Abstract

Although determinants of life satisfaction in older adults have been well documented, research has to date failed to fully address the experience of older adults living in places with different levels of urbanization. Furthermore, there are conflictive findings regarding the type of residence environment that offers the greatest benefits for the wellbeing of older adults. Our study proposes an integrative research model to determine the nature of the relationships between loneliness, self-esteem and life satisfaction, with a particular focus on the living environment (rural-urban) of the older adults. Using a cross-sectional survey design volunteers (aged 60+) from rural (n = 198) and urban (n = 198) in Galicia (Spain) completed a questionnaire. Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) was used to test the relationships between loneliness, self-esteem and life satisfaction and multigroup analysis was performed to analyse the existence of differences in the relationships based on the area of residence of older adults. We found that higher levels of loneliness were a significant predictor of reduced life satisfaction and reduced self-esteem. Self-esteem not only increases life satisfaction, but also reduces the negative impact loneliness may have on it. Where the older adults lived had a significant effect on the relationships between loneliness, self-esteem and life satisfaction. The relationships were stronger for older adults living in urban areas. Differentiated policy initiatives should be considered, depending on the area of residence in order to increase the life satisfaction of older adults.

Introduction

In recent decades, the European Union (EU) has experienced two parallel processes: population aging and urbanization. The urban population rose from 58 % in 1960 to over 75 % in 2022 [1]. The proportion of population aged 65 and over stands at almost 21 % and forecasts suggest that in 2050, the old-age dependency ratio will exceed 52 % [2,3]. Within this process, a significant number of older adults live in urban areas, many of whom have relocated from rural environments, whilst others remain in their familiar surroundings in line with what is known as “aging in place”. In any case, the residential environment, whether rural or urban, poses various challenges for older adults [4].

Older adults’ quality of life is influenced by a large number of factors that range from social support and relationship networks to the environment, residence conditions, financial resources, older adults’ degree of activity, autonomy and independence when making decisions, as well as physical and mental health [5,6]. In fact, the World Health Organization’s quality-of-life scale, known as the WHOQOL-BREF questionnaire, includes 26 questions grouped into four domains: physical health, psychological health, social relationships and environmental health [7,8]. The environmental dimension of the WHOQOL-BREF questionnaire includes items designed to identify aspects including not only the home environment, opportunities for acquiring new information and skills and for recreation, the physical environment and transport, but also health and social care, security and, of course, financial resources.

Conclusions

The main aim of this study was to examine the association between loneliness, self-esteem and life satisfaction among older adults in Galicia (Spain), with a particular focus on the (rural-urban) residence environment of the older adults. The data support an association between these variables in the predicted direction and the results provide strong support to the theoretical model proposed.

Older adults’ life satisfaction depends significantly on loneliness. The greater the perceived loneliness, the lower the degree of life satisfaction. Loneliness also impacts significantly and negatively on self-esteem. In turn, self-esteem has a positive and significant influence on life satisfaction. Self-esteem not only increases life satisfaction, but it also reduced the negative impact of loneliness on life satisfaction.

Where older adults live had a significant effect on the relationship between loneliness, self-esteem and life satisfaction, which was stronger for older adults living in urban areas. These results may be partly explained by the slightly higher means for loneliness reported among urban older adults. Reported self-esteem mitigated the impact of loneliness on life satisfaction in older adults living in the city.

Abstract

     Systemic racism and discriminatory practices continue to disproportionally expose Black children and families to less than optimal health and economic resources. COVID-19 sheds existing light on how longstanding systemic inequalities affecting Black children and families create racial disparities in accessing material resources. The purpose of this study (N = 704 Black caregivers) is to better understand the relationship between experiences of racial discrimination, access to material resources (i.e., health-promoting resources and economic resources), and Black children’s behavioral functioning during the pandemic. Through the application of ordinary least squares regression analysis, we find that inadequate material resources (both health-related risks and economic hardship) during the pandemic were associated with heightened caregiver report that their child was frequently fussy or defiant (externalizing) and frequently anxious or fearful (internalizing). The study found no significant links between caregivers’ experiences of discrimination during the pandemic and children’s behavioral functioning. However, the study found a significant link between caregivers’ concern for their children’s experiences of discrimination and their children’s externalizing behaviors. Findings from this study offer an important contribution to understanding how factors rooted in systemic racism—access to material resources—and experiences of discrimination affect Black children’s well-being during COVID-19.

Introduction

     While countless studies demonstrate the positive relationship between access to material resources (e.g., health-promoting resources and economic resources) and children’s externalizing (e.g., impulsivity, noncompliance, and aggression) and internalizing (e.g., depression, anxiety, and social withdrawal) behaviors, there is a stark reality that access to these much-needed resources is differentially patterned across children and families of various racial and ethnic backgrounds. Inequities in material resources directly affect children’s early developmental outcomes (Duncan, Magnuson & Votruba-Drzal, 2015). For instance, difficulty paying for basic needs (e.g., food, housing, utilities, health care, etc.) and economic insecurity have also been linked to children’s externalizing and internalizing behaviors. Specifically, researchers note that developing in financially stressed environments has the potential to alter positive caregiver behaviors associated with children’s positive cognitive, emotional, and behavioral development (e.g., Longo, McPherran Lombardi & Dearing, 2017). Furthermore, health-related risks, conceptualized broadly to include threats such as mental health symptomology and lack of health insurance coverage, among both caregivers and children pose threats to children’s development. Caregiver depressive symptoms, which are heightened among families possessing low-income socioeconomic resources (Silva, Loureiro & Cardoso, 2016), have shown deleterious links with children’s behavioral functioning (e.g., Trapolini, McMahon & Ungerer, 2007). Additionally, children who lack health insurance coverage are more likely to experience delayed or unmet physician care, such as well-baby and well-child visits (Lave et al., 1998). When children miss well-baby or well-child visits, their caregivers also miss opportunities to receive support and guidance about their children’s behavioral and emotional functioning (Weitzman et al., 2015). These threats to children’s development are particularly pronounced during early childhood, when children’s biology and behavior are rapidly shaped by their environments and experiences (e.g., Shonkoff et al., 2012).

Conclusion

     Early childhood is a sensitive period for children’s development impacted by biological, neurological, and environmental contexts. However, not all children are afforded the same opportunities to meet their potential due to their socio-demographics (i.e., skin color, socioeconomic status). The findings from this study offer an important contribution to understanding how factors rooted in systemic racism—access to material resources (health-promoting resources and economic resources) — and experiences of discrimination, affect young Black children’s well-being during COVID-19, a global pandemic that disproportionately impacts Black children and their families and communities. While interventions in the early years cannot address all problems, especially problems due to historical racism, equitable opportunities during the first year of life could stymie disparities later in life.

     The structural determinants of early learning must be placed at the center of policy decision making to ensure equitable access, experiences, and outcomes for Black children and their families (Iruka, 2020). Addressing the challenges faced by young Black children and their families requires attending to social policies that impact their daily lives from housing, education, and labor, policies that impact families’ socioeconomic position and upward mobility. Families’ socioeconomic status greatly influences their access to resources, opportunities, time, and functioning to meet their children’s needs, critical in the early years (McLoyd, 1990). Families’ socioeconomic position also influences the experiences children have inside and outside the home, such as access to high quality early care and education and health care services. The findings from this study underscore the importance of delivering on the promise for Black children and their families as they remain resilience in the face of 2 pandemics – COVID-19 and racism.

Abstract

The rate of child abuse has sharply increased worldwide, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. As the media’s role in addressing child abuse cases is crucial, several international and formal organizations have established child abuse reporting guidelines. This study investigated how closely journalists follow reporting guidelines in addressing child abuse cases. Five major Korean presses and 189 articles from January 1, 2018, to January 31, 2021, were selected using the keyword “child abuse.” Each article was analyzed using a guideline framework consisting of 13 items regarding the five principles of the Korean Ministry of Health and Welfare and Central Child Protection Agency reporting guidelines.

This study identified a radical growth in media reporting on child abuse cases in South Korea; almost 60% of the articles analyzed came from 2020 and 2021. More than 80% of the articles analyzed did not provide abuse resources, and 70% did not provide factual information. 57.1% of the articles instigated negative stereotypes, and about 30% explicitly mentioned certain family types in the headlines. Nearly 20% of the articles provided excessive details about the method used. Approximately 16% exposed victims’ identities. Some articles (7.9%) also described victims as sharing responsibility for the abuse.

Introduction

According to the Korean Ministry of Health and Welfare (2020), the number of child abuse cases in South Korea has been increasing annually. Especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, the risk of child abuse has increased owing to the heightened stress and social isolation of children and their families (Rosenthal & Thompson, 2020). The number of child abuse cases has increased sharply in South Korea since the beginning of the pandemic. According to the Korean National Policy Agency (2020), the number of child abuse reports in families between February and March 2020 was 1558, up 13.8 % from 2019. Additionally, according to the Korean Ministry of Health and Welfare’s (2022) analysis of child abuse cases in Korea the total number of reported child abuse cases tallied in 2021 was 53,932, a significant increase of about 27.6 % compared to the previous year.

Of the 37,605 cases judged as child abuse, the age range of 13–15 years accounted for the largest portion of victims with 8693 cases (23.1 %), followed by those aged 10–12 years with 8657 cases (23.0 %), and 7–9 years old with 7219 cases (19.2 %) (Korean Ministry of Health and Welfare, 2022). In terms of family types of child abuse victims, 23,838 cases (63.4 %) occurred in families with biological parents, 4618 cases (12.3 %) in mother-and-child families, 3707 cases (9.9 %) in father-and-child families, and 1980 cases (5.3 %) in remarried families (Korean Ministry of Health and Welfare, 2022). Regarding the relationship between assailants and victims, parents accounted for the highest number of cases, with 31,486 cases (83.7 %), followed by 3609 cases (9.6 %) involving surrogate caregivers, and 1517 cases (4.0 %) involving relatives (Korean Ministry of Health and Welfare, 2022). Among the confirmed reports of child abuse, 45.1% were reported by fathers (16,944 cases), 35.6% by mothers (13,380 cases), and 3.2% by childcare teachers (1221 cases) (Korean Ministry of Health and Welfare, 2022).

Conclusions

This study is meaningful because there is a lack of analysis on child abuse reporting guidelines in South Korea although the coverage of child abuse cases is increasing at an alarming rate. These findings indicate that the current guidelines have not been followed effectively. Our research urges the importance of avoiding detailed, biased, and sensational descriptions and providing factual information and abuse resources to enhance social awareness of child abuse and to prevent and intervene in child abuse cases. We expect our results to arouse attention toward establishing more realistic and effective child abuse reporting guidelines and monitoring systems.

Abstract

1. Introduction

2. Data and methods

3. Results

4. Discussion

5. Conclusion

Funding

Declaration of competing interest

APPENDIX

References

Abstract

     This study examined associations between characteristics of the residential neighbourhood and the school and adolescent mental health, including the moderating role of family socioeconomic status (SES) and family support. Nationally representative Dutch data from adolescents aged 12–16 (N = 6422) were analysed through cross-classified multilevel models. Findings showed that school characteristics are more strongly linked to adolescent mental health than residential neighbourhood characteristics. More specifically, higher levels of school SES were associated with more hyperactivity-inattention problems, while higher levels of school social disorder were related to more conduct problems and more peer relationship problems. Further, higher levels of school SES were associated with more emotional symptoms only for adolescents with a relatively low family SES. Higher levels of neighbourhood SES were associated with fewer peer relationship problems. Overall, there was little evidence for the moderating role of family SES or family support.

Introduction

     With a global prevalence of about 13% of adolescents suffering from mental health problems (Polanczyk et al., 2015), it is of vital importance to identify both risk and protective factors for these mental health problems. In addition to person-level characteristics such as gender and socioeconomic status (Afifi, 2007; Rivenbark et al., 2019), there is increasing evidence that contextual factors matter. Ecological theory posits that environmental contexts influence mental health problems among adolescents (Bronfenbrenner, 1977; Cohen et al., 2009; Minh et al., 2017). The residential neighbourhood and school context represent the most important out-of-home environmental contexts, within which adolescents spend a substantial amount of their daily life given compulsory education and mobility restrictions (Allison et al., 1999).

     Two often studied contextual characteristics within these contexts include physical factors such as the amount of greenspace and air pollution (Jennings and Bamkole, 2019; Mueller et al., 2019; Vanaken and Danckaerts, 2018; Zhang et al., 2020) and social factors, particularly socioeconomic status (SES), social environment and social disorder (Aldridge and McChesney, 2018; Visser et al., 2020). It is important to consider both physical and social factors, not only because these are both related to adolescent mental health, but also because they are interrelated (Sugiyama et al., 2008). For instance, nearby greenspace can stimulate social activities within neighbourhoods (Ruijsbroek et al., 2017).

Results

     Descriptive statistics for the variables are displayed in Table 1. Correlations between the variables are provided in the Appendix (Table A1). With a largest variance inflation factor (VIF) of 8.04, all VIF values were below the critical value of 10 (Hair et al., 1995), indicating no multicollinearity (Table A2).

3.1. Associations on the neighbourhood and/or school level

     Table 2 showed the results of the school-only and neighbourhood-only MLMs and the CCMM per mental health indicator. The school-only and neighbourhood-only MLM showed comparable and significant ICC values at the neighbourhood and school level (e.g., for hyperactivity-inattention problems ICCneighbourhood = 2.7% and ICCschool = 3.1%), indicating that the proportion of variance in adolescent mental health was rather similar at both levels. However, when assessing both contexts simultaneously using CCMMs, the neighbourhood-level ICCs for all mental health indicators were considerably smaller than the school-level ICCs, implying that the between-level variance in adolescent mental health was largely driven by schools rather than neighbourhoods. Furthermore, for all mental health outcomes, the ICCneighbourhood values decreased when including the school level, indicating an omitted context bias. Additionally, the CCMM for emotional symptoms and hyperactivity-inattention problems revealed that the neighbourhood variances were nonsignificant. Although these results suggested that we could drop the neighbourhood level from the models and use MLMs with only the school level context for both emotional symptoms and hyperactivity-inattention problems, we performed CCMM for all four mental health outcomes for reasons of consistency.

Abstract

     The rapid development of information and communication technology (ICT) has resulted in several improvements in diverse aspects of the organizational structures, including the introduction of virtual teams (VTs). Organizations rely on VTs since they bring a lot of benefits, such as the enhancement of organizational performance. However, effective VTs cannot exist without the proper implementation of decision-making processes. There is a lack of scientific research that attempts to understand the factors affecting decision-making processes in VTs. Studies in this area have only been conducted in the United States and Europe. However, such research has not been conducted in the Middle East, where specific scientific solutions are still required to improve the performance of VTs. Therefore, this study is conducted in the Middle East to gain scientific knowledge on this region’s specificity. Thus, the objective of this study is to identify the factors that affect VT decision-making processes. An online survey was used to collect data (Google forms) from companies in the IT industry in UAE, which are engaged in VTs. A literature review, survey methods, and structural equation modeling were used. The results showed that culture intelligence (CQ), transformational leadership (TL), and task conflict have a positive effect on VT decision-making processes, and relationship conflict has a negative impact on VT decision-making processes, which provides the management teams with a guideline on what to concentrate on in the measuring and enhancement of the effectiveness of VT decision making.

Introduction

     The most important changes that face organizations are caused by information and communication technology (ICT) (Al Majzoub and Davidaviˇciene˙ 2018). ICT has caused the formation of a new type of team work called virtual teams. The use of virtual teams is important for organizations because they allow team members to communicate, despite distance and time constraints. They allow organizations to hire the most talented people regardless of the location, which increases the efficiency of the team (Schmidtke and Cummings 2017). VTs are defined as “groups of people who are geographically and/or organizationally dispersed and who rely on collaboration technologies to carry out tasks” (Lowry et al. 2015). VTs bring advantages to organizations, such as the presence of diverse staff, innovation allocation of resources, flexible organizational structure, enhanced decision making and an increase in organizational performance (Bhat et al. 2017). Even though VTs provide benefits to the organization, they impose challenges to perform effectively. One of the essential factors that affects VT performance is decision-making processes (Wei et al. 2017). To date, there exists a case of scarcity in academic research in the field of decisionmaking processes in virtual teams (Davidaviciene et al. 2020; Drouin and Bourgault 2013; Tan 2019; Zakaria 2017). Most of the research is conducted on university students instead of actual organizational virtual teams (O’Neill et al. 2016; Organ and Flaherty 2018; Paul and Dennis 2018). From the literature review, it could be concluded that there is a lack of research that examines the effect of these three factors—conflict, culture and leadership—on the decision-making process in UAE.

Conclusions

     VT decision making is an important key indicator of VT performance, and hence organizational performance. Organizations must understand and measure the key factors that affect decision making and team performance in an organization and work to enhance it to be able to obtain its market share and be competitive. This article aimed to identify the following factors—CQ, TL, and task and relationship conflict—that affect VT decisionmaking processes. Based on the empirical research conducted, it can be concluded that CQ, TL, and task and relationship conflict are important factors to consider when measuring VT decisions, as the results show that culture intelligence (CQ), transformational leadership (TL), and task conflict are positively correlated with decision-making processes, and relationship conflict is negatively correlated with decision-making processes in VTs. This article provides a guideline for management in an organization to measure VT decision making. For example, when measuring decision making in VT, management should concentrate on how to enhance the following factors—cultural intelligence, transformational leadership, and task conflict—and how to eliminate or reduce relationship conflict factors between members in VTs. Measuring and controlling these factors will help an organization to enhance its VT decisions, which in turn will improve VT performance. In addition, this study proposes a framework for future studies to add factors to these models and create new models, not only to measure but also to implement strategies that can be used to enhance the VT decision-making process and hence improve VT performance. As all research does, this study has limitations. The first limitation of this study is the use of four factors affecting decision-making processes. However, there are other factors that affect decision making that were not included in this study, such as trust, ICT, etc. Second, the study was conducted among organizations in the IT industry. Future studies should include other industries. Third, this study was conducted in the U.A.E. Future studies should include countries in the Middle East in comparison with other regions. Future studies also should include all the mentioned limitations

Abstract

Previous studies on health tourism were limited to a small range of topics related to medical tourism. At present, the concept of health tourism has become profound because medical care has been altered from “disease-centered” to “health-centered”. The main purpose of this study is to identify the key factors influencing the development of health tourism in China. To this end, in the first stage, an intra-industry trade theory was introduced and quantitative methods were applied to discover the important factors. In the second stage, multiple sources, including empirical studies, official data, research reports, and notably field investigations and case studies were incorporated to take in-depth discussions. The results indicated the foremost factors affecting the health tourism trade were total health expenditure per capita and the number of domestic health consumers. Notably, health tourism was substantially determined by the “willingness to spend on health” of domestic health consumers. In addition, Chinese health tourists were more likely to positively accept health tourism services in China. An important conclusion is that China should diversify health tourism offerings for different consumer groups. Once diversified products for health tourism are provided, the number of health tourism consumers will soar accordingly, which thus contributes to forming economies of scale, lowering the average costs of health treatment, increasing health tourism profit, and stimulating economic development.

Introduction

“Sustainable health tourism” can be broadly defined as tourism that involves medical and wellness activities that enhance both physical and mental health (Hei and Xiang, 2020). However, health tourism is a dynamic phenomenon, that is to say, there is no uniform standard for the concept. Before exploring health tourism in more depth, it is important to note that early studies in tourism were not attentive to the role of health—this is not surprising given that for many years most tourism-related businesses (e.g., hotels) and destinations have primarily provided regular tourism resources. During this period, medical services and facilities did not play a meaningful role in attracting tourists (Goodrich and Goodrich, 1987). However, of late, the role of healthcare is becoming increasingly important, with travelers “specifically seeking treatment for diseases and travel health services from other countries” (Goodrich, 1993). This trend has clarified the concept of the “health traveler”, which represents the collection of all phenomena associated with temporarily leaving one’s place of residence to seek health services for the purpose of maintaining and promoting health (Mueller and Kaufmann, 2001). This gradual expansion of the cognitive boundary of health tourism has given rise to “a commercial phenomenon of improving health tourism services” (Hall, 2003).

Conclusions

From the perspective of health globalization, health tourism balances high-quality medical resources, broadens people’s access to health, gives patients a fairer choice, and speeds up competition in the health tourism trade between countries. In this sense, this study is novel and of great practical importance. Using the intra-industry trade theory and the empirical model, our study uncovered the most critical factors affecting health tourism trade in China, which, under the conditions of open trade, are total health expenditure per capita and the number of domestic health consumers. Generally, we found that health tourists would seek a diversity of products on a global scale to maximize their health benefits. Domestic demand would enable domestic enterprises to gain comparative advantages in the production of health tourism products, and domestic trade could drive international trade and attract more foreign tourists to earn foreign exchange income.

Abstract

1. Introduction

2. Integrated Data Exchanges: The Foundation of Smart Cities

3. Applying Governance Approaches to Provisioning IDE Services

4. Discussion: Governance and Sustainability of IDEs

5. Conclusion

References

Abstract

     Collecting, processing, and distributing information has always been a core function of government. This core function has evolved from the earliest ancient governments using clay tablets to today’s smart cities relying on integrated data exchanges (IDE). A smart city “uses information and information technology to make better decisions to improve the quality of life” (Nam and Pardo, 2011). The IDE framework builds upon the data platform literature (O’Reilly, Jan. 2011) by incorporating governance systems to manage a smart city’s activities. This conceptual paper takes existing research, synthesizes it, and creates a new framework to identify how cities can select the appropriate governance rules to facilitate the political, financial, and operational sustainability of their IDEs, and derivatively, their smart city efforts.

Introduction

     Managing information has always been a core function of government
Managing information has always been a core function of government. For example, one of the earliest civilizations in the world, the ancient city of Sumer in Mesopotamia (c. 4500 – c. 1900 BCE) (Anon Feb. 01, 2020) used cuneiform tablets (Anon Apr. 01, 2022) to record contracts and property transfers. In fact, most of the clay tablets that were unearthed, were used to support a public function. Some historians also believe that the expansion of these earliest empires critically depended on a code of law that could be communicated to the far-flung parts of the empire (e.g., the famous Hammurabi’s Code, 1758 BCE) (Charpin and Todd, 2010). Since then, new technologies have developed to improve the collection and distribution information, generating new challenges and opportunities for civilization and also how government should provide data and information1: including the printing press (Adelmann, Mar. 19, 2012) (McLuhan, 1962), the telegraph (Howe, 2007), the Internet (Castells, 2001), AI (Yigitcanlar et al., 2022) and block-chain (Tsampoulatidis et al., 2022). “Smart cities” are the latest conceptualization about how technology can improve government (Anthopoulos and Reddick, 2022) 2. Although by some accounts, the term has become a brand that businesses use to sell technologies (Smith and Prieto Martín, 2022), this study defines smart cities as those that “use information and information technology to make better decisions to improve the quality of life” (Nam and Pardo, 2011).

Conclusion

     If good public management is good decision-making (Simon, 1947), then information is the lifeblood of government. Creating, storing, and analyzing information is not only a core government function, but it is also foundational to the rest of society. As for government, evidence-based or data driven decision-making is key to be recognized as a “smart” city. Foundational to smart city efforts is an IDE to manage vast and disparate sources of information. One of the contributions of this study is defining an IDE and its role in curating, managing, and disseminating information.

     In constructing a conceptual framework for an IDE, dimensions of political sustainability, operational sustainability, and financial sustainability emerged. This study makes the argument that IDE sustainability may be dependent on different governance models: municipal, regional cooperative, and PPP. If an important goal is to use up-to-date technology to make sure that the city stays innovative, it makes more sense to have this function governed by public-private governance systems and their accompanying rules than to keep that within a municipal governance system. If, however, the strategic goal is to make sure that the public is actively involved in smart city efforts or to be transparent and accountable, a public governance system is more appropriate for those functions.

The Roots: Individual Mastery versus Anti-hegemonic Sovereignty

The Core: Civil and Political Rights or Socioeconomic Well-Being

The Fruits: Identity Politics or the Flowering of Civil, Political, Cultural, and Environmental Rights

Conclusion: Concrete Universals

Notes

Disclosure Statement

Notes on Contributor

References

Abstract

     Based on the principle that universals are valid if they are concrete universals, this article provides a comparison between Western liberal and Chinese Marxist approaches to human rights. It does so in three steps. First is the analysis of the foundations, or roots, of the Western liberal emphasis on an individual’s mastery over a “right” understood in terms of private property, and the Marxist tradition’s emphasis on anti-hegemonic sovereignty in light of anti-colonial struggles for national liberation. Second is the contrast between the development of the Western approach to the core human rights in terms of freedom of expression, movement, and assembly, and the Marxist emphasis on the right to socioeconomic well-being, or common prosperity. Third is the comparison between the fruits of either tradition, one in terms of identity politics, and the other in the emphasis on civil, political, cultural, and environmental rights. The article concludes by asking whether the two approaches are able to come to an understanding of each other, and proposes that such an understanding may need to take place in light of the concept and reality of concrete universals.

The Western Emphasis on Individual Mastery over Private Property

     To begin with the roots: the Western tradition begins in Western Europe of the eleventh century. During this period, the fabled “lawyer popes” began the process of a thorough transformation of the European legal and political framework. These lawyer popes and their advisers made a crucial rediscovery: the ancient Roman concept of absolute private property. In Rome of the second century BCE, they were faced with a legal conundrum that concerned slaves. Was a slave a human being or a “thing” (res)? If the former, then the relation between a master and a slave would be one between human beings; if the latter, then the relation would be one between a human owner and an object or a “thing.” Given that slaves had gradually been reduced to the same level as cattle and material objects, it was the relation between a master and a “thing” that constituted the legal problem to be solved.

     Roman jurists—legal theorists—came up with an ingenious solution that would come to have repercussions they could never have imagined. This was the category of absolute private property,1 in which the primary relation of the owner of private property was to the “thing” that he—and it was invariably a “he”—owned.2 This may seem like a somewhat strange way to formulate the solution, since those who are immersed in the Western tradition tend to think of private property in terms of the relations with other owners: I own this object, which means that you do not own it. Not so for the Romans. Instead, absolute private property was constituted as the relation between the owner and the object owned. Why? Because the object owned was a slave. The various ways in which this relation was expressed are telling: the slave was seen as simply an extension of the master, an automaton that acted as though it were a part of the master, as the hand of the master.3

Conclusion: Concrete Universals

     In conclusion, two points need to be made. To begin with, I have emphasised two approaches and indeed traditions concerning human rights. One begins from individual mastery over private property, grows into civil and political rights, and flowers in terms of identity politics. The other begins from anti-hegemonic sovereignty, upon which grows socioeconomic well-being, and flourishes in term of civil, political, cultural, and economic rights in a socialist system. But a question remains as to whether they have any common ground. By way of an answer, let us consider two documents from the United Nations, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (UNGA 1966a) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (UNGA 1966b). In many ways, these two documents embody the two traditions I have analysed in this study, INTERNATIONAL CRITICAL THOUGHT 247 although it is notable that the Marxist tradition’s emphases are also to be found in most developing—and formerly colonised—countries, who also are signatories to the right to development (UNGA 1986). The history of the writing of these documents is instructive: the two main declarations were initially planned to be one document. However, due to disagreement in emphasis between countries that espouse the Western liberal tradition and the majority of countries that were formerly colonised by such countries and strongly advocate anti-hegemonic sovereignty, the declaration was divided into the two we have now. They were initially published in 1966, and they both came into effect in 1976. If one considers the countries that have signed and ratified the declarations (not difficult to determine), it is clear that a divide still exists and mutual recognition of distinct traditions and emphases on human rights still requires considerable work (Sun 2014; Li et al. 2015, 68–69; Zwart 2020).

Abstract

     Since the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) were adopted by the UN Human Rights Council in 2011, they have diffused into policy frameworks, laws, and regulations across the globe. This special issue seeks to advance the interdisciplinary field of human rights research by examining key elements of the emerging transnational regime for the regulation of business and human rights. In seven original contributions, scholars from political science, law, accounting, and philosophy critically reflect on the theoretical foundations of the UNGPs, they analyze the effectiveness of implementation mechanisms and current regulatory practice, and they advance proposals for the future development of the business and human rights regime. In this introduction, we prepare the ground for these analyses, proceeding in three steps. Firstly, we argue that the adoption of the UNGPs has triggered a norm cascade which requires a distinctive, empirically oriented research agenda focusing on the scope, governance, and effectiveness of corporate human rights accountability norms and instruments. Secondly, we explain how the articles in this special issue contribute to that research agenda by addressing these themes. Thirdly, we provide an overview of the individual contributions and point out avenues for future research.

Introduction

     Following the endorsement of the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) by the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in 2011, they have become widely regarded as “the most authoritative statement of the human rights duties or responsibilities of states and corporations adopted at the UN level” (De Schutter 2013: xvii).Footnote1 Developed in a worldwide consultation process by the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General (SRSG), John Ruggie, the UNGPs were aimed at tackling and preventing business-related human rights abuses by closing governance gaps in the largely unrestrained global market economy (Ruggie 2013: xxiii).

     Although many corporations contribute positively to realizing human rights, e.g., through job creation, the production and distribution of goods, services, and infrastructure, business activities also impact negatively on human rights. Some of the most severe and widespread forms of corporate human rights abuse include the dislocation of indigenous communities without compensation or consultation, the impairment of people’s health and safety due to unfit working conditions and destruction of the environment, the leaking of individuals’ data to government agents, the denial of freedom of expression and of association, discrimination and sexual harassment at the workplace, and sweatshops, bonded labor, and child labor in the transnational supply chains of global brands (see Bernaz 2017: 1–2; Ruggie 2013: xv-xvi; ILO 2017). However, it is rather difficult to hold business enterprises to account for human rights abuses, for various reasons.

Conclusion and Avenues for Future Research

     Taken together, the contributions to this special issue offer a rich multi-dimensional and transdisciplinary analysis of key elements of the business and human rights regime. On the one hand, they enhance our understanding of different conceptions of corporate human rights accountability, of the role and functions, the impact but also the limitations of important actors and governance instruments of that regime. On the other hand, the articles engage with these limitations in a critical yet constructive fashion, making proposals for resolving misalignments in the governance architecture and improving the effectiveness of specific instruments. In so doing, all contributions are driven by a normative commitment to strengthen corporate human rights accountability, help prevent business-related human rights abuses, and improve access to effective remedies for victims.

     Building on the insights provided by the analyses in this special issue, as well as on the research agenda set out above, we identify three main tasks for future research in the business and human rights field. Firstly, scholarship needs to further investigate the scope and substance of changes in corporate human rights conduct in response to regulatory initiatives. This is not only to differentiate good corporate practice from rhetorical adaptation or strategic attempts to co-opt the human rights discourse but also to identify the underlying conditions for the effective socialization of business actors into norm acceptance and compliant behavior. Secondly, researchers need to keep pace with the evolution of, and changing trends in, the business and human rights regime. This implies the close monitoring and critical assessment of the construction, contestation, and transformation of human rights and accountability norms, as well as of the emergence and performance of actors and governance instruments, such as National Contact Points, National Action Plans, corporate reporting standards, and due diligence laws. Here, it is important to move beyond dominant perspectives on the Global North and extend the research focus to regulatory frameworks and corporate conduct at the starting point of transnational supply chains, especially in countries of the Global South. Finally, business and human rights scholars should continue to feed their academic expertise into the policy process and public debate at the local, national, and transnational levels. With their privileged access to the insights of multidisciplinary human rights scholarship, business and human rights scholars are in an ideal position to create awareness for the complexity of the issues at stake, help building bridges between opposing actors, and contribute to the enhancement of corporate human rights accountability.

Abstract

     Although the extractive industry has contributed to the socio-economic development of many African countries, it has also led to incidences of human rights violations in many rural communities. However, the use of an evidence-based approach to search, locate, explore and synthesize the literature systematically in order to understand the nature and pattern of human rights violations within the extractive industry remains limited. Consequently, this study employs the systematic review method to determine the nature and drivers of human rights abuses within the extractive industry in Africa. Of the 791 articles retrieved from the search of the databases, 58 articles met the inclusion criteria and were included in evidence synthesis. Based on the thematic analysis conducted on the articles that met the inclusion criteria, we find that human rights abuses tend to be associated with the violation of economic, social, and cultural rights, tensions over land ownership, the loss of livelihood, and community marginalization. We conclude the study with some policy implications and suggest avenues for future research.

Introduction

     The relationship between resource extraction and sustainable development in Africa has largely remained contested. Indeed, while the World Bank and African governments/elites are often quick to point out that resource extraction contributes to the economic development of African countries, others have emphasized the negative socio-economic impacts of the extractive industry on the poor and marginalized communities (Akabzaa and Darimani, 2001; 1demudia, 2007; Tuokuu et al., 2018). As primarily an exporter of primary commodities, African governments pursuit of economic development through resource extraction with the adoption of neoliberal economic policies like the structural adjustment programs (SAPs) in the 1980s resulted in the liberalization of codes and laws that also allowed for the influx of foreign multinational corporations (MNCs) into rural communities where resource extraction tends to take place (Campbell, 2003, 2010; Tuokuu et al., 2019). As a result, in contrast to the 1960s that was dominated by African governments’ pursuit of nationalization of economic policies, the domain of opposition to MNC activities in the 1990s invariably shifted from host governments to local communities (Harvey, 2006). These contestations over the activities of MNCs in rural communities often resulted in a widespread incidence of corporate-community conflict and associated human rights violations. For example, local protests over incidences of environmental degradation associated with the operation of Shell in the Niger Delta area of Nigeria led to the displacement of the Ogoni people and the violations of their human rights (Obi, 2009). These kinds of incidences resulted in reputational damage, increased social risks, and associated costs for MNCs.

Conclusion and future directions

     The aim of this systematic review was to synthesize available evidence in the literature on the drivers and patterns of human rights abuses in the extractive industry as well as identify the common suggestions on how to address these abuses. Our analysis showed that the pattern of abuse is often in terms of the violation of economic, social, and cultural rights and the core drivers of human rights abuses are contestations over land ownership, the associated loss of livelihood, and the marginalization of communities in decision-making. Much of the suggestions on efforts to address human rights abuses in the sector focused on CSR programs, formalization of ASM, and active community engagement. The implication is that the literature on business and human rights within the extractive industry in Africa tend to focus on document incidence of human rights abuses as opposed to analyzing how MNCs seek to address their human rights obligations. Indeed, while the extant works are critical for better understanding of the nature of the human rights problems in the sector, there is a need to move towards examining the effectiveness of the different processes and practices that MNCs are putting in place to address their human rights obligations. This is particularly important given that several MNCs are increasingly signing up to global initiatives such as the UN global compact and the voluntary principles of security and human rights as means to demonstrate their commitments to become corporate human rights defenders. Put differently, future research can usefully examine the extent to which corporate commitment to such global initiatives have necessarily yielded positive human rights dividend for local communities on the ground. There is the need for future research to probe how corporate commitments to global initiatives have yielded human rights outcomes within the extractive industry in Africa. Similarly, a crucial assumption underpins the idea that it is in the best interest of MNCs to respect human rights and rely on the notion that they require social licenses to operate. While the concept of social licenses to operate has been a subject of various critiques (see Owen and Kemp, 2013), we still do not know whether and how poor communities can enforce social license to operate or what other effective alternative corporate accountability strategies that local communities might be deploying to ensure MNCs respect their human rights.

Abstract

     The digitalisation of production driven by new paradigms such as Industry 4.0, factories of the future and smart manufacturing, create new challenges as to how manufacturers and other supply chain actors would discharge their corporate responsibility to respect human rights. These new paradigms enable novel approaches like distributed and collaborative manufacturing. Manufacturers increasingly leverage digital technologies, such as 3D printing, cloud manufacturing and artificial intelligence, to provide customised products. Digital technologies also improve predictive and preventive maintenance on the shop floor and across the supply chain, increasing the overall resilience of manufacturing industries in times of crisis. This article proposes a blueprint of a collaborative, decentralised approach to human rights due diligence in digital supply chains. It argues that the pooling of human rights due diligence efforts in manufacturing industries could have network-wide effects of incentivising value chain actors to also collaborate on providing collective remedy.

Introduction

     The manufacturing of a modern aircraft, like an Airbus A321, is the result of highly efficient cooperation across complex, tightly integrated global supply and manufacturing chains. The process starts with the design and engineering, through production and transport of aircraft sections, to final assembly and tests, certification and delivery to the customer. Growing demand in air travel in the past few decades has naturally increased the production needs. At the same time, fast-paced developments in the information and communications technology (ICT) industry have offered new ways of optimising manufacturing. As a result, the supply chain of modern aircraft production no longer consists of just raw materials, such as steel, aluminium, titanium and their alloys. The deployment of smart sensors on the shop floor and the utilization of automated systems means that supply chains now include also digital assets, such as datasets, computer simulations, digital twins and pre-trained machine learning models.

     New models of manufacturing are enabled by concepts like distributed, collaborative and additive manufacturing. At the same time, they also create distinct challenges as to how manufacturers and the various actors in their supply chains could discharge their corporate responsibility to respect human rights. It has become widely accepted that businesses do have a corporate responsibility to respect human rights. The United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (‘Guiding Principles’) promote this responsibility as a global standard of expected conduct from business enterprises, regardless of their size, sector, operational context, ownership or structure.1 Thus, from manufacturers to service-providing enterprises, all actors in the value chain are subject to the same responsibility.2 In this sense, the corporate responsibility to respect human rights applies equally to enterprises engaged in traditional manufacturing as well as those in smart manufacturing driven by the developments in so-called Industry 4.0.

Conclusion

     Collaborative smart manufacturing in Industry 4.0 represents a significant shift in the convention manufacturing paradigm. The vertical and horizontal integration of actors in the supply chain leads to the emergence of new business relationships entailing new potential adverse human rights impacts. It is beyond doubt that business entities have a corporate responsibility to respect human rights. A main tool to discharge this responsibility, human rights due diligence is premised on the idea that it is within the business enterprise’s control to prevent or mitigate human rights impacts at the beginning of a new business relationship or activity. This assumption, however, is challenged by technological and organisational processes within Industry 4.0 which are based on complex real-time network interactions and data-driven autonomous decision-making. In this new collaborative environment, the manufacturer becomes one of many actors in a network, along with the customer. This gives rise to new potential aggregate adverse human rights impacts at the level of the ecosystem which cannot be sufficiently addressed by any single actor alone.