درخت حوزه‌های تخصصی

Purpose- since governance has a direct and close relation to democracy and socio-economic development everywhere, and it is considered to be the main discussion of the discourse of sustainable rural development, the purpose of the present study is to examine the position of governance indicators in rural areas of Abarkooh town and its impact on the villagers' higher participation.   Methodology - the present research has been conducted using a descriptive-analytical method and the data were obtained through survey methods. The statistical population of this study were rural district governors, members of Islamic councils and residents of Abarkooh town. Chi-square test, Wilcoxon signed-rank test, Pearson correlation coefficient and regression coefficient were used to analyze the data. Research findings- the results indicate that the villagers had the highest participation of villagers is in manpower and participation in land donation is in the second place and financial aids is in the last place due to the weak financial strength of the villagers. According to the results of the T-test, the scores of the items related to the indicators of rural governance in Abarkooh town are at a desired level and the highest values belong to social trust and social justice indicators and the lowest value belongs to rule of law indicator. The results of Wilcoxon test show that, the impact of feasibility of governance indicators on public participation in this area has been at a high level. Pearson correlation coefficient and regression analysis were used to examine each of the governance indicators "transparency and accountability, efficiency and effectiveness, social justice, awareness, social trust, rule of law, acceptance of participation" as independent variables on villagers' participation in the dimensions of "manpower, financial assistance, land donation, (which were aggregated) as dependent variables and determine the effect of each of these dimensions. The correlation test value equal to 0.712 shows a significant, positive and direct relationship between independent and dependent variables of the present research. The modified determination coefficient indicates that, 69.4% changes in villagers' participation level is related to feasibility of principles of governance in the study area; therefore, holding meetings for rural people, rural district governors and members of councils for more interaction and informing people about their rights, clarification of financial and income issues and identification of capabilities of human society can play an essential role in feasibility of this matter.

Purpose- In the present study, the impact of the household head's features on poverty and its intensity in rural households was investigated using the data related to income cost of rural households of West Azerbaijan during 2014. Design/methodology/approach- To this end, the relative poverty line of the rural households was first estimated in this study. Then, the effect of household characteristics on the intensity of poverty and its incidence was examined as well. The two-step Heckman model was used in this regard through which the impact of variables on household poverty was explored and the likelihood of household poverty was calculated. Afterward, assessing the poverty intensity of poor households, the effect of the study variables on the intensity of poverty of these households was investigated. Findings- The results of the study showed that the age, marital status, employment, and literacy level of the household head had a significantly positive effect on decreasing the incidence of poverty of the households. In addition, being married, the higher level of education, and employment of the household head, and also increasing the number of employed members in the household alleviated the severity of poverty among rural households. Research limitations/implications- The main limitation of this study was the lack of direct access to statistics and that extraction of data from micro- households was time-consuming. Practical implications- Considering the high probability of poverty at the beginning of the young age and retirement, actions must be taken to minimize the negative consequences of poverty in these ages through appropriate social security systems. Furthermore, given that being married reduces the incidence of poverty, careful planning is required to increase employment opportunities, to develop the culture of marriage, and therefore, to reduce the level of divorce in the society. Originality/value- In this article, an attempt has been made to study the influence of individual characteristics of the household head on poverty incidence and its severity in rural households of West Azerbaijan Province using the relative poverty line system. Moreover, based on the aim of the study, the severity of poverty and its incidence are to be separately investigated.

Ecocriticism as a field of study into the state of both human and non-human entities in an act of colonization. As such three of its most important concepts, Agency, Development and Displacement, are discussed to facilitate the understanding of this approach for the readers. Non-human agency advocates against a human-centric agency and for a dynamic relationship between human and non-human agency instead. As often witnessed in the aftermath of natural disasters such as an earthquake, natural events are unpredictable and not all in control of human beings. Then it can be stated that humans are not the only active agents in the environment but that instead we need to study the dynamic relationship between human and non-human agencies. The second concept, Development, is a bridge between colonialism and non-human agency, which entails the process of changing an environment in course of monopolizing certain products in a colonized country. Such changes usually have negative effects on the natives’ lives, such as losing their jobs, homes and impoverishment. This then leads to their displacement, seeking a new area where they can find new resources to survive and build their lives around. This is then a chained set of events as explained in the article, from the promise of a development that is in truth monopolizing one or more products, to the displacement of the natives from their homes and their struggle to survive.