RSS 1.0Social Sciences Publications
Browse by
All items in Bradford Scholars are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved.
Recent Submissions
-
Playing at the school table: systematic literature review of board, tabletop, and other analogue game-based learning approachesThe unique characteristics of games have led scientific research to increasingly focus on their potential role in learning processes. Currently, their effectiveness in fostering experiential learning and skill acquisition in several areas is already supported by the existing evidence, mainly about the potential of digital games. Paradoxically, the current post-digital era seems to have led to a growing popularity of analogue games. The present Systematic Literature Review aimed to map the existing literature on the potential of board, tabletop, or other analogue games in learning processes. It intended to systematize the contemporary state of the art (2012-2022) around the pedagogical role of these games, their effectiveness, the promoted learning outcomes, the methodological aspects of the interventions, the used games – including mechanics and other characteristics – and the current discussions around inclusion and accessibility in analogue game-based learning. Adopting the PRISMA methodology, we searched ACM Digital Library, EBSCO, ERIC, Scopus - Elsevier, and Web of Science databases, as well as other peer-reviewed “grey literature” sources. The search resulted in an initial sample of 2741 articles that was then screened by inclusion and exclusion criteria previously defined according to the research objectives. We obtained a final sample of 45 articles. To formulate the mapping of existing research, these studies were analyzed using a combination of statistical, content, and critical analysis procedures. The obtained results support the role of board, tabletop, and other analogue games in educational contexts – based on their educational potential – with a broad range of knowledge, cognitive, and psychological outcomes. The study also emphasized the relevance of these games in the promotion of soft skills and other aspects typically associated with meaningful learning, such as engagement, satisfaction, flexibility, and freedom of experimentation. However, important limitations were found in a fair amount of the pedagogical approaches studied, which can be mostly attributed to the low prevalence of modern board games that relate what is intended to be learned to aspects of game design and have little to no consideration of accessibility and inclusion aspects in these studies.
-
Opportunities, challenges and tensions: Open science through a lens of qualitative social psychologyIn recent years, there has been a focus in social psychology on efforts to improve the robustness, rigour, transparency and openness of psychological research. This has led to a plethora of new tools, practices and initiatives that each aim to combat questionable research practices and improve the credibility of social psychological scholarship. However, the majority of these efforts derive from quantitative, deductive, hypothesis-testing methodologies, and there has been a notable lack of in-depth exploration about what the tools, practices and values may mean for research that uses qualitative methodologies. Here, we introduce a Special Section of BJSP: Open Science, Qualitative Methods and Social Psychology: Possibilities and Tensions. The authors critically discuss a range of issues, including authorship, data sharing and broader research practices. Taken together, these papers urge the discipline to carefully consider the ontological, epistemological and methodological underpinnings of efforts to improve psychological science, and advocate for a critical appreciation of how mainstream open science discourse may (or may not) be compatible with the goals of qualitative research.
-
Development and Validation of a Brief Version of the Vanderbilt Fatigue Scale for Adults: The VFS-A-10Objectives: Listening-related fatigue can be a significant problem for adults who struggle to hear and understand, particularly adults with hearing loss. However, valid, sensitive, and clinically useful measures for listening-related fatigue do not currently exist. The purpose of this study was to develop and validate a brief clinical tool for measuring listening-related fatigue in adults. Design: The clinical scale was derived from the 40-item version of the Vanderbilt Fatigue Scale for Adults (VFS-A-40), an existing, reliable, and valid research tool for measuring listening9 related fatigue. The study consisted of two phases. Phase 1 (N = 580) and Phase 2 (N = 607) participants consisted of convenience samples of adults recruited via online advertisements, clinical records review, and a pool of prior research participants. In Phase 1, results from item response theory (IRT) analyses of VFS-A-40 items were used to identify high quality items for the brief (10-item) clinical scale: the VFS-A-10. In Phase 2, the characteristics and quality of the VFS-A-10 were evaluated in a separate sample of respondents. Dimensionality was evaluated using exploratory factor analyses (EFA) and item quality and characteristics were evaluated using IRT. VFS-A-10 reliability and validity were assessed multiple ways. IRT reliability analysis was used to examine VFS-A-10 measurement fidelity. In addition, test-retest reliability was assessed in a subset of Phase 2 participants (n = 145) who completed the VFS-A-10 a second time approximately one month after their initial measure (range 5-90 days). IRT differential item functioning (DIF) was used to assess item bias across different age, gender, and hearing loss subgroups. Convergent construct validity was evaluated by comparing VFS-A-10 responses to two other generic fatigue scales and a measure of hearing disability. Known-groups validity was assessed by comparing VFS-A-10 scores between adults with and without self reported hearing loss Results: EFA suggested a unidimensional structure for the VFS-A-10. IRT analyses confirmed all test items were high quality. IRT reliability analysis revealed good measurement fidelity over a wide range of fatigue severities. Test-retest reliability was excellent (rs = .88, collapsed across participants). IRT DIF analyses confirmed the VFS-A-10 provided a valid measure of listening29 related fatigue regardless of respondent age, gender, or hearing status. An examination of associations between VFS-A-10 scores and generic fatigue/vigor measures revealed only weak31 to-moderate correlations (Spearman’s correlation coefficient rs = -.36 to .57). Stronger associations were seen between VFS-A-10 scores and a measure of perceived hearing difficulties (rs = .79 to .81) providing evidence of convergent construct validity. In addition, the VFS-A-10 was more sensitive to fatigue associated with self-reported hearing difficulties than generic measures. It was also more sensitive than generic measures to variations in fatigue as a function of degree of hearing impairment. Conclusions: These findings suggest that the VFS-A-10 is a reliable, valid, and sensitive tool for measuring listening-related fatigue in adults. Its brevity, high sensitivity, and good reliability make it appropriate for clinical use. The scale will be useful for identifying those most affected by listening-related fatigue and for assessing benefits of interventions designed to reduce its negative effects.
-
Evaluating DigiDAD: one year onIn a broader context where there are very real barriers to the development and implementation of service support that is father-inclusive, there is compelling evidence that the current support landscape in the UK engages ineffectively with young fathers (Maxwell et al., 2012; Bond, 2019). Young fathers have either been overlooked or excluded by professional support services (Bateson et al., 2017) or subject to a risk-based approach that stereotypically treats them with suspicion and surveillance (Neale and Davies, 2015; Tarrant and Neale, 2023). Established in 2017 as a regional charity in Gateshead, the North East Young Dads and Lads (NEYDL) project has sought to address discernible gaps in existing provision by prioritising and supporting the informational requirements of young men who are either currently fathers or soon to be fathers. This would prepare them to play an active and meaningful role in the lives of their child(ren). As part of an ambitious strategy and programme of support, NEYDL has pioneered DigiDAD, an e-learning parenting platform made by and for young fathers. First created during the COVID-19 pandemic, DigiDAD features pioneering, evidence-informed content designed to support the informational requirements of young fathers. The content comprises of bespoke advice and practical information for young fathers around parenting skills, relationships and support needs which they are likely to need as they navigate their parenting journeys. The purpose of this evaluation is to assess whether DigiDAD, a year from its launch, is meeting its primary objectives, namely that: 1. More young fathers will have the confidence, skills, and opportunities to be a positive presence in their children’s lives. 2. Statutory services recognise and value the role of young fathers. 3. The stigma of being a young father is reduced.
-
Young carers’ needs and changing experiences during an era of austerityMany children caring for ill or disabled family members remain ‘hidden’ and ‘invisible’ in our communities. This study is the first to explore patterns of change, over time and throughout austerity, for children with caregiving roles to better understand how their lives differ from those of their non-caregiving peers. A survey of 2154 children, aged 9–18 years in the general population, and a further 21 children, aged 8–18 years and known to be young carers from the same English unitary authority, was conducted to gain an in-depth understanding of children’s perceptions and experiences of what they do to help at home. This study shows that children with caregiving roles remain a distinctive group who assume more domestic and caring responsibilities than their peers, and who also perform many of these activities more frequently than young caregivers in 2001. Approximately 19% of the respondents in the general population showed signs of being in a caring role, double the percentage identified by the author in 2001, 72% of whom were from Black and Minority Ethnic backgrounds. Indicating over time higher levels of unmet needs among parents and other family members who are ill or disabled, these findings have important implications for professional policy, planning and practice across adult and children’s services.
-
Mattering, wellness, and fairness: psychosocial goods for the common goodWhereas the behavioral and health sciences have been mainly concerned with the private good, there is an urgent need to understand and foster the collective good. Without a coherent framework for the common good, it will be extremely difficult to prevent and manage crises such as pandemics, illness, climate change, poverty, discrimination, injustice, and inequality, all of which affect marginalized populations disproportionally. While frameworks for personal well-being abound in psychology, psychiatry, counseling and social work, conceptualizations of collective well-being are scarce. Our search for foundations of the common good resulted in the identification of three psychosocial goods: mattering, wellness, and fairness. There are several reasons for choosing them, including the fact that they concurrently advance personal, relational, and collective value. In addition, they represent basic human motivations, have considerable explanatory power, exist at multiple ecological levels, and have significant transformative potential. The complementary nature of the three goods is illustrated in an interactional model. Based on empirical evidence, we suggest that conditions of justice lead to experiences of mattering, which, in turn, enhance wellness. Challenges and opportunities afforded by the model at the intrapersonal, interpersonal, occupational, communal, national, and global levels are presented. The proposed psychosocial goods are used to formulate a culture for the common good in which we balance the right with the responsibility to feel valued and add value, to self and others, in order to promote not just wellness but also fairness.
-
Development and validation of the Psychological Food Involvement Scale (PFIS)Food Involvement reflects the bond between consumer and food, and serves as a means of expression, identity and social recognition. Yet no existing scales are able to assess the complex psychological nature of Food Involvement. To fill this gap, this study developed and validated a Psychological Food Involvement Scale (PFIS). Data were collected by an online self-report questionnaire, involving 476 Italians aged 20-72 years (M = 48.13, SD = 13.18). The structure and psychometric properties of PFIS were examined through an exploratory and a confirmatory factor analysis, and construct validity was assessed by correlating it with Food Involvement Scale, Food Variety Seeking Scale and the General Health Interest Scale. As a behavioural indicator of validity, food and drink consumption was assessed using the Dietary Habits and Nutrition Beliefs Questionnaire. Factor analysis indicated that the PFIS comprised 19 items grouped in four stable dimensions: Emotional Balance; Self-Realization; Social Affirmation; Social Bonding. People more psychologically involved in food were more interested in healthy eating and more likely to vary their diet. The PFIS discriminated between dietary patterns. Higher PFIS scores were associated with frequent consumption of meat/fish and wholegrains/legumes. Frequent intake of meat/fish and snacks was associated with Social Bonding and meat/fish with Emotional Balance. The PFIS also explained consumption of vegetable drinks and lactose-free milk indicating the symbolic value ascribed to them related to self-expression, acceptance by others, and emotions. This implies potential for the PFIS for use in research to understand food choice and promote healthy eating.
-
Is the World a Just Place? The Italian Adaptation of the Personal and General Belief in a Just World ScalesThe study presents the Italian adaptation of the Personal and General Belief in a Just World (P-BJW and G-BJW) Scales. Dalbert and colleagues developed these scales to capture the belief in a just world for oneself and a just world in general. After the translation and back-translation, the P-BJW and G-BJW scales were administered first to a pilot sample of 213 university students and then to a national sample of 2683 Italian people. Results showed that it was necessary to make some revisions to the predicted two correlated factor structure. These changes entailed correlating the error terms for some manifest variables and removing the first item of the P-BJW factor. The final structure of the P-BJW and G-BJW scales presented satisfactory indexes of model fit as well as high reliability and moderate validity values. Additionally, this structure proved to fit the data better than an alternative one-factor or a bi-factor model with two orthogonal-specific factors. As predicted, well-being strongly predicted scores on the BJW, but age and gender did not. Multigroup comparisons among Northern, Central, and Southern Italy respondents indicated that Italian people interpret scale items equivalently, regardless of their geographical location. Introducing the P-BJW and G-BJW scales to the Italian justice scholarship is very useful to unpack the reasons why Italy reports lower levels of social justice than other European countries and also to investigate the link between justice, well-being, and other socio-psychological variables.
-
Sensory-processing sensitivity predicts fatigue from listening, but not perceived effort, in young and older adultsPurpose: Listening-related fatigue is a potential negative consequence of challenges experienced during everyday listening, and may disproportionately affect older adults. Contrary to expectation, we recently found that increased reports of listening-related fatigue were associated with better performance on a dichotic listening task (McGarrigle et al., 2021a). However, this link was found only in individuals who reported heightened sensitivity to a variety of physical, social, and emotional stimuli (i.e., increased ‘sensory-processing sensitivity’; SPS). The current study examined whether perceived effort may underlie the link between performance and fatigue. Methods: 206 young adults, aged 18-30 years (Experiment 1) and 122 older adults, aged 60-80 years (Experiment 2) performed a dichotic listening task and were administered a series of questionnaires including: the NASA task load index of perceived effort, the Vanderbilt Fatigue Scale (measuring daily life listening-related fatigue) and the Highly Sensitive Person Scale (measuring SPS). Both experiments were completed online. Results: SPS predicted listening-related fatigue but perceived effort during the listening task was not associated with SPS or listening-related fatigue in either age group. We were also unable to replicate the interaction between dichotic listening performance and SPS in either group. Exploratory analyses revealed contrasting effects of age; older adults found the dichotic listening task more effortful, but indicated lower overall fatigue. Conclusions: These findings suggest that SPS is a better predictor of listening-related fatigue than performance or effort ratings on a dichotic listening task. SPS may be an important factor in determining an individual’s likelihood of experiencing listening-related fatigue irrespective of hearing or cognitive ability.
-
Women’s experiences of immigration detention in Italy: examining immigration procedural fairness, human dignity, and healthRecent decades have witnessed a growing number of states around the world relying on border control measures, such as immigration detention, to govern human mobility and control the movements of those classified as “unauthorised non-citizens.” In response to this, an increasing number of scholars from several disciplines, including psychologists, have begun to examine this phenomenon. In spite of the widespread concerns raised, few studies have been conducted inside immigration detention sites, primarily due to difficulties in gaining access. This body of research becomes even scanter when it comes to the experiences of detained women. This study is the first of its kind to have surveyed 93 women confined in an Italian immigration detention facility. A partial mediation model with latent variables was tested through partial least structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM). The findings revealed the negative impact that unfair immigration procedures have on detained women’s human dignity, which in turn negatively affects their self-rated physical and mental health. Overall, our study sheds light on the dehumanisation and damage to human dignity that immigration detention entails, as well as its negative impact on the health of those affected. This evidence reinforces the image of these institutions as sites of persistent injustice, while stressing the need to envision alternative justice-oriented forms to address human mobility.
-
Exploring the use of speculative design as a participatory approach to more inclusive policy-identification and development in MalaysiaThis Case Study paper presents the first exploration of Speculative Design as a participatory democracy method for navigating the future of ageing in Malaysia. Speculative Design in the context of Global South is emerging, but without much data on how it is applied within different socio-economic conditions from the Global North countries. This Case Study considers the challenges and opportunities of employing Speculative Design as policy identification and development method from the context of Malaysia, a Global South country with its own unique characteristics. The paper concludes by suggesting that the novelty of Speculative Design as a policy-design approach in Global South countries, such as in Malaysia, requires the right selection of provocations and culturally familiar content to ease introduction of the methodology. Also, the efficacy of this approach as a participatory design application would require further enculturation within targeted communities, as well as sustained engagement through Champions.
-
Ambitious and driven to scale the barriers to top management: experiences of women leaders in the Nigerian technology sectorThe four theories—gendering of careers, glass ceiling, gender stereotypes and work-life balance—of the lack of inclusion of women in the technology sector have a certain face validity when looking at Nigeria, a historically patriarchal nation undergoing significant growth in penetration and diffusion in the technology sector. Consequently, this article is the first to further develop these theories through a critical realist exploration of the experiences of female senior managers in the Nigerian technology sector. The findings show that women technology leaders are ambitious and driven to scale the barriers to senior management roles. These four theories are extended by providing empirical data and insights into how this phenomenon is experienced differently in the Global South. The article recommends that organizations implement policies that support skilled and high-potential women employees to fulfill their career aspirations, thereby disrupting stereotypes and changing the dominant, masculine narrative of the technology industry.
-
Mothers’ and fathers’ views on the importance of play for their children’s development: gender differences, academic activities, and the parental roleBackground: Play is a main driver of children’s cognitive and social development and is crucial for educational success (Ginsburg, 2007). In recent years however, parents and schools are under pressure to prioritise academic targets over play. Aims: The current research investigated parents’ views about three aspects of their children’s play and academic activities. Sample: Predominantly highly educated UK parents (109 mothers and 49fathers) were recruited via social media. Method: Participants were asked to complete an amended online version of the Preschool Play and Learning Questionnaire (Parmar, Harkness, & Super, 2004). The questionnaire consisted of 25 items covering three themes: the importance of play for children’s development, the importance of academic activities, and the importance of parents’ role in their children’s development. The independent variables were the gender of the parent, the gender of their child, and the age group of their child (4 to 7 years, or 8 to 11 years). Results: Parents rated play higher than academic activities or their own roles, but the difference was not noteworthy. However, fathers rated academic activities and the parents’ role significantly higher than mothers did. In addition, parents of girls rated academic activities and their own role, significantly higher than parents of boys. Conclusions: The findings of the current research highlight gender divisions between parents and towards boys and girls regarding the importance of education. Gender roles appear to influence the way parents think about the academic activities their children partake in.
-
Rostow's Stages of GrowthIn this chapter we lay out a broad outline of Rostow’s Stages growth theory. Rostow in his seminal work identified five different stages of economic growth - the traditional society, the preconditions for take-off, the take-off, the drive to maturity, and the age of high mass consumption. Interest in Rostow’s stages theory was in 1960s and persists even now as researchers are still intrigued by the ideas and notions laid out in Rostow’s theory (Costa et al. 2016 a,b; McCartney 2018; Solivetti 2005). Interestingly in today’s world, the theory is being applied to different contexts and scenarios such as application of theory to environment, China-Pakistan Economic Corridor etc (Kesgingoz, H. and Serkan 2016; McCartney 2018). The stages of growth theory covered a broader spectrum of issues ranging from economic, social and political to US-Russia (the then USSR) cold war and their dominance at the global level. In this chapter we restrict ourselves to economic aspects of stages theory only.
-
Role of Finance in Economic DevelopmentA huge body of literature has well acknowledged the crucial role played by financial sector in economic growth. Financial sector enables mobilisation of savings and allocation of credit for production and investment. Among its other functions are supplying transaction and portfolio management services and providing payment services, and source of liquidity for the firms. Financial sector also monitors borrowers, matches illiquid assets with liquid liabilities, and integrates credit and liquidity provision functions (Bossone, 2000). Banks boost economic growth by identifying the entrepreneurs with the best chances of successfully initiating new goods and production processes (King & Levine, 1993) and facilitate long-run investments in the high return projects (Bencivenga & Smith, 1991). In this chapter we examine the role of financial sector in achieving economic growth and development. We also briefly look at the factors determining financial development.
-
Foxes who want to be hedgehogs: Is ethical pluralism possible in psychology's replication crisis?In this article, we draw attention to public-private dilemmas among psychologists that make sense of the debates around the replication crisis, citation practices and networking practices. We argue that the values of justice and caring map onto the public sphere and private sphere respectively and create the horns of a dilemma for academics. While bureaucratic justice is a publicly revered value of modernity in psychological research that underpins ethics, validity, reliability and equality of opportunity, ‘caring’ is a more subtle value of traditionalism that runs in parallel and is detected only by our psychological practices. In particular, we argue that it is detected by practices such as disputes between the replicated and their replicators in replication studies (understood as a dramatic counter reality) as to who is more ‘careless’ with procedure; citation (including the self-care of self-citation) as thanksgiving and incantation of powerful others in enchantment rituals, and the system of professional indebtedness that accrues in ‘kinship’ networks – where kinship is understood broadly as adoption into a research group and its network. The clashes between these values can lead to a sense of hypocrisy and irony in academic life, as incommensurate values split between private and public expression. From this position, we delve into Isaiah Berlin's work on incommensurate values to suggest that ethical pluralism, involving more public recognition of the equal but different ethical demands of these values can help overcome these everyday dilemmas in the public sphere.
-
Development and Evaluation of Pediatric Versions of the Vanderbilt Fatigue Scale (VFS-Peds) for Children with Hearing LossGrowing evidence suggests that fatigue associated with listening difficulties is particularly problematic for children with hearing loss (CHL). However, sensitive, reliable, and valid measures of listening-related fatigue do not exist. To address this gap, this paper describes the development, psychometric evaluation, and preliminary validation of a suite of scales designed to assess listening-related fatigue in CHL- the pediatric Vanderbilt Fatigue Scales (VFS-Peds). Test development employed best practices, including operationalizing the construct of listening-related fatigue from the perspective of target respondents (i.e., children, their parents, and teachers). Test items were developed based on input from these groups. Dimensionality was evaluated using exploratory factor analyses. Item response theory (IRT) and differential item functioning (DIF) analyses were used to identify high-quality items which were further evaluated and refined to create the final versions of the VFS-Peds. The VFS-Peds is appropriate for use with children aged 6-17 years and consists of a child self-report scale (VFS-C), parent proxy- (VFS-P), and teacher proxy-report (VFS-T) scales. Exploratory factor analyses of child self-report and teacher proxy data suggested listening-related fatigue was unidimensional in nature. In contrast, parent data suggested a multidimensional construct, comprised of mental (cognitive, social, and emotional) and physical domains. IRT analyses suggested items were of good quality, with high information and good discriminability. DIF analyses revealed the scales provided a stable measure of fatigue regardless of the child’s gender, age, or hearing status. Test information was acceptable over a wide range of fatigue severities and all scales yielded acceptable reliability and validity. This paper describes the development, psychometric evaluation, and validation of the VFS-Peds. Results suggest the VFS-Peds provide a sensitive, reliable, and valid measure of listening-related fatigue in children that may be appropriate for clinical use. Such scales could be used to identify those children most affected by listening-related fatigue; and given their apparent sensitivity, the scales may also be useful for examining the effectiveness of potential interventions targeting listening-related fatigue in children.
-
Less screen time, more frequent fruit and vegetable intake, and physical activity are associated with greater mental wellbeing in adolescentsWellbeing declines during adolescence, for which the reasons are unclear. This analysis explored associations between wellbeing and multiple lifestyle, socioeconomic and school-level factors in young people. Data were collected as part of the Wellbeing in School (WiSe) survey of adolescent school children in Northern Ireland at age 13-14 years (N=1618; 49% female) and 15-16 years (N=1558; 50.5% female). Wellbeing was assessed using the short-form Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale (sWEMWBS), where scores declined between time one (13-14 years) and time two (15-16 years) in both sexes and were significantly lower in females at both timepoints. Multilevel, multivariate modelling was therefore undertaken separately for males and females with sWEMWBS scores as the dependent variable. Physical activity, family affluence, fruit and vegetable intake, social media use, sleep duration, school factors (size and type) and religion were independent variables. More frequent physical activity in both sexes at both timepoints was associated with higher sWEMWBS scores. In females, higher sWEMWBS scores were associated with less social media use at time one (and marginally at time two), greater family affluence at time two, and being Catholic at both timepoints. In males, higher sWEMWBS scores were associated with more frequent fruit and vegetable intake at time one. Mental wellbeing was unrelated to sleep duration or school factors in either sex, at both time points. Efforts to maximize mental wellbeing in adolescents should promote engagement in physical activity and implement sex-specific interventions.
-
Between wellness and fairness: the mediating role of autonomous human choice and social capital in OECD countriesAims: Theoretical arguments and empirical evidence have been provided in the literature for the role of fairness in wellness. In this paper we explore the role of two potential mediating variables: autonomous human choice and social capital. Methods: Using aggregated panel data across countries belonging to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) we compared the OECD Social Justice Index with data on life satisfaction to test whether fairness has direct and indirect effects on wellness. Results: Results from a series of Manifest Path Analyses with time as fixed effect, support the hypothesis that the OECD Social Justice Index is directly linked to country-level life satisfaction and also reveal that its indirect effect operates primarily through people’s autonomous choices in life and their country’s level of social capital. Conclusions: Our results contribute to two distinct bodies of knowledge. With respect to community psychology, the findings offer empirical evidence for the synergistic effect of personal, relational, and collective factors in well-being. With respect to the impact of economic inequality on wellness, we extend the literature by using social justice as a more comprehensive measure. Limitation and recommendations for future studies are discussed.
-
Die US-Intervention in Afghanistan: Die Politik der Obama-RegierungThis contribution discusses the national security objectives and the political parameters of the Obama administration’s decision to shift towards a counterinsurgency strategy and increase troop levels in Afghanistan. On the basis of the key strategic documents that formed the basis of the interagency process, as well as the political constraints under which the Obama administration was operating, it is possible to understand the key factors that defined the policy. The article also explain the various contradictions between the geopolitical context, the strategic objectives as defined by Obama and means to achieve them. On the basis of such analysis it is clear that the policy could at best achieve a partial success.
