It is our contention that information technology is a cultural commodity whose influence is spread through economic and political action of institutions such as the government and corporations. Informed by Bourdieu’s sociology of language, we conduct a content analysis of political speeches regarding “digital opportunities” delivered by U. S. government officials. In this analysis we demonstrat...

This study reports on incorporation of the Web during the 2004 European Parliament election as played out in 11 EU Member States. Based on an analysis of Web site features related to a conceptualization of political engagement, the study examines utilization of features reflecting information provision and opportunities for discussion and political action. The findings reflect the low level of ...

This is a review of the Oxford Handbook of Religious Conversion. Drawing upon research on Germans converting to Islam and Turks converting to Christianity, converting is understood as complex fusion of individual choice and cultural/political conflict.

This paper aims to investigate interactions between the Kurds and development agents in the field of sustainable development. The theoretical approach of the research is based on modernization theories. Research methodology is qualitative, with an emphasis on grounded theory. Data was collected through depth interviews, participant observation, document and secondary analysis. In the field of p...

In early modern Europe, as every schoolchild learns, states and elite families were often closely interlocked. Yet family history and state theory are generally studied separately today. I try' here to unite them by underlining the central role of family lineages and gender identities in the formation of patrimonial political structures, focussing on the Netherlands, a precocious and influentia...

This basic socio-cultural framework, with all its inherent ambivalences and contradictions, emerged during the colonial era and exercised a deep and lasting impact on the political, economic and social structure of the new South American nations. Only after many decades was the impact blurred by the action of other external influences, change occurring from within, and a growing sense of nation...

This paper argues that there is a general absence of democratic theory in African political scholarship in terms of providing the underlying principles, meaning, canons and criteria of democracy in African culture. The paper exposes the conceptual errors implicit in the conflation of democracy as a concept and as practiced in different political systems. Consequently, it contends that an eclect...

Currently, around one in five children in the United Kingdom and the United States live in poverty. This has a devastating effect on their wellbeing, education and broader socio-political participation, and life chances. In this paper, Scottish policy documentary data are used to discuss the effects of relations amongst categories of children in poverty, migrant child status, and academic under...

An intense scholarly and public policy debate concerns the optimal design of political institutions for new democracies, particularly those facing deep ethnic or cultural cleavages. Drawing on a book-length study of political engineering in the AsiaPacific region, this paper surveys the differences between consociational and centripetal approaches to institutional design. After examining the ke...