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Algeria's intrastate war in the 1990s, during which militant Islamists and the state fought fiercely against each other, still raises questions concerning the decisive factors leading to its onset and escalation. This paper uses the resource curse approach and the rentier state theory to understand the impact resource wealth could have had on the outbreak of this violent conflict, then goes one step further, adopting a context-sensitive approach. This approach attempts to juxtapose those conditions directly linked to the resource sector with the general conflict-fueling conditions diagnosed in Algeria. It takes into account conditions both within the country and in the international context. The application of a context matrix allows us to examine the interplay of resource-related factors and other conflictdriving forces, such as socioeconomic, demographic and ideological changes. Such an approach not only broadens the general understanding of the resource-violence link but also enhances our understanding of the eruption of violence in Algeria. -- Algeria ; oil ; civil war ; resource curse ; rentier state theory ; context approach ; Erdöl und der Ausbruch des algerischen Bürgerkriegs: Eine kontextsensible Analyse der ambivalenten Auswirkungen von Ressourcenreichtum Der innerstaatliche Krieg in Algerien, in dem militante Islamisten und die staatlichen Sicherheitskräfte über acht Jahre lang gegeneinander kämpften, lässt Fragen offen hinsichtlich der entscheidenden Faktoren, die zu seinem Ausbruch und seiner Eskalation führten. Um den Einfluss des Ressourcenreichtums auf den Beginn dieses Krieges zu verstehen, verwendet der vorliegende Artikel den Ressourcenfluch-Ansatz und die Rentierstaatstheorie, geht jedoch mit einer kontextsensiblen Analyse noch einen Schritt weiter. Mit einer Kontext-Matrix kann das Zusammenspiel von ressourcenbezogenen Faktoren mit anderen Konflikt treibenden Kräften, wie sozioökonomischen, demografischen und ideologischen Veränderungen, systematisch untersucht werden. Dabei werden direkt mit dem Ressourcensektor verknüpfte Bedingungen von solchen unterschieden, die als allgemeine Konflikt fördernde Bedingungen in Algerien diagnostiziert werden können, und dies nicht nur innerhalb des Landes sondern auch mit Blick auf sein internationales Umfeld. Damit trägt die vorliegende Analyse zu einem differenzierteren Verständnis der multiplen Ursachen des Gewaltausbruchs in Algerien bei. ; Miriam Shabafrouz ; Zsfassung in dt. Sprache ; Parallel als Buch-Ausg. erschienen

This paper aims to describe and analyse a case study on professional development that was centred on the Effective Early Learning (EEL) Programme. This process was a part of a larger dissemination project of the EEL programme nationwide, designed to train specialised facilitators at a local level who could, in turn, support the professional development of their peers. From a theoretical stance, it focuses on a democratic and participatory approach to the evaluation and development of quality in ECEC contexts. The study involved the participation of 12 pre-school teachers and a specialised trainer. Results show perceived effects of the process of staff development on professional learning at the level of observation skills, reflection-on-action and critical insertion. Also, the participants recognised that experimentation in practice contexts and shared reflection were the most meaningful and facilitative strategies in their learning. ; info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Does the usage of computer related methods consists in the application of standard tools only or is the development of more specific techniques necessary? The following paper argues, that there are indeed fields of application, where the peculiarities of historical data are sufficiently intricate, so that we do not only have to develop new software tools, but have to engage upon the design of new concepts and algorithmic solutions. Such problems, fairly frequent in all areas where historical data are imprecise or "fuzzy" can best be described in cases, where the standard assumption of traditional data base models - that the content of a "filed" can be interpreted without knowing the value of another - is invalitated.

The Iranian revolution still appears to be a puzzle for theoretical approaches linking political instability and/or violent conflict to the resource wealth of a country. It therefore works well as a case study for the purposes of this paper: to show the necessity of a broader approach to the resource-violence link and to highlight the 'context approach'. The focus is on the violence that accompanied the events preceding the revolution, and also on the fact that this violence was mainly exercised by the rulers and - excluding the activities of militant groups - only very randomly by the masses. Many relevant contextual conditions had an impact on the downfall of the shah's regime: demographic (population growth, urbanization) and cultural factors (religious tradition, national identity); the vivid memory of several historical events; the personal preferences of central actors' mainly both the shahs - which in combination brought the country to an impasse; and the religious opposition to the regime. But upon closer examination, it becomes clear that many of those factors were influenced by resource;specific conditions such as the amount and the use of oil income, sudden oil-price drops, and external interference aimed mainly at the domination of the oil sector. It was the specific interplay of these and other contextual conditions - as much resource;specific as general, and both within the country and on an international scale - that finally brought about the downfall of the regime. ; Irans Ölreichtum: Stolz und Stolperstein für das Schahregime Eine kontextsensible Analyse der ambivalenten Auswirkungen von Ressourcenreichtum. Die iranische Revolution ist heute noch ein Rätsel für theoretische Ansätze, die politische Instabilität und/oder gewaltsame Konflikte auf den Ressourcenreichtum eines Landes zurückführen. An ihr wird die Notwendigkeit deutlich, die Verbindung zwischen Ressourcenreichtum und Gewalt in einem größeren Kontext zu sehen. Der Fokus des Artikels liegt auf der Gewalt, die die Ereignisse vor der Revolution begleitete. Mehrere Kontextbedingungen waren dabei relevant, wie zum Beispiel demografische (Bevölkerungswachstum, Urbanisierung) und kulturelle Faktoren (religiöse Traditionen, nationale Identität). Auch die kollektive Erinnerung an bestimmte historische Ereignisse und die persönlichen Präferenzen zentraler Akteure - und hier vor allem beider Schahs - haben in ihrem spezifischen Zusammenspiel das Land in eine Sackgasse und die religiöse Opposition an die Macht geführt. Die Untersuchung verdeutlicht, dass viele dieser Faktoren durch ressourcenspezifische Bedingungen beeinflusst wurden, wie z. B. die Menge und die Verwendung der Erdöleinnahmen, plötzliche Erdölpreissenkungen oder auch Einflussnahmen durch externe Akteure, die vor allem auf die Kontrolle des Erdölsektors abzielten. Es war das spezifische Zusammenspiel sowohl ressourcen-spezifischer als auch allgemeiner Kontextbedingungen, innerhalb und außerhalb des Landes, die schlussendlich den Zusammenbruch des Regimes herbei führten und zur Gewaltanwendung beitrugen.

The Iranian revolution still appears to be a puzzle for theoretical approaches linking political instability and/or violent conflict to the resource wealth of a country. It therefore works well as a case study for the purposes of this paper: to show the necessity of a broader approach to the resource-violence link and to highlight the "context approach". The focus is on the violence that accompanied the events preceding the revolution, and also on the fact that this violence was mainly exercised by the rulers and - excluding the activities of militant groups - only very randomly by the masses. Many relevant contextual conditions had an impact on the downfall of the shah's regime: demographic (population growth, urbanization) and cultural factors (religious tradition, national identity); the vivid memory of several historical events; the personal preferences of central actors' mainly both the shahs - which in combination brought the country to an impasse; and the religious opposition to the regime. But upon closer examination, it becomes clear that many of those factors were influenced by resource;specific conditions such as the amount and the use of oil income, sudden oil-price drops, and external interference aimed mainly at the domination of the oil sector. It was the specific interplay of these and other contextual conditions - as much resource;specific as general, and both within the country and on an international scale - that finally brought about the downfall of the regime. -- Iran ; oil ; revolution ; resource curse ; rentier state theory ; context approach ; Irans Ölreichtum: Stolz und Stolperstein für das Schahregime Eine kontextsensible Analyse der ambivalenten Auswirkungen von Ressourcenreichtum Die iranische Revolution ist heute noch ein Rätsel für theoretische Ansätze, die politische Instabilität und/oder gewaltsame Konflikte auf den Ressourcenreichtum eines Landes zurückführen. An ihr wird die Notwendigkeit deutlich, die Verbindung zwischen Ressourcenreichtum und Gewalt in einem größeren Kontext zu sehen. Der Fokus des Artikels liegt auf der Gewalt, die die Ereignisse vor der Revolution begleitete. Mehrere Kontextbedingungen waren dabei relevant, wie zum Beispiel demografische (Bevölkerungswachstum, Urbanisierung) und kulturelle Faktoren (religiöse Traditionen, nationale Identität). Auch die kollektive Erinnerung an bestimmte historische Ereignisse und die persönlichen Präferenzen zentraler Akteure - und hier vor allem beider Schahs - haben in ihrem spezifischen Zusammenspiel das Land in eine Sackgasse und die religiöse Opposition an die Macht geführt. Die Untersuchung verdeutlicht, dass viele dieser Faktoren durch ressourcenspezifische Bedingungen beeinflusst wurden, wie z. B. die Menge und die Verwendung der Erdöleinnahmen, plötzliche Erdölpreissenkungen oder auch Einflussnahmen durch externe Akteure, die vor allem auf die Kontrolle des Erdölsektors abzielten. Es war das spezifische Zusammenspiel sowohl ressourcen-spezifischer als auch allgemeiner Kontextbedingungen, innerhalb und außerhalb des Landes, die schlussendlich den Zusammenbruch des Regimes herbei führten und zur Gewaltanwendung beitrugen. ; Miriam Shabafrouz ; Zsfassung in dt. Sprache ; Parallel als Buch-Ausg. erschienen

ZusammenfassungDer Beitrag setzt sich mit der aktuellen Debatte um den sogenannten "Situationismus" innerhalb der soziologischen Gewaltforschung auseinander. Der Kritik, dass eine mikrosoziologische Perspektive auf Gewalt theoretisch weitgehend kontextblind sei, wird anhand einer Relektüre der einschlägigen Literatur widersprochen. Anstatt die Gräben zu vertiefen, wird für eine kontextsensible Mikrosoziologie der Gewalt plädiert, die auf Basis von detaillierten Rekonstruktionen transsituative Elemente in die Erklärung integriert. Zwei Fallstudien über das Massaker von Srebrenica 1995 sowie die Eskalation der Welcome to Hell-Demonstration in Hamburg 2017 zeigen exemplarisch die Potenziale dieser integrativen Perspektive. Die Fälle verdeutlichen, dass Mythen- und Propagandadiskurse in Konfrontationssituationen aktualisiert und in Form von trainierten Interaktionsritualen zur Gewinnung von emotionaler Dominanz genutzt werden bzw. präsituativ verfestigte Erwartungshaltungen bei Demonstrationen die Eskalationsdynamiken fördern und das Ausbrechen von Gewalt begünstigen.

Evaluation cultures and evaluation capacity building vary greatly across the European Union. Western European countries, such as Austria, Germany, Denmark and Sweden, have been termed as leading countries in the evaluation as they have built up well-established evaluation cultures and carry out systematic evaluations of programmes and institutions. In contrast, in Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries, efforts continue to establish evaluation practices and further develop the current evaluation culture. In Hungary, for example, an established research and innovation evaluation practice does not exist, not one specifically considering gender equality in research and innovation evaluations with the exception of research and innovation programmes financed by the EU Structural Funds. Based on the results of a Horizon 2020 project, we apply a context-sensitive evaluation concept in Hungary that enables program owners and evaluators to develop a tailor-made design and impact model for their planned or ongoing gender equality interventions. The development of this evaluation was based on a thorough analysis of the literature and 19 case studies, building on documentary analysis and semi-structured interviews. The article shows that this evaluation approach is applicable also in countries with a certain catch-up demand of the existing overall evaluation culture. The special feature of the presented evaluation approach is, on the one hand, that the evaluation is context-sensitive. On the other hand, this approach makes it possible not only to depict effects on gender equality itself, but also to anticipate effects on research and innovation. Such effects can, for example, be a stronger orientation of research towards societal needs, which makes it particularly interesting for private companies.

ObjectThis article examines the methodological challenges of ethnographic research on ethnic and religious minorities, in an authoritarian context in the Russian Federation, conducted by an insider researcher.MethodThe article focuses on the peculiarities of the insider position in the field of research on understudied topics concerning ethnic and religious minorities. These cover issues of influence of national and local academic agendas on the process of the research, credibility management in a highly dynamic political environment, research safety, and the researcher's influence on the field.ResultsThe article identifies three main challenges in doing ethnography in illiberal settings. First, the imposition of oblique political limitations on the research agenda of local researchers creates a form of methodological nationalism, leading to a paucity of research on some critical topics. Second, the continuous introduction of new restrictive legislation not only results in difficulties of accessing the field, but also demands constant reevaluation of the sensitivity of the questionnaire. Respondents often express anxiety while discussing even quotidian practices because it becomes difficult for them to anticipate whether, when, or how new restrictive legislation will be enforced. Thus, they expect insider researchers to be aware of the legal ramifications of their research. Not only does this nullify the author's ability to adopt a stance of naivety, it also means that researchers bear a greater burden in convincing respondents that the information provided will be handled responsibly. Finally, the ethnographer is constantly faced with difficult decisions regarding both scholarly and ethical reliability and, hence, is required to continuously review research ethics in such a dynamic political context. This article offers suggestions for overcoming these difficulties by means of social networking services and constant critical reflexivity.ConclusionAuthoritarian settings pose many challenges to insider researchers. The study of minority groups can be particularly sensitive since illiberal regimes often seek to homogenize their populations and portray minority groups as a threat to justify the state's increasing control over the population. Exploring even mundane, everyday manifestations of ethnicity in such situations can become highly sensitive and raise methodological problems such as limitation of available academic literature and funding, greater responsibility for research and participants' safety, and forced partisanship.