From Democratic Exception to State of Exception: Covid-19 in the Context of Tunisia’s State of Law

Through an analysis of the early legal and institutional response to Covid-19 in Tunisia, this article demonstrates that the narrative of Tunisia’s democratic exceptionalism following the 2011 revolution is not translated into a liberal legal practice but is instead upheld by an authoritarian rationale that serves the role of a formal channel that legitimizes power discourse. Specifically, this article focuses on what the state of exception, which was declared during the ongoing state of emergency, reveals about the various uses of law in Tunisia. It argues that the state of emergency has become the norm to the Tunisian way of governance post-2011, allowing for the survival of past authoritarian practices where the legal apparatus is used and deployed as a tool of policing and control.

Grapevine communication

Communication is a constant part of Teaching Learning Process. The act of transferring information from one place, person or group to another is called communication. People who lie in the top hierarchy usually control formal channel of communication. Communication basically travels through informal channels, called “the grapevine.” Basically the term grapevine communication originated during early Civil War days when the telegraph wires strung through the trees and resembled like grapevines. It is observed that nowadays the grapevine means “the informal transmission of information, gossip or rumour spread from person to person.” As this mode of communication is informal, all information that passes through is open to change and interpretation can vary time to time. The well evident facts provide proofs that grapevine gives an outlet for imagination and truth seeking. Grapevine effect can be used to manage sharing of information amongst one another in an unofficial, or informal, manner. In this article an attempt is made to explain each and every dimension of grapevine communication i.e. Single Strand Chain, Gossip Chain, Probability Chain and Cluster Chain along with that advantages, disadvantages and significance of grapevine communication.

Citizen–State Collaboration in Combating COVID-19 in China: Experiences and Lessons From the Perspective of Co-Production

From the perspective of co-production, this article examines how Chinese citizens and governments worked together in fighting against COVID-19 in a health emergency context. Based on observations, as well as analyses of policy documents and self-organization cases, this article shows that Chinese citizens and governments collaborated through three different channels in fighting against the virus, but different channels produced different results. First, through residential committees, Chinese governments successfully mobilized most citizens to comply with stay-at-home orders, contact traced and isolated suspected cases through existing networks within the communities. Second, as a formal channel for state–society interaction during the crisis, government-organized nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) failed in bridging demands of the health system and contributions from citizens. Third, self-organizations emerged as a key informal channel for citizens to fight against the virus. The experiences and lessons learned in this citizen–government collaboration in combating the virus may offer some implications for other settings.

The (In)visibility of Taiwan – Indonesia Relations: Indonesian Students on the Sideline

Indonesian students have been playing significant roles as the agent of change in the process of Indonesia’s nation building. In the era of Indonesia’s struggle for independent, students had become the backbone of many important movements. Students were also the driving force of Indonesia democratization movement in 1998. Thus, it can be inferred that students are the important agent in shaping the direction of Indonesia.On the other hand, discord between China and Taiwan regarding Taiwan status has been making Taiwan – Indonesia relations growth more significant in informal than formal channel. One of the efforts to increase the informal channel is undertaken by establishing academic exchanges, scholarships, and scholar exchanges. However this effort is seemingly still on creating cooperation with academic institution to increase the number of Indonesian students in Taiwan per se but it arguably could upgrade both entities relations only if the operationalization of academic policy is parallel with their attempt to increase the relation. Currently, there are approximately 3,052 Indonesian students enroll in many universities in Taiwan. Yet, there is no such effort applying by Taiwan government to take advantages from this situation in order to increase Indonesia-Taiwan further relations. This paper, therefore, is aimed to deliver two arguments. First, Taiwan academic relations with Indonesia are still focusing on the effort to increase the number of Indonesian students in Taiwan and neglect their potential as agent of cooperation. This condition has made the students as agent become invisible. Second, Taiwan’s policy in academic cooperation with Indonesia is not in line with Taiwan’s effort to upgrade its relation with Indonesia. As an impact, Taiwan – Indonesia relation remains stagnant and invisible. In addition this paper will also deliver a clear description of the Indonesian students’ characteristic in Taiwan and the potential factors that are embedded on them. In order to get its finding and support the secondary data, this paper also will conduct observations and interviews to the Indonesian students in Taiwan.

A Psychotherapy Service

Over recent years Central Manchester GPs have supplied over 50% of the referrals to the Gaskell House Department of Psychotherapy. Yet there is no formal channel for feedback from these GPs concerning the services provided and for opportunites for realistic enhancement of the relationship between them and the predominantly hospital-based psychotherapists. It would appear that this communication gap applies to many psychotherapy centres in the UK though Tyson and Reder1 have specified the opinions of GPs as one variable to be considered when planning psychotherapy service.