorphous nature of much of civil society in Nicaragua, in the long run children's rights legislation may help to foster growing solidarity among disparate civic forces working to improve the bleak livelihoods of many children.read more
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Journal ArticleDOI
Is The Honeymoon Over? Children And Young People’s Participation In Public Decision-Making
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors discuss three central issues for children and young people's participation: what is counted or discounted as legitimate forms of participation, the potential usefulness of theorisations of governance, citizenship and social capital, and how the roles of adults (participation workers) can be understood.
Book
Global Norms with a Local Face : Rule-Of-Law Promotion and Norm-Translation
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that rule-of-law promotion triggers domestic contestation and thereby changes the approach taken by external actors, and ultimately the manner in which global norms are translated.
Journal ArticleDOI
Do Rights Promote Development
Jean Grugel,Nicola Piper +1 more
TL;DR: The authors argue that rights claims can sometimes be effective in advocacy campaigns for some rights if those campaigns can find a way to resonate with the predominately liberal ideas that shape the global political economy.
Journal ArticleDOI
Children and development: rights, globalization and poverty:
TL;DR: Arnab et al. as discussed by the authors showed that between 1990 and 2000 about 60 countries had cut mortality rates in the under-fives (U5MR) by one-third, but the rate of improvement had slowed in many countries and nine countries in sub-Saharan Africa recorded increased U5MR.
Journal ArticleDOI
Youth Gangs in Nicaragua: Gang Membership as Structured Individualization
Richard Maclure,Melvin Sotelo +1 more
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present the results of a qualitative study of youth gang membership in the capital city of Managua from participant observations and interviews with a cohort of gang members and a number of people closely attached to them, highlighting the dialectic between individual agency and structural environments that impinge on youth choices.
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Children's rights as residual social policy in Nicaragua: state priorities and the Code of Childhood and Adolescence
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