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21. Sex-selective Abortion in Azerbaijan: Exploring Institutional Dynamics and Responses

Author:
Fuad Karimli
Publication Date:
01-2023
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Economic and Social Development (CESD)
Abstract:
Azerbaijan has been gradually ranked lower in terms of its gender equality indicators like the political empowerment and estimated earned income of women (Gender Gap Report, 2022). Sex selective abortion has considerably risen in the past thirty years in and currently Azerbaijan holds the highest level globally. If the sex ratio at birth (SRB) is higher than the natural range, then there is sex-selective abortion taking place. A stratification is seen through the regions of Azerbaijan in terms of the SRB. Most of the regions with highest SRB are in southern regions. Half of the fourteen economic regions in Azerbaijan have seen a decrease in the SRB within the past ten years, three have seen an increase and four have not experienced a significant change. High levels of sex-selective abortion have impacted the demography of Azerbaijan, but it has not had long-term social and economic effects. The employment rate for women and the number of girls enrolled into education has increased throughout all regions. However, looking through a more general scope, over thirty years of sex-selective abortion has had an impact on the demographic distribution, to the extent that women make up less of the population under 30 years old on average than men. Although the number of women employed has seen a steady increase, the gender gap in the labour force has only marginally decreased in five years with more women than men in the working age population who are unemployed. The number of abortions after 12 weeks has also seen a faster increase as compared to the total number of abortions.
Topic:
Women, Discrimination, Empowerment, Abortion, and Gender
Political Geography:
Caucasus and Azerbaijan

22. Turkish Backlash: How Street Interviews Spread Anti–Syrian Refugee Sentiment

Author:
Sude Akgundogdu
Publication Date:
03-2023
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
Abstract:
In early February, two major earthquakes shook Turkey’s southeast, as well as parts of Syria, claiming at least 45,000 Turkish lives in what has become the biggest natural disaster in modern Turkish history. The country’s most pressing challenge is to provide relief for the more than 13 million citizens who live in areas directly affected by the tremors. In the meantime, however, in addition to exposing egregious zoning and building code violations, the powerful quakes have revealed new dimensions of anti-Syrian feeling in Turkey. In the days that followed, gruesome videos circulated on social media showing vigilantes battering individuals they accused of looting in the affected provinces. Syrian refugees have seen their noncitizen status exacerbated by local resentment, resulting in limited access to earthquake relief resources; they have likewise been especially vulnerable to the vigilantism. “Looting” and “Syrian” have become synonymous in some corners of social media, fueling public resentment centered on the refugee population. But hate directed at Syrians on the Turkish web is nothing new. Turkey has seen an overall uptick in anti-refugee violence since 2021, often targeting Syrians. In a particularly violent episode in August 2021, residents of the Altindag district in Ankara vandalized and looted Syrian-run businesses and homes. Across 2022 and into 2023, even before the earthquakes, hate crimes against Syrians have continued to increase. Turkey hosts at least 4 million refugees—3.7 million of them Syrian nationals or stateless people who have migrated from Syria. This is an almost 5 percent addition to Turkey’s existing population, which stood at about 74 million before their arrival, making it the largest influx to Turkey since the Balkan Wars of 1912–13, amid the Ottoman Empire’s collapse. Since the Syrian war began in 2011, the Turkish government has welcomed large numbers of Syrian refugees and given them “temporary protected status.” While the public in general welcomed them, since Turkey fell into recession in 2018, tolerance has worn thin. This public unease has found expression in a media trend known as “street interviews,” which simultaneously spread intolerance and misinformation regarding Turkey’s Syrian refugee population. By way of context, the Turkish government has cracked down on conventional media over the past decade and a half, giving loyal media a monopoly on information and pushing Turkish citizens to seek alternative sources of news. Creative new initiatives have emerged as a result, some anchored in social media, and while these can fill gaps and contribute in meaningful ways, some, such as street interviews, are quasi-journalistic and can disseminate dangerous messages. If the Turkish government does not ease its hold over the media, other such trends will likely persist and continue shaping public opinion, hurting chiefly Turkey’s vulnerable Syrian population.
Topic:
Public Opinion, Refugees, Discrimination, Syrian War, and Hate Speech
Political Geography:
Turkey, Middle East, and Syria

23. Caste and Space in Indian Cities

Author:
Vamsi Vakulabharanam and Sripad Motiram
Publication Date:
11-2023
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Political Economy Research Institute (PERI), University of Massachusetts Amherst
Abstract:
This paper analyzes the interaction between caste relations and city space, and its impact on economic development in Indian cities. Much of the literature on caste has focused on rural India, although there is a recent and growing literature that examines caste and caste-based discrimination in cities. We focus on this strand, particularly, studies that have examined caste-based residential segregation in cities. Recent studies have argued that Indian cities are highly segregated along caste lines. Using a socio-spatial methodology, and data from a spatially representative survey that we specially designed to uniquely explore city spaces, we too establish that there is high segregation at the smallest residential spatial scale. However, as expected, there is considerably less segregation at higher spatial scales. What is less known is that Indian cities are much less segregated in terms of caste than American cities are in terms of race at this comparable higher spatial scale. This also has an important consequence - greater integration at this higher spatial scale has important material benefits - economic development defined in terms of lower poverty and higher educational attainment is significantly higher, both for the overall population and for deprived social groups.
Topic:
Discrimination, Caste, Economic Development, Cities, Segregation, and Public Space
Political Geography:
South Asia and India

24. Factsheet: Stop Extremism

Author:
Bridge Initiative Team
Publication Date:
08-2023
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Bridge Initiative, Georgetown University
Abstract:
Stop Extremism is a Europe-wide initiative demanding a stronger fight against extremism. It wants to introduce a joint EU-wide watch list of individuals and organizations that are labeled as extremists. A number of its proponents and supporters have a history of making discriminatory claims about Muslims and supporting anti-Muslim legislation in the name of defending liberal values.
Topic:
Violent Extremism, European Union, Discrimination, Islamophobia, and Muslims
Political Geography:
Europe

25. Community Living for People with Disabilities in Public Housing: Evaluating the Frank Melville Supportive Housing Investment Act of 2010

Author:
Sawyer Rogers, Rosalyn Impink, and Alison Ziegler
Publication Date:
05-2023
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Public and International Affairs (JPIA)
Institution:
School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA), Princeton University
Abstract:
The Frank Melville Supportive Housing Investment Act of 2010 created a federal program to advance community living for people with disabilities. [1] This program’s enactment followed the Supreme Court’s 1999 ruling in Olmstead v. L.C. which categorized unnecessary institutionalization and segregated living of people with disabilities as discriminatory. In the intervening years, amid the continued fallout of the Great Recession, the COVID-19 pandemic, and an ever-challenged affordable housing stock, it is prudent to evaluate the Melville Act’s effectiveness in achieving its goals from a national and programmatic perspective. We find that while the Melville Act successfully promoted mixed community living on a programmatic scale, it lacked a national-level impact due to under-resourcing, was not as cost-effective as predicted, and recipients were less satisfied with their housing than other programs. We recommend that actors in the policy design process advocate for the allocation of more resources to public housing programs with community living for people with disabilities and incorporate the principles of the “Nothing About Us Without Us” movement into the policy development and implementation process. [2]
Topic:
Discrimination, Disability, Legislation, Public Policy, Housing, and Public Housing
Political Geography:
North America and United States of America

26. Black empowerment and white mobilization: The effects of the Voting Rights Act

Author:
Andrea Bernini, Giovanni Facchini, Marco Tabellini, and Cecilia Testa
Publication Date:
07-2023
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Nottingham Interdisciplinary Centre for Economic and Political Research (NICEP)
Abstract:
The 1965 Voting Rights Act (VRA) paved the road to Black empowerment. How did southern whites respond? Leveraging newly digitized data on county-level voter registration rates by race between 1956 and 1980, and exploiting pre-determined variation in exposure to the federal intervention, we document that the VRA increases both Black and white political participation. Consistent with the VRA triggering counter mobilization, the surge in white registrations is concentrated where Black political empowerment is more tangible and salient due to the election of African Americans in county commissions. Additional analysis suggests that the VRA has long-lasting negative effects on whites’ racial attitudes.
Topic:
Race, Elections, Discrimination, Legislation, Voting Rights, Mobilization, Empowerment, and Political Participation
Political Geography:
North America and United States of America

27. Morocco Country Report 2021-2022

Author:
Arab Barometer
Publication Date:
01-2023
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Arab Barometer
Abstract:
Since the pandemic hit Morocco in March 2020, the country has been facing crises on multiple fronts, including the public health crisis, the economic crisis, inflation, and the historic drought. Internationally, Morocco made several diplomatic gains in the wake of the United States’ recognition of Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara. In an historic reversal of its previous stance, Spain declared that the Moroccan autonomy plan is “the most serious, realistic and credible” solution to the crisis. Multiple other countries opened consulates in Western Sahara.1 2 Moroccans express a great deal of awareness towards these crises, and many recognize the impacts on their daily lives. Nonetheless, not all Moroccans view the current situation in the country through a similar lens. As opposed to the 2018 fifth wave of Arab Barometer surveys where Moroccans were often divided in their views by age, it appears that the effect of these recent events has been to divide Moroccans by socio-economic status to a greater extent. Often, wealthier and more educated Moroccans have a different outlook on the country than those whose income cannot cover their expenses and those with only a high school education or less. The former have a better outlook on Morocco. They express more economic safety and are less likely to be critical of the current situation in their country. The latter are a bit more skeptical, instead expressing more economic frustration and are more willing to criticize many aspects of life in the North African kingdom.
Topic:
International Relations, Corruption, Environment, Gender Issues, Migration, Public Opinion, Democracy, Economy, Discrimination, and COVID-19
Political Geography:
North Africa and Morocco

28. Interrogating the legality, appropriateness and sustainability of vigilantism against migrants in South Africa

Author:
Charity Mawire and Clayton Hazvinei Vhumbunu
Publication Date:
10-2023
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Conflict Trends
Institution:
The African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes (ACCORD)
Abstract:
Since mid-2021, in the period preceding the run-up to the South African Municipal Elections that took place on 1 November 2021 to elect councils for district, metropolitan and local municipalities, South Africa experienced a rise of vigilantism against migrants and anti-immigration activism. Vigilantism against migrants and anti-immigration activism existed before 1994 and in the post-apartheid era, and it has often resulted in, or triggered, xenophobic attacks and xenophobic violence. However, it is the emergence of anti-immigration groups that has given rise to some community members, especially in urban areas, conducting vigils aimed at enforcing the country’s immigration laws and labour laws relating to the employment of foreign nationals. The communities are also focused on enforcing compliance with municipal by-laws on the regulation, control and licencing required for hiring and use of municipal premises and facilities for trading by foreign nationals, and the Foodstuffs, Cosmetics and Disinfectants (FCD) Act 54 of 1972 together with public health regulations relating to the alleged selling of expired, contaminated, unsafe, unhygienic or counterfeit food and food products by foreign nationals mostly operating spazas or small shops. Anti-immigration groups include Operation ‘Dudula’, the social media-based Put South Africa First Movement, the South Africa First Party, and All Truck Drivers Foundation (ATDF), among others. Vigilantism against migrants in South Africa rose in intensity, scale and scope in the first quarter of 2022, reaching disturbing levels on 7 April 2022, when a Zimbabwean national living in South Africa, Elvis Mbodazwe Banajo Nyathi, was brutally assaulted and burnt to death in the Johannesburg township of Diepsloot.1 As vigilante groups continue to engage in anti-migrant activism and grow their grassroots support and geographical and regional coverage, this paper seeks to interrogate the legality, appropriateness and sustainability of vigilantism against migrants in South Africa. The analysis adds to the ongoing mainstream debate on illegal migration in South Africa.
Topic:
Security, Crime, Discrimination, Xenophobia, Peace, Stigmatization, and Migrants
Political Geography:
Africa and South Africa

29. Colonialism and Racism in Twenty- First-Century Mexico

Author:
Federico Navarrete
Publication Date:
09-2023
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Brown Journal of World Affairs
Institution:
Brown Journal of World Affairs
Abstract:
Born in 1821, Mexico is one of the oldest nation-states in the world. Mexico is characterized by a strong national identity that is well-known outside of its borders. This identity defines it as a proudly independent nation with a distinct mixed-race Mestizo population. This article will criticize two central elements of the image that Mexico has built for itself as an independent nation. The first element presents Mexico as a post-colonial state that constructed a new republican order for its popula- tion, treating all individuals as equal. The second element presents Mexico as a Mestizo nation, its population and culture being the result of a confluence between its original Indigenous and Spanish communities, transcending the racism inherited from its colonial past. However, different voices and groups in contemporary Mexican society are challenging these definitions and fighting against internal colonialism and racial discrimination.
Topic:
Discrimination, Colonialism, Identity, Racism, and Post-Colonial
Political Geography:
Latin America and Mexico

30. Border Apprehensions and Federal Sentencing of Hispanic Citizens in the United States

Author:
Simone Bertolia, Morgan Laouenan, and Jerome Valette
Publication Date:
01-2023
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre d'Etudes Prospectives et d'Informations Internationales (CEPII)
Abstract:
We provide evidence that Hispanic citizens receive significantly longer sentences than non-Hispanic citizens in the Federal Criminal Justice System in the United States when a higher number of illegal aliens are apprehended along the southwest border. Apprehensions can increase the salience of Hispanic ethnic identity, which is associated with persistent negative stereotypes, and can also deteriorate attitudes toward Hispanics. We rule out concerns that apprehensions might convey legally relevant information to judges. Thus, we provide direct evidence for time-varying discrimination toward Hispanic defendants. Our estimated effect is only at play for defendants without a heavy previous criminal record.
Topic:
Immigration, Ethnicity, Discrimination, Identity, Attitudes, and Salience
Political Geography:
North America and United States of America