Converging Crises and the Cost of Exclusion: Unveiling the Invisible Women of Sri Lanka's Economy

In Sri Lanka, womens labor force participation has never exceeded 35% in over three decades. As of 2022, the country was ranked 110 out of 146 countries in the World Economic Forums Gender Gap Index. The gaps in womens participation in the formal economy alongside womens limited political empowerment are two leading causes for the country to be lagging in such global gender equality indicators. At a large cost to the economy, the existence of archaic gender norms that promulgate womens unpaid care work often exclude women from the formal labor force. This paper dissects the socio-economic and socio-political factors that lead to the invisibility of women in Sri Lankas economy, while seeking to understand how such underlying causes have been aggravated within the precarity of the post-pandemic context. It is important, now more than ever, to recognize the invisibility of women in Sri Lankas formal economy, while bringing about a transformative vision with a multi-pronged approach to address existing gaps and challenges. With reference to key principles of feminist economics, including the theoretical foundations of Claudia Goldin, Nancy Folbre, and Diane Elson, among others, the paper will make a case for inclusivity and intersectionality in policy recommendations aimed at encouraging womens entry, active engagement, contribution, and retention in Sri Lankas economy. The paper reaches a conclusion that when women lead, participate, and benefit equally in all aspects of life, societies and economies will thrive, thereby contributing to sustainable development and inclusive economic growth.

Impacts of environmental policy uncertainty on urban environmental pollutant emissions in China: a study based on textual analysis

How to accelerate the clean use of fossil energy and promote the transformation and upgrading of energy structure is an important challenge commonly faced by countries around the world. In the post-Covid-19 era, the uncertainties faced by countries around the world are increasing and the frequency of policy adjustments in various countries is accelerating. The discharge of pollution by enterprises is significantly impacted by environmental regulatory policies. Under the carbon neutrality goal, the uncertainty of environmental policy caused by multiple political factors can directly influence the decisions made by businesses and residents, in turn, affect their confidence and expectations. However, researchers have given limited attention to measuring the environmental policy uncertainty index (EPUI). In this paper, we select 460 newspapers from the China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) newspaper database from 2001 to 2016 and use the text analysis method to directly construct China's national, provincial, and prefecture-level EPUI. The results show that China's EPUI has obvious stage characteristics and regional characteristics. By applying the Chinese city-level EPUI to the field of urban pollution reduction, we have obtained an important finding that when urban environmental policy uncertainty increases by 1%, urban industrial sulfur dioxide emission decreases by about 0.145%, and carbon dioxide emission decreases by about 0.053%. We believe that this is due to an increase in environmental policy uncertainty inhibiting the development and scaling of secondary industries.

Effect of trade barriers on export performance during COVID-19 pandemic: a comparative study among South Asian textile industries

Studiul s-a concentrat pe determinarea politicilor guvernamentale esenţiale si a barierelor comerciale care afectează performanţa exporturilor industriei textile în timpul pandemiei de COVID-19. Acest studiu a analizat influenţa politicilor guvernamentale de export asupra performanţei la export a industriei textile. Acest studiu a comparat, de asemenea, factori din trei industrii textile din Asia de Sud, respectiv Pakistan, India si Bangladesh. Studiul a identificat nouă politici guvernamentale de export esenţiale si bariere comerciale bazate pe vizualizarea organizaţiei industriale (Vizualizarea I/O). A fost utilizat un model de regresie de tip panel pentru a analiza semnificaţia fiecărei politici guvernamentale si barierele comerciale care afectează performanţa exporturilor de produse textile. Rezultatele studiului au arătat că ratele de schimb valutar, costul de export, timpul de export, stabilitatea politică a ţării, calitatea infrastructurii din ţară, libertatea din corupţie, costul de afaceri al terorismului si stabilitatea economică în ţară au un efect semnificativ asupra performanţei la export a industriei. În schimb, taxele pentru desfăşurarea afacerilor au un efect nesemnificativ asupra performanţei la export. Testul de Estimare aparent fără legătură (SUEST) a comparat diferenţele de performanţă la export ale industriilor textile din Pakistan, India si Bangladesh datorate politicilor guvernamentale. Rezultatele au arătat că un nivel mai ridicat de timp pentru export, costul de export si costul pentru desfăsurarea afacerilor terorismului duc la performanţa scăzută la export a industriei textile. În acelasi timp, un nivel mai ridicat al cursurilor de schimb valutar, stabilitatea politică a ţării, calitatea infrastructurii, libertatea din corupţie si stabilitatea economică în ţară duc la performanţe ridicate la export ale industriei textile. Mai mult, taxele pentru desfăsurarea afacerilor au un efect nesemnificativ asupra performanţei la export. Acest studiu este printre puţinele care abordează industria textilă în timpul pandemiei de COVID-19. Din cauza circumstanţelor incerte, va fi greu pentru guvern să identifice factori importanţi care ar putea ajuta exportatorii de textile să supravieţuiască si să se dezvolte în timpul pandemiei de COVID-19. Studiul a identificat politici guvernamentale importante si bariere comerciale care afectează exporturile de textile pe baza unui sprijin teoretic solid si a comparat si a elaborat, de asemenea, importanţa fiecărui factor în trei ţări din Asia de Sud. Acest studiu va ajuta factorii de decizie să-si reconsidere factorii legaţi de export pentru a-si spori exporturile de textile si pentru a-si relansa economia după pandemia de COVID-19.Alternate :The study focused on determining essential government policies and trade barriers affecting the textile industry's export performance during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study has analysed the effect of government export policies on the export performance of the textile industry. This study has also compared factors among three South Asian textile industries, including Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh. The study identified nine essential government export policies and trade barriers based on Industrial Organization View (I/O View). A panel regression model was used to analyse the significance of each government policy and trade barrier affecting textile export performance. Results of the study showed that currency exchange rates, the cost to export, time to export, political stability of the country, quality of infrastructure in the country, freedom from corruption, business cost of terrorism and economic stability in the country have a significant effect on export performance of the industry. In contrast, taxes on doing business have an insignificant effect on export performance. The Seemingly Unrelated Estimation (SUEST) test compared the differences in export performance of Pakistani, Indian and Bangladeshi textile industries due to governmen policies. The results showed that a higher level of time to export, cost to export and business cost of terrorism lead to the low export performance of the textile industry. At the same time, a higher level of currency exchange rates, political stability of the country, quality of infrastructure, freedom from corruption and economic stability in-country lead to the high export performance of the textile industry. Further, taxes on doing business have an insignificant effect on export performance. This study is among the few contributing to the textile industry during the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to uncertain circumstances, it becomes hard for the government to identify important factors which could help textile exporters to survive and grow during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study has identified important government policies and trade barriers affecting textile exports based on strong theoretical support and has also compared and elaborated on the importance of each factor across three South Asian countries. This study will help policymakers reconsider exportrelated factors to enhance their textile exports and revive their economy after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Financial Volatility Modeling with the GARCH-MIDAS-LSTM Approach: The Effects of Economic Expectations, Geopolitical Risks and Industrial Production during COVID-19

Forecasting stock markets is an important challenge due to leptokurtic distributions with heavy tails due to uncertainties in markets, economies, and political fluctuations. To forecast the direction of stock markets, the inclusion of leading indicators to volatility models is highly important;however, such series are generally at different frequencies. The paper proposes the GARCH-MIDAS-LSTM model, a hybrid method that benefits from LSTM deep neural networks for forecast accuracy, and the GARCH-MIDAS model for the integration of effects of low-frequency variables in high-frequency stock market volatility modeling. The models are being tested for a forecast sample including the COVID-19 shut-down after the first official case period and the economic reopening period in in Borsa Istanbul stock market in Türkiye. For this sample, significant uncertainty existed regarding future economic expectations, and the period provided an interesting laboratory to test the forecast effectiveness of the proposed LSTM augmented model in addition to GARCH-MIDAS models, which included geopolitical risk, future economic expectations, trends, and cycle industrial production indices as low-frequency variables. The evidence suggests that stock market volatility is most effectively modeled with geopolitical risk, followed by industrial production, and a relatively lower performance is achieved by future economic expectations. These findings imply that increases in geopolitical risk enhance stock market volatility further, and that industrial production and future economic expectations work in the opposite direction. Most importantly, the forecast results suggest suitability of both the GARCH-MIDAS and GARCH-MIDAS-LSTM models, and with good forecasting capabilities. However, a comparison shows significant root mean squared error reduction with the novel GARCH-MIDAS-LSTM model over GARCH-MIDAS models. Percentage decline in root mean squared errors for forecasts are between 39% to 95% in LSTM augmented models depending on the type of economic indicator used. The proposed approach offers a key tool for investors and policymakers.

A Tale of Two Cities: COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy as a Result of Racial, Socioeconomic, Digital, and Partisan Divides

The unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic has drawn great attention to the issue of vaccine hesitancy, as the acceptance of the innovative RNA vaccine is relatively low. Studies have addressed multiple factors, such as socioeconomic, political, and racial backgrounds. These studies, however, rely on survey data from participants as part of the population. This study utilizes the actual data from the U.S. Census Bureau as well as actual 2020 U.S. presidential election results to generate four major category of factors that divide the population: socioeconomic status, race and ethnicity, access to technology, and political identification. This study then selects a region in a traditionally democratic state (Capital Region in New York) and a region in a traditionally republican state (Houston metropolitan area in Texas). Statistical analyses such as correlation and geographically weighted regression reveal that factors such as political identification, education attainment, and non-White Hispanic ethnicity in both regions all impact vaccine acceptance significantly. Other factors, such as poverty and particular minority races, have different influences in each region. These results also highlight the necessity of addressing additional factors to further shed light on vaccine hesitancy and potential solutions according to identified factors.

The impact of global risks on supply chain performance. An empirical study on construction sector in the COVID-19 pandemic

PurposeThis paper aims to identify and assess global risks in the supply chain performance.Design/methodology/approachFirst, global risks are identified and classified according to three criteria: content, probability and context. A set of supply chain performance indicators are then defined by the theory of resource-based view and balanced scorecard. Structural equation modeling is adopted to access risks in the global supply chain.FindingsThis article contributes to the supply chain risk management literature by providing a detailed operationalization of global supply chain risk constructs, e.g. natural disasters, war and terrorism, fire accidents, economic and political instability, social and cultural grievances, decease. Empirical results reveal that the supply chain is predominantly regarded as being vulnerable as the proposed model of risks can explain up to 12.6% variance of supplier performance, 25.2% innovation and learning, 23% internal business, 40.6% customer service and 32.4% finance.Research limitations/implicationsThese risks are relevant contextual variables in strategic supply chain decisions. Supply chain managers should keep in mind acceptable cost/benefit tradeoffs in their firms' mitigation efforts associated with major contingency risks. This research advocates the allocation of scarce resources to adopt the supply chain strategies of avoidance, speculative and postponement.Originality/valueThe application of the strategic content/process/context to explain global supply chain performance is an interesting approach. Moreover, globalization trends and the COVID-19 perspectives are considered to be the main reasons for increasing such complex factors. Data on validating research models collected during the COVID-19 pandemic reflect the topicality of this study.

The political aspects of solidarity mobilizations in the context of shrinking civil society during the first wave of COVID-19

This paper contributes to the literature on solidarity mobilizations and the framings of social and political change in the context of the shrinking welfare state, de-democratization, and repressive state policies towards civil society. These issues are explored through the lens of interview-based research on Hungarian solidarity initiatives that emerged in response to the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic between March and June 2020. We specifically look at the ways in which volunteers and activists engaged in solidarity activities associated with healthcare, care-work, and education;accounted for their aspirations;conceptualized social responsibility;and reflected on the crisis management of the state. We found that newly emerging grassroots actors reinforced the documented trend of depoliticization in civil society. Although most respondents formulated a depoliticizing narrative, they did offer interpretations of their public role and collective action, values, and responsibilities, and pronounced a desire for social change. Nevertheless, to account for these framings, we need to move beyond the binary understanding of politics in solidarity and civil society research.

Domestic Military Deployments in Response to COVID-19

Militaries are commonly deployed in response to domestic disasters. However, our understanding of this phenomenon remains incomplete, partly because the particulars of disasters make it hard to generalize about deployments used in response. This article leverages the COVID-19 pandemic's global reach to systematically evaluate common hypotheses about when and how militaries are used to respond to domestic disasters. It presents original global data about domestic military deployments in pandemic response and uses it to assess common theoretical expectations about what shapes whether and how militaries are used in such contexts. The results suggest that decisions about whether to deploy militaries stem from the securitization of domestic disaster relief rather than being responses to specific disaster-related features, state capacity shortcomings, or other social or political factors, even as some of these elements shaped how militaries were used. The article concludes by outlining some hypotheses for future research about the impact of this securitization on civil–military relations.

Open for Economic Activities during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Factors Related to State Reopening Policies in a Federal Policy Vacuum

What factors influence state governors to issue an executive order to reopen economic activities more or less quickly when removing the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions? Without comprehensive federal guidelines, state governors were faced with an administrative dilemma in devising mitigation policies that promoted safe public health measures while encouraging more business activity. Following the federal directive to reopen in April 2020, governors in all 50 states signed executive orders, but some waited longer than others. We argue that variation in the timing of the enactment of initial executive orders is influenced by political factors, financial resources factors, interstate factors, and problem severity of the public health incidence. Using an event history analysis, our Cox proportional hazard regression model suggests that states with unified Republican governments, more state funding obtained from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, and participation in regional collaboration resumed activities earlier compared to states with more neighbors that issued reopening executive orders and states with more per capita income. Results indicate that, in crisis situations, unified political partisanship, the receipt of federal funding, and coordination with other states facilitate rapid policy adoption.

On the relation between the crude oil market and pandemic Covid-19

PurposeThe crude oil market has experienced an unprecedented overreaction in the first half of the pandemic year 2020. This study aims to show the performance of the global crude oil market amid Covid-19 and spillover relations with other asset classes.Design/methodology/approachThe authors employ various pandemic outbreak indicators to show the overreaction of the crude oil market due to Covid-19 infection. The analysis also presents market connectedness and spillover relations between the crude oil market and other asset classes.FindingsOne of the essential findings the authors report is that the crude oil market remains more responsive to pandemic fake news. The shock of the global pandemic panic index and pandemic sentiment index appears to be more promising. It has also been noticed that the energy trader's sentiment (OVX and OIV) was measured at a too high level within the Covid-19 outbreak. Volatility spillover analysis shows that crude oil and other market are closely connected, and the total connectedness index directs on average 35% contribution from spillover. During the initial growth of the infection, other macroeconomic and political events remained to favor the market. The second phase amidst the pandemic outbreak harms the global crude oil market. The authors find that infectious diseases increase investor panic and anxiety.Practical implicationsThe crude oil investors' sentiment index OVX indicates fear and panic due to infectious diseases and lack of hedge funds to protect energy investments. The unparalleled overreaction of the investors gauged in OVX indicates market participants have paid an excessive put option (protection) premium over the contagious outbreak of the infectious disease.Originality/valueThe empirical model and result reported amid Covid-19 are novel in terms of employing a news-based index of the pandemic, which are based on the content analysis and text search using natural processing language with the aid of computer algorithms.

The Social and Political Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Introduction

The COVID-19 pandemic highlights the importance of responsive institutions: governments and communities coordinating policy changes;media, social networks, and officials swiftly and accurately conveying information;and an engaged public. This special issue explores social and political factors that both shaped initial response to the pandemic, and were altered by it. Institutional inequalities and variations in government response created significant differences in health outcomes even as the contagious nature of the pandemic linked spaces and people. Thus COVID-19 created new crises, exacerbated inequalities, and led to broad social changes. Social scientists will spend decades unraveling the consequences of COVID-19. This issue challenges scholars to apply existing theories and frameworks, but also to see the pandemic as an event that stimulates us to reevaluate settled paradigms.

Peace Beyond the Binary: A Creative Intersectional Perspective on Global Forced Displacement

In a defiant celebration of their queer subculture at the end of the first act, the lead character exclaims: "the opposite of war isn't peace-it's creation!"1 This lyrical moment spotlights how peace cannot be a crucial determinant of health and well-being if underlying systems of power remain the same;when addressing forced displacement on a global scale, public health responses must instead prioritize dismantling binary social constructs and intentionally creating inclusive care systems. The global COVID-19 pandemic has intensified existing cycles of violence and displacement generated by structural inequality, poverty, the climate crisis, and political instability.2,3 These systems operate through divisive, binary social categories-rich and poor, woman and man, Black and White, perpetrator and victim, citizen and foreigner- making people at the intersection of marginalized identity dimensions increasingly vulnerable to violence and forced migration within and across societies.4 Binary frameworks also determine which displaced populations receive refugee designation and, thus, protection. A study of transgender asylum seekers in Mexico found that they experienced discrimination in education and employment based on their evolving gender identities, violence from both their families and state officials, and adverse mental health outcomes.6 In another study, LGBTQ+ refugees and asylees living in a range of contexts in the United States and Canada reported widespread experiences of violence and a lack of support resources and protection across institutional levels and locations.7 These studies highlight how refugees who transcend binary constructs face violence and displacement not just from their communities but also from a migrant protection apparatus designed for refugees whose identities are assumed to fit neatly into predetermined boxes. Kimberlé Crenshaw's original use of the framework explored how binary conceptions of gender and race in the US legal system produced differential access to systems of justice for women who had experienced violence;the structural separation of racial discrimination and gender discrimination privileged White women's and Black men's experiences and obscured the cross-cutting effects of gender and race for Black women.8 In seeking to address forced displacement, I argue that we must incorporate an expanded version of intersectionality- what I call "creative intersectionality"- that explores how global systems of power relate to and shape one another, recognizes that identity dimensions are not dichotomous nor essential but are developed by translocational experiences and sociocultural contexts, and prioritizes critical action to deconstruct binaries in favor of new systems for collective well-being.9,10 For example, using creative intersectionality as a lens to understand and ultimately address forced displacement requires that we examine all forms of binary constructs, and not just those imposed on an individual's identity dimensions.

Why Was the Pandemic Poorly Managed by the Government of India? A State-in-Society Approach

Administrative "success" or "failure" during the pandemic are hard to assess given uncertainties both of criteria and of data. But there can be no doubt about the mishandling of the pandemic at crucial junctures by the Indian government, or about the culpability of prime minister Narendra Modi himself. He has this in common with other "strongmen" of contemporary world politics, but Modi was unusually successful in turning the events of the pandemic to reinforce his dominance. The immediate political factors that influenced the Indian response had to do with political leadership and with the "decisionism" that characterised Modi's actions, but in the context of the pursuit of the goals of Hindu nationalism. This article explains the responses of the Indian government drawing on a framework based on the comparative analysis of Baum and her co-authors. It shows how the events of the pandemic reflect on India's politics and on the character of the Indian state, using a state-in-society approach suggested by the interlocking arguments of Migdal, Mann and Evans. This highlights and explains the very different responses of the major states of the country.

DO AMOR E OUTRAS MORTES: RELENDO ROMEU E JULIETA EM TEMPOS DE PANDEMIA

O artigo propoe uma releitura a luz da pandemia da covid-19 da peça Romeu e Julieta, de William Shakespeare, escrita entre 1591 e 1595. Contextualiza-se a peça a partir da bibliografia que historiciza os impactos da pandemia da peste bubônica no século XVI, destacando a nascente política sanitaria que recomendava restrições de circulaçao, com controle do Estado, e os impactos que ela causou na vida social, económica e política. A partir disso, sustenta-se a ideia de que a peça pode ser lida como uma crítica social cínica.Alternate :The article proposes a reinterpretation in the light of the covid-19 pandemic of the play Romeo and Juliet, by William Shakespeare, written between 1591 and 1595. The piece is contextualized from the bibliography that historicizes the impacts of the bubonic plague pandemic in the 16 th century, highlighting the nascent health policy that recommended circulation restrictions, with State control, and the impacts it caused on social, economic and political aspects of human life. The article sustains the idea that the play can be read as a cynical social criticism is supported.

A COVID-19 Lesson: Better Health Emergency Preparedness Standards Are Needed.

This article reports on an assessment of the value of 4 widely recognized standards of health sector emergency preparedness as predictors of effective preparedness for, and response to, the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. The standards are sponsored by the National Health Security Preparedness Index (NHSPI), the Trust for America's Health (TFAH), the Emergency Management Accreditation Program (EMAP), and the Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAB). The measure of effectiveness was states' cumulative COVID-19 deaths per 100,000 population, from January 21, 2020, through January 20, 2022. Linear regression analysis found no statistically significant associations when controlling for 3 intervening variables. Cross-tabulation of states' preparedness status with their COVID-19 death rates found that high NHSPI and TFAH preparedness scores were generally, but not uniformly, associated with lower death rates. EMAP and PHAB accreditation had negligible association with low or high death rates. Lack of accreditation was associated with lower death rates. Higher prior state public health spending related to COVID-19 preparedness and higher state household income, an indicator of state economic strength, were associated with lower death rates. States with Democratic control of the legislative and executive branches of government generally had substantially lower death rates than states with Republican control. A science-based, practice-oriented research initiative is recommended to improve the predictive power of health sector preparedness standards and to enhance protection for US residents from large-scale future health threats.

Disruption in Resource-Intensive Supply Chains: Reshoring and Nearshoring as Strategies to Enable Them to Become More Resilient and Sustainable

Disruption in many supply chains has shown the vulnerability of global supply networks, especially resource-intensive ones, due to the simultaneous effects of pandemics and geopolitical crises. Reshoring and nearshoring strategies are the possible responses of manufacturing companies to disruptions in order to adapt to unforeseen events. The supply chain for the Italian ceramic sector, which is characterized by a high intensity of natural and energy resource consumption and a sourcing system with a high geopolitical risk, is examined in this study. The functional decomposition technique was used to analyze the supply chain;then, three scenarios were developed as potential remedies for the unexpected termination of Ukrainian plastic clay supply. The study also showed that complex issues require multifaceted analysis approaches, which is why a transdisciplinary approach was chosen. In addition, the analysis of the ceramic industry showed that nearshoring and reshoring strategies can reduce supply risk and have a positive impact on the environment. The study also showed how bringing extraction sources closer to factories significantly reduces CO2 emissions to the atmosphere from transportation. The main contribution of this paper is the analysis of the complexity of supply chains in times of disruption, configuring reshoring and nearshoring options through transdisciplinarity.

COUNTERnarratives: Social Assemblages

PUERTO RICO PDC PLACE-COUNTERnarratives: Social Assemblages is done with the purpose of sentipensar (Escobar, 2014) and making processes visible from the Caribbean understanding how they are generated and developed, knowing the obstacles they face, finding common ground, and establishing ties of collaboration. The authors propose a poetic infrastructure (Larkin, 2013) between the Caribbean that allows exchange about space to strengthen our community of practitioners. COUNTERnarratives: Social Assemblages is a horizontal and collaborative discussion of knowledge production and dialogue. Our islands, although geographically close, are economically distant from each other due to the cost of travel and political factors. Our design community tends to look to the global North for peer communication, so our understanding of each other can be spotty, and various factors can disrupt engagement. A Counternarrative (Giroux, 1996) challenges the exclusionary processes of the status quo and proposes alternatives from a critical perspective that interconnects diverse experiences and knowledge. The COUNTERnarrative generated from the activity will be from Caribbean situated knowledge (Haraway, 1988). Given the historical situation, we are experiencing as islands (climate change and hurricanes, earthquakes, COVID-19, Fiscal Control Boards, assassination of President Jovenel Moise, etc.), it is imperative to reflect on who we are now and who we want to be in the future. How can we help each other among the Caribbean with the idea of emphasizing our roots and our identity through horizontal processes of participation? We need to respond and reflect on: What is our role? How can we emphasize and build on the union with the rest of the Caribbean? © 2022 Owner/Author.

Driver Factors, Wildcards and Spatial External Effects of Urban Sprawl in Poland (2016–2022)

The recent years were rich in new and unexpected social and political factors for Poland, such as the COVID-19 lockdown in 2020–2021 and the refugee crisis in 2021–2022. These ‘wildcards’ will definitely have serious consequences for people and cities, directly and through the impact of so-called externalities. The paper identifies trends in the geographical development of urban areas in Poland during the last five years (2016–2021), particularly in terms of residential suburbanization and urban sprawl. The study aims to explore the driver factors that determine the spatial scale of suburbanization and reveal ‘wildcards’ that may indirectly affect this process but are hard to be quantified and embedded into spatial analysis. Both wildcards and externalities of suburbanization seem to be underexplored, and this paper’s goal is to bring progress on this pass. The spatial analysis applying location quotients (LQ) metrics creates the possibility for comparisons of locations with intensified urbanization for different time moments, thus fulfilling a function similar to the standardization of features considering time and space perspectives. The results makes the evidence to progressive suburbanization around the main Polish cities during the years 2016–2021, revealing, at the same time, distinguishing features of spatial development for the period associated with social and political stresses (2021). © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Governance during COVID-19: Kenya’s graft practices

COVID-19 has unleashed a crisis in public health and rule of law in Africa. In Kenya, narratives of corruption associated with the crisis are rampant. The paper evaluates political factors that amplify the response attempts in the country. It argues that traditional responses have focused on public health and economic issues. However, to develop appropriate responses, the overarching presence of neo-patrimonialism must be considered. Despite attempted governance reforms, neo-patrimonial practices have exacerbated corruption. There is a need for a rethink of governance reform strategy by acknowledging and addressing this fundamental cause, failing which there will be serious adverse public health consequences.

ЦИФРОВЫЕ РАЗРЫВЫ В СОВРЕМЕННОМ МЕГАПОЛИСЕ: ПОЛИТИЧЕСКОЕ ИЗМЕРЕНИЕ: POLITICHESKIE ISSLEDOVANII︠A︡

Статья посвящена проблематике новых социальных и политических разделений, связанных с широким использованием жителями мегаполисов и администрациями городов информационно-коммуникационных технологий. Рассмотрены различные подходы к концептуализации цифровых разрывов и к исследованию их социально-политических последствий. Проанализированы основные измерения и уровни цифровых разрывов в контексте актуальных социально-политических процессов и трендов развития, в том числе в период пандемии COVID-19, описаны некоторые подходы к их преодолению в условиях современного мегаполиса. Выделены и охарактеризованы три главных уровня цифровых разрывов в современных обществах: 1) наличие материальной базы для использования цифровых технологий (технический уровень);2) навыки их использования у различных людей (социальный уровень);и 3) реальные возможности полноценного участия индивида в жизни современного "цифрового" общества и демократического участия в политических и социальных процессах, в том числе в реализации своих гражданских прав и свобод, в расширении социальных связей и отношений (политический уровень). Показано, что при сохранении и росте актуальности этих трех "традиционных" типов цифровых разрывов в условиях мегаполиса все большее значение приобретают такие их новые аспекты, как доступ к наборам больших данных, степень зависимости от автоматизированных систем принятия решений (алгоритмов) с использованием технологий искусственного интеллекта, а также цифровое отчуждение и разделение по отношению к онлайн-образованию. Выявлены некоторые социально-политические последствия цифровых разрывов и связанные с ними политические риски. Сделан вывод, что предпринимаемые меры по смягчению и уменьшению цифровых разрывов в современном мегаполисе носят пока что главным образом частичный и паллиативный характер, причем основное внимание уделяется улучшению материальной базы для использования цифровых технологий, а не преодолению более глубоких социально-политических причин и последствий цифровых разделений и разрывов. Показано, что политика сокращения цифрового неравенства и цифровых разрывов в современных мегаполисах играет особенно важную роль, поскольку в них сосредоточено наиболее политически активное население.Alternate :The article deals with the problems of new social and political divisions associated with the widespread use of information and communication technologies (ICT) by inhabitants of megacities and city administrations. The author considers different approaches to the conceptualization of "digital divides" and to the study of their socio-political consequences, analyzes the main dimensions and levels of digital divide in the context of current socio-political processes and development trends, including during the COVID-19 pandemic, and considers different approaches to overcome them in a modern megacity. Three main levels of digital divide in modern societies are identified and characterized: 1) the availability of the material basis for the use of digital technology (technical level);2) the skills for its use by different people (social level);and 3) the real opportunities for full participation of the individual in the life of a modern "digital" society and democratic participation in political and social processes, including the realization of their civil rights and freedoms, in expanding social connections and relations (political level). It is shown that while these three "traditional" types of digital gaps – inequalities in access to ICT, in the level of digital skills and in the possibility of full participation in the political life of modern digital society – remain and grow in importance in the megacity context, their new aspects, such as access to big data sets (Big Data), the degree of dependence on automated decision-making systems (algorithms) using artificial intelligence technologies, and digital exclusion and separation on the relational level are becoming increasingly important. Some socio-political implications of the new digital divide and the associated political risks are identified. It is concluded that the measures taken to mitigate and reduce the digital divide in the modern metropolis have so far been mostly partial and palliative, with a focus on improving the material basis for the use of digital technologies rather than on overcoming the deeper sociopolitical causes and consequences of digital divisions and gaps. It is shown that policies to reduce the digital divide and digital inequality in modern megacities are particularly important because megacities are home to the most politically active populations.