https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/15904 2026-04-26T22:01:47Z 2026-04-26T22:01:47Z Pennisi di Floristella, Angela Maria https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/145041 2026-03-19T14:37:17Z 2026-01-01T00:00:00Z

Title: China’s strategic narratives on international security issues : Russia’s war in Ukraine and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict Authors: Pennisi di Floristella, Angela Maria Abstract: This paper utilizes a strategic narrative approach to grasp China’s views of contemporary international security politics. It explores Chinese international system narratives and policy-issue narratives presented in official policy documents, with reference to the cases of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and the ongoing Israeli–Palestinian conflict. In particular, this paper asks two questions: How and to what extent are Chinese strategic narratives pertaining to the ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza comparable, and what do these narratives reveal about the potential for China to play a stabilizing role amid these conflicts? The comparison of both cases reveals that there is some consistency in China’s narratives, as demonstrated by China’s aspiration to play a greater role in security. However, by attracting the discontent of unsatisfied countries and presenting China as the leader of the wider international community, Chinese official discourse is also hampered by several ambiguities and contradictions that complicate its ability to play a meaningful role as a global security provider amid contemporary crises.

2026-01-01T00:00:00Z Khakee, Anna https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/144583 2026-03-04T11:01:19Z 2026-01-01T00:00:00Z

Title: Reframing the politics of civil society support Authors: Khakee, Anna Abstract: In recent decades, many donors have argued that there is an international legal right to foreign funding, but this has not been effective in halting the assault on civil society organisations (CSOs). This approach now faces stronger headwinds because of the shift away from a liberal world order as norm competition deepens between democratic and illiberal or nondemocratic regimes. At the same time, many western democratic states have tightened funding rules for their civil society to defend themselves against destabilisation efforts by Russia and other powers. As Javier Sajuria notes in this report, other countries accuse western governments of double standards and the foreign funding of civil society has become further politicised. [excerpt]

2026-01-01T00:00:00Z Grech, Shaun https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/144541 2026-03-02T13:05:46Z 2010-01-01T00:00:00Z

Title: Poverty, disability and education : debating inclusivity in the majority world Authors: Grech, Shaun Abstract: Around 600 million people are disabled globally, and some 80% of these are said to live in the so-called majority world, often in disproportionate levels of a multidimensional poverty, impacting socio-economic spheres including education. While the subject of disability in the majority world has gained some momentum, notably through the international development sector, the debate remains embryonic. Furthermore, concerns related to broader poverty, neoliberalism and its historical antecedents, and the social, economic, cultural and political contexts of a post/neocolonial global South, remain subsumed under or reframed through Western discourses (e.g. disability and development studies). In light of this, this chapter seeks to discuss issues around disability and poverty in the so-called majority world, in an effort to outline and discuss critical concerns around education in neoliberal times, and the implications for inclusive education in the global South.

2010-01-01T00:00:00Z Grech, Shaun https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/144539 2026-03-02T12:57:54Z 2012-01-01T00:00:00Z

Title: Educating across cultures : questioning the social model of disability Authors: Grech, Shaun Abstract: This chapter draws from previous work on the social model across cultures (Grech, 2009), and extends from my contribution in the recent edited collection Making sense of inclusive education: Where everyone belongs (Azzopardi, 2010), where I engaged with a number of critical issues in inclusive education in non-Western contexts characterised by widespread poverty. II is perhaps fit to start this chapter with an emphasis on the fact that there is no universally agreed definition of disability (lngstad and Whyte, 1995). This task is made even more difficult across cultures where different definitions (e.g. in government policies) and measurement instruments (e.g. censuses and surveys) mean different populations are considered disabled in different contexts. [excerpt]

2012-01-01T00:00:00Z