Summaries: the best scientific articles for international relations and international studies summarized

Introduction

Kang (2021) examines the factors driving asylum applications in European countries between 2008 and 2014, a period encompassing the "refugee crisis." He challenges the "pull factor" narrative that solely emphasizes economic incentives, arguing for a more nuanced understanding of both push and pull factors.

Methodology

The study employs regression analysis using data on asylum applications, economic indicators, political variables, and geographical proximity for 28 European countries. The analysis differentiates between various political push factors, including democracy scores, human rights ratings, and the presence of civil war.

Results

• Push factors:
  • Political instability, measured by lower democracy scores and worse human rights ratings, significantly drives asylum seeking.
  • Civil war in origin countries significantly increases asylum applications.
• Pull factors:
  • Economic factors like higher GDP per capita and lower unemployment rates in destination countries have a positive, but smaller, effect on asylum applications compared to push factors.

Introduction

Corney et al. (2022) explore the concept of youth participation within the context of adultism, human rights, and professional youth work. They challenge traditional power dynamics that exclude young people from meaningful decision-making, arguing for approaches that respect their rights and agency.

Methodology

The article primarily employs a conceptual and theoretical approach, drawing on existing literature and frameworks related to adultism, youth participation, and human rights. It does not present original empirical data but utilizes diverse sources to support its arguments and engage critical reflection.

Key Arguments

Introduction

Kuttner (2016) challenges the narrow view of civic engagement and its limited effectiveness for marginalized youth. He proposes "youth cultural organizing," utilizing arts and hip-hop culture as assets to foster meaningful civic engagement through culturally sustaining pedagogy.

Methodology

This article employs a case study approach, focusing on Project HIP-HOP, an organization utilizing hip-hop arts to engage youth in community organizing and civic action. Through ethnographic observation, interviews, and document analysis, Kuttner explores the program's design, implementation, and impact on participants' civic engagement.

Results

• Limited traditional models: Traditional citizenship education

What is culture?

Culture is seen as a combination of everything that is human made, and as a system of shared meanings. It is also sometimes equated to communication: ‘culture is communication, and communication is culture’.

Definition of culture

There are a lot of definitions of culture. The authors suggest the following definition, because it treats culture as an implicit theory that guides our behavior.

“Culture, conceived as a system of competence which is shared in its broad

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Migration has been a longstanding part and parcel of the human condition. However, only rather recently, migration received scientific interest. The first definition of acculturation was developed in 1936 by Redfield, Linton, and Herskovits (1936,p.149) who defined acculturations as the phenomena that result when groups of individuals having different cultures come into continuous first-hand contact, with subsequent changes in the original cultural patterns of either of both groups. Nowadays, we define psychological acculturation (in short: acculturation) as referring to the changes and stabilities in psychological functioning after migration.

In this article, an overview is given of three types of models that have been proposed in the literature to structure acculturation: one-dimensional model; the two-dimensional model; and the multidimensional model of acculturation.

The one-dimensional model of acculturation is the first model that describes acculturation. According to this model, acculturation can be viewed as successive adjustment to a new context,