Political Science and Security Studies Journal

Impact Measurement of Public Administration Training Module on Civil Servant Capacity Development: A Case of Bangladesh Civil Service

Md. Zohurul Islam, Shamin Hosen — Tue, 31 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0200

Bangladesh Public Administration Training Centre (BPATC) has the mandate to impart career training for civil servants of Bangladesh. The Foundation Training Course (FTC) is one of the most important civil servant capacity-building courses. As a ‘Centre of Excellence, BPATC plays an active role in mitigating human resources demand at the national level to provide effective, inclusive, self-mandated, and personalized training for the public sector in Bangladesh. Therefore, the study aims to determine how satisfied trainees are in terms of receiving skill, knowledge, and attitude; to identify training modules contained in terms of must know, should know and nice to know, and assess modules' impact on capacity development for the civil servants. A structured questionnaire was administered for data collection from the trainees who participated in the P-63rd FTC at BPATC to achieve research objectives. The ‘Public Administration’ training module has four sub-modules and module contents have given reliability validation that shows training contents as per module items were internally consistent at the level of satisfaction. The descriptive statistics results and the frequency per cent results have shown that trainees are somehow satisfied with the recipient of training at BPATC. Again, the significant finding has shown which contents must know and should know for fostering competencies in liquidating their quotidian activities. This research has also done Pearson correlation and ANOVA, regression with the coefficient result, and found that the regression model is significant and explains 40.1% of the total variance. Moreover, ‘public sector management; and ‘integrity in public administration’ sub-modules of public administration have a significant impact on the capacity development of civil servants to discharge their duties in service life. Lastly, a policy suggestion is drawn for the curriculum committee to redesign training curricula and their delivery method, particularly for public servants, as a tool for human resource development.

Operationalization of Security and Defence Governance in Africa: A Historical Profile

Rene Ngek Monteh — Tue, 31 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0200

Abstract

Africa, before the advent of independence, had its own model of security governance that was purposely based on domestic defence. However, armed conflict, peace, and security in Africa have raised serious concern and attention both on the domestic and international scales in recent moments. The study of defence and security governance lies at the heart of international relations. In this sphere, aspects of defence and security governance have undergone significant changes, though with intense debate. The end of some historical conflicts has taken place in a context of a slight decrease in the number of armed conflicts and the consolidation of post-conflict reconstruction processes. Moreover, African regional and sub-regional organisations have staged an increasingly more active internal shift in matters related to defence and security governance, encouraged by the idea of promoting African solutions to African problems. Thus, the aim of this paper is to examine the role of history in the understanding of defence and security governance in Africa during different historical moments. Methodologically, the data for the paper was sourced through secondary means of data collection, and the historical descriptive and analytic approach was adopted. The study reveals that post-colonial conflicts in Africa, which have gained more ground in nature and magnitude, remain a major concern for African stakeholders. The paper contends that while defence and security governance has changed significantly, it still faces numerous challenges. The paper recommends a pragmatic change and refocusing on security issues in Africa in order to arrest the bottlenecks militating against defence and security governance in Africa.

Keywords: Africa, Conflict, Defence, Governance, Security.

The Pathology of Foreign Policy: Theoretical Framework of Decision-Making Process

Amer Ababakr — Tue, 31 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0200

One of the most important concerns in the field of public policy in general and foreign policy, in particular, is the issue of wrong decisions. That is, decisions that are unlikely to lead to the desired goals in the implementation or even if the results are negative in terms of goals. Although due to the feedback aspects as well as the involvement of other actors whose actions and reactions may not be possible to determine, there is no definite guarantee for a rational or correct decision. However, by recognizing the areas that lead to the decision that is more likely to fail, it is possible to reduce the likelihood of a wrong decision and also avoid the continuation of losses due to feedback. The purpose of this article is to show what factors can lead to inappropriate decision-making and policy-making after presenting a model of optimal rational decision-making,relying on theoretical achievements in the field of international relations and foreign policy. The argument of the article is that despite the multiplicity of factors involved, it is ultimately the cognitive factors that have a decisive influence on decision making.

Restoring peace in Ukraine by appeasing Russia? An opinion

Henk Houweling — Tue, 31 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0200

On September 29–30, 1938 the leaderships of the British Empire, France, Italy and Germany signed the Munich Agreement to partition Czechoslovakia. This article considers the dismemberment of Czechoslovakia by England, France and Italy as a model for the intention of the upcoming Trump Administration to partition Ukraine. Chamberlain came home with the message ‘My good friends, for the second time in our history, a British Prime Minister has returned from Germany bringing peace with honor. I believe it is peace for our time. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts. Go home and get a nice quiet sleep”. Within a few days Germany occupied the area. Peace was maintained for a few months, except for Czechoslovak society. The Munich agreement paved the way for what would become the Second World War. The 2^nd Trump Administration seems to me on the way to get America’s own ‘Munich Agreement”.

The Analysis of the Russian Narrative Trend Models in the Information Space

Tue, 31 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0200

Currently, the global information space is filled with narratives. They are varying in purpose and level of stratification. The narratives of the occupying forces have been aimed at different target audiences since the beginning of the Russian-Ukrainian war. These narratives pose a threat to the information security of the state, society, and the individual. Timely detection of the main messages that are subordinate to Russian narratives can serve as indicators of the information operation.

It is quite important to understand the concept of the sequence of reactions to independent events, that may be mistakenly perceived as containing messages. The analysis should contain a combination of theoretical and situational explanations of the revealed regularities and the specified outbursts.

It is recommended to determine the limitations that will be applied in the study for the formation of data input. Namely, these are three basic narratives, the statistics must be significant enough for a considerable length of time and they are designed for three different target audiences.

According to accepted restrictions it is popular to use special software to collect statistics, which allows analysts to extract data from the content of the information space following specified requests. This is usually possible due to the use of methods of artificial intelligence and machine learning. Access to the received sets of semantic and metric data (data sets) allows the use of mathematical methods of analysis. One of the common approaches is to find the regression function by comparing the obtained approximation functions. Such a comparison of the obtained mathematical models can be performed considering the nature of the phenomenon, accuracy indicators and the adequacy of the behavior of the regression model during its extrapolation.

Accordingly, it is possible to determine the main dynamic-behavioral features of the phases of the Russian information operation due to a rough comparison of the convergence of the regression curves and the standard one.

Echoes of “Sednaya”: Liberation and Repression in the Arab World

Nath Aldalala’a — Tue, 31 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0200

The multifaceted mechanisms of repression in the Arab world are analysed through both visible and invisible dimensions rooted in Arabism and authoritarian governance. Sednaya Prison exemplifies the persistence of fear as a tool of control, reflecting the broader failures of Arab political-republican systems. Arabism, initially conceived as a unifying ideology grounded in shared linguistic and cultural heritage, has evolved into a repressive construct. Its colonial legacy reveals how it perpetuates systemic poverty, alienation, and a ‘prison culture,’ undermining efforts toward pluralistic governance. While republican regimes in the region promised progress and unity, they often devolved into patrimonialism and stagnation, contrasting sharply with the relative stability of monarchies that have avoided the ideological excesses of nationalist fervour. The enduring interchange of these mechanisms continues to constrain prospects for liberation and societal progress across the Arab world.

Analyzing the merging effect of agro-production and formal training on women-empowerment in rural-Bangladesh

Sathi Mary Baroi — Tue, 31 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0200

Bangladesh is known as one of the developing countries where agricultural sector has been highlighted as the spine-strength for growing economy. In this agro-sector, women participation has been emphasized as women empowerment, is playing effective role to enhance agro-production significantly. The author considers 4 individual villages in rural Bangladesh with systematic sampling on 200 women through household survey to measure the effect of independent variables on dependent variable (women empowerment in agricultural sector), that is measured as index method. The author run multiple regression to analyze the effect of independent variables on dependent variable (WEIA) where agricultural production (AP), training facility (TF) and media connection (MC) have been proved positive connection with women empowerment. These variables are statistically significant in this model. However, the joint variable (AP*TF) is statistically significant and positive impact on women empowerment in agro-field. From this paper, policy makers can implement connective and associated policies such as sustainable agriculture with women empowerment, agricultural training and women empowerment etc.