Showing papers on "Settlement (litigation) published in 2015"

A spatial typology of human settlements and their CO2 emissions in England

Abstract: Case studies demonstrate that urban greenhouse gas emissions are driven by socio-economic, climatic and urban-form specific characteristics. But neither the interdependence between attributes nor their place-specific context has been well understood. In this paper, we develop a nested typology of human settlements in England, containing both urban and rural environments, that is based on local drivers of emissions from direct energy use in nearly 7000 local areas. We reject the standard hypothesis that settlements obey a global linear model explaining emissions. The emissions of human settlement types are characterized by unique, place-specific combinations of emission drivers. We find that density and income are dominant classifiers of local carbon dioxide emissions. However, their specific impacts are particular to human settlement types as characterized by the place-specific combination of income, household size, and local climate, which are themselves spatially contextualized. Our typology strongly correlates with the geographic distribution of lifestyles. Average household carbon dioxide emissions are highest for very high income households (top 3%) living in low-density settlement areas with large houses, mostly concentrated in outer suburbs. Our results provide a first step towards enabling decision makers to go beyond one-size-fits-all approaches but instead to apply appropriate and specific mitigating measures for each type of human settlement. In turn, successful strategies could be transferred between similar types of human settlements.

‘Where are you from’ or ‘when did you come’? Temporal dimensions in migrants' reflections about settlement and return

Abstract: In this article we explore the added value of foregrounding temporal dimensions in migration research. Age at the time of migration, length of stay in the country of settlement and individual life-cycle stages matter for migrants' settlement and return considerations. However, these factors are rarely put centre stage in analyses. We draw on data from sixty-seven informants with different country backgrounds, who had either immigrated recently, arrived as children, or were born in Norway. We find that the implications of temporal dimensions cut across national and ethnic backgrounds. Age at the time of migration and the relative proportion of life spent in the origin and in the settlement country play an important role in migrants' considerations about settlement and return; as does being single, a parent with small children, or retired. An approach foregrounding temporal dimensions thus reveals the changeability of considerations over time and highlights similarities and differences beyond ethnicity.

The role of temporary accommodation buildings for post-disaster housing reconstruction

Abstract: The number of houses damaged or destroyed after disasters is frequently large, and re-housing of homeless people is one of the most important tasks of reconstruction programs. Reconstruction works often last long, and during that time, it is essential to provide victims with the minimum conditions to live with dignity, privacy, and protection. This research intends to demonstrate the crucial role of temporary accommodation buildings to provide spaces where people can live and gradually resume their life until they have a permanent house. The study also aims to identify the main problems of temporary accommodation strategies and to discuss some principles and guidelines in order to reach better design solutions. It is found that temporary accommodation is an issue that goes beyond the simple provision of buildings, since the whole space for temporary settlement is important. Likewise, temporary accommodation is a process that should start before a disaster occurs, as a preventive pre-planning. In spite of being temporary constructions, these housing buildings are one of the most important elements to provide in emergency scenarios, contributing for better recovery and reconstruction actions.

Voluntary and involuntary resettlement in China: a false dichotomy?

Abstract: The success of involuntary resettlement is contingent on recasting the involuntary as voluntary. To explore this proposition, this article presents two projects in China – one “voluntary” (Poverty Alleviation Resettlement or PAR) and relatively “successful” and one “involuntary” (Three Gorges Project Resettlement or TGPR) and less so. The research finds the voluntary–involuntary dichotomy a false one. It is not volition that leads to better outcomes, but people-centred practices that are embedded in policy, planning, and implementation of PAR. Perhaps the most important lesson drawn is that all resettlements should be based on a commitment to settlement and not just resettlement.

Conscience Wars: Complicity-Based Conscience Claims in Religion and Politics

Abstract: Persons of faith are now seeking religious exemptions from laws concerning sex, reproduction, and marriage on the ground that the law makes the objector complicit in the assertedly sinful conduct of others. We term claims of this kind, which were at issue in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, complicity-based conscience claims. Complicity-based conscience claims differ in form and in social logic from the claims featured in the free exercise cases that the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) invokes. The distinctive features of complicity-based conscience claims matter, not because they make the claim for religious exemption any less authentic or sincere, but rather because accommodating claims of this kind has the potential to inflict material and dignitary harms on other citizens. Complicity claims focus on the conduct of others outside the faith community. Their accommodation therefore has potential to harm those whom the claimants view as sinning. Today complicity claims are asserted by growing numbers of Americans about contentious “culture war” issues. This dynamic amplifies the effects of accommodation. Faith claims that concern questions in democratic contest will escalate in number, and accommodation of the claims will be fraught with significance, not only for the claimants, but also for those whose conduct the claimants condemn. Some urge accommodation in the hopes of peaceful settlement, yet, as we show, complicity claims can provide an avenue to extend, rather than settle, conflict. We highlight the distinctive form and social logic of complicity-based conscience claims so that those debating accommodation do so with the impact on third parties fully in view. We show how concern about the third-party impact of accommodation structured the Court’s decision in Hobby Lobby and demonstrate how this concern is an integral part of RFRA’s compelling interest and narrow tailoring inquiries. At issue is not only whether but how complicity claims

The Rule of Law Without the Rule of Lawyers? Why Investment Arbitrators Are from Mars, Trade Adjudicators from Venus

Abstract: At the twentieth anniversary of the World Trade Organization (WTO), the WTO’s dispute settlement system is celebrated as one of the organization’s biggest achievements. Although powerful members such as China, the European Union (EU), and the United States are regularly on the losing side of WTO trade disputes, overall support for the system remains high. If anything, it has increased over time, with early criticism by civil society waning. Compare this situation to investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS), centered around the World Bank’s International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID). ISDS, which started in earnest around the same time that the WTO was created, is under fire not only in capital-importing countries ranging from Ecuador, Indonesia, and South Africa but also in capital-exporting nations such as Australia, Germany, and the United States. Indeed, in the ongoing EU-U.S. negotiations over a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), ISDS emerged as one of the biggest bones of contention.

Studying Refugee Settlement through Longitudinal Research: Methodological and Ethical Insights from the Good Starts Study

Abstract: Research involving resettled refugees raises methodological and ethical complexities. These complexities typically emerge within cross-sectional research that focuses on refugee experiences at a specific point in time. Given the long term and dynamic nature of refugee settlement, longitudinal research is valuable, yet it raises distinct complexities within the research process. This article focuses on the methodological and ethical insights that emerged in a longitudinal study of settlement and wellbeing with a cohort of young people from refugee backgrounds in Australia. It considers: engagement and retention of a cohort over time; the need to adapt research tools to changing settlement contexts and life stages; participants’ experiences of long-term involvement in the study; and the challenge of timely translation of findings into evidence for policy and practice. The article contributes to a growing understanding of the practical, ethical and epistemological challenges and opportunities presented by longitudinal research, in this case, with resettled refugee background youth.

Sustainable change: settlement, environment and the temporality of Neolithic western Ireland

Abstract: ............................................................................................................... xv Notes for the reader .......................................................................................... xvi Chapter 1 Time and the Neolithic in Ireland ............................................... 1 1.1. Purpose, themes, aims and objectives ..................................................... 2 1.1.1 In what remains of Chapter 1... ........................................................ 6 1.2. Scope and constraints ................................................................................ 6 1.3. Approach and methodology .................................................................... 8 1.3.1 Literature review ............................................................................... 10 1.3.2 Critical analysis ................................................................................. 10 1.3.3 Synthesis and discussion ................................................................. 12 1.4 Temporality and the Neolithic in Ireland: key concepts .................... 14 1.5 What follows ............................................................................................. 24 Notes. .................................................................................................................... 25 Chapter 2 Time in theory, temporality in practice .................................... 27 2.1 Time and archaeology ............................................................................. 28 2.2 What is time? ............................................................................................. 30 2.2.1 Real time ............................................................................................. 31 2.2.2 Conceptions of time .......................................................................... 32 2.2.3 Archaeological time .......................................................................... 35

Recapturing the spirit of 1971: towards a new regional political settlement in the Pacific

Abstract: State, Society & Governance in Melanesia ips.cap.anu.edu.au/ssgm During her visit to Suva in November 2014, Australian foreign minister, Julie Bishop, received a very warm reception to her attempts to achieve a rapprochement in Australia–Fiji relations. By the end of her visit, diplomatic, economic, and defence relations had been fully restored with the newly elected Bainimarama government (Bishop and Kubuabola 2014). There was, however, one issue that was unresolved: that of Fiji’s reported refusal to accept the invitation to resume its membership of the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) unless Australia and New Zealand ceased their membership (Pacnews 2014a). As a way of defusing the impasse on this significant issue, and of garnering support from other Pacific leaders for Australia’s continued participation in the PIF, Foreign Minister Bishop proposed that Fiji and Australia jointly host a summit for Pacific leaders to discuss whether and how the regional architecture should be reconfigured to meet the needs of the Pacific islands states in the 21st century (Callick 2014). Her Fijian host, Prime Minister Bainimarama, accepted her proposal, and the meeting is now set for early 2015 in Sydney.

Islamic Law States and Peaceful Resolution of Territorial Disputes

Abstract: This article argues that specific characteristics of the domestic legal institutions of Islamic law states shape these states' choices of peaceful resolution methods in territorial disputes. After providing original data on the characteristics of Islamic legal structures, I systematically compare pertinent rules of international dispute resolution methods and Islamic law. I demonstrate empirically that not all Islamic law states view international settlement venues in the same way. Secular legal features, such as constitutional mentions of education, supreme court, or peaceful settlement of disputes have the power to attract these states to the most formal international venues—arbitration and adjudication. On the other hand, Islamic law states whose legal system is infused with Islamic religious precepts are attracted to less-formalized venues.

The Private Sector, Institutions of Higher Education, and Immigrant Settlement in Canada

Abstract: The settlement sector in Canada has undergone significant transformations in recent times, most notably the imposition of neoliberal principles on service providers that has transferred a substantial amount of the immigrant selection and recruitment process from governmental agencies to third parties. This trend of devolution has accelerated with recent developments associated with Provincial Nominee Programs. By reviewing the literature related to Provincial Nominee Programs and their implementation, we illustrate how private employers and institutions of higher education are not only involved in immigrant selection but also increasingly in settlement service delivery.

Making Freedom: Apartheid, Squatter Politics, and the Struggle for Home

Abstract: In Making Freedom Anne-Maria Makhulu explores practices of squatting and illegal settlement on the outskirts of Cape Town during and immediately following the end of apartheid. Apartheid's paradoxical policies of prohibiting migrant Africans who worked in Cape Town from living permanently within the city led some black families to seek safe haven on the city's perimeters. Beginning in the 1970s families set up makeshift tents and shacks and built whole communities, defying the state through what Makhulu calls a "politics of presence." In the simple act of building homes, squatters, who Makhulu characterizes as urban militants, actively engaged in a politics of "the right to the city" that became vital in the broader struggles for liberation. Despite apartheid's end in 1994, Cape Town’s settlements have expanded, as new forms of dispossession associated with South African neoliberalism perpetuate relations of spatial exclusion, poverty, and racism. As Makhulu demonstrates, the efforts of black Capetonians to establish claims to a place in the city not only decisively reshaped Cape Town's geography but changed the course of history.

Social Inequality at Köhne Shahar, an Early Bronze Age Settlement in Iranian Azerbaijan

Abstract: Social Inequality at Köhne Shahar, an Early Bronze Age Settlement in

Linking Everyday Information Behaviour and Asian Immigrant Settlement Processes: Towards a Conceptual Framework

Abstract: International migration is a worldwide phenomenon. However, the process of immigrants' settlement is still considered an under-researched area from an information perspective. Navigating information throughout the settlement process is considered challenging but critical for immigrants. The uptake of information is deemed significant to both the well-being of immigrants and their host countries. An important outcome of the capability to navigate information in a new landscape is increasing the likelihood of social inclusion in a new country. More empirical research is needed to identify the characteristics of immigrants' information behaviour in the context of their settlement. This paper provides an overview of immigrants' information behaviour studies and the use of public library services by immigrants and identifies gaps in the literature. Supported and tested by a pilot study, a conceptual framework is developed to underpin a study into Asian immigrants' information behaviour in South Australia, link...

Settlement-Size Scaling among Prehistoric Hunter-Gatherer Settlement Systems in the New World.

Abstract: Settlement size predicts extreme variation in the rates and magnitudes of many social and ecological processes in human societies. Yet, the factors that drive human settlement-size variation remain poorly understood. Size variation among economically integrated settlements tends to be heavy tailed such that the smallest settlements are extremely common and the largest settlements extremely large and rare. The upper tail of this size distribution is often formalized mathematically as a power-law function. Explanations for this scaling structure in human settlement systems tend to emphasize complex socioeconomic processes including agriculture, manufacturing, and warfare—behaviors that tend to differentially nucleate and disperse populations hierarchically among settlements. But, the degree to which heavy-tailed settlement-size variation requires such complex behaviors remains unclear. By examining the settlement patterns of eight prehistoric New World hunter-gatherer settlement systems spanning three distinct environmental contexts, this analysis explores the degree to which heavy-tailed settlement-size scaling depends on the aforementioned socioeconomic complexities. Surprisingly, the analysis finds that power-law models offer plausible and parsimonious statistical descriptions of prehistoric hunter-gatherer settlement-size variation. This finding reveals that incipient forms of hierarchical settlement structure may have preceded socioeconomic complexity in human societies and points to a need for additional research to explicate how mobile foragers came to exhibit settlement patterns that are more commonly associated with hierarchical organization. We propose that hunter-gatherer mobility with preferential attachment to previously occupied locations may account for the observed structure in site-size variation.

Urban poverty and informal motorcycle transport services in a Nigerian intermediate settlement: a synthesis of operative motives and satisfaction

Abstract: The paper aims at examining operations motives and satisfaction in motorcycle taxi operators in Auchi. Primary data were sourced using structured questionnaires. Of the 148 questionnaires administe...

The roles of employers in the regional settlement of recently arrived migrants and refugees

Abstract: This article identifies and analyses different roles played by employers of recently arrived migrants and refugees in regional locations. Based on a study of regional settlement in Victoria, Australia, it highlights the scope for employer influences on regional settlement through attracting migrants and refugees to regional locations; the informal provision of settlement support; the role of cultural ambassadors and hosts; the role of determinants of current and future residency; and the role of perpetrators of discrimination and exploitation. The often combined exercise of these complex and partly contradictory roles of employers is examined in the context of the regulation of regional settlement and the provision of government-funded settlement assistance. The analysis shows that these structural factors enable the position of employers as current or future sponsors of migrant workers and as principal providers of settlement support in regional and rural locations, which needs to be considered in future...

Guatemala-U.S. Migration: Transforming Regions

Abstract: Preface and Acknowledgements Chapter 1. Theoretical Perspectives: Guatemalan Migration and Regionalization Chapter 2. Phases of Migration Chapter 3. Organizing for Migrant Rights Chapter 4. Settlement and Transformations in Houston Chapter 5. Contradictions of the San Francisco Area Chapter 6. Transregional Passage Notes Bibliography Index

Border settlement, commitment problems, and the causes of contiguous rivalry

Abstract: Many studies have examined the formation of interstate rivalries, but few provide a theoretical mechanism capable of explaining why some neighboring states experience protracted conflict while othe...

The future of Australian vocational education qualifications depends on a new social settlement

Abstract: This article argues that the current social settlement underpinning vocational education and training (VET) in Australia is fractured. The current settlement is low trust and consists of qualificat...

Violence after War: Explaining Instability in Post-Conflict States

Abstract: Violence After War: Explaining Instability in Post-Conflict States By Michael J. Boyle Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2014 448 pages $69.95 [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Michael J. Boyle's new book offers a welcome look at post-conflict violence in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, Rwanda, East Timor, and Iraq. Despite its tide, the book sensitizes readers more generally to the fallacy of assuming that countries have graduated to post-conflict status with the ostensible end in fighting. Conflict can persist when parties seek to "renegotiate" the terms of a peace through violence, new parties arise to stake their claim to power, or coalitions dissolve in disputes over the division of the spoils. The book focuses accordingly on "strategic violence" which is "designed to transform the balance of power and resources in a state" (8). Such violence is most obvious when one or more of the contending parties seeks to challenge the terms of a settlement having agreed to them, perhaps, under duress or false pretenses. But strategic violence sometimes has a more complex explanation with ambiguous evidentiary support. It can occur when groups fragment to pursue their own (unclear) agendas by capitalizing on ethnic, religious, or political conflict and engaging in criminal activities by employing criminal gangs to mobilize resources and target opponents for "strategic" purposes. "Not only can such violence be unconnected or only indirectly related to the cause of the war itself, but it can also provide a space for opportunists to pursue a variety of personal or criminal vendettas, some of which will be detached from the fighting that preceded it." In consequence, "the violence of the post-conflict period will often appear as an inchoate mix of personal attacks, criminal violence, and political-strategic violence significantly different from violence in the war that preceded it" (5). In Boyle's terminology, strategic violence mixes with "expressive violence," an emotional response to loss or suffering, and "instrumental violence," undertaken for criminal or personal gain. The analytical challenge is met, as Boyle recognizes, by ascertaining the collective (not individual) motives behind the violence, as discerned from tell-tale, aggregate patterns. For that effort, Boyle marshals revealing quantitative and qualitative evidence to portray trends over time in the various conflicts. According to Boyle, the key to understanding the role of strategic violence in post-conflict countries is appreciating the distinction between the "direct pathway" to violence in which the parties, targets, and issues in contestation remain relatively constant (from the conflict through the post-conflict periods) and the "indirect pathway" in which groups splinter and violence is a function of "multiple and overlapping bargaining games between new and emergent claimants for power and resources" (12). In discussing these pathways, Boyle's central argument reduces to four hypotheses that derive from a "2-by-2" table, structured around two binary variables. These variables are: a) whether the original parties have accepted a settlement and b) how much control these parties exercise over their membership. Simply put, strategic violence emerges through the direct pathway when a party refuses to accept a settlement and through the indirect pathway when the level of control is low. Consequently, strategic violence can occur simultaneously through the direct and indirect pathway when a party refuses a settlement and when the level of control is low. In positing these hypotheses and testing them against the case evidence, Boyle moves beyond the largely descriptive focus of the early theoretical chapters to explain the occurrence of strategic violence. In its illuminating detail, the case-study analysis provides support for Boyle's provocative arguments. Yet it also serves to highlight the book's limitations, which are as follows: First, the utility of Boyle's approach rests on the viability of a 2-by-2 table that assumes implicitly that the loss of control and nonacceptance of a settlement by any side produces the same outcome. …

Rawlsian Deliberation About Space Settlement

Abstract: A genuine political realism about space settlements might allow for the endorsement of a form of settlement democracy, albeit subject to constraints. The value and defensibility of establishing any particular settlement will then depend, in part, upon the constraints which need to be brought to bear in order for survival to be possible. As a more detailed breakdown, Sect. 2.1 will try to show that although there may be strong pressures toward authoritarianism in space, some non-authoritarian political structures may nonetheless provide the most pragmatic candidate option. Section 2.2 will attempt to strengthen this claim by drawing a connection between democracy and social hope, with the latter functioning as a key aspect of any sustainable and worthwhile political culture. Section 2.3 will transition more directly to the context of space and will look at the issue of abortion in a space settlement in order to make a case for constraints upon democratic deliberation. Section 2.4 will argue that Rawlsian deliberation might provide a way for we who are not actually space colonists to realistically theorize such constitutional constraints. Section 2.5 will conclude by suggesting some space-sensitive modifications to the Rawlsian approach.