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Last update: 2026-10-23
2026-10-22 · Correction
Behaliu Atinafu Dessie, Mulatu Alemayehu Moges, Marew Abebe Salemot, Kibrom Berhane Gessesse
DOI: 10.3389/fpos.2026.19501982026-10-22 · Original Research
Maulana Mukhlis, Andri Marta, Mudayat Mudayat, Ahmad Farid Fanani, Muhammad Yusuf Pratama
Collaborative governance is increasingly understood as a process shaped not only by formal institutional arrangements but also by power relations, participation, coordination, and trust. Student organizations provide a micro-political setting in which authority, representation, collective interests, and resource constraints intersect through deliberation, coordination, and collective decision-making. This study examines the relationships among power asymmetry (PA), symbolic participation (SP), coordination fragmentation (CF), organizational trust (OT), and collaborative governance effectiveness (CGE) among students involved in student organizations at Universitas Lampung, Indonesia. A quantitative explanatory cross-sectional survey was conducted among 475 active students, and the data were analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). The results indicate that PA and CF were negatively associated with OT and CGE, whereas SP was positively associated with both OT and CGE. OT was positively associated with CGE and partially mediated the relationships between PA, SP, CF, and CGE. The positive association involving SP should not be interpreted as evidence of substantive participation; rather, it may reflect recognition, social engagement, and a sense of belonging despite limited substantive influence. The findings extend collaborative governance research by highlighting the relevance of power, participation, coordination, and trust within the micro-political context of student organizations.
DOI: 10.3389/fpos.2026.19199212026-10-22 · Original Research
Ruth Clavijo-Castillo, Mauricio Reyes-Guaranda, Freddy Cabrera-Ortiz
Nomophobia—the fear or anxiety triggered by the inability to use one's mobile phone—is an emerging phenomenon of the digital era with consequences for children's mental health and academic performance. Framed within a research project on quality education (SDG 4) in Ecuador, this study characterized nomophobia in a school-age population and compared it across sociodemographic and extracurricular variables. A validated 32-item scale covering psychological, social, and biological dimensions was administered to 954 students aged 10–13 in Educational Zone 6, Ecuador. Mean scores were highest in the psychological dimension, followed by the social and biological dimensions. In unadjusted analyses, television viewing and the afternoon shift were associated with higher scores, older age with higher social and biological scores (age and grade overlap in this sample, so no independent effects are attributed to either), and sports practice with lower biological scores. These associations were small and are presented as exploratory. Students were clustered in 23 establishments, so the effective sample sizes were about 136–310 students rather than 954. After correction for multiple comparisons, only television viewing (and, controlling the false discovery rate, the afternoon shift in the biological dimension) remained significant, and in multilevel models only television viewing remained associated with higher scores, although not after correction across the model coefficients. The comparison of the regulatory approaches of Ecuador and four Latin American countries with national laws provides contextual evidence for the governance issue; the study does not measure governance or evaluate the effectiveness of these regulations. Its contribution is a contextual and analytical approach to the governance of school mobile-phone use, supported by data collected before Ecuador’s April 2025 ministerial agreement on mobile phones in schools.
DOI: 10.3389/fpos.2026.19651532026-10-22 · Original Research
Francisca Greene González
IntroductionThis study examines how audience feedback is incorporated into editorial decision-making in Chilean digital news media and how editors perceive its potential implications for content pluralism.MethodsDrawing on 11 semi-structured interviews with editors and journalists performing editorial responsibilities in 10 national and regional news organizations, the study distinguishes between quantitative audience metrics and qualitative forms of feedback, including comments, messages, complaints, testimonies, photographs, and videos.ResultsThe findings show that audience feedback is embedded in newsroom routines but remains subject to editorial mediation. Quantitative metrics primarily make audience behaviour visible after publication, whereas qualitative feedback may introduce previously absent topics, sources, voices, and territorial concerns into news production. The comparison also reveals different emphases in audience listening: national outlets more frequently rely on institutionalized analytics systems and specialized roles, while regional outlets more often describe audience relationships in terms of territorial proximity and community interaction, although substantial variation exists within both groups. Editors perceive audience feedback as having an ambivalent relationship with content pluralism: it may make overlooked issues, sources, and communities more visible, but may also encourage thematic concentration, segmentation, popularity bias, and ideological reinforcement.DiscussionThe study conceptualizes these processes as editorially mediated audience responsiveness, emphasizing that audience signals acquire journalistic significance through interpretation, verification, and professional selection. The findings concern perceived mechanisms rather than measured changes in published content and therefore do not establish that audience feedback produces greater or lesser content pluralism.
DOI: 10.3389/fpos.2026.19774182026-10-21 · Conceptual Analysis
Rosa Manzo
Equity has long been a central yet contested concept within the international climate change regime. This article traces the historical evolution and legal interpretation of equity from the adoption of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 1992 through the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement. Through a doctrinal analysis of key legal texts and relevant scholarly debates, the article examines how equity has been operationalized in climate governance, particularly through the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities (CBDR/RC). It argues that early climate instruments reflected a partial understanding of equity, largely centered on distributive justice and a strict binary differentiation between developed and developing countries. The Paris Agreement marks a significant shift by introducing a more dynamic and flexible interpretation of equity, linking it to evolving national circumstances, progressive ambition, and long-term climate goals. The article further explores how this evolving interpretation incorporates elements of corrective, procedural, and intergenerational justice. By analyzing the legal architecture of the climate regime, the article demonstrates how equity has progressively moved from a static principle to a dynamic framework guiding the implementation of global climate action.
DOI: 10.3389/fpos.2026.18247142026-10-21 · Brief Research Report
Dilfuza B. Urakova, Aziza B. Usmanova, Obidjon Khamidov, Jahongir Y. Ergashev, Dilfuza J. Murodova, Gulinoz F. Ruziyeva
Can institutional and legal reform make a peripheral, resource-dependent economy more resilient to globalization while opening it to global markets? This Brief Research Report examines Uzbekistan, where a package of reforms enacted between 2016 and 2019—currency convertibility, visa liberalization, and a codified tourism law—coincided with more than a tripling of international tourist arrivals, from 2.0 million in 2016 to 6.75 million in 2019 and 8.2 million in 2024. We treat tourism as a sensitive indicator of cross-border friction and build a 2010–2024 panel for Uzbekistan and seven post-Soviet comparators. The panel combines World Bank overnight-visitor counts (to 2019) with national border-entry counts (2020–2024), with an explicit control for the resulting definitional break, and we apply four designs: interrupted time series (ITS), difference-in-differences with wild-cluster bootstrap inference, synthetic control (SC) with placebo-in-space tests, and fixed-effects panel regression analyses. Synthetic Uzbekistan tracks the pre-reform trajectory closely and then diverges. Over the consistently measured pre-pandemic window (2017–2019), actual arrivals exceed the counterfactual by 46%, the largest gap among the eight units (rank 1 of 8); the permutation p-value (≈ 0.13) is the smallest attainable with eight units but falls short of conventional significance, so we interpret the estimate as a large effect with limited statistical certainty. All six Worldwide Governance Indicators improve over time and correlate positively with arrivals (r = 0.61–0.78), most strongly with long-haul non-Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) arrivals (r = 0.80), which increased roughly sixfold. The difference-in-differences coefficient is positive but statistically indistinguishable from zero (p = 0.75). Arrivals fell by 78% in 2020 and had fully recovered by 2024, a path comparable to Kazakhstan and Tajikistan. Because the reforms arrived as a collinear bundle, the evidence is consistent with an institutional-reform explanation without establishing it causally, and it points to administrative-regulatory rather than democratizing sources of resilience.
DOI: 10.3389/fpos.2026.19191832026-10-21 · Original Research
Annika Froese, Katharina Gerl, Anna Soßdorf
The study explores the opportunities and challenges of involving young people in participation initiatives and assesses the transferability of the results to the German site selection procedure for a repository for high-level radioactive waste. Although the procedure provides for various participation formats, actual participation, particularly by younger generations, has remained low. This underrepresentation of young people is problematic because young and future generations will inherit the task of continuing the disposal process. Their inclusion serves both democratic representation and intergenerational justice. We therefore ask: What factors influence young people’s motivation to take part in participation processes? To identify motivating factors, we draw on qualitative data from focus groups with participants and organizers of four participation initiatives for people under the age of 30. The data were collected as part of a research project commissioned by the German Federal Office for the Safety of Nuclear Waste Management (BASE) and analyzed using the Civic Voluntarism Model as an interpretive framework. The findings show that young people participating in complex processes require supportive structures. Accessible information, youth-oriented communication, personal guidance, and support in using digital tools help reduce barriers, particularly for those with limited prior knowledge or experience. At the same time, participation is motivated less by financial incentives than by the possibility of contributing to society, developing skills, expressing creativity, and experiencing self-efficacy. The findings also show differences between age groups: younger participants place greater emphasis on enjoyment and creative experiences, whereas older participants more strongly value learning, networking, and personal development. Finally, recruitment through schools and peers proves particularly effective in reaching diverse groups, while social media alone is insufficient to engage young people without prior interest in political participation. The findings are relevant not only to the context of the site selection procedure but also to the design of participatory formats for younger target groups in general.
DOI: 10.3389/fpos.2026.18106052026-10-20 · Original Research
Ahmad M. S. H. H. Alhajri
How do regional orders form that rest neither on weak cooperation nor on supranational integration, but on a working division of labor among sovereign states?. Existing theories of regional integration explain why states form and join regional organizations and delegate authority to them, but they do not specify the causal mechanism through which role differentiation emerges among member states once cooperation is established. This article introduces Remaining Spaces Theory (RST), a framework that identifies a distinct causal pathway—Primary Space Occupation → Structural Constraint → Innovation → Deep Specialization → Polycentric Regional Order—that functionalist, realist, and role-theoretic accounts leave under-specified. RST posits that when dominant actors rapidly occupy primary strategic domains, secondary states face structural constraints that make direct competition inefficient. These constraints incentivize specialization in underdeveloped functional domains—such as mediation, niche finance, or logistical connectivity—through which states cultivate complementary roles. While such specialization may, in some cases, enhance a state's systemic relevance, the primary systemic outcome of this process is the emergence of a resilient, polycentric regional order rather than competitive replication. Using structured case comparisons across an ascending scale of differentiation—from the African Union (low differentiation) to ASEAN (partial differentiation) to the Gulf Cooperation Council (consolidated differentiation) to the European Union (highly institutionalized differentiation)—the analysis demonstrates that the degree of role specialization maps onto the presence of RST's scope conditions. The theory offers a falsifiable explanation for the emergence of polycentric regional systems and advances a structural account of middle power agency in a multipolar order.
DOI: 10.3389/fpos.2026.18952882026-10-20 · Original Research
N. Sharipkazy, Nabizhan Muhametkhanuly, Alina Maratovna Nurzhayeva, D. Zhekenov, Wei Feng
IntroductionThe article examines the current state and prospects of agricultural trade relations between Kazakhstan and China. Over the years, mutually beneficial cooperation has developed between the two countries in the agricultural sector. However, due to the evolving international geopolitical environment, food security has become one of the most pressing global issues. In China, ensuring grain security has turned into a top national priority. Kazakhstan, with its favorable natural and geographical conditions, geo-economic advantages, and strong potential for producing environmentally friendly agricultural products, serves as an important partner for China. By contrast, China, as a major consumer of agricultural products, possesses advanced agricultural technologies, significant investment potential, extensive logistics capabilities, and a well-developed agro-industrial infrastructure, making it an attractive partner for Kazakhstan.MethodsUsing systematic, comparative, statistical, qualitative, and situational analytical methods, this study provides a comprehensive assessment of the current agricultural situation in both countries, identifies achievements, existing challenges, and potential opportunities for future development.ResultsThe main objectives of the research are to analyze the current state of Kazakhstan–China agricultural trade relations, examine the structure and key directions of trade, assess trade volumes, identify major obstacles to agricultural development, and explore possible ways to overcome them. The article also analyzes the existing cooperation in investment, technology, logistics, and e-commerce, as well as prospects for collaboration in livestock breeding, crop production, agricultural processing, food standardization, and epidemiological safety.DiscussionThe novelty of the study lies in its comparative analysis of agricultural trade relations between Kazakhstan and China, aimed at identifying shortcomings and proposing avenues for improvement. The results of the study contribute to a better understanding of the current state and development potential of agricultural cooperation between the two countries. Therefore, the study demonstrates both theoretical relevance and practical significance.
DOI: 10.3389/fpos.2026.18475022026-10-20 · Original Research
Jenri Salmon Ginting, Sujianto Sujianto, Muchid Albintani, Meyzi Heriyanto, Abdillah Abdillah, Saraswati Soegiharto, Siti Sofiaturrohmah
Regional early warning governance has become increasingly important as multidimensional threats such as social conflict, environmental crises, and regional instability develop beyond the traditional scope of disaster management. However, regional early warning governance continues to face challenges, particularly fragmented information systems, limited local human resource capacity, weak coordination among local governments, community actors, and security forces, budget constraints, and limited public awareness. This study aims to examine regional early warning governance in Riau Province in addressing social, political, economic, environmental, and security threats and to develop an Integrated Anticipatory Intelligence Governance (IAIG) Model. While conventional early warning governance primarily focuses on detecting and communicating emerging threats, intelligence governance extends this process by integrating strategic information processing, cross-sectoral coordination, and decision-making to support anticipatory policy action. Using a qualitative case study, the study analyzes secondary documentary evidence through qualitative coding and thematic analysis, complemented by expert consultation and Ngopi-based knowledge co-creation for conceptual clarification, contextualization, and interpretive validation. The findings show that early warning governance in Riau has cross-sectoral coordination mechanisms and basic capabilities for identifying strategic threats, including agrarian conflicts, forest and land fires, social conflicts, and local political dynamics. However, fragmented information integration and sectoral coordination limit the translation of threat information into preventive and anticipatory action. The IAIG Model integrates five components: integrated threat detection, strategic intelligence processing, collaborative governance coordination, anticipatory policy response, and adaptive monitoring and feedback.
DOI: 10.3389/fpos.2026.18813592026-10-20 · Original Research
R. Michael Alvarez, Danny Ebanks
IntroductionIn the post-COVID era, the United States has experienced a dizzying array of political shocks, including the events surrounding 6 January, the Supreme Court decision overturning the right to abortion in Dobbs, and a presidential transition to a previous incumbent. Standard theories of midterms-as-referendum and issue-salience imply that voters' party preferences on the generic congressional ballot should shift with shocks of such significant scale.MethodsWe use six nationally representative YouGov surveys of U.S. registered voters spanning November 2020 to December 2025 (N = 16, 060) to test our expectations.ResultsWe find that aggregate analyses mask that persuadable voters vote based on issue agendas that differer substantially from those of committed partisans. In a period of increasingly partisan elections, we find an increasingly smaller group of persuadable voters who determine consequential electoral outcomes on a knife-edge.DiscussionGiven that smaller and smaller legislative majorities can now enact sweeping legislative and policy changes with more cohesive partisan coalitions, understanding these pivotal voters' political preferences is crucial for understanding the very voters who determine control of the U.S. Congress.
DOI: 10.3389/fpos.2026.19549422026-10-20 · Original Research
Syarif Hidayat, Maxensius Tri Sambodo, Djohermansyah Djohan, Hadi Kardoyo, Tjokorda Nirarta Samadhi, Arief Wijaya, Julia Kalmirah, Martha Triasih Karafir
After more than two decades of implementing the Special Autonomy policy, Papua continues to lag behind other regions in Indonesia in terms of development. The complex legal, political, and human rights context, combined with the region's diverse social, economic, cultural, environmental, and natural resource characteristics, poses significant challenges to the implementation of current approaches. This paper is grounded in the proposition that the key challenge lies in developing a shared vision capable of accommodating diverse actors, sectors, and social aspirations within a coherent and legitimate social welfare framework. Using a qualitative approach and drawing on the concepts of collaborative governance, joined-up government, and proper governance, this study examines governance challenges in Papua. The analysis suggests that Papua's governance challenge requires institutional transformation beyond administrative coordination. The proposed joined-up cross-provincial agency model provides a mechanism to strengthen intergovernmental coordination, promote inclusive participation, incorporate local knowledge, and reduce elite dominance. The proposed model differs in several important respects from existing models of intergovernmental collaboration implemented in Papua. First and foremost, it places horizontal collaboration at the center of governance through the establishment of a Joined-Up Cross-Provincial Government Agency. Unlike predominantly top-down arrangements driven by central government directives, the proposed model adopts a bottom-up approach that is more responsive to local contexts and cross-provincial priorities. In doing so, it provides a foundation for more collaborative, context-sensitive, and mission-oriented governance during the second phase of Papua's Special Autonomy (2021–2041).
DOI: 10.3389/fpos.2026.19646532026-10-19 · Original Research
Luiz Ventura
Organized crime and systemic corruption have profoundly shaped the political and institutional landscape of Rio de Janeiro. The rise of milícias - paramilitary criminal networks - illustrates how coercive actors evolve from informal policing and protection arrangements into entrenched power structures within the State. This paper analyzes these dynamics through the concept of mafiocracy, understood as a form of state capture in which criminal organizations become coalitional participants rather than external infiltrators. This configuration is sustained by arrangements shaped by political and economic elites, who deploy corruption, coercion, and informal authority to shape institutional decision-making. Building on the definition of state capture and adapting Kaufmann’s tripartite framework - Corrupt and Captured Rule of Law (CCRL), Captured Political Access and Policy (CPAP), and the Capture-Enabling Environment (CENE) - the study develops an exploratory, theory-building analytical approach suited to subnational contexts. While the State Capture Index (SCI) is grounded in national-level datasets, its conceptual structure provides a scaffold for examining how capture manifests in urban environments characterized by informal power, clientelism, and hybrid governance. The paper adopts a diachronic perspective to trace the evolution of criminal governance in Rio de Janeiro, from the tolerance and partial integration of illegal markets such as the jogo do bicho, through the consolidation of organized crime networks, to the expansion of milícias and their political and institutional influence. Over time, these networks absorbed territorial and financial infrastructures, normalized their presence, and blurred the boundaries between formal authority and illicit enterprise. Drawing on secondary sources - including academic literature, investigative journalism, and institutional reports - the analysis identifies how coercive actors transition from localized control to systemic influence. It also foregrounds money laundering as a regulatory bridge between formal and informal spheres, reinforcing elite alliances and enabling the reproduction of captured governance structures. By examining how criminal organizations move from informal coercion to institutional normalization, the paper contributes to debates on organized crime, corruption, and democratic erosion. Although grounded in Rio de Janeiro, the findings offer broader insights into the processes through which state capture can be operationalized and sustained in territorially fragmented and institutionally vulnerable settings.
DOI: 10.3389/fpos.2026.18726962026-10-19 · Original Research
Irene Loureiro-Álvarez, Aliaksandra Savostsikava, Ramón Bouzas-Lorenzo
IntroductionThe expanding use of artificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare raises questions about how citizens evaluate high-stakes applications. This study provides an initial, bounded assessment of public receptiveness in Spain by examining self-reported comfort with robot-performed surgery. It analyses sociodemographic, ideological, and AI-related attitudes, while addressing the role of AI regulation.MethodsData are drawn from the Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas (CIS) Study No. 3,495, a nationwide survey designed to represent Spain's adult population (N = 4,004; 2025). Independent samples t-tests and ANOVA were used to examine dierences across groups. Hierarchical linear regression models were then used to examine the contribution of each factor to comfort.ResultsComfort with robot-performed surgery varies between groups depending on factors such as sex, income and educational level. The final hierarchical regression model explained 16.8% of the variance in comfort (R2 = 0.168). Perceived AI benefits showed the strongest positive association with comfort (β = 0.244), followed by age (β = 0.207), while gender and ideology were significantly negatively associated with comfort.DiscussionThe findings identify social, political, and attitudinal correlates of comfort with a specific application. They provide an initial, partial basis for examining inequalities in public receptiveness to healthcare automation and suggest that regulatory visibility cannot be assumed to translate directly into greater comfort or receptiveness in this scenario.
DOI: 10.3389/fpos.2026.19478582026-10-19 · Original Research
Enes Olgun, Furkan Baki Zaralioǧlu
International competition for skilled talent has turned the determinants of migration decisions into a policy question, yet the literature offers no consensus on which determinant is the most decisive. Because these determinants have been examined largely in isolation and treated as mutually independent, existing rankings cannot separate the factors that drive the system from those that merely register its outcomes, a distinction on which policy design depends. This study consolidates six determinants of international talent attraction from the principal explanatory traditions in the skilled-migration literature and establishes both their relative importance and the influence relations among them. Judgments were elicited from a purposively sampled panel of ten internationally mobile professionals and processed within a spherical fuzzy environment, with stage-specific expert weights derived from consensus proximity. Spherical fuzzy DEMATEL recovers the causal structure through a defuzzification anchored at the No-Influence point of the linguistic scale, spherical fuzzy AHP yields the importance weights, and the two sets of outputs are juxtaposed in an importance–influence map rather than fused into a single index. Economic attractiveness receives the highest importance weight (0.209) but belongs to the effect group, whereas migration policies and incentives, ranked last in stated importance (0.135), exert the largest net influence in the system (+1.548). Institutional trust combines above-average importance with a strongly positive net influence and therefore emerges as the primary policy lever in the perceived structure. The reported priorities are robust to the expert-weighting scheme and to the anchoring constant, and correlate with influence-based weights from the DEMATEL-based Analytic Network Process (DANP) at ρ = 0.943. The study contributes a framework that separates what matters from what moves the system, converting a ranking into a policy sequence.
DOI: 10.3389/fpos.2026.19590672026-10-19 · Mini Review
Esau Miram, Sukri, Ariana, Dian Ekawaty, Jayana Suryana Kembara, Ahmad Ismail
The Indonesian Constitutional Court’s 2009 recognition of the noken system—a traditional collective voting practice in highland Papua—as a valid alternative to one person, one vote has sparked an unresolved scholarly debate. Despite a growing literature, the field remains fragmented, and no review has systematically mapped its principal schools of thought. This mini review addresses this gap through a Scopus keyword search on “noken” (2013–2026) returning twenty-two documents. After screening out fifteen that address noken as material culture rather than as an electoral institution, and adding three foundational works via citation chaining, an analytic corpus of ten documents was thematically coded. Three competing interpretations emerge. The procedural-liberal interpretation treats noken as a constitutional exception with contested compatibility with universal suffrage and human rights standards. The deliberative-customary interpretation defends it as an authentic, locally rooted democratic form legitimated through musyawarah and communal recognition. The critical-governance interpretation suspends the normative question, treating noken as a politically ambivalent institution whose democratic quality depends on enforcement and elite influence. These readings are complementary investigations of a hybrid political institution; four research gaps and five future directions—centered on district-level ethnography, gender, and Global South comparison—are outlined.
DOI: 10.3389/fpos.2026.18937642026-10-19 · Correction
Belal Khasawneh, Hatem Alsridi, Wesam Hussein Ali Alzu'bi, Mohammed Habes, Abdulkrim Ziani, Abd Allah Aljalabneh, Ahmad Alsharairi
DOI: 10.3389/fpos.2026.20005682026-10-19 · Original Research
Nurshat Karatay, Dolores Tyulebekova
This article examines how ethnonational boundaries are produced, negotiated, and regulated through Instagram interactions in Kazakhstan. The aim of the study is to explain how ordinary users, influencers, and digital publics participate in the everyday construction and policing of national belonging beyond formal state institutions. The object of the study is Instagram-based identity performance and audience interaction, with particular attention to visual representation, language choice, “uyat,” “shala-Kazakh,” and public comment practices. Methodologically, the study employs qualitative digital ethnography, multimodal discourse analysis, thematic coding, and descriptive statistical analysis. The empirical corpus consists of 45 public Instagram accounts and 390 posts collected from January 2025 to January 2026, supplemented by the analysis of comment threads and five semi-structured expert interviews. The results show that Hybrid identity performances dominate the sample, accounting for 48% of analyzed posts, while Traditional performances represent 27% and Modern/Decolonial performances 25%. Audience responses also reveal a dual structure of digital nationalism: 52% of responses reinforce belonging through approval, solidarity, and civic pride, whereas 17% involve explicit shaming, criticism, or “uyat”-based judgement. The findings demonstrate that Instagram functions both as a space of hybrid identity experimentation and as a mechanism of social regulation. The article introduces the concept of “networked ethnopolitical governance” to describe how national belonging is regulated through decentralized user practices, including “language policing,” “lateral surveillance,” “digital vigilantism,” and the “weaponization of visibility.” The study contributes to debates on nationalism, ethnopolitics, digital governance, and Central Asian studies by showing how the nation is continuously performed and policed in everyday digital life.
DOI: 10.3389/fpos.2026.19444712026-10-16 · Policy and Practice Reviews
Judit Horgas, Eszter Salamon, Aristidis Protopsaltis
Digital literacy development in children is widely assumed to occur primarily through formal schooling, yet growing evidence suggests that community learning—encompassing families, peers, and non-formal organizations—has become the dominant pathway through which children acquire digital skills and competences. This article focuses on the current distribution of digital literacy education responsibilities across formal and informal actors, examines how community-based learning both mitigates and reproduces inequality, and analyses the implications of rights-based frameworks for children’s digital participation and protection. Drawing on quantitative survey data collected from primary and secondary school students, their teachers, school leaders, and parents in Hungary and the Netherlands within the framework of the EFFEct (effective family and community engagement in technology) horizon Europe project, qualitative and quantitative research from the EU-funded DRONE (digital literacy and combat of disinformation among vulnerable groups of adolescents) and legal research in the SAILS (supporting and advocating for inclusive learning spaces) projects, and a systematic review of recent international scholarship, the study provides multi-level empirical evidence on stakeholder roles in digital literacy education ecosystems. across all four student groups surveyed, 100% of substantive responses indicated no perceived school-based instruction on foundational digital citizenship and online safety skills, despite near-universal device access, revealing a systematic curricular gap that contrasts sharply with children’s high levels of digital connectivity. Parent data from 135 participants across six European countries in the DRONE project showed that families bear primary responsibility for teaching digital literacy to their children. This finding is associated with both the limited availability and delayed implementation of structured school-based programs, and the increasingly early engagement of children with digital technologies, through which digital skills and habits are formed prior to entry into formal schooling. Addressing this fragmentation requires an urgent and systemic reconstruction of digital literacy education through coordinated multi-stakeholder governance, curricular reform, teacher empowerment, and inclusive community-based approaches that explicitly recognizes the central role of families and communities in children’s digital development.
DOI: 10.3389/fpos.2026.18459682026-10-16 · Original Research
Islam Supyaldiyarov, Saule Aliyeva, Galina Kakenova, Gulnara Ibragimova, Dilyara Supyaldiyarova
Central Asia has become a region in which the relative position of China and Russia is shifting in China’s favour, yet this shift has not produced open rivalry. Power Transition Theory would expect a narrowing gap between a rising and an incumbent power to generate friction; the “New Great Game” literature anticipates intensified competition; and the accommodation literature explains the absence of rivalry through Russia’s adaptation and China’s restraint. This article asks whether, and how, that accommodation has survived the intensification of asymmetry after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Drawing on Relational Power Analysis, it argues that the transition in Central Asia is sectoral rather than systemic: China’s gains are concentrated in connectivity, trade, finance and institution-building, while Russia retains central positions in regime security, labour migration and parts of the energy-transit network. Open confrontation is suppressed by three conditions – Russia’s growing reversed dependency on China, China’s calibrated restraint in regime security, and the hedging strategies of Central Asian states, which disperse the transition across issue areas and extract benefits from both powers. The resulting pattern is conceptualised as structured rivalry: incompatible long-term positional interests pursued through low-visibility mechanisms rather than overt contestation. The argument is assessed through a structured, focused comparison of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan (2022–2026), which systematically weighs it against power-transition, alignment and accommodation explanations. The findings refine the accommodation thesis, specify the scope conditions under which regional power transitions remain peaceful, and show how the agency of smaller states shapes the pace and form of great-power adjustment.
DOI: 10.3389/fpos.2026.18898862026-04-02
Khaled Mohammad Khwaileh, Nehad Mohammad Makhadmeh, Naheda Mohammad Makhadmeh, Zaid Mo'een Al-Marashdeh
This paper investigates the international sports boycott imposed on Russia following the 2022 Russia–Ukraine war, focusing on its legal legitimacy, political implications, and media framing. It aims to assess the boycott's impact on Russia's soft power, its alignment with international sports law and public international law, and the extent to which it redefined the principle of neutrality in global sport. The research also examines how the media shaped global and domestic perceptions of the sanctions and their ethical justifications. A qualitative, multi-method approach was employed. The paper combines a doctrinal legal analysis of relevant frameworks, including the Olympic Charter, FIFA, and UEFA regulations, and Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) decisions, with a comparative historical review of prior sports sanctions such as those against apartheid South Africa and the 1992 embargo on Yugoslavia. Additionally, a media discourse analysis of Western and Russian state outlets was conducted to evaluate framing narratives and influence on public opinion. Findings reveal that the Russia boycott signified a turning point in sports governance, effectively ending the notion of political neutrality. The sanctions reduced Russia's international representation while exposing inconsistencies within existing legal standards. Media framing played a pivotal role in legitimizing or contesting the sanctions, reinforcing political divides. Sports boycotts can advance political and moral objectives but raise complex legal and ethical issues. The study recommends establishing consistent global guidelines for conflict-related sanctions and promoting responsible media practices that uphold justice, peace, and human rights through sport.
DOI: 10.3389/fpos.2026.17652192026-04-02
Julio Cesar Quispe Mamani, Santotomas Licimaco Aguilar Pinto, Dominga Asunción Calcina Álvarez, Russo Americo Flores Flores, Cristóbal Rufino Yapuchura Saico, Rolando Cáceres Quenta, Nelly Jacqueline Ulloa Gallardo, Marcial Guevara Mamani, Paola Huarca Flores, Lycet Maria Caceres Bustinza, Richard Valle Terrazas
IntroductionIn Peru, in recent decades, the State has shown efforts to increase public investment in education and reduce levels of monetary poverty; However, the illiteracy rate persists as a structural problem that especially affects rural populations, women, children and the elderly. The objective was to determine the influence of public investment in education and monetary poverty on the literacy rate in Peru, 2007-2024.MethodsA quantitative approach was used, explanatory and with a non-experimental descriptive and correlational design, based on econometric models of panel data applied to departmental information.ResultsIt was determined that public investment in education has a negative and statistically significant effect on the literacy rate, which confirms that greater state funding contributes to reducing educational gaps between departments; The monetary poverty index has a positive and significant relationship with illiteracy, showing that poverty is one of the main structural barriers to access to education, especially in regions with greater socioeconomic vulnerability.DiscussionsFactors related to social well-being, such as chronic disease in households and the accumulation of human capital as measured by the average years of schooling, significantly influence literacy levels. Therefore, the reduction of illiteracy requires comprehensive public policies that strengthen educational investment and articulate strategies for poverty reduction, social protection and access to health services to reduce regional inequalities.
DOI: 10.3389/fpos.2026.17761642026-04-02
Ralf Havertz
The World Trade Organization (WTO) is in a deep crisis because its dispute settlement system has been disabled by consecutive U.S. governments which refused to agree to the appointment of judges for the Appellate Body (AB) of that system. Without the possibility of an appeal there is no guaranteed way to resolve trade disputes once and for all in court. As the data presented by this study show, the U.S. derives strategic advantages from this situation in its international trade relations. The WTO has often been characterized as a vehicle of neoliberalism, an organization based on neoliberal principles which promotes and enforces these principles on a global scale. The dispute settlement system played a central role in the neoliberalization of global trade and the establishment of neoliberal hegemony in this area. This study assumes that the neoliberal organization of global trade by the WTO was based on an international consensus in the neo-Gramscian sense. It combines the Gramscian concepts hegemony and historic bloc with a Foucauldian analysis of governmentality to gain deeper insights into the neoliberal hegemony in global trade. It was found that the obstruction of multilateral trade adjudication by the U.S. resulted in a transformation in the ways in which governmental rationalities become effective in global trade. These changes neither signal the end of neoliberalism nor of neoliberal hegemony in international trade. The U.S. strategy does not seem to involve a move toward post-neoliberalism, it rather represents an effort to redistribute discretion and redefine discipline inside the neoliberal framework.
DOI: 10.3389/fpos.2026.17793752026-04-01
Mohamed Yusuf Adan
IntroductionThis study examines the implications of the 2024 Somalia–Türkiye Hydrocarbon Cooperation Agreement for sovereignty, governance, and peacebuilding in Somalia.MethodsA qualitative interpretive case study design was used, drawing on policy documents, official reports, and academic literature, analyzed through thematic content analysis.ResultsFindings indicate that while the agreement offers economic opportunities, it also introduces governance risks, including centralization of decision-making, elite capture, external dependency, and weakened public trust.DiscussionThe study concludes that outcomes depend on institutional strength, transparency, and inclusivity, highlighting the importance of accountable governance for sustainable peace in fragile states. Georg-August-Universitaet Goettingen Germany.
DOI: 10.3389/fpos.2026.16843832026-04-01
Arash Beidollahkhani
The “Woman, Life, Freedom” (WLFM) movement emerged in September 2022 following the death of Mahsa Jina Amini in state custody, marking the most significant national uprising in post-revolutionary Iran. Initially triggered by opposition to compulsory hijab, the WLFM quickly evolved into a broad civic rebellion challenging theocratic rule and authoritarian governance. This article explores the movement through three key arguments, framed within a national discourse positioning it as a transformative force in Iranian society, while challenging meta-narratives in academia and media that shaped perceptions of the movement. First, the movement unites diverse ethnic and cultural groups, refuting the notion of an ethnically-driven rebellion, particularly within Kurdish political discourse. Second, it advocates liberal values, particularly women’s rights, while opposing political Islam and authoritarianism, inviting critical scholarly analysis of its feminist framing and recognizing the contributions and sacrifices of people across all genders, including men and children, in the struggle for democracy and freedom. Third, the movement can be understood as a “necropolitical” uprising, resisting the marginalization of oppressed communities, including ethnic and religious minorities. Despite brutal state repression, it has empowered Iran’s underrepresented populations, signaling potential for profound sociopolitical change within Iran and beyond.
DOI: 10.3389/fpos.2026.17313162026-04-01
Silvia Dalben, Sungwon Jung, Ningyuan Ma, Melissa Santillana
IntroductionDuring the 2022 Brazilian presidential electoral campaign, Bolsonaro adopted the strategy to address sexist and misogynistic attacks on female journalists. This study examines the overall discourse that emerged from those attacks among Twitter users.MethodsWe analyze 579,708 tweets referencing three prominent female journalists—Vera Magalhães, Gabriela Prioli, and Amanda Klein—who were publicly attacked by Bolsonaro. We conducted a computational analysis using R and Python that examines the time distribution of these tweets, the most frequent words, a sentiment analysis, and a BERTopic modeling in which tweets were clustered into 60 topics that were manually coded into main themes.ResultsResults show a pattern in the reactions on social media, where these attacks not only targeted female journalists but also sought to discredit the professional press more broadly.DiscussionBolsonaro replicated the strategy of other authoritarian populist leaders worldwide, who engage in online harassment campaigns that label journalists as ‘enemies of the people’.
DOI: 10.3389/fpos.2026.17160302026-04-01
Madelaine Paola Vilca Corrales, Rocio Natividad Caira Mamani, Costante Eduardo Jara Ortega, Iván Cuentas Galindo, Luis Miguel Campos Ascuña, Antonio Víctor Morales Gonzales, Anthony Stefano Saenz Colana, Robinson Bernardino Almanza Cabe, Orlando Aroquipa-Apaza, Miluska Odely Rodríguez-Saavedra
IntroductionDemocratic governance in Latin America has faced a sustained crisis of institutional legitimacy, and public services have often been perceived as daily sources of frustration rather than clear expressions of the state’s responsiveness. Digital public services have become a primary interface between citizens and the state, shaping perceptions of effectiveness, transparency, and responsiveness. This study examined the relationship between the perceived quality of digital public services and results-oriented governance, and identified the mechanisms that connect service quality with perceptions of governance.MethodsA cross-sectional correlational design was applied using data from a face-to-face survey conducted in Arequipa. The instrument measured the perceived quality of digital public services and results-oriented governance through institutional legitimacy, perceived effectiveness, and state responsiveness. The structural equation model estimated direct and mediated relationships, and a comparative assessment identified barriers reported by users and non-users of digital government services.ResultsHigher perceived quality of digital public services was associated with a stronger perception of results-oriented governance. Institutional legitimacy, perceived effectiveness, and state responsiveness functioned as the main mediating pathways linking service quality to perceptions of governance. Users reported operational constraints related to platform performance, stability, and service continuity, while non-users reported access constraints related to connectivity conditions, limited digital resources, and restricted opportunities to interact with digital channels.DiscussionThe results confirmed that improving the quality of digital public services reinforced legitimacy, effectiveness, and responsiveness, aligning perceptions of governance with outcome-oriented expectations. Reliable platforms, efficient service delivery, inclusive access measures, and sustained multichannel options reinforced citizen-oriented responsiveness and institutional legitimacy.
DOI: 10.3389/fpos.2026.17880652026-03-27
Xueling Liao, Abdul Muein Bin Abadi, Muhammad Rahimi Hasan
This study examines 16 Middle Eastern countries as case studies, drawing upon liberalism and the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) policy framework, and selects five antecedent variables. Employing fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA), the study investigates causal mechanisms through which the BRI influences China-Middle East political relations. The findings show that four strategic policy combinations, categorized into three primary pathways-dual-driven, economic-driven, and policy-driven-that each leverage distinct mechanisms to strengthen political relations. Moreover, economic measures related to trade relations and policy platform development under the BRI serve as key drivers of political relations, while infrastructure development plays a supplementary role.
DOI: 10.3389/fpos.2026.17946832026-03-25
Muhammad Azzubair Awwam Mustafa, Kartini Aboo Talib Khalid, Nazri Muslim
IntroductionCoalition politics remains central in Malaysia but has become less stable since 2018. This review asks how coalitions shape governance and stability, what drives formation and collapse, what roles institutions play and how ethnicity, Islamisation and demographic change influence outcomes.MethodsA systematic review using PRISMA was conducted. Searches in Scopus and Web of Science covered 2021 to 2025 and were complemented by citation tracking. Inclusion required peer-reviewed studies on Malaysia’s coalition politics. Fourteen articles met the criteria. Descriptive mapping and thematic synthesis were applied.ResultsSix themes were identified. Malaysia’s party system has shifted from dominant-party rule under permanent pre-electoral coalitions, distinct from Lijphart’s grand coalition model, to fragmented competition with frequent hung outcomes. Ethnicity remains the strongest predictor of voting behaviour, while regionalism increases the bargaining influence of East Malaysian parties. Islamisation has gained renewed salience, with PAS and PN benefiting from digital campaigning. The federal monarchy now plays a regular mediating role during post-electoral deadlock. Opposition coordination and alliance design affect vote conversion and post-election durability. Governing capacity is constrained by coalition heterogeneity, fiscal limits and sociocultural contention. Coverage is thinner on federal arrangements, electoral rule effects, youth cohorts under Undi18 and automatic voter registration and micro-level coalition management.Discussion and conclusionMalaysia’s political order appears post-permanent-coalition rather than consociational. Coalitions are necessary yet fragile, increasingly formed and sustained through post-electoral bargaining and institutional mediation. Future research should test the effects of pre-electoral pacts and seat-sharing, measure the monarch’s influence using transparent timelines and public statements, build state-level panels on transfers and concessions, quantify Islamisation and digital campaign effects and identify Undi18 cohort impacts using panel data.
DOI: 10.3389/fpos.2026.17219662026-03-25
Hasrullah Hasrullah, Riyadi Riyadi
This article examines riot escalation in Indonesia and Nepal by conceptualizing urban unrest as a communicative process unfolding within hybrid media systems in multilingual and multicultural democratic contexts. Using a qualitative comparative design, the study analyzes the Makassar riots in August 2025 and the Kathmandu protests in September 2025 through a mechanism-oriented analysis of a small, purposively selected corpus of high-visibility public social media posts, contextualized by contemporaneous news coverage and official communications. Rather than treating violence as a direct outcome of grievances, repression, or platform effects, the findings show that escalation was communicatively conditioned by the interaction of polarized digital narratives, moral–emotional framing, visually salient representations of institutional destruction, platform-concentrated visibility, and limitations in institutional crisis communication. Across both cases, emotionally charged and symbolically powerful content achieved disproportionate prominence within platform-mediated attention spaces, while institutional explanations remained comparatively less visible. These dynamics shaped how legitimacy, authority, and collective action were interpreted across diverse publics during crisis moments, without implying deterministic causal links between online communication and offline violence. The study advances a communication-centered and process-oriented perspective on riot escalation and contributes to debates on digital political communication in multilingual and multicultural democracies. By clarifying how meaning-making, affect, and platform-mediated visibility interact during political crises, the article provides mechanism-based insights relevant to comparative research on contentious politics in the Global South.
DOI: 10.3389/fpos.2026.1785438