Centre for Citizenship, Development and Human Rights
Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation
The Centre undertakes general and applied research, and prepares research
action and policy manuals.
These include:
Impact and Experiences of Racism on the Health and Wellbeing of Young Australians
This project responds to an identified need for Australian youth-focused research into experiences of racism for young people of Indigenous, migrant and refugee backgrounds. It will map out the experience of racism for these groups of young people and how this impacts on heath and wellbeing. The project will also investigate mainstream attitudes of young people in relation to key issues in contemporary race relations, such as cultural diversity, tolerance and privilege.
Measuring Human Rights Knowledge and Understanding within Victoria Police
The project requires preparation of a survey and subsequent report informed by the collection and analysis of quantitative data gathered from the survey of Victoria Police employees. This will focus on issues relevant to a valid and reliable assessment of the current patterns of knowledge and understanding of human rights principles across Victoria Police. The three main aims are: to assess knowledge of human rights principles within Victoria Police employees; to assess understanding of human rights principles within Victoria Police employees; to gauge the relevance and application to Victoria Police of human rights principles.
Victoria Police - Project Vista
This project will undertake a preliminary study of "appraisal of the impact of youth and "hard to reach" communities on policing and the managerial qualities required for the management of these issues". This current study will provide a report for the Western Region of Vic Police, focusing on Region 2 (Western Region) and is designed to enable Victoria Police to obtain a clear understanding of the issues involved in engaging with and responding to youth and “hard to reach” communities and the strategic directions and managerial qualities that may be required for the future management of these issues.
Local Governance, Multiculturalism and Active Citizenship: The Case of Arab-Muslim Diaspora in the West
This ARC project will advance our understanding of the best practice approaches towards the management of intercultural relationships within multicultural communities. It will generate international benchmark data on the management of multicultural spaces and will lead to a range of practical policies for local city councils, NGOs and state governments. The findings will form a robust empirical basis for understanding the optimal way of formulating government NGOs partnerships in the successful implementation of culturally responsive policies. The study will also result in the development of effective policy responses aimed at enhancing active citizenship, social cohesion and intercultural understanding.
Internal and External Sources of Political Instability in East Timor
This ARC project is of direct relevance to Australia through its bilateral and multilateral provision of police to assist in the maintenance of East Timor's law and order, through its training of and support for the East Timor Border Patrol Unit, and its training and support of the East Timor defence force, Falintil FDTL. The project also goes to the core of Australia's concerns with regional state maintenance (or conversely, potential state failure), direct bilateral relations with both East Timor and Indonesia, and the triangular relationship between these three states.
Reinvigorating Multicultural Education in Culturally Pluralist Communities
This is an action research project that will develop and trial a multi-tiered
approach to effecting successful multicultural educational change in
culturally diverse schools. The project aims to increase students,
particularly Arabic-speaking background students, positive educational
outcomes, particularly retention rates and educational
achievements.
The Challenge of Managing Cultural Diversity in Education: The Case
of Arab-Australian Youth
This project investigates the challenges posed by cultural diversity
in multicultural schools. It focuses specifically on students from Arabic-speaking
background (ASB) attending secondary schools in the Northern and Western
regions of Melbourne. The study assesses whether individual student's
attitudes and the school's structures and pedagogical ideology impact
upon
ASB student's achievements. In using focus group discussions and
attitudinal surveys, the study will also test the cultural appropriateness
of such methodological procedures. The study proposed multi-dimensional
model will be tested in order to determine the optimal social environments
and inter-ethnic relations needed to successfully fulfil the potential
of multicultural education.
Temporary Protection of Refugees in the European Union and Australia: A Comparative Policy Analysis
This project will conduct a comparative study of temporary protection (TP) mechanisms in Australia and selected European jurisdictions. Specifically, it will analyse policy developments and trends in the use of TP mechanisms in Denmark, Germany and Australia. It will do this through a systematic comparative examination of the evolution of ‘substitute protection’ mechanisms; their implications for ‘effective protection’ under the 1951 Refugee Convention; and impacts on two key stakeholders (Convention refugees and non-government service providers). These policy analyses will be augmented by interviews and survey questionnaires with TP refugees, and key service providers in the three target jurisdictions.
Applying a Multicultural Education Model in Culturally Diverse Schools
This project investigates the challenges faced by Arabic-speaking background
(ASB) students and their schools in realising positive educational
outcomes. Such challenges include relations between cultural groups,
understanding of cultural difference and identity, teacher attitudes
towards cultural diversity, and cross-cultural classroom pedagogy.
The outcomes to be achieved by the project include overall improved
school educational and social environment, a comprehensive Diversity
Management Policy and Action Plan, and a renewed inclusive curriculum
that is culturally relevant and responsive.
Cultural Indicators of Successful Settlement of Refugees
This project investigates the cultural indicators of successful settlement of refugees. It will test patterns of cultural adjustment, through the study of evolving abilities in English; sense of belonging in the wider community; social capital; and changing narratives of refugee group identity. It identifies successful strategies of cultural adaptation, and examines refugee perceptions of successful acculturation and settlement. The qualitative and comparative methodology contributes to a better understanding of the processes and key indicators of successful acculturation and settlement, and investigate critical but neglected aspects of the refugee settlement process.
Arabic Communities and Wellbeing: Supports and Barriers to Social Connectedness
Together with Victorian Arabic Social Services (VASS) the Centre for Citizenship and Human Rights (CCHR) has undertaken research to explore social connectedness between Arabic and non-Arabic communities. In particular the study will examine how bonding and bridging social capital are manifest in Arabic communities and investigate correlations between types of social capital identified and indicators of wellbeing. The project has been funded by Vic Health.
Enhancing Inter-Cultural Understanding in Australia: Appraisals of Local Government's Initiatives
According to the June 2004 Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission report, the escalating discrimination and stereotyping experienced by Australian Muslims has become a serious threat to accepted multicultural ideals. Through a comparative analysis of the strategies employed by local government agencies and selected NGOs in Europe, this project will investigate the cultural and policy challenges facing the successful integration of minorities in increasingly globalised societies. The analysis of international best practice debates on resolving inter-cultural conflict in security-dominated environments will then provide an empirical basis and a refined conceptual framework, from which to analyse existing social cleavages in Australia.
Homelesness and Sport - The Street Socceroos
This collaborative project with the Faculty of Business and Law enables the continuation of research with the Street Socceroos in the lead-up to and post 2007 Homeless World Cup in Copenhagen. The research also explores the importance of the new regional street soccer programs in expanding participation in the lead up to the Homeless World Cup in Melbourne in 2008.
Deliberative Democracy and Citizenship: A Study of Deliberative Polling and Participatory Budgeting in China
This project explores the practical implications of deliberative democratic theory. Deliberative democracy has offered a set of new institutions and processes to improve and transform liberal democracy. Yet, experimental studies of deliberation are few, and limited to Western polities. Building on deliberative democratic theory and studies of deliberative institutional design, this project undertakes an innovative experiment in participatory and deliberative budgeting in Wenling, China. The aims are to find out how deliberative institutions can avoid false consensus, and how citizens can be empowered. The project will indicate how deliberative citizenship may be cultivated in authoritarian and liberal democratic political contexts.
Online Forums and Citizen Participation in Australian Democracy
Citizenship disengagement from conventional politics has prompted governments to seek other methods of encouraging participation. This project reviews the use of online policy consultation and discussion forums seeking to foster greater citizen participation in Australia. It will do this by evaluating the goals, expectations and delivery of four current governmental initiatives in the area. The project will compare each government’s intentions for using online forums against the empirical outcomes. The project will also compare these outcomes with different normative models of democracy. In so doing, this project will contribute to an assessment of the limits and possibilities for online forums to improve the quality of Australian democracy.
In Search for Deliberative Democracy in China
'The theory of deliberative democracy has offered a new perspective on democratic practice: the use of reason predominates, the force of the better argument is supposed to prevail over wealth and political influence. In the last decade, many democratic theorists have undertaken the empirical study of deliberative institutions through several experiments focusing on citizens' participation (Fishkin 1991, 1995; Ackerman and Fishkin 2004; Fung 2001, 2003)'. This project builds upon and extends those studies to investigate how deliberative institutions can be designed and improved in the Chinese polity that combines both authoritarian and democratic elements. The project initiates a number of innovative experiments in which ordinary citizens will discuss debate and deliberate on village issues, on how to spend the annual budget at Zeguo town, and on environmental issue in the city of Wenling. Its practical aims are: to organize citizens to participate widely in the decision-making process and in managing the community's public affairs; to empower citizens through improving and revising the existing deliberative institutions, and thereby cultivate deliberative citizens and influence the rural governance. The project will also organize an international workshop on deliberative democratic practice in Australia.
Investigating the Cultural and Pedagogic Dimensions of Multicultural
Education
This project investigates the challenges posed by cultural diversity
in multicultural schools. It will focus specifically on students from
Arabic-speaking background attending secondary schools in the Northern
and Western regions of Melbourne. The study will assess whether individual
student's attitudes, the school's existing structures as
well as the overall pedagogical ideology impact upon NESB student's
ultimate achievements. In using focus group discussions and attitudinal
surveys,
the study will also test the cultural appropriateness of such methodological
procedures. The study proposed multi-dimensional model will be
tested in order to determine the optimal social environment and inter-ethnic
relations needed to successfully fulfill the potential of multicultural
education.
Capacity-Building in Indonesian Islamic Non Government Organisations
(NGOs)
This ARC project aims to understand and monitor forms and applications of capacity-building
in progressive Islamic/Muslim NGOs in Indonesia, over a four year period,
in the context of profound social, economic and political change, in
order to better understand how best to strengthen such groups and to
assist them to become more effective. It will increase our understanding
of the complex cultural issues that influence these groups in their efforts
to professionalise, build capacity and contribute to civil society. It
will identify areas in which Western misunderstandings of Muslim culture
and society have limited the effectiveness of capacity building programs.
Social Glue? The contribution of sport and active recreation to community wellbeing
Lead agency La Trobe University. Partner Organisations - Deakin University and Victorian Health Promotion Foundation.
Australian federal, state and local governments allocate more than $4,094 million per year to the provision of sport and recreation services, facilities and programs which service more than 5 million regular participants. This ARC project is, in part, based on the premise that involvement in sport and recreation develops community wellbeing through the facilitation of social inclusion and connectedness. This research will contribute to the development of policies and practices that will enhance the capability of sport and active recreation organisations to contribute to community wellbeing.
Human Rights Community Engagement Project
This project, undertaken in conjunction with and funded by VCOSS (Victorian Council of Social Services), involved organising and conducting community education and consultation sessions with:
(a) marginalised and disadvantaged members of the community and
(b) with service providers working with the above.
and preparation of a final report for VCOSS to submit to the Victorian government’s Human Rights Consultation Committee
Globalisation in Australian Political Thought
This project investigates the competing meanings of globalisation
in Australian political debate since the election of the Howard coalition
government in 1996. More than an empirical phenomenon of growing international
interconnectedness, globalisation is also an ideology that justifies
particular policy responses. This project will identify and analyse competing
schools of thought in contemporary Australian debates over the meaning
and impact of globalisation. In so doing, it will examine the way ideologies
of globalisation are reinterpreted locally, and contribute an innovative
perspective on fundamental policy debates in Australia.
The Business of Peace: Harnessing Business as Peace-Builders in War
This project investigates the potential of harnessing businesses operating in war zones as peace-builders by investigating their motivations and strategies in conflict environments. By investigating actual experiences and motivations of businesses that operated in Solomon Islands during the 1998-2003 civil unrest, it will address a major gap in the extant literature, which is over-reliant on certain normative assumptions about business behaviour in war (e.g. business as complicit and profiteering). An empirically grounded typology of business in war will be developed to assist policy-makers design more effective peace-building strategies incorporating business.
The Role of Palestinian Business Associations as Nation-Builders in the Middle East Peace Process
This interview-based project seeks to produce an overview of the Palestinian nation-building discourse from a business association perspective. It investigates Palestinian business association conceptions of nation-building in the context of moves to establish an independent Palestinian state. It does so by analysing the way Palestinian business associations have engaged with the peace process to date and related questions of state-building. The project engages directly with current debates on private sector peace-building and effective post-conflict nation-building and will form the basis of a future international-comparative analysis of private sector/civil society nation-building perspectives.
CPD-RDTL: Internal and External Sources of Political Instability in
East Timor
This project examines two key issues of security in East Timor, with
reference to the Council for the Popular Defence of East Timor and (CPD-RDTL),
focusing on its external links with the Indonesian military and domestic
political ideologies and internal influence. This political organisation
and associated groups (e.g. Sagrada Familia) have been linked with the
promotion of political instability and violence in the newly independent
state of Timor Leste, and are widely seen as a primary threat to the
country's political future. This project will be the first major
study of the CPD-RDTL.
Constructing a “Crisis”: An Internationally Comparative Study of Population Ageing
This project compares the political framing of the ‘ageing crisis’ and its intersection with welfare reform in different OECD countries to provide a better critical understanding of the public policy challenge posed by population ageing and the policy constructions addressing it. Moving beyond the dominant focus on ageing as a demographic and fiscal challenge, the project addresses a gap in the literature by developing “what’s the problem?” and critical discourse analysis approaches. A typology of public policy frameworks will be developed that will refine internationally comparative public policy analysis of population ageing challenges, of benefit to policy makers and researchers.”
Local Government, Volunteering and Community Strengthening
This joint research project between CCHR and the Municipal Association of Victoria investigates the changing nature of volunteering, considers how these developments can contribute to community strengthening, and seeks to identify the unique opportunities that this may present for local government both now and in the future. Also included will be research about the requisite enabling attitudes, structures and conditions that have the potential to facilitate a meaningful and sustainable approach to volunteering by local government so that Councils can foster community development and use existing resources to their best advantage.
Mediation and Conflict Resolution Among the Arabic-speaking Community in Melbourne
This joint research project between CCHR and VASS (Victorian Arabic Social Services) in partnership with DSCV (Dispute Settlement Centre of Victoria) is based on a research project funded by a grant from the Victorian Law Foundation to explore and document the perception, understanding and experience of conflict resolution, particularly mediation as a method of alternative dispute resolution, by members of the Arabic- speaking community in Melbourne’s Northern metropolitan region. The research for this report was undertaken in the inner and outer North, North-West and North-East suburbs of Melbourne. This region was selected because of its high concentration of Arabic-speaking residents.
The method underpinning the report’s research consists of empirical data generation and analysis, including quantitative questionnaires, qualitative interviews and one focus group. The approach found in the report is informed by a selection of variables, and shaped by certain determinants, as well as by previous research on the topic of conflict resolution and mediation, in general.
