Contemporary Concerns
The Dialectical Decision of How to Deal with Former Terrorist/Patriot Actors in a Newly Democratized State
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Carol Strong
What is democracy and what constitutes power and authority in a newly democratized country? Often democracy is defined by a citizen’s ability to vote and participate in the political process, but this presupposes that there is an established, stable infrastructure that can withstand the ebb and flow of conflicting public opinion. Equally problematic is reconciling the interests of different groups within society, while at the same time deciding what to do with former activists, especially if the overthrow of the former regime was violent. Should such groups be dismissed as terrorist elements, or do individual actors within their ranks hold potential political capital? Counterintuitively to some, the decision to exclude them from the new government can have negative consequences for the new regime, as they represent a formerly disenfranchised group in society. To find ways to build legitimacy and trust in newly democratized states, this paper develops a more holistic understanding of the use of political violence in contemporary politics (especially when aimed against dictatorial and/or repressive governments). Case studies of the African National Congress (ANC) in South Africa and the Irish Republican Army (IRA) in Northern Ireland will be undertaken and compared against contemporary cases from the MENA region including the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution (SCIRI) in Iraq. The objective is to formulate a list of accurate markers to assess whether or not a former combatant will be able to normalize their actions and become part of a stable, post-transitional, democratic government.
The Education of Minors and Unaccompanied Minors Refugees in Greece
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Nefeli Kikira, Eugenia Arvanitis
This study considers the issue of integration of refugees into the Greek educational system. The first part is the theoretical framework. The work begins with the definition of refugee, according to the Geneva Convention. There are also some contemporary statistical data about worldwide refugee crises. Following are the main international conventions surrounding refugee status. We mention United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, The 1951 Geneva Convention and the 1967 New York Protocol, the Dublin III regulation and the pact among Europe and Turkey. Subsequently, we refer to the unaccompanied minor refugees, international and European conventions related to their status and statistical data about them in Europe and in Greece. Finally, the last part of the theoretical framework refers to the education. We review some of the reasons for the school dropout of refugee population. The second part of the study analyzes the methodological steps for the case study. The research area was the Refugee Hosted Reservation Center, where observation, discussion with the Center's officers, and interviews with seven minor pupils residing in the Center took place. The findings of the survey highlight the status of unaccompanied minor refugees and the reasons why they constitute a category, their recorded experience within the Refugee Hospitality Center, and their experience in the educational system of Greece in relation to their country of origin. Finally, an analysis of the results and proposals for resolving the problems raised is presented.
Use of ICTs by Mainstream Greek Orthodox and Minority Muslim Students in Komotini
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Keratso Georgiadou, Mehmet Serif
This study involves 120 students, boys and girls, ranging from 7 to18 years old, all living in the town of Komotini placed in North-Eastern Greece, both mainstream and minority. In this case, Muslim students aim to identify differences or similarities of the ICT use among them. We approached this research with two communities sharing the same area for living but having different social backgrounds. We wanted to identify if differences in the way of living affects their use of ICTs, which have the capacity to influence new characters for humans and new models of living. The age range was chosen for being pre-adolescence and adolescence development periods, when children usually attend secondary school and start claiming their independence from their parents. During this time, radical attitudes can place them at risk, and some situations can harm their underveloped psychological world. Their responses were categorized by religion, gender and into four different age groups during the analysis, as a means to separate pre-adolescents from adolescents, in anticipation of different interests and dynamics from the four age groups. Our findings identify the different ways in which children technically negotiate their use of ICTs, and reveal the varied meanings and uses of technology such as Internet safety for children, the impacts of use of ICTs and addiction to Internet in their daily lives. It also captures the degree to which parents are aware of their ICT use and their surveillance of their children.
