Orphanhood, Poverty and the Care Dilemma: Review of Global Policy Trends

The care and protection of children experiencing orphanhood presents a major child-care policy challenge. This paper draws on a review of the literature to document divergent conceptualizations of orphanhood, how the hurdles for the care of orphans reflect wider issues of poverty and inequality, as well as the ways in which different care interventions (familial, institutional, community-based and rights-based) might be appropriated for children in need. It is argued that the map of contemporary orphanhood overlaps with the contours of global poverty, inequality, age-based deprivations and marginalization. An example of a ‘globalised’ model of orphan care, namely SOS Children’s Villages, is presented and its implications for policy are examined. The paper highlights the significance of fighting poverty and enhancing the care-giving capabilities of extended families in the care and protection of children from a rights-based perspective. It suggests that external interventions should primarily address the structural causes of poverty and marginality, rather than amplifying inequalities through the selective support of orphans in economically vulnerable communities.

The Role of Ambidexterity in Marketing Strategy Implementation: Resolving the Exploration-Exploitation Dilemma

Formulating consistent marketing strategies is a difficult task, but successfully implementing them is even more challenging. This is even more pertinent as marketing strategies quite often incorporate inherent conflicts between major breakthroughs and consolidation. Consequently, marketers need to balance exploratory and exploitative strategies. However, the literature lacks concrete insights for marketing managers as to how exploratory and exploitative strategies can be best combined. This paper addresses this issue by introducing a framework of multiple types of ambidexterity. Based on qualitative research, tools and procedures are identified to overcome marketing dilemmas and support strategy implementation by drawing on ambidextrous designs.

Beyond the Pro and Contra of Evidence-Based Practice: Reflections on a Recurring Dilemma at the Core of Social Work

Currently, social work is witnessing a quite polarized debate about what should be the basis for good practice. Simply stated, the different attempts to define the required basis for effective and accountable interventions in social work practice can be grouped in two paradigmatic positions, which seem to be in strong opposition to each other. On the one hand the highly influential evidence based practice movement highlights the necessity to base practice interventions on proven effectiveness from empirical research. Despite some variations, such as between narrow conceptions of evidence based practice (see e.g. McNeece/Thyer, 2004) and broader approaches to it (see e.g. Gambrill, 1999, 2001, 2008), the evidence based practice movement embodies a positivist orientation and more explicitly scientific aspirations of social work by using positivistic empirical strategies. Critics of the evidence based practice movement argue that its narrow epistemological assumptions are not appropriate for the understanding of social phenomena and that evidence based guidelines to practice are insufficient to deal with the extremely complex activities social work practice requires in different and always somewhat unique practice situations (Webb, 2001; Gray & Mc Donald, 2006; Otto, Polutta &Ziegler, 2009). Furthermore critics of evidence based practice argue that it privileges an uncritical and a-political positivism which seems highly problematic in the current climate of welfare state reforms, in which the question ‘what works’ is highly politicized and the legitimacy of professional social work practice is being challenged maybe more than ever before (Kessl, 2009). Both opponents and proponents of evidence based practice argue on the epistemological, the methodological and the ethical level to sustain their point of view and raise fundamental questions about the real nature of social work practice, so that one could get the impression that social work is really at the crossroads between two very different conceptions of social work practice and its further professional development (Stepney, 2009). However, this article is not going to merely rehearse the pro and contra of different positions that are being invoked in the debate about evidence based practice. Instead it aims to go further by identifying the dilemmas underlying these positions which - so it is argued – re-emerge in the debate about evidence based practice, but which are older than this debate. They concern the fundamental ambivalence modern professionalization processes in social work were subjected to from their very beginnings.

The Impact of Western Social Workers in Romania - a Fine Line between Empowerment and Disempowerment

Ideally the social work profession promotes social change, problem solving in human relationships and the empowerment and liberation of people to enhance their well-being (IFSW 2004). The social work practice, however, often proves to be different. Social workers are always in the danger to make decisions for their clients or define problems according to their own interpretation and world view. In quite a number of cases, the consequence of such a social work practice is that the clients feel disempowered rather than empowered. This dilemma is multiplying when western social workers get involved in developing countries. The potential that intervention, with the intention to empower and liberate the people, turns into disempowerment is tremendously higher because of the differences in tradition, culture and society, on the one side and the power imbalance between the ‘West’ and the ‘Rest’ on the other side. Especially in developing countries, where the vast majority of people live in poverty, many Western social workers come with a lot of sympathy and the idea to help the poor and to change the world. An example is Romania. After the collapse of communism in 1989, Romania was an economically, politically and socially devastated country. The pictures of the orphanages shocked the western world. As a result many Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), churches and individuals were bringing humanitarian goods to Romania in order to alleviate the misery of the Romanian people and especially the children. Since then, important changes in all areas of life have occurred, mostly with foreign financial aid and support. At the political level, democratic institutions were established, a liberal market economy was launched and laws were adapted to western standards regarding the accession into the European Union and the NATO. The western world has left its marks also at the grassroots level in form of NGOs or social service agencies established through western grants and individuals. Above and beyond, the presence of western goods and investment in Romania is omnipresent. This reflects a newly-gained freedom and prosperity - Romania profits certainly from these changes. But this is only one side of the medal, as the effect of westernisation contradicts with the Romanian reality and overruns many deep-rooted traditions, thus the majority of people. Moreover, only a small percentage of the population has access to this western world. Western concepts, procedures or interpretations are often highly differing from the Romanian tradition, history and culture. Nevertheless, western ideas seem to dominate the transition in many areas of daily life in Romania. A closer look reveals that many changes take place due to pressure of western governments and are conditioned to financial support. The dialectic relationship between the need for foreign aid and the implementation becomes very obvious in Romania and often leads, despite the substantial benefits, to unpredictable and rather negative side-effects, at a political, social, cultural, ecological and/or economic level. This reality is a huge dilemma for all those involved, as there is a fine line between empowering and disempowering action. It is beyond the scope of this journal to discuss the dilemma posed by Western involvement at all levels; therefore this article focuses on the impact of Western social workers in Romania. The first part consists of a short introduction to social work in Romania, followed by the discussion about the dilemma posed by the structure of project of international social work and the organisation of private social service agencies. Thirdly the experiences of Romanian staff with Western social workers are presented and then discussed with regard to turning disempowering tendencies of Western social workers into empowerment.

«Quel spectacle!» Der Tod des Herzogs von Berry und seine melodramatische Bewältigung

Das Attentat auf den Herzog von Berry bedeutete eine Zerreißprobe für das labile Gleichgewicht der französischen Restauration und ließ die virulenten politischen Gegensätze in offene Konflikte ausbrechen. Doch der Tod Berrys war auch eines der großen Medienereignisse der Epoche. Druckgraphiken, Oden und Zeitungsartikel schilderten das Sterben des Herzogs in einem melodramatischen Stil. Die These des Aufsatzes ist, dass diese auf emotionale Identifikation angelegte Darstellungsweise des Ereignisses nicht nur quer zu den politischen Kämpfen lag, sondern auch ein integratives Potential entfaltete, indem sie den Akt der Aggression gegen die Monarchie hinter die Gefühle der beteiligten Personen zurücktreten ließ. Die offizielle Repräsentation der Monarchie war in dem erinnerungspolitischen Dilemma gefangen, der königlichen Opfer revolutionär motivierter Verbrechen gedenken zu müssen, zugleich aber die politische Angreifbarkeit der Monarchie vergessen machen zu wollen. Demgegenüber zeigt die mediale Verarbeitung des Attentats, dass es andere Möglichkeiten monarchischer Selbstinszenierung gegeben hätte, welche dieses Dilemma in den Hintergrund zu drängen vermochten.

Taxonomie von Unterrichtsmethoden

Nach wie vor gibt es für die didaktische Gestaltung von Unterrichtssituationen wenig zufrieden stellende Hilfsmittel, die sowohl unerfahrene Pädagoginnen und Pädagogen unterstützen, gleichzeitig aber auch Kreativität und didaktische Vielfalt von Expertinnen und Experten fördern. Dieses Buch präsentiert für dieses Dilemma einen neuen Lösungsansatz.