title: Indicators for quantifying post-disaster functionality: A neighbourhood scale

authors: Jones, Samantha

abstract: Natural disasters, such as earthquakes and cyclones, affect people physically and mentally. They can be destructive to the built environment, hindering infrastructure, lifelines, buildings and homes, which all support the daily functioning of society. The impacts from natural disasters are commonly disproportionate to communities with vulnerabilities in their built environment or lower socio-economic attributes. Weak spots within a community can be disguised at larger spatial scales such as city, regional, or national levels. Narrowing in on smaller community units, such as neighbourhoods, will help differentiate vulnerable areas and specific sources of risk. Identifying these weak spots in a community can help focus efforts to improve community resilience. Therefore, this research aims to identify appropriate indicators to quantify functionality at a neighbourhood scale and then obtain community feedback on the relevance of these indicators in a New Zealand context. Examining 11 existing international frameworks on community resilience identified 48 potential indicators across six different dimensions, namely: 1) the physical and built environment, 2) human and health, 3) economics, 4) environmental, 5) social, and 6) governance.

text: Indicators for quantifying post-disaster functionality: A neighbourhood scale Natural disasters, such as earthquakes and cyclones, affect people physically and mentally. They can be destructive to the built environment, hindering infrastructure, lifelines, buildings and homes, which all support the daily functioning of society. The impacts from natural disasters are commonly disproportionate to communities with vulnerabilities in their built environment or lower socio-economic attributes. Weak spots within a community can be disguised at larger spatial scales such as city, regional, or national levels. Narrowing in on smaller community units, such as neighbourhoods, will help differentiate vulnerable areas and specific sources of risk. Identifying these weak spots in a community can help focus efforts to improve community resilience. Therefore, this research aims to identify appropriate indicators to quantify functionality at a neighbourhood scale and then obtain community feedback on the relevance of these indicators in a New Zealand context. Examining 11 existing international frameworks on community resilience identified 48 potential indicators across six different dimensions, namely: 1) the physical and built environment, 2) human and health, 3) economics, 4) environmental, 5) social, and 6) governance.

year: 2024

title: Are the citizens of a democracy a just target for terrorists?

authors: McKeogh, Colm

subjects: civilian

abstract: This article investigates how issues of political responsibility connect to the combatant/civilian distinction in armed conflict. It does so by looking at an attempted moral justification of terrorism in a democracy by a just war theorist. The attempt was by Igor Primoratz, who claims that civilians who actively support injustice do not merit immunity from targeting. Primoratz suggests amending the principle of civilian immunity to permit targeting of civilians who are culpable for an unjust war. This article argues that culpability plays no role in the justification of targeting combatants and cannot be used to justify the targeting of civilians. Combatants may be targeted in war because of a convention-dependent permission that they may be treated as instruments. Civilians may not be targeted in war because no such convention-dependent permission exists (and there are no benefits to creating such a convention). Nor can the justification of self-defence be used to justify the targeting of civilians in armed conflict because there is a threshold of culpability to be met before self-defence is permitted, and the citizens of a democracy do not meet that minimum standard.

text: Are the citizens of a democracy a just target for terrorists? This article investigates how issues of political responsibility connect to the combatant/civilian distinction in armed conflict. It does so by looking at an attempted moral justification of terrorism in a democracy by a just war theorist. The attempt was by Igor Primoratz, who claims that civilians who actively support injustice do not merit immunity from targeting. Primoratz suggests amending the principle of civilian immunity to permit targeting of civilians who are culpable for an unjust war. This article argues that culpability plays no role in the justification of targeting combatants and cannot be used to justify the targeting of civilians. Combatants may be targeted in war because of a convention-dependent permission that they may be treated as instruments. Civilians may not be targeted in war because no such convention-dependent permission exists (and there are no benefits to creating such a convention). Nor can the justification of self-defence be used to justify the targeting of civilians in armed conflict because there is a threshold of culpability to be met before self-defence is permitted, and the citizens of a democracy do not meet that minimum standard.

year: 2011

title: The Māori female - her body, spirituality, sacredness and mana : a space within spaces

authors: August, Wikitoria

subjects: Body image in women

abstract: This thesis is an exploration of bodily rituals, practices and cultural spaces of the female Māori body. Critical social theories and Kaupapa Māori research paradigms are combined to disrupt and challenge hegemonic Western knowledges. Qualitative methods - interviews, focus groups and autobiographical experience - are used to understand bodily practices that pertain to being Māori and female. There are three points to my discussion. I argue first, that the embodied relationship between Māori women and urupā and food gathering spaces rests on notions of Papatūānuku and female reproduction. During menstruation or pregnancy most women are restricted from urupā. Many participants, however, view this tikanga positively and describe it as making them feel special. Second, I examine the ways in which Māori female bodies are colonised and positioned between Western patriarchal and traditional ways of being. Due to various reasons surrounding colonisation, there are gaps in younger generations' Māori knowledge and this has led to tensions about which space to occupy. Finally, I discuss mana and conclude by asserting that the Māori female body has not lost individual mana, despite the efforts of colonisation to take mana away from Māori women. Throughout this research I offer cultural perspectives in order to prompt new ways of thinking about the Māori female body. 

The views expressed in this thesis are not the views of all Māori. Practices, tikanga and knowledges vary between different iwi, hapū and rohe.

text: The Māori female - her body, spirituality, sacredness and mana : a space within spaces This thesis is an exploration of bodily rituals, practices and cultural spaces of the female Māori body. Critical social theories and Kaupapa Māori research paradigms are combined to disrupt and challenge hegemonic Western knowledges. Qualitative methods - interviews, focus groups and autobiographical experience - are used to understand bodily practices that pertain to being Māori and female. There are three points to my discussion. I argue first, that the embodied relationship between Māori women and urupā and food gathering spaces rests on notions of Papatūānuku and female reproduction. During menstruation or pregnancy most women are restricted from urupā. Many participants, however, view this tikanga positively and describe it as making them feel special. Second, I examine the ways in which Māori female bodies are colonised and positioned between Western patriarchal and traditional ways of being. Due to various reasons surrounding colonisation, there are gaps in younger generations' Māori knowledge and this has led to tensions about which space to occupy. Finally, I discuss mana and conclude by asserting that the Māori female body has not lost individual mana, despite the efforts of colonisation to take mana away from Māori women. Throughout this research I offer cultural perspectives in order to prompt new ways of thinking about the Māori female body. 

The views expressed in this thesis are not the views of all Māori. Practices, tikanga and knowledges vary between different iwi, hapū and rohe.

year: 2004