Security, Leadership, and Development

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This project will generate new fundamental geographic understanding of the spatial extent of sociocultural influences on populations and the degree to which specific groups or individuals assume leadership in public participation. The project will address the complex factors that influence the public participation of different segments of a population by considering the degree to which family, education, religion, social, and other networks influence activity in public participation. Divergent sociocultural influences will be correlated with the development of beliefs and behaviors that lead to differential leadership in public participation. This research will provide insights regarding the diversity among groups related to their public participation rather than analyzing all people as a single category. Results from this project will have policy implications and inform national security interests regarding emerging participation patterns and the motivation for groups that are engaged in public participation. This multilayered examination of competing influences and changing social roles will advance existing analytic frameworks for evaluating and adopting the most effective means of ensuring security and stability in communities. A post-doctoral fellow and a graduate student will be trained as part of the project, thereby enhancing U.S. scientific resource capacity.The research design for this project will examine the differential use of public space across a spectrum of perspectives and social positions. Specifically, this project will focus on the complex dynamics through which women have evolved as leaders in their families and communities. The project will seek answers to two major research questions: (1) What are the social, economic, and other influences or drivers that compel women to participate in different types of organizations? (2) How do female leaders influence public participation and ensure security within their families and communities? The investigators will use multi-sited qualitative analysis of participation in organizations across different regional locations, ethnicities, socioeconomic class levels, educational experiences, and scales of influence. Data-collection methods will include interviews, focus groups, and content analysis of data from printed sources and documents. This project will focus on Afghanistan, a nation that has been of considerable interest to the United States from a national security perspective, and it will provide insights and approaches for considering public participation across different groups.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.