mediadev library

Hybrid Conflicts and Information Warfare: New Labels, Old Politics

Ofer Fridman, Vitaly Kabernik, James C. Pearce (eds.)

Boulder; London: Rienner (2019), viii, 271 pp.

"What is hybrid warfare? And what role does information play in today's conflicts? In the context of the technological/information revolution of the last two decades—which has greatly amplified the danger posed by nonmilitary means of political struggle—Hybrid Conflicts and Information Warfare a ... more

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Surprising News: How the Media Affect - and Do Not Affect - Politics

Kenneth Newton

Boulder; London: Rienner (2019), x, 277 pp.

"In chapter 2, the book lays down its foundations with a review of a large body of experimental psychology research on how and why individuals can preserve their beliefs, sometimes in the face of all evidence, logic, and argument to the contrary. The second part of the chapter shows that millions of ... people do the same in the real world outside the laboratories, whatever the media say [...] Chapter 3 considers political partisanship and party identification - that is, strong attachments to political ideas, values, and organizations. Experiments show that people are likely to engage in belief preservation where partisan opinions are concerned, and the same seems to be true of partisans in the outside world [...] Chapter 4 broadens the scope of inquiry to examine how non-partisanship and non-party political beliefs and values can influence the ways the majoritiy of individuals receive and process news reports and draw conclusions from them [...] The first eight chapters deal mainly with the micro, demand side of the equation - but there is also the macro, supply side of news media systems. Supply and demand are often analyzed separately, although understanding media effects requires examining the interaction between them [...] Chapter 9 compares commercial and public service broadcasting, showing that they have different effects on political knowledge, trust, participation, and democratic support. Chapter 10 turns to the classic theory of news media pluralism as a cornerstone of modern democracy [...] The research strategy of this book involves comparing and contrasting a large number of studies of media effects on political attitudes and behavior in order to compare and contrast the conclusions they reach. The book does not merely traingulate in order to reach reliabe conclusions, but it polyangulates, using many different studies written by sociologists, political scientists, psychologists, and economists who employ a variety of methods to investigate many possible media effects on politics. American and British research is used in the main, but single-country research on Russia, the Netherlands, Canada, France, Italy, Spain, Germany, and Belgium is included, as are comparative studies of European Union member states." (Chapter 1, page 2-5) more

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Curtailing Corruption: People Power for Accountability and Justice

Shaazka Beyerle

Rienner (2014), vi, 325 pp.

"Campaigns and movements targeting corruption often face decentralized targets rather than an identifiable dictator or external government, and can be found both in undemocratic and democratic systems. Graft and abuse are manifested in a systemic manner rather than a hodgepodge collection of illicit ... more

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Evaluating Democracy Assistance

Krishna Kumar

Boulder, Colo.: Rienner (2013), x, 241 pp.

"A comprehensive, practical guide to the on-the-ground tasks of evaluating and monitoring democracy assistance programs, from planning and implementation to preparing and presenting evaluation reports." (Publisher description)

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Evaluating Peace Operations

Paul F. Diehl, Daniel Druckman

Boulder, Col.: Rienner (2010), ix, 234 pp.

"There has been a great deal written on why peace operations succeed or fail [...] But how are those judgments reached? By what criteria is success defined? Success for whom? Paul Diehl and Daniel Druckman explore the complexities of evaluating peace operation outcomes, providing an original, detail ... more

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Corruption and Development Aid: Confronting the Challenges

Georg Cremer

Boulder, Colorado; Freiburg: Rienner; Lambertus (2008), xiv, 169 pp.

"Although corruption has always been a quietly recognized aspect of development aid programs, the taboo against openly discussing it is only now being widely overcome. Georg Cremer systematically addresses the subject, exploring the nature and impact of corruption, the conditions under which it is m ... more

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The Media and Conflicts in Central Africa
Top Insights

Marie-Soleil Frère

Boulder, Colo.; London: Rienner; Panos Paris (2007), vii, 287 pp.

"This in-depth investigation of the role that local news media play in Central African conflicts combines theoretical analysis with case studies from nine African countries: Burundi, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, the Republi ... more

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Promoting Independent Media: Strategies for Democracy Assistance
Top Insights

Krishna Kumar

Boulder, Colo.; London: Rienner (2006), 189 pp.

"This book represents one step in explaining international efforts to promote independent media. It attempts to examine the nature and significance of media assistance, discussing the evolution of the field, the focus of various programming approaches, and the possible impact of such efforts. It pre ... sents case studies of media assistance programs in different countries.The book concludes with a set of recommendations for expanding and deepening media assistance for the international community. This book project grew out of a multi-country study that I directed in 2002–2004 to examine media assistance programs funded by the US Agency for International Development. The overall purpose of the study was to assess the nature and effectiveness of USAID programs and make policy and programmatic recommendations for the future. In writing this book I have mostly drawn from the massive information collected during two years of research and analysis. The book is based primarily on three sources of information. First are reviews of literature covering scholarly writings, project and program documents, and articles in popular magazines and newspapers on media assistance. Such reviews were country specific as well as global in nature. Because the academic literature is extremely limited and media assistance is hardly covered in magazines and newspapers except in high-profile cases such as Bosnia and Serbia, reviews largely relied on program documentation. I had the unique advantage of perusing thousands of documents that are not available to the public. Although mostly descriptive and often self-serving, they identified critical gaps in our knowledge and illuminated the challenges and achievements of international media endeavors. Second, my colleagues and I undertook extensive fieldwork in seven countries/regions—Afghanistan, Bosnia, Central America, Indonesia, Russia, Serbia, and Sierra Leone. In each of these cases, research teams conducted extensive discussions with international donor agencies, officials of host countries, project staff and contractors, and local media experts and journalists. Every possible effort was made to interview all those experts and managers who had intimate knowledge of the ongoing media assistance programs. Teams also examined locally available documents and reports and used translators to translate documents into English when necessary. In the absence of hard quantitative data, they largely relied on available documentation, indepth interviews, and their own knowledge of the media scene for their findings and conclusions. Finally, I organized a series of meetings in Washington, D.C., to discuss the findings of the country studies and explore new directions for media assistance programs. Such meetings helped to identify many problems and challenges facing media assistance programs and helped in formulating a set of recommendation for policymakers." (Chapter 1, page 10-11) more

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Promoting Democracy in Postconflict Societies

Jeroen de Zeeuw, Krishna Kumar (eds.)

Boulder, Colo.; London: Rienner; Clingendael - Netherlands Institute of International Relations (2006), xii, 331 pp.

"This study critically evaluates international democratization assistance in postconflict societies to discern what has worked, what has not, and how aid programs can be designed to have a more positive impact. The authors offer a unique recipient perspective as they explore three dimensions of demo ... more

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Media Assistance to Postgenocide Rwanda

Christopher Kayumba, Jean-Paul Kimonyo

In: Promoting Democracy in Postconflict Societies

Jeroen de Zeeuw, Krishna Kumar (eds.)

Boulder, Colo.; London: Rienner (2006), pp. 211-235

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Promoting Independent Media in El Salvador

Anne Germain Lefévre

In: Promoting Democracy in Postconflict Societies

Jeroen de Zeeuw, Krishna Kumar (eds.)

Boulder, Colo.; London: Rienner (2006), pp. 237-256

"[...] aid for the media in El Salvador played a role in shaping a more open, tolerant tone for political debate and a more dynamic news media. Although the assistance was relatively modest, it came at a pivotal moment after the signing of the peace accords. To realize the full potential of media as ... more

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Building a Community Radio Network in Afghanistan

Krishna Kumar

In: Promoting Democracy in Postconflict Societies

Jeroen de Zeeuw, Krishna Kumar (eds.)

Boulder, Colo.; London: Rienner (2006), pp. 257-272

"The experience of establishing community stations in Afghanistan provides four distinct, but interrelated lessons [...] The project has demonstrated that international organizations can promote community stations in impoverished, war-tron societies that have had no experience of independent or comm ... more