Global Views
Leveraging Voter Education to Achieve Sustainable Development Goals in the Philippines: Insights from Global Experiences
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Ma. Josephine Therese Emily Teves
This study explores the role of voter education initiatives (VEIs) in promoting sustainable development in the Philippines, specifically through their potential to help the country achieve key United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The intervention aims to highlight the importance of institutionalizing VEIs as a strategy for enhancing good governance, political stability, and human development. This approach is particularly relevant in the context of the Philippines' current struggles with political instability, low SDG rankings, and the need for greater electoral participation and informed voting. Positioned within the fields of political science, public policy, and human development, the intervention draws upon empirical studies and international experiences to emphasize the positive impact of VEIs on democratic systems and socio-economic stability. Using qualitative methods and case studies, the brief examines the processes of VEI implementation, including the challenges faced by the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) and non-governmental organizations in the Philippines. The results show that while VEIs have had notable success in other countries, their limited application in the Philippines has hindered their full potential. The study concludes that institutionalizing voter education could significantly contribute to improving governance and advancing the SDGs, offering recommendations for legislative action and further empirical research to assess VEI effectiveness in the country.
The Impact of Pakistan's Political Turmoil, Injustice and Human Rights Violations on Its Overseas Diaspora
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Ghulam Sarwar, Muhammad Imran
This study investigates into the far-reaching impact of Pakistan's ongoing political and legal turmoil on its global diaspora, particularly focusing on the struggles faced by their loved-ones back home. Pakistan’s long-standing challenges with democracy, justice, and security do not just remain within its borders. These ripple outward, profoundly shaping the lives of Pakistani families scattered across the globe. Through a mixed-methods approach, combining real-life stories and data gather through interviews and group discussion surveys, this research highlights the experiences of Pakistani diaspora communities in countries like the US, UK, Canada, and the Gulf States. Behind the numbers are individuals grappling with emotional, economic, and social pressures tied to instability in their homeland. Families live in constant anxiety, fearing human rights abuses, enforced disappearances, and unlawful detentions that affect their loved ones. These harsh realities sow fear, strain family bonds, and leave expatriates feeling helpless. Financial struggles, reduced remittances, and prejudices from host country authorities due to Pakistan's instability further complicate their lives. This research unearths these stories, showing the human cost of political and legal chaos. It calls for actionable solutions, proposing steps for the Pakistani government, international organizations, and host countries to protect the well-being of diaspora communities and their families. Above all, this work seeks to amplify the voices of those who live these challenges every day, advocating for policies that restore hope, resilience, and connection in a time of crisis.
Featured Global Experiences in Cross-Cultural Healthcare
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Lesley Clack, Keaton Ballard
While much research has focused on international differences in healthcare in terms of costs to the system, healthcare quality, and health outcomes, there are many cultural factors that have a significant impact on health behaviors and treatment. This presentation will discuss cross-cultural healthcare of various healthcare systems examined through a study abroad program. A specific case example of the comparison of emergency medical services in various countries will be presented.
Cultural Identity and Social Advocacy Rhetoric: The Black Lives Matter Movement and the Palestinian Cause through a Socio-Cognitive Lens
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Rima Jamil Malkawi
The study investigates the dynamic interplay between the cultural identity of advocates and the advocacy rhetoric of social movements, particularly the Black Lives Matter movement and the Palestinian Cause. It explores the impact of the cultural identity of advocates on shaping their linguistic and rhetorical techniques to contest power structures and address dominant social norms and ideologies. This study employs Van Dijk’s socio-cognitive model of Critical Discourse Analysis to conduct a cross-cultural qualitative analysis of 20 speeches delivered by four influential advocates: Khaled Beydoun and Richard Barrett (the Palestinian cause) and Time Wise and Shaun King (Black Lives Matter Movement). The analysis encompasses two steps: a microstructure and a macrostructure analysis. The findings of the microstructure analysis showcase marked and discursive choices of syntactic structure (e.g., passive and active voice, pronouns, and nominalization), the fusion of both culture-generic and culture-specific terms, and the use of distinguished rhetorical strategies (e.g., storytelling, parallelism, historical analogy, rhetorical questions, and enumeration). The findings of the macrostructure reveal how cultural identity influences the advocates’ mental representation of their cause, consequently shaping the audience’s perceptions and interpretation of the cause. Consequently, the study underscores the vital role of cultural identity in shaping advocacy rhetoric, effectively engaging not only the advocates’ immediate communities but also the mass audiences with access to these messages worldwide. It provides a tailored, novel framework deduced and driven from research analysis and findings. This framework can enable linguists, analysts, and researchers to systematically examine linguistic markers and cultural nuances in advocacy rhetoric.
