Suchergebnisse

U.K. Department for International Development (DfID) ; Public opinion research of the Russian population attitudes towards Official Development Assistance(ODA) was undertaken in 2010 as part of the DFID supported WB Russia as a Donor Initiative (RDI) program assisting Russian Government in its development aid efforts. The research was conducted by Levada-Center, an independent polling and sociological company, using qualitative (in-depth interviews with opinion leaders) and quantitative (nationally representative survey) methodology. Volumes 1 and 2 report respectively on the findings of the qualitative and quantitative surveys. The qualitative survey included 25 opinion leaders interviews (public officials, NGOs, academia, business community, and the media), conducted in the cities of Moscow, St. Petersburg, Krasnoyarsk, and Rostov. The interviews covered economic situation in Russia; Russia's global role; potential recipient countries of Russian ODA and types of assistance; and overall awareness of Russian ODA activities. The opinion leaders share a common feeling that Russia is a "rich country with poor people" that still should take increasingly active role in development aid, being an influential "world power". Opinion leaders believe that Russian ODA should focus on: (i) countries affected by natural disasters; (ii) neighboring former Soviet bloc countries that have traditionally been "a zone of Russia's historic responsibility"; and (iii) countries posing global security threats. "Giving a fishing rod, not fish" was indicated as a preferred approach to development aid. Joint ODA programs with the World Bank and other multilateral organizations were supported as a tool to strengthen Russia's donor role, learn international practices, and reduce corruption risks. Most of the interviewees had little knowledge of the Russian ODA, but they thought it was matching the national interests, and were interested to learn more on ODA. A need to inform the general public about Russia's donor role was highlighted. The nationwide survey included 1503 respondents from 96 cities and 35 rural settlements located in 44 regions of Russia. The sample was nationally representative of the Russian adult population (aged 18 years and older). The survey showed that 3/4 of the population approve Russia's development aid to the poorest countries with preferred areas of Russia support being countries affected by natural disasters (64 percent support) and poor CIS countries (22 percent). Potential assistance could be provided in a form of sending Russian specialists to work in developing countries (58 percent); educating their students in Russia (51 percent); and supplying food and equipment at subsidized prices (30 percent). Medical care, access to basic education, and developing industrial facilities and infrastructure are seen as the areas of most effective assistance. Russia ODA collaboration with multilateral organizations is also seen favourably. Motivation of Russia ODA in the views of the respondents included: (i) shared moral responsibility for reduction of extreme poverty in developing countries; (ii) expansion of the circle of countries friendly to Russia; (iii) reduction the threat of terrorism and drug traffic between Russia and neighboring countries; and (iv) increase of Russia's influence and prestige in the world.

In the new issue, our scientific journal offers you thirteen scientific articles. As always, we try to offer a wide variety of topics and areas and follow current trends in the history of science and technology. In the article by Olha Chumachenko, оn the basis of a wide base of sources, the article highlights and analyzes the development of research work of aircraft engine companies in Zaporizhzhia during the 1970s. The existence of a single system of functioning of the Zaporizhzhia production association "Motorobudivnyk" (now the Public Joint Stock Company "Motor Sich") and the Zaporizhzhia Machine-Building Design Bureau "Progress" (now the State Enterprise "Ivchenko – Progress") has been taken into account. Leonid Griffen and Nadiia Ryzheva present their vision of the essence of technology as a socio-historical phenomenon. The article reveals the authors' vision of the essence of the technology as a sociohistorical phenomenon. It is based on the idea that technology is not only a set of technical devices but a segment of the general system – a society – located between a social medium and its natural surroundings in the form of a peculiar social technosphere, which simultaneously separates and connects them. Definitely the article by Denis Kislov, which examines the period from the end of the XVII century to the beginning of the XIX century, is also of interest, when on the basis of deep philosophical concepts, a new vision of the development of statehood and human values raised. At this time, a certain re-thinking of the management and communication ideas of Antiquity and the Renaissance took place, which outlined the main promising trends in the statehood evolution, which to one degree or another were embodied in practice in the 19th and 20th centuries. A systematic approach and a comparative analysis of the causes and consequences of those years' achievements for the present and the immediate future of the 21st century served as the methodological basis for a comprehensive review of the studies of that period. The article by Serhii Paliienko is devoted to an exploration of archaeological theory issues at the Institute of archaeology AS UkrSSR in the 1960s. This period is one of the worst studied in the history of Soviet archaeology. But it was the time when in the USSR archaeological researches reached the summit, quantitative methods and methods of natural sciences were applied and interest in theoretical issues had grown in archaeology. Now there are a lot of publications dedicated to theoretical discussions between archaeologists from Leningrad but the same researches about Kyiv scholars are still unknown The legacy of St.Luke in medical science, authors from Greece - this study aims to highlight key elements of the life of Valentyn Feliksovych Voino-Yasenetskyi and his scientific contribution to medicine. Among the scientists of European greatness, who at the turn of the XIX and XX centuries showed interest to the folklore of Galicia (Halychyna) and Galician Ukrainians, contributed to their national and cultural revival, one of the leading places is occupied by the outstanding Ukrainian scientist Ivan Verkhratskyi. He was both naturalist and philologist, as well as folklorist and ethnographer, organizer of scientific work, publisher and popularizer of Ukrainian literature, translator, publicist and famous public figure. I.H.Verkhratskyi was also an outstanding researcher of plants and animals of Eastern Galicia, a connoisseur of insects, especially butterflies, the author of the first school textbooks on natural science written in Ukrainian. A new emerging field that has seen the application of the drone technology is the healthcare sector. Over the years, the health sector has increasingly relied on the device for timely transportation of essential articles across the globe. Since its introduction in health, scholars have attempted to address the impact of drones on healthcare across Africa and the world at large. Among other things, it has been reported by scholars that the device has the ability to overcome the menace of weather constraints, inadequate personnel and inaccessible roads within the healthcare sector. This notwithstanding, data on drones and drone application in Ghana and her healthcare sector in particular appears to be little within the drone literature. Also, little attempt has been made by scholars to highlight the use of drones in African countries. By using a narrative review approach, the current study attempts to address the gap above. By this approach, a thorough literature search was performed to locate and assess scientific materials involving the application of drones in the military field and in the medical systems of Africans and Ghanaians in particular. The paper by Artemii Bernatskyi and Vladyslav Khaskin is devoted to the analysis of the history of the laser creation as one of the greatest technical inventions of the 20th century. This paper focuses on establishing a relation between the periodization of the stages of creation and implementation of certain types of lasers, with their influence on the invention of certain types of equipment and industrial technologies for processing the materials, the development of certain branches of the economy, and scientific-technological progress as a whole. The paper discusses the stages of: invention of the first laser; creation of the first commercial lasers; development of the first applications of lasers in industrial technologies for processing the materials. Special attention is paid to the "patent wars" that accompanied different stages of the creation of lasers. A comparative analysis of the market development for laser technology from the stage of creation to the present has been carried out. Nineteenth-century world exhibitions were platforms to demonstrate technical and technological changes that witnessed the modernization and industrialization of the world. World exhibitions have contributed to the promotion of new inventions and the popularization of already known, as well as the emergence of art objects of world importance. One of the most important world events at the turn of the century was the 1900 World's Fair in Paris. Thus, the author has tried to analyze the participation of representatives of the sugar industry in the World's Fair in 1900 and to define the role of exhibitions as indicators of economic development, to show the importance and influence of private entrepreneurs, especially from Ukraine, on the sugar industry and international contacts. The article by Viktor Verhunov highlights the life and creative path of the outstanding domestic scientist, theorist, methodologist and practitioner of agricultural engineering K.G.Schindler, associated with the formation of agricultural mechanics in Ukraine. The methodological foundation of the research is the principles of historicism, scientific nature and objectivity in reproducing the phenomena of the past based on the complex use of general scientific, special, interdisciplinary methods. For the first time a number of documents from Russian and Ukrainian archives, which reflect some facts of the professional biography of the scientist, were introduced into scientific circulation. The authors from Kremenchuk National University named after Mykhailo Ostrohradskyi presented a fascinating study of a bayonet fragment with severe damages of metal found in the city Kremenchuk (Ukraine) in one of the canals on the outskirts of the city, near the Dnipro River. Theoretical research to study blade weapons of the World War I period and the typology of the bayonets of that period, which made it possible to put forward an assumption about the possible identification of the object as a modified bayonet to the Mauser rifle has been carried out. Metal science expert examination was based on X-ray fluorescence spectrometry to determine the concentration of elements in the sample from the cleaned part of the blade. In the article by Mykola Ruban and Vadym Ponomarenko on the basis of the complex analysis of sources and scientific literature the attempt to investigate historical circumstances of development and construction of shunting electric locomotives at the Dnipropetrovsk electric locomotive plant has been made. The next scientific article continues the series of publications devoted to the assessment of activities of the heads of the Ministry of Railways of the Russian Empire. In this article, the authors have attempted to systematize and analyze historical data on the activities of Klavdii Semyonovych Nemeshaev as the Minister of Railways of the Russian Empire. The article also assesses the development and construction of railway network in the Russian Empire during Nemeshaev's office, in particular, of the Amur Line and Moscow Encircle Railway, as well as the increase in the capacity of the Trans-Siberian Railway. The article discusses K.S.Nemeshaev's contribution to the development of technology and the introduction of a new type of freight steam locomotive for state-owned railways. We hope that everyone will find interesting useful information in the new issue. And, of course, we welcome your new submissions. ; In the new issue, our scientific journal offers you thirteen scientific articles. As always, we try to offer a wide variety of topics and areas and follow current trends in the history of science and technology. In the article by Olha Chumachenko, оn the basis of a wide base of sources, the article highlights and analyzes the development of research work of aircraft engine companies in Zaporizhzhia during the 1970s. The existence of a single system of functioning of the Zaporizhzhia production association "Motorobudivnyk" (now the Public Joint Stock Company "Motor Sich") and the Zaporizhzhia Machine-Building Design Bureau "Progress" (now the State Enterprise "Ivchenko – Progress") has been taken into account. Leonid Griffen and Nadiia Ryzheva present their vision of the essence of technology as a socio-historical phenomenon. The article reveals the authors' vision of the essence of the technology as a sociohistorical phenomenon. It is based on the idea that technology is not only a set of technical devices but a segment of the general system – a society – located between a social medium and its natural surroundings in the form of a peculiar social technosphere, which simultaneously separates and connects them. Definitely the article by Denis Kislov, which examines the period from the end of the XVII century to the beginning of the XIX century, is also of interest, when on the basis of deep philosophical concepts, a new vision of the development of statehood and human values raised. At this time, a certain re-thinking of the management and communication ideas of Antiquity and the Renaissance took place, which outlined the main promising trends in the statehood evolution, which to one degree or another were embodied in practice in the 19th and 20th centuries. A systematic approach and a comparative analysis of the causes and consequences of those years' achievements for the present and the immediate future of the 21st century served as the methodological basis for a comprehensive review of the studies of that period. The article by Serhii Paliienko is devoted to an exploration of archaeological theory issues at the Institute of archaeology AS UkrSSR in the 1960s. This period is one of the worst studied in the history of Soviet archaeology. But it was the time when in the USSR archaeological researches reached the summit, quantitative methods and methods of natural sciences were applied and interest in theoretical issues had grown in archaeology. Now there are a lot of publications dedicated to theoretical discussions between archaeologists from Leningrad but the same researches about Kyiv scholars are still unknown The legacy of St.Luke in medical science, authors from Greece - this study aims to highlight key elements of the life of Valentyn Feliksovych Voino-Yasenetskyi and his scientific contribution to medicine. Among the scientists of European greatness, who at the turn of the XIX and XX centuries showed interest to the folklore of Galicia (Halychyna) and Galician Ukrainians, contributed to their national and cultural revival, one of the leading places is occupied by the outstanding Ukrainian scientist Ivan Verkhratskyi. He was both naturalist and philologist, as well as folklorist and ethnographer, organizer of scientific work, publisher and popularizer of Ukrainian literature, translator, publicist and famous public figure. I.H.Verkhratskyi was also an outstanding researcher of plants and animals of Eastern Galicia, a connoisseur of insects, especially butterflies, the author of the first school textbooks on natural science written in Ukrainian. A new emerging field that has seen the application of the drone technology is the healthcare sector. Over the years, the health sector has increasingly relied on the device for timely transportation of essential articles across the globe. Since its introduction in health, scholars have attempted to address the impact of drones on healthcare across Africa and the world at large. Among other things, it has been reported by scholars that the device has the ability to overcome the menace of weather constraints, inadequate personnel and inaccessible roads within the healthcare sector. This notwithstanding, data on drones and drone application in Ghana and her healthcare sector in particular appears to be little within the drone literature. Also, little attempt has been made by scholars to highlight the use of drones in African countries. By using a narrative review approach, the current study attempts to address the gap above. By this approach, a thorough literature search was performed to locate and assess scientific materials involving the application of drones in the military field and in the medical systems of Africans and Ghanaians in particular. The paper by Artemii Bernatskyi and Vladyslav Khaskin is devoted to the analysis of the history of the laser creation as one of the greatest technical inventions of the 20th century. This paper focuses on establishing a relation between the periodization of the stages of creation and implementation of certain types of lasers, with their influence on the invention of certain types of equipment and industrial technologies for processing the materials, the development of certain branches of the economy, and scientific-technological progress as a whole. The paper discusses the stages of: invention of the first laser; creation of the first commercial lasers; development of the first applications of lasers in industrial technologies for processing the materials. Special attention is paid to the "patent wars" that accompanied different stages of the creation of lasers. A comparative analysis of the market development for laser technology from the stage of creation to the present has been carried out. Nineteenth-century world exhibitions were platforms to demonstrate technical and technological changes that witnessed the modernization and industrialization of the world. World exhibitions have contributed to the promotion of new inventions and the popularization of already known, as well as the emergence of art objects of world importance. One of the most important world events at the turn of the century was the 1900 World's Fair in Paris. Thus, the author has tried to analyze the participation of representatives of the sugar industry in the World's Fair in 1900 and to define the role of exhibitions as indicators of economic development, to show the importance and influence of private entrepreneurs, especially from Ukraine, on the sugar industry and international contacts. The article by Viktor Verhunov highlights the life and creative path of the outstanding domestic scientist, theorist, methodologist and practitioner of agricultural engineering K.G.Schindler, associated with the formation of agricultural mechanics in Ukraine. The methodological foundation of the research is the principles of historicism, scientific nature and objectivity in reproducing the phenomena of the past based on the complex use of general scientific, special, interdisciplinary methods. For the first time a number of documents from Russian and Ukrainian archives, which reflect some facts of the professional biography of the scientist, were introduced into scientific circulation. The authors from Kremenchuk National University named after Mykhailo Ostrohradskyi presented a fascinating study of a bayonet fragment with severe damages of metal found in the city Kremenchuk (Ukraine) in one of the canals on the outskirts of the city, near the Dnipro River. Theoretical research to study blade weapons of the World War I period and the typology of the bayonets of that period, which made it possible to put forward an assumption about the possible identification of the object as a modified bayonet to the Mauser rifle has been carried out. Metal science expert examination was based on X-ray fluorescence spectrometry to determine the concentration of elements in the sample from the cleaned part of the blade. In the article by Mykola Ruban and Vadym Ponomarenko on the basis of the complex analysis of sources and scientific literature the attempt to investigate historical circumstances of development and construction of shunting electric locomotives at the Dnipropetrovsk electric locomotive plant has been made. The next scientific article continues the series of publications devoted to the assessment of activities of the heads of the Ministry of Railways of the Russian Empire. In this article, the authors have attempted to systematize and analyze historical data on the activities of Klavdii Semyonovych Nemeshaev as the Minister of Railways of the Russian Empire. The article also assesses the development and construction of railway network in the Russian Empire during Nemeshaev's office, in particular, of the Amur Line and Moscow Encircle Railway, as well as the increase in the capacity of the Trans-Siberian Railway. The article discusses K.S.Nemeshaev's contribution to the development of technology and the introduction of a new type of freight steam locomotive for state-owned railways. We hope that everyone will find interesting useful information in the new issue. And, of course, we welcome your new submissions. ; In the new issue, our scientific journal offers you thirteen scientific articles. As always, we try to offer a wide variety of topics and areas and follow current trends in the history of science and technology. In the article by Olha Chumachenko, оn the basis of a wide base of sources, the article highlights and analyzes the development of research work of aircraft engine companies in Zaporizhzhia during the 1970s. The existence of a single system of functioning of the Zaporizhzhia production association "Motorobudivnyk" (now the Public Joint Stock Company "Motor Sich") and the Zaporizhzhia Machine-Building Design Bureau "Progress" (now the State Enterprise "Ivchenko – Progress") has been taken into account. Leonid Griffen and Nadiia Ryzheva present their vision of the essence of technology as a socio-historical phenomenon. The article reveals the authors' vision of the essence of the technology as a sociohistorical phenomenon. It is based on the idea that technology is not only a set of technical devices but a segment of the general system – a society – located between a social medium and its natural surroundings in the form of a peculiar social technosphere, which simultaneously separates and connects them. Definitely the article by Denis Kislov, which examines the period from the end of the XVII century to the beginning of the XIX century, is also of interest, when on the basis of deep philosophical concepts, a new vision of the development of statehood and human values raised. At this time, a certain re-thinking of the management and communication ideas of Antiquity and the Renaissance took place, which outlined the main promising trends in the statehood evolution, which to one degree or another were embodied in practice in the 19th and 20th centuries. A systematic approach and a comparative analysis of the causes and consequences of those years' achievements for the present and the immediate future of the 21st century served as the methodological basis for a comprehensive review of the studies of that period. The article by Serhii Paliienko is devoted to an exploration of archaeological theory issues at the Institute of archaeology AS UkrSSR in the 1960s. This period is one of the worst studied in the history of Soviet archaeology. But it was the time when in the USSR archaeological researches reached the summit, quantitative methods and methods of natural sciences were applied and interest in theoretical issues had grown in archaeology. Now there are a lot of publications dedicated to theoretical discussions between archaeologists from Leningrad but the same researches about Kyiv scholars are still unknown The legacy of St.Luke in medical science, authors from Greece - this study aims to highlight key elements of the life of Valentyn Feliksovych Voino-Yasenetskyi and his scientific contribution to medicine. Among the scientists of European greatness, who at the turn of the XIX and XX centuries showed interest to the folklore of Galicia (Halychyna) and Galician Ukrainians, contributed to their national and cultural revival, one of the leading places is occupied by the outstanding Ukrainian scientist Ivan Verkhratskyi. He was both naturalist and philologist, as well as folklorist and ethnographer, organizer of scientific work, publisher and popularizer of Ukrainian literature, translator, publicist and famous public figure. I.H.Verkhratskyi was also an outstanding researcher of plants and animals of Eastern Galicia, a connoisseur of insects, especially butterflies, the author of the first school textbooks on natural science written in Ukrainian. A new emerging field that has seen the application of the drone technology is the healthcare sector. Over the years, the health sector has increasingly relied on the device for timely transportation of essential articles across the globe. Since its introduction in health, scholars have attempted to address the impact of drones on healthcare across Africa and the world at large. Among other things, it has been reported by scholars that the device has the ability to overcome the menace of weather constraints, inadequate personnel and inaccessible roads within the healthcare sector. This notwithstanding, data on drones and drone application in Ghana and her healthcare sector in particular appears to be little within the drone literature. Also, little attempt has been made by scholars to highlight the use of drones in African countries. By using a narrative review approach, the current study attempts to address the gap above. By this approach, a thorough literature search was performed to locate and assess scientific materials involving the application of drones in the military field and in the medical systems of Africans and Ghanaians in particular. The paper by Artemii Bernatskyi and Vladyslav Khaskin is devoted to the analysis of the history of the laser creation as one of the greatest technical inventions of the 20th century. This paper focuses on establishing a relation between the periodization of the stages of creation and implementation of certain types of lasers, with their influence on the invention of certain types of equipment and industrial technologies for processing the materials, the development of certain branches of the economy, and scientific-technological progress as a whole. The paper discusses the stages of: invention of the first laser; creation of the first commercial lasers; development of the first applications of lasers in industrial technologies for processing the materials. Special attention is paid to the "patent wars" that accompanied different stages of the creation of lasers. A comparative analysis of the market development for laser technology from the stage of creation to the present has been carried out. Nineteenth-century world exhibitions were platforms to demonstrate technical and technological changes that witnessed the modernization and industrialization of the world. World exhibitions have contributed to the promotion of new inventions and the popularization of already known, as well as the emergence of art objects of world importance. One of the most important world events at the turn of the century was the 1900 World's Fair in Paris. Thus, the author has tried to analyze the participation of representatives of the sugar industry in the World's Fair in 1900 and to define the role of exhibitions as indicators of economic development, to show the importance and influence of private entrepreneurs, especially from Ukraine, on the sugar industry and international contacts. The article by Viktor Verhunov highlights the life and creative path of the outstanding domestic scientist, theorist, methodologist and practitioner of agricultural engineering K.G.Schindler, associated with the formation of agricultural mechanics in Ukraine. The methodological foundation of the research is the principles of historicism, scientific nature and objectivity in reproducing the phenomena of the past based on the complex use of general scientific, special, interdisciplinary methods. For the first time a number of documents from Russian and Ukrainian archives, which reflect some facts of the professional biography of the scientist, were introduced into scientific circulation. The authors from Kremenchuk National University named after Mykhailo Ostrohradskyi presented a fascinating study of a bayonet fragment with severe damages of metal found in the city Kremenchuk (Ukraine) in one of the canals on the outskirts of the city, near the Dnipro River. Theoretical research to study blade weapons of the World War I period and the typology of the bayonets of that period, which made it possible to put forward an assumption about the possible identification of the object as a modified bayonet to the Mauser rifle has been carried out. Metal science expert examination was based on X-ray fluorescence spectrometry to determine the concentration of elements in the sample from the cleaned part of the blade. In the article by Mykola Ruban and Vadym Ponomarenko on the basis of the complex analysis of sources and scientific literature the attempt to investigate historical circumstances of development and construction of shunting electric locomotives at the Dnipropetrovsk electric locomotive plant has been made. The next scientific article continues the series of publications devoted to the assessment of activities of the heads of the Ministry of Railways of the Russian Empire. In this article, the authors have attempted to systematize and analyze historical data on the activities of Klavdii Semyonovych Nemeshaev as the Minister of Railways of the Russian Empire. The article also assesses the development and construction of railway network in the Russian Empire during Nemeshaev's office, in particular, of the Amur Line and Moscow Encircle Railway, as well as the increase in the capacity of the Trans-Siberian Railway. The article discusses K.S.Nemeshaev's contribution to the development of technology and the introduction of a new type of freight steam locomotive for state-owned railways. We hope that everyone will find interesting useful information in the new issue. And, of course, we welcome your new submissions.

Why countries colonize the lands of indigenous people Over the past few centuries, vast areas of the world have been violently colonized by settlers. But why did states like Australia and the United States stop settling frontier lands during the twentieth century? At the same time, why did states loudly committed to decolonization like Indonesia and China start settling the lands of such minorities as the West Papuans and Uyghurs? Settling for Less traces this bewildering historical reversal, explaining when and why indigenous peoples suffer displacement at the hands of settlers.Lachlan McNamee challenges the notion that settler colonialism can be explained by economics or racial ideologies. He tells a more complex story about state building and the conflicts of interest between indigenous peoples, states, and settlers. Drawing from a rich array of historical evidence, McNamee shows that states generally colonize frontier areas in response to security concerns. Elite schemes to populate contested frontiers with loyal settlers, however, often fail. As societies grow wealthier and cities increasingly become magnets for migration, states ultimately lose the power to settle frontier lands.Settling for Less uncovers the internal dynamics of settler colonialism and the diminishing power of colonizers in a rapidly urbanizing world. Contrasting successful and failed colonization projects in Australia, Indonesia, China, and beyond, this book demonstrates that economic development—by thwarting colonization—has proven a powerful force for indigenous self-determination

This article uses survey data from Ecuador to examine the effects of women's employment on the allocation of paid and unpaid labor within the household. The reader compares a region with high demand for female labor with a similar region in which demand for female labor is low. The comparison suggests that market labor opportunities for women have no effect on women's total time in labor but increase men's time in unpaid labor. The increase in men's time in unpaid work reflects women's increased bargaining power in the home.

Part I. Theoretical Foundations of Risk Management in Support of Sustainable Development -- SDGs Risks and Digital Approach to Managing Them -- Macroeconomic Risks of Sustainable Development: Features of Developed and Developing Countries -- The Contribution of Digital Technologies to Management of Sustainable Development Risks -- Innovative Development of Kazakhstan as an Experience for the Economic Development of Russia -- Reducing the Digital Divide as a Mechanism to Ensure Sustainable Economic and Social Development -- The Role of Blockchain in Public Administration in the Field of Economic Activity -- Trends in Dispute Resolution in E-Commerce: China's Experience -- Transformation of Settlement Relations in the Context of Industry 4.0: Conversion of Blockchain Club's Crypto-codes into Legitimate Analogues -- Possibilities and Threats of Digitalization for Society -- Integration into Global Value Chains as a Driver of High Technology Exports Development in China -- Regional Aspects of Ensuring Security and Development of Entrepreneurship in the Digital Economy -- Strategic Management of Innovation-Oriented Activities of Business Structures, Taking into Account Noospheric and Sustainable Development Approaches Transformed on an Advanced Methodological Basis -- The Methodology of "Smart City" in the Experience of Theoretical Organization of Knowledge of Contemporary Urban Epistemology -- Assessment of the Risks of Transition from a Global Pandemic Crisis to a Model of Long-Term Economic Growth -- Remote Justice Procedures during the COVID-19 Pandemic in the Russian Federation -- National Health as a Condition and Factor of Economic Growth: Legal Aspects -- The COVID-19 Pandemic and Crisis as a Source of Global Risks to Sustainable Development -- The Economic Impact of COVID-19 on the Development of Tour Operating in the Siberian and Far Eastern Federal Districts -- Methodological Approaches to Risk Assessment of the Implementation of State Programs and their State Financing in the Field of Healthcare in the Regions of Russia -- The Impact of COVID-19 on the Economies of Petroleum-Exporting Middle Eastern Countries -- The Impact of COVID-19 on Global Socio-economic Spheres and International Migration -- Development of the Pharmaceutical Industry: Current Trends and the Role of China -- Optimization Diagnosis of Spasm of Accommodation Among Students in the Osh State University -- Electronic Evidence in the Civil Proceedings: The Experience of the Republic of Korea -- Reshaping The Institution of Liability in International Space Law -- International Legal Challenges to Biotechnological Products -- Problems and Prospects for the Use of Electronic (Digital) Evidence in Arbitration Proceedings -- New Forms of Dispute Resolution in the Russian Federation as a Reflection of Innovation in Law Enforcement: Platform Justice -- Legal Assessment of Objective and Subjective Justifiable Defense Signs -- Specifics of Preventive Visit as a Type of Preventive Measures (Using the Example of the Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing) -- Comparison of Legal Regulation of Expense Accounting in the Russian Federation and the People's Republic of China -- Mechanisms of the Legal Management of Sustainable Development Risks at the Macro Level of Economic Systems -- Protecting Social Rights in an Era of Economic Change -- A Universal Human Rights Mechanism for the Protection or Revision of the Institution of Family in an Era of Economic Change -- Trends of the Russian Labor Legislation Development in the Era of Great Challenges -- Impact of Customs and Tariff Regulation on Economic Security -- Customs and Tariff Regulation of the Eurasian Economic Union in the Context of New Geo-economic Realities and Challenges to Industry -- On the Indicative Approach to Assessing International Trade Within the EAEU -- Russian-Azerbaijani Bilateral Trade Cooperation in Terms of Eurasian Integration -- A Feasibility Study of China-EAEU Free Trade Agreement -- Dollarization in Ecuador, Economic Growth, Trade Balance, Impact on Ecuadorian Foreign Trade -- Integration Processes and the Economy of Peru: Current Trends -- The Impact of Socio-economic Inequality on the Relations Between the European Union Countries and the Assessment of Strategic Areas for its Reduction -- Development of the Institute of Customs Representatives in the Republic of Kazakhstan -- The Impact and Role of Foreign Direct Investment in the Modernization of China's Automotive Industry -- Economic Cooperation of the Levant Countries: Main Directions and Opportunities -- EAEU and BRI: Current Prospects of Mutual Cooperation -- Assessing the Economic Positions of the European Union Countries in the Context of Transforming Foreign Economic Relations and Implementing a New Industrial Strategy for Europe -- Geo-economic Interests of the Republic of Turkey in the Republic of Uzbekistan -- Rethinking the Potential of the International Transport Corridor "North-South" in Sustaining Russia's Foreign Trade -- Prospects of the Khorgos Free Economic Zone -- Part II. Applied Aspects of Risk Management in Support of Sustainable Development -- Philosophy of System Sustainable Development of Economic Systems from the Position of the Noospheric Approach -- Philosophy of Sustainable Development Risks Through the Lens of the SDGs -- Sociology of Sustainable Development: the Role of Responsible Communities in the Achievement of the SDGs and the Advantages for the Quality of Life -- Social Aspects of the Sustainable Development Risks: Social Support for Responsible Innovations vs. "Human Factor" as a Barrier on the Path of Their Implementation -- Matrix of Risks for Sustainable Development and the Universal Mechanisms of Risk Management of Implementing the SDGs -- Risks of Region's Sustainable Development: a Systemic View from the Position of Society, Economy and Law -- The Risks of Implementing and Managing the SDGs in the Company's Activities: a Case Study by the Example of the Largest Companies of Russia -- The Importance of the International Policy of Globalisation and Open Economy to the Reduction of the Global Risks for Sustainable Development -- The Role of the State Management Institutions in the Reduction of the Macro-Economic Risks for Sustainable Development -- Innovations as the Basis for Managing the Region's Sustainable Development Risks -- Corporate Social Responsibility to Manage the Risks to the Achievement of the SDGs in the Entrepreneurial Activities -- Social Entrepreneurship as an Institute of Sustainable Development Risk Management -- Modern Issues in Sustainability Reporting -- Assessment of the Strain-stress Distribution in the Vicinity Conceding Mountainside's Scarp using Mathematical Modeling -- Marketing Mix of a Responsible Company to Manage the Risks to the Achievement of the SDGs -- The Role of Personnel Training in Higher Education and HRM to Reduce the Sustainable Development Risks -- Values of Modern Organizations and Social Responsibility of Scientific Institutions -- Regulatory and Legal Provision of Sustainable Development Risk Management in the Agro-Industrial Complex: an Overview of International Experience -- Theoretical Basis of Risk Management in Manufacturing Enterprises -- Problems of Increasing Investment Attractiveness of the Agro-Industrial Complex of the Kyrgyz Republic and Ways to Solve Them -- The Impact of Sharp Fluctuations in Global Crude Petroleum Prices on the World Economy -- International Production in the Russian Automotive Industry -- Regression Analysis of the Development Indicators of Light Industry in Kyrgyzstan -- Development of the Competitiveness of Integrated Sectors of the Economy in the Market of Goods and Services -- Research on the Behavior of Online Consumers in the Global Internet Space -- Creation of a SaaS-System for Image Analysis in Agriculture Using Artificial Intelligence Methods -- Development of the Recycling Sector and its Marketing Support as a Factor in the Sustainable Development of the Forestry Sector of the Economy -- The Influence of Macroeconomic Factors on the Art Market (on the Example of International Sales of the MacDougall's Auction House) -- Transformation of the Structure of the Cross-border Agri-food Value Chain -- Middle East Energy Policy Transformation: Saudi Case -- Reflections of Gender Inequality in Language and Culture -- Integral Assessment of Labor Potential of the Region in the Age of Digital Economy -- The Model for Assessing the Professional Competencies of Employees in Today's Labor Market -- Influence of Parents on Formation of National Consciousness of a Teenager -- On the Etymology of the Kyrgyz Names of Dwelling and Family from the Point of View of the Theory of Linguo-Regional Unity of the Altai and Chinese Peoples -- Labor Migrants in the Economy of GCC Countries: History, Modernity, Problems, and Perspectives -- Titulature in the Text of the Epic "Manas" and "Babur's Notes" as a Source of Information About the Social Institutions of the Central Asian Region -- Monohexamethylenetetramine Zinc Iodide Complex Compound for Cotton Growth and Development Stimulation: Advantages in the Labor Market -- Assessment of Social Security of the Population of Federal Districts -- On the Reflexes of the Ancient Root "But" [Foot] in Nostratic Languages -- Social Unemployment Insurance Systems in China and Russia: Comparative Characteristics -- Instrumental Competencies of Linguists in an Undergraduate Degree -- Ethnonyms as Concepts of Foreign Culture in the Text of a Fiction -- Challenges Affecting Listening Comprehension in Professionally-Oriented English and the Strategies for Improvement (Railway Engineering) -- Translation of Structures with Social and Grammatical Gender in the English Language (based on Feature Film Scripts) -- Humanistic Philosophical Foundations of Social Work -- Quantitative Tool.

Tese de doutoramento em Direitos Humanos nas Sociedades Contemporâneas, apresentada ao Instituto de Investigação Interdisciplinar da Universidade de Coimbra ; The current democratization of Mozambique has to be described and analyzed in relation to a vast array of existing mechanisms of citizen consultation and participation at local level. This has entailed electoral citizen-centric processes, negotiations, and discourses on development plans, concomitant with budget allocations devised to ensure consensual decision-making. There is strong evidence in the literature to show that participatory governance mechanisms directly contribute to deepening local democracy in cities and municipalities that have adopted it around the world. Consequently, its adoption and implementation became increasingly in many countries and is being taken to sustain administrative and political reforms throughout developing countries. However, whereas there is extensive literature on the topic of local democracy, participatory budgeting concerning the rights to municipal and urban development remains one of the most under-explored aspects of democratic decentralization (Cabannes & Delgado 2015; Chigbu et al. 2017). Yet, it is crucial that if we are to understand how decentralization contributes to the promotion of urban development, two aspects of human rights pertinent to urban development are essential, they are the right to the city and inclusionary rights to urban planning. The main purpose of this doctoral dissertation is to examine the socioeconomic and political role played by citizens and a set of local actors (civil society organizations; local consultative councils; public participation professionals; NGOs; local government; and private sector) through participatory processes that promote urban development and social well-being in Mozambique. It demonstrates how the mechanism of decentralization has contributed to enhancing the protection of right to the city and the promotion of local democracy. The dissertation questions a variety of concepts and methods, from the social and economic perspective to the political relationships among the actors involved. Furthermore, it presents how the citizens' rights to participate in public affairs is granted and promoted through bottom-up democratic innovations, and its interactions with the top-down mechanisms. Its methodological approach is based on transnational models of citizen participation in urban affairs proposed by Sintomer et al., (2012; 2013) and Arnstein (1969)' ladder of citizen participation, to study the degrees of citizen involvement in municipal planning and participatory budgeting. The dissertation explored two case studies: the urban planning in Maxixe in the south and, the Quelimane participatory budgeting in central Mozambique. Due to the aims of this dissertation and its adopted methodology, the practical research is based on data collection from secondary sources; and participatory action research that explored the role played by all stakeholders who operate significant social changes in both Maxixe and Quelimane. The researcher spent eight months observing local dynamics, attending public consultation meetings and addressing questions and issues relevant to the study. To analyse the complex framework of this study, the researcher applied grounded theory and document analysis because it allows departure from the case study to the conception of a theory during data analysis. Based on the analyses made, this dissertation argues that, despite the great emancipatory capacity tied to participatory budgeting process in Mozambique and the actions taken to promote citizens' engagement in urban development, the rights to participate in the conception, management and enjoyment of the city is stratified upon territorial asymmetry and thus is not equally granted to all Mozambican citizens. Consequently, there are social resentment and a potential conflict of interests which may turn into a total distrust of the democratic institutions and its incumbents resulting from the degree of non-participation. Even though the idea of participatory budgeting in Mozambique is usually associated with a mechanism of social and economic development, in practice, the local participatory budgeting process is not necessarily linked to the promotion of urban development or to the citizens' rights to the city. It is oriented to operate inter-institutional innovations and modernization of the public administration procedures in line with the process of decentralization, deconcentration and local power sharing. Therefore, the citizen involvement in the urban affairs is restricted to a symbolic act of consultation (direct or by representation) to legitimating the urban planning and activities. Given this situation, citizens are powerless to influence and change the decisions already taken. In fact, Mozambique is yet to promote and secure full citizenship rights to the city and urban development. ; O atual processo de democratização em Moçambique deve ser visto na sua relação com os inúmeros mecanismos de consulta e participação pública nas deliberações locais, visíveis num processo eleitoral baseado no indivíduo, nas negociações e discussões dos planos de desenvolvimento e os respetivos orçamentos. Há evidências na literatura que comprovam que os mecanismos de governação participativa contribuem diretamente para o aperfeiçoamento da democracia local nas cidades e municípios que os implementam. Consequentemente, a sua adoção e implementação tem sido expressiva em vários países, particularmente naqueles em vias de desenvolvimento. Contrariamente ao que se passa com a democracia local, o orçamento participativo na sua dimensão do direito à cidade, é um aspeto ainda pouco explorado e estudado (Cabannes & Delgado 2015; Chigbu et al. 2017). O orçamento participativo é crucial para a forma como a descentralização contribui para a promoção de duas questões dos direitos humanos pertinentes nesta tese – direito à cidade e os respetivos direitos a planificação e desenvolvimento urbano. O objetivo desta tese de doutoramento é o de examinar, através dos orçamentos participativos, o papel social, económico e político dos cidadãos e dos diversos atores locais, na proteção e promoção do direito à cidade, à democracia local, ao desenvolvimento urbano e ao bem-estar social em Moçambique. As questões aqui discutidas levam-nos a questionar diversos conceitos e modelos, desde a perspetiva social e económica ao relacionamento político dos atores envolvidos. Nestes termos, pretende apurar-se de que modo o direito à participação nas questões locais é promovido e concedido a partir de inovações democráticas ascendentes (dos cidadãos em relação ao estado), e a sua interação com os mecanismos do estado (em relação aos cidadãos). Deste modo, recorre-se à uma abordagem baseada nos modelos transnacionais de participação cidadã concebido por Sintomer et al., (2012; 2013) e a escala de participação de Arnstein (1969), para descrever o grau de envolvimento dos cidadãos nos planos municipais e nos orçamentos participativos. Entretanto, foram conduzidos dois estudos de caso, a saber: a participação cidadã nos planos de desenvolvimento urbano no município da Maxixe no sul, e nos orçamentos participativos em Quelimane, no centro de Moçambique. Para os objetivos desta tese e a metodologia aqui proposta, a pesquisa consistiu em recolha de dados secundários e primários obtidos através da pesquisa-ação participativa, com o objetivo de apurar o papel dos atores locais de desenvolvimento e o grau do seu envolvimento nas questões locais em Maxixe e Quelimane. Para tal, observaram-se as dinâmicas locais através de participação em reuniões de consultas públicas. E, na sua analise, recorreu-se a teoria fundamentada nos dados do estudo de caso. Deste modo, o estudo conclui que, apesar do grande potencial emancipador dos orçamentos participativos em Moçambique e as ações objetivas de promoção do engajamento dos cidadãos no desenvolvimento urbano, o direito à participação na conceção, gestão e ''usufruto'' da vida na cidade não é universalmente garantido a todos os Moçambicanos. Isto ocorre sobretudo porque os mecanismos locais de participação tendem a ser estratificados com base em assimetrias territoriais. Desta forma, como resultado da não participação cidadã, é evidente a existência de descontentamento social e de um potencial conflito de interesses que pode resultar num total descrédito dos cidadãos em relação as instituições democráticas e aos seus incumbentes. Apesar da narrativa criada à volta do orçamento participativo em Moçambique estar ''sempre'' associada ao desenvolvimento económico, social, e político, na prática, apresenta evidências pouco significativas da sua ligação ao desenvolvimento urbano e ao direito à cidade. Por outro lado, constatam-se evidências da sua orientação para a modernização dos procedimentos internos da administração pública, aperfeiçoamento e reforço da partilha de poder pelos atores locais. Por conseguinte, o envolvimento dos cidadãos nas questões locais é restrito ao âmbito de uma consulta pública frágil, que legitima os planos e as atividades dos governos locais. Deste modo, a participação pública em Moçambique está longe de garantir plenos direitos aos cidadãos. ; Tokyo Foundation; The Nippon Foundation; Sylff Scholarship; Governo do Distrito da Massinga (Moçambique); Cáritas de Coimbra

This thesis focuses on the role of forests and forest management in providing global environmental and climate services. The study analyzes multiple dimensions of forest-sector policy development, with a special focus on interactions between policies, livelihoods and land-use processes at sub-national levels in Vietnam. The Lam Dong and Bac Kan provinces are considered to be representative of the variations in forest-cover dynamics in the country, namely those of a frontier (deforestation) zone, and a forest mosaic (reforestation) zone. The study applied interdisciplinary conceptual frameworks, including institutional theory, political ecology and livelihoods theory, to investigate the research objectives. It also used Forest Transition (FT) theory as a narrative framework to understand the trajectories of forest-cover dynamics and policy processes. An interdisciplinary methodological approach was applied to respond to the research objectives of the study. The results may have important implications for emerging forest and environmental policy frameworks such as payments for environmental services (PES) and Reduce Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD+). The findings reveal that 'second-generation' policy approaches, such as PES and REDD+, are unlikely to represent a paradigm shift in the history of forest management in Vietnam. As a result of institutional reproductions and 'path dependency', there is a rather high risk of prolonging existing approaches. Larger and more fundamental policy reforms, such as independence, the collectivization processes after the Second World War, and the market liberalization and decentralization reforms from the late 1980s onwards, were identified as fundamental explanatory factors for land-use dynamics in the contemporary history of the country. Furthermore, one-dimensional and reductionist land-use change explanation models, inherent to many of the emerging policy schemes such as PES, REDD+ and forest enhancement, risk overlooking the complexities of land use, livelihoods and underlying dimensions of the drivers of change. Complex institutional factors and the interests of more – or less – powerful actors, in the process of creating institutional bricolages, contribute to modifying and transforming policy programs and schemes into local adaptations. The thesis presents four individual but interrelated papers that address different aspects and scales of policy development processes and impacts. Paper 1: Analyzing the transformation of forest PES in Vietnam: Implications for REDD+ The paper analyzes the transformation of market-resembling environmental policy processes, exemplified by the implementation of forest PES in Vietnam. The paper applies a critical institutional path dependency framework to analyze the processes of institutional reproduction in PES encounters with actors and institutions at multiple levels, from the national to the local. PES policies did not enter an institutional vacuum, but instead were transformed through a process of reproducing existing institutional structures. This reflects not only established norms and values about 'best-ways' of organizing forest management, but also existing structures of power, tenure and the control by some groups over forest resources. In this sense, from a path dependency perspective, new and 'innovative' market-based approaches, such as PES, do not at all represent 'critical junctures'. The findings of this study may have important implications for the prospects of implementing similar initiatives, such as REDD+, both in Vietnam and beyond. Thus future PES and REDD+ schemes should take into account the limitations and challenges of institutional reproduction, interplay and path dependency, to a higher degree in their planning and implementation. Paper 2: Sub-national forest transitions in Vietnam This paper compares forest transitions (FT), policy reforms and forest cover change in the Bac Kan and Lam Dong provinces of Vietnam. The country has seemingly been able to shortcut the perceived FT stages by quickly moving to the reforestation phase, which makes it an interesting case country. Provincial level forest cover and socio-economic trends are, however, not necessarily comparable and compatible within a FT analytical framework. Bac Kan is one of the poorest provinces, but has experienced forest regrowth and expansion of forest cover during the past couple of decades. In contrast, Lam Dong province has both higher GDP and population levels, but has had higher levels of deforestation, particularly linked to the expansion of perennial crops. This is quite contrary to what could be expected from a conventional FT hypothesis. The FT turnaround and land use dynamics were found to be linked to the overall and all-encompassing policy shift related to de-colonization, state-control and collectivization, and the new shift of "market-led socialism", decentralization and land tenure reforms. The findings demonstrate that policies can trump typical FT patterns linked to general development trends. This provides a sense of relief in the way that the FT-trajectory is not unavoidable. Policies can make a difference. Yet, these policies have not primarily been guided by forest conservation concerns, but have rather been a side-effect of economic development and political objectives. Paper 3: Livelihoods and land uses in environmental policy approaches: The case of PES and REDD+ in the Lam Dong Province of Vietnam This paper explores assumptions about the drivers of forest cover change in a PES and REDD+ context in the Lam Dong Province in Vietnam. In policy discourses, deforestation is often linked to 'poor' and 'ethnic minority' households and their unsustainable practices such as the expansion of coffee production (and other agricultural activities) into forest areas. The paper applies a livelihood framework to discuss the links between livelihoods and land use amongst small-scale farmers in two communities. The findings of the livelihood survey demonstrate no clear linkages between poverty levels and unsustainable practices. In fact, the poorest group of households was found to deforest the least. The ways in which current PES and REDD+ approaches are designed do not provide appropriate solutions to address the underlying dimensions of issues at stake. The paper criticizes one-dimensional perspectives of the drivers behind deforestation and forest degradation often found in public policies and discourses. We suggest more comprehensive analyses of underlying factors encompassing the entire coffee production and land use system in this region. Addressing issues of land tenure and the scarcity of productive lands, and generating viable off-farm income alternatives seem to be crucial. Sustainable approaches for reducing deforestation and degradation could be possible through engaging with multiple stakeholders, including the business-oriented households in control of the coffee trade and of land transactions. Paper 4: Cultivating forests: Exploring the productive values of forest land in a reforestation zone of northern Vietnam The paper challenges the predominant forest-agriculture dichotomy perception in policy-making and research in Vietnam. Such dichotomies are not endemic to Vietnam, but permeate the whole climate and forest debate globally. This standpoint encompasses a perception that forests are of higher value kept standing and that agricultural practices, forest conservation and the sustainable use of forests are mutually exclusive activities. This study is based on a survey carried out in the province of Bac Kan in northern Vietnam, and applies a livelihoods framework (LF) to investigate the multiple values of forest lands in household economies. The case demonstrates the complexities of adaptations to forest-sector policies, namely that households in different institutional and agro-ecological locations create and use landscapes differently along a forest-agriculture continuum. The findings on the multipurpose uses of forests may have important implications for climate-related forest policies, such as REDD+ and reduced emissions from all land uses (REALU). Policy makers need to engage with people and local communities, their social institutions and agricultural practices, and consider context-specific approaches for integrating the objectives of conserving trees, increasing carbon stocks, and enhancing the total productivity and total outcomes and values of landscapes. The study recommends inter-sectoral and multi-stakeholder policy approaches to integrate and mainstream multiple objectives, including forestry, agriculture, energy, and environmental services such as food production, carbon capture and storage, water provision, and biodiversity conservation. The study concludes that predominant REDD+ discourses, such as those of ecological modernization and green governmentality, encompass presumptions and risks of one-dimensional and reductionist explanation models of the drivers of land-use change processes. In other words, there is an inherent logic – and need – to identify actors of change who must to be compensated for refraining from cutting down trees, and supported in planting new ones. In reality, however, developing and implementing forest conservation and enhancement policies are highly complex processes, influenced by multiple sets of institutional and agro-ecological factors. Policy implementation and land-use change linked to livelihood processes are multifaceted and dynamic imperatives, influenced by multiple institutional structures and actors, with different interests and agendas. The need to act for more sustainable management of tropical forests seems to be indisputable; however in order to make REDD+ policies more efficient, effective and equitable, the institutional complexity and interests of multiple stakeholders need to be taken into account. ; NMBU; Nansen Fund/UNIFOR - University of Oslo

Vaikka aiempi tutkimus on osoittanut kansallisen päätöksenteon olevan usein riippuvaista muissa maissa toteutuneista kehityslinjoista, on pysynyt pitkälti arvoituksena, miksi kansallisvaltiot vapaaehtoisesti seuraavat maailmanlaajuisia politiikan muutoksen trendejä. Uusinstitutionalistinen maailmanyhteiskunnan teoria on osoittanut maailmankulttuurin tarjoavan malleja, joita omaksumalla niin kansallisvaltiot, organisaatiot, kuin yksilötkin saavat monet ominaisuuksistaan. Tämän tutkimusperinteen puitteissa toteutetut empiiriset tutkimukset ovat tyypillisesti kuvanneet keskinäisriippuvaista päätöksentekoa globaalien mallien diffuusiona, jonka tuloksena valtioiden institutionaaliset rakenteet ja politiikat samankaltaistuvat. Keskinäisriippuvaisen päätöksenteon operationalisoiminen diffuusion ja isomorfismin käsittein kuitenkin peittää näkyvistä eräitä globaalien mallien muodostumisen ja niiden omaksumiseen johtavien prosessien syvemmän ymmärryksen kannalta olennaisia seikkoja. Tästä syystä kansallisvaltiot on nähty konformisteina, jotka harkitsemattomasti mukautuvat maailmanlaajuisiin kehityssuuntiin. Väitöskirjassani lähestyn näitä ongelmia yhden esimerkkitapauksen – kansallisten bioeettisten komiteoiden maailmanlaajuisen leviämisen – tarkastelun kautta. Tapaus on ajankohtainen ja hyvä esimerkiksi globaaleista politiikkatrendeistä, sillä kansallisten bioeettisten komiteoiden leviäminen yhä useampiin maihin on ollut suhteellisen nopeaa viime vuosikymmeninä. Tähän mennessä tällainen asiantuntijaelin on perustettu jo noin sadassa maassa. Väitöskirjan kolmessa artikkelissa tarkastellaan kansallisen bioeettisen komitean muotoutumista globaalina mallina sekä kyseisen mallin domestikaatiota yhdessä maassa, Suomessa. Tutkimuksen empiirinen aineisto sisältää muun muassa eduskunnassa käytyjä keskusteluja, erilaisia hallinnollisia dokumentteja sekä bioetiikan alueella aktiivisten kansainvälisten järjestöjen tuottamia tekstejä. Väitöskirjassa omaksuttu metodologinen lähestymistapa ammentaa erityisesti tulkitsevasta politiikka-analyysista ja diskursiivisesta institutionalismista. Käytännössä tämä merkitsee sitä, että analyyttinen huomio suuntautuu ideoihin ja diskursseihin, jotka motivoivat kansallisia päätöksentekijöitä ja muita toimijoita toimimaan tavoilla jotka usein johtavat samankaltaisiin reformeihin useissa eri maissa. Väitöskirjan päätulokset lisäävät ymmärrystä globaalien mallien ja kansallisen päätöksenteon dynamiikasta, jonka käsitteellistämisessä maailmanyhteiskunnan teoria on toistaiseksi liiaksi painottanut konformismia ja isomorfismia. Ensinnäkin, tulokset kyseenalaistavat jäykän käsityksen politiikkamallien diffuusiosta, jonka mukaan diffuusio alkaa mallin keksimisestä ja kiihtyy mallin tullessa "institutionaaliseksi imperatiiviksi" potentiaalisten omaksujien keskuudessa. Tutkimuksen tulosten valossa näyttää olevan pikemminkin niin, että globaalit politiikkamallit muodostuvat samanaikaisesti niiden levitessä ympäri maailman. Toiseksi, väitöskirjassa esitetään, että vaikka funktionalistiset selitykset harvoin selittävät sitä, miksi kansallisvaltiot mukautuvat globaaleihin politiikkatrendeihin, on arkiajattelussakin yleisillä funktionalistisilla käsityksillä yhteiskunnan modernisaatiosta kuitenkin keskeinen rooli prosesseissa, joissa kansallisvaltiot näyttävät mukautuvan näihin trendeihin. Kolmanneksi, väitöskirjassa argumentoidaan, että globaalien mallien omaksumiseen osallistuvien kansallisten toimijoiden toiminnan mieli näiden omasta näkökulmasta ei ole muiden matkiminen, vaan pyrkimys yhteensovittaa edustamansa erityiset intressit "kansallisen intressin" kanssa. Globaalin mallin domestikaatio kansalliseen politiikkaan usein avaa kentän kamppailulle, jossa eri toimijat pyrkivät parantamaan tai puolustamaan asemiaan. Maailmanyhteiskunta näyttäytyy väitöskirjan tulosten valossa synkronoidulta järjestelmältä, missä kansallisvaltiot pitävät silmällä toistensa liikkeitä ja reagoivat näihin liikkeisiin omassa toiminnassaan. Kansalliset päätöksentekijät hyödyntävät muissa maissa omaksuttuja malleja kansallisten ja erityisten intressien artikuloimiseen. Maailmanyhteiskunnan käsittäminen synkronoituna systeeminä avaa uudenlaisen näkökulman suvereenien kansallisvaltioiden konformismiin. Synkronisaatio ei merkitse samankaltaistumista, sillä kansallisvaltiot voivat reagoida globaaleihin trendeihin monin eri tavoin. Väitöskirja osoittaa, että jopa silloin kun kansallisvaltiot tekevät samanlaisia reformeja, ei syynä ole se, että niiden päätöksentekijät yksinkertaisesti matkisivat muita tai passiivisesti omaksuisivat ulkopuolelta tulevia malleja. Se, mikä on vaikuttanut maailmanyhteiskunnan teorian näkökulmasta isomorfiseen kehitykseen johtavalta konformismilta, on usein itseasiassa tarkoittamaton seuraus useiden toimijoiden strategisesta toiminnasta kansallisen politiikan kentällä. Tämän johtopäätöksen tarkoitus ei ole aliarvioida maailmankulttuurin vaikutusta kansallisvaltioiden kehityslinjoihin. Pikemmin se merkitsee sitä, että nykyinen maailmanyhteiskunta on jo niin perustavasti synkronoitunut, että useimpien maiden päätöksentekijät jatkuvasti reagoivat samoihin signaaleihin ja siihen, mitä muut maat ovat tehneet tai mitä niiden odotetaan tulevaisuudessa tekevän. ; Although scholars have conclusively established that a great deal of national policymaking actually is interdependent with the trajectories of other countries, it has remained largely a mystery why nation-states voluntarily conform to global policy trends. Neoinstitutionalist world society theory has shown that globalized cultural context produces universalistic scripts from which states, organizations, and individuals derive many of their features. The empirical studies carried out within this tradition have portrayed interdependent policymaking as a process of growing isomorphism brought about via diffusion of global scripts and models. However, operationalization of interdependent policymaking in terms of diffusion and isomorphism hides certain aspects crucial for fuller understanding of the formation of global models and the actual process by which national policymakers end up enacting them. Consequently, nation-states are seen as conformists unthinkingly following current fashions and the rationales of national policymakers in conforming to global trends are neglected. The dissertation approaches these problems through examination of the worldwide proliferation of national bioethics committees (NBCs). These are expert bodies that produce opinions and statements with the purpose of giving advice to governments on ethics-related aspects of formulating health policies and regulating developments in the life sciences. They serve as a good and timely example, because the recent worldwide expansion of NBCs has been relatively rapid and shows no signs of abating. At present, a hundred or more countries either have established an NBC or are in the midst of instituting one. The dissertation comprises three articles, each presenting a case study concerned either with the formation or with the domestication of the global model of NBC. The sources of data analyzed include parliamentary debates, official documents on establishing NBCs, and publications by international organizations active in the field of public bioethics. The methodological approach applied for the dissertation draws from interpretive policy studies and discursive institutionalism. In practice, attention is directed to the dynamics by which ideas and discourses motivate national policymakers to act in ways that, though often not purposely, in effect lead to similar reforms throughout the world. The articles identify the rationales (shaped by world cultural scripts articulated through and with national and particular interests alike) underlying the political moves that led to the creation and codification of the global model of NBC and to its domestication in the case of one country in particular, Finland. In light of the findings from these case studies, three key points can be identified, each of them representing a contribution to the understanding of isomorphism and conformity prevailing in the world polity. Firstly, they call into question the rigid conception of policy diffusion according to which diffusion of a policy model begins with the invention of a model through theoretical abstraction and continues with diffusion that accelerates when enacting a model becomes an "institutional imperative" among potential adopters. The argument made is instead that the formation of global policy models takes place in parallel with the process by which they spread throughout the world. Secondly, the dissertation presents evidence that, although the functionalist conceptualizations are rarely plausible for explaining nation-states' conformity to global policy trends, functionalist imaginaries of "modernization of society" actually have a crucial role in processes whereby nation-states conform to global policy trends. Thirdly, it is argued that, while it is understandable that national policymakers' activities resemble unthinking mimicry from the bird's-eye view of world society theory, the rationale for the national actors involved in enacting global models is not to imitate but to formulate their stakeholder interests in such a way that they converge with the "national interest". The results allow us to see the world polity as a synchronized system wherein nation-states keep an eye on each other's moves and use those moves to justify their own. National policymakers utilize the models adopted elsewhere to articulate both "national" and stakeholder interests. Thinking about the world polity as a synchronized system produces novel insight in relation to the mysterious conformity of sovereign nation-states. What has appeared from the macro perspective of world society theory to be unthinking conformism is actually an unintended side effect of the strategic actions taken by actors in the fields of national policymaking. This conclusion is not intended to underestimate the influence of world culture as portrayed by world society theory. On the contrary, it attests to the validity of that research tradition's central tenet, according to which the common scripts of world culture constitute each nation- state as a member of the world polity. It implies that the contemporary world polity is already so profoundly synchronized that the policymakers of most nation-states constantly react to what other countries have done or are expected to do in the future. Synchronization does not, however, always lead to isomorphism: nation-states can react to global trends in any of various ways. The research for the dissertation shows that even when isomorphism does result, this is not because the relevant nation-states were simply imitating others or passively adopting exogenous models.

Euroopan unionin korkeakoulupolitiikka muodostuu jäsenmaiden ja Euroopan komission välillä. Korkeakoulupoliittista yhteistyötä tehdään EU:n neuvostossa, erilaisissa asiantuntijatapaamisissa sekä vertaisoppimistapahtumissa. Euroopan unionilla on korkeakoulutuksessa jäsenmaiden politiikkatoimia täydentävä toimivalta, joten unionin toimenpiteitä ja päätöksiä voidaan kutsua niin sanotuksi pehmeäksi sääntelyksi. Vuonna 2006 Suomessa aloitettiin yliopistouudistukseen johtavat valmistelut. Kansallinen keskustelu yliopistojen uudistamistarpeesta käytiin samaan aikaan kun EU:n neuvostossa keskusteltiin korkeakoulujen modernisaatiotarpeesta. Tämä tutkimus selvittää, mikä oli tämän kansallisen politiikan muodostuksen ja EU-tason keskustelun välinen yhteys korkeakoulujen uudistamisesta, ja millaisia ymmärryksiä Suomessa on EU-yhteistyöstä korkeakoulupolitiikassa. Tutkimuksen ensisijainen aineisto koostui asiantuntijahaastatteluista (N=14) ja täydentävä aineisto laajasta kansallisesta ja eurooppalaisesta asiakirja-aineistosta. Suomalaisia korkeakoulupolitiikan asiantuntijoita pyydettiin kuvaamaan, kuinka he näkevät EU:n korkeakoulupoliittisen yhteistyön merkityksen kansallisesta näkökulmasta. Nämä ymmärrykset analysoitiin fenomenografisen metodin avulla ja tuloksiksi muodostui neljä ymmärryksien variaatioita kuvaavaa kategoriaa. Analyysissä otettiin huomioon myös Suomen kannat eduskunnan sivistysvaliokunnan lausunnoista. Teoreettinen tarkastelu täydensi tutkimuksen tuloksia. Tuloskategoriat avaavat, miten EU-yhteistyö onnistuu vaikuttamaan siihen, että poliittiset tavoitteet ja linjaukset siirtyvät poliittisesta järjestelmästä toiseen ns. pehmeällä sääntelysektorilla. Ensimmäinen tulos oli, että viime vuosikymmenellä EU:n koulutuspolitiikan yhteistyö systematisoitui. Lissabonin strategian myötä koulutuspolitiikan merkitys kasvoi, ja jäsenmaiden uudet yhteiset koulutussektorin tavoitteet jäsensivät yhteistyötä. Komission asema aloitteentekijänä koettiin erittäin tärkeäksi, jopa tärkeämmäksi kuin EU:n koulutusneuvoston asema päätöksentekijänä. Tässä ensimmäisessä kategoriassa esillä oleva monimutkainen eri politiikkaprosessien välinen riippuvuussuhde on mielenkiintoinen havainto. Asiantuntijoiden ymmärryksen mukaan jäsenmaat tarvitsevat tietoa toisiltaan ja komissio tarvitsee myös tukea jäsenmailta (neuvostolta) menestyäkseen aloitteiden kanssa. Uusi piirre tässä riippuvuussuhteessa verrattuna aiempaan tutkimukseen on ns. "politiikan pyöräytystapa", jonka mukaan jäsenmaat tarjoavat komissiolle politiikkaideoita saadakseen takaisin EU-tason tukea kansalliseen politiikan muodostukseen. Toisessa tuloskategoriassa EU-yhteistyön vaikutus vaihtelee asiantuntijoiden mukaan ulkoisesta muutospaineesta kansallisen politiikan muodostuksen tukemiseen. Toisaalta kolmannessa tuloskategoriassa osa asiantuntijoista näki, että EU-keskustelu korkeakoulutuksen muutostarpeesta oli luultavasti vain yksi asia, joka vaikutti suomalaiseen politiikan muodostukseen: merkittäviä olivat myös aiempien keskustelujen vaikutus, OECD:n ja Bolognan prosessin kautta tapahtuva kehitys. Neljännessä tuloskategoriassa osoitettiin joitakin epärelevantteja EU-yhteistyön muotoja. Tässä kategoriassa näkemys oli, että EU:n neuvoston päätöslauselmilla tai päätelmillä eli neuvoston ns. pehmeällä sääntelyllä voi olla hyvin vähän merkitystä tai vaikutusta politiikan siirtoon, koska se perustuu vapaaehtoisuuteen eikä se sisällä sanktioita, jos päätöstä ei toimeenpanna. Lisäksi hyvin laajasti ymmärrettiin, että ns. avoin koordinaatiometodi oli yhteistyömuotona korkeakoulupolitiikassa merkityksetön ja siihen liittyi myös epävarmuuksia politiikkaa siirtävänä keinona. Näistä tuloskategorioista syntyy yhdessä tulosavaruus, jossa voidaan nähdä korkeakoulupoliittisen yhteistyön olevan heikoimmillaan täysin vapaaehtoista ja tällöin useimmiten myös epärelevanttia. Kuitenkin yhdessä sovittujen politiikkatavoitteiden kautta se tulee hyödylliseksi ja jopa puolipakottavaksi. Nämä ymmärrykset auttavat kuvaamaan uudella tapaa EU-tason keskustelun ja kansallisen politiikkavalmistelun välistä yhteyttä. Politiikan siirrettävyyden ja siirtämiskeinojen toimivuuden kautta on mahdollista tutkia myös yhteistyön merkitystä. EU-tason yhteistyöllä voi olla huomattava merkitys kansalliseen politiikan muodostukseen, jos niin halutaan tai tukea tarvitaan. Jatkotutkimuksessa olisi syytä tutkia miten paljon eri EU-maat käyttävät politiikan pyöräytysmahdollisuutta Brysselissä hyödyksi kansallisissa uudistuksissa. Kiinnostus jäsenmaiden asemaan EU:n politiikan muodostuksessa on ollut politiikan tutkimuksessa aiemmin vähäistä. Nämä ymmärrykset jäsenmaiden ja komission välisestä riippuvuussuhteesta saattavat osaltaan vaikuttaa keskusteluun ns. pehmeän sääntelyn merkityksestä, mutta myös vaikuttaa politiikkayhteistyön tutkimukseen muissa kansainvälisissä järjestöissä. Asiantuntijoiden ymmärryksistä kävi kuitenkin myös ilmi, että kaikki EU:n yhteistyötavat eivät ole olleet merkityksellisiä kansalliselle politiikan muodostukselle. Näinä rajallisten resurssien aikoina voidaan kysyä, onko voimavaroja kohdistettu oikein EU-yhteistyössä. Joka tapauksessa on syytä muistaa, että monet näistä yhteistyökeinoista ovat tukeneet jäsenmaita luottamaan toisiinsa ja toistensa koulutusjärjestelmiin, joka tietysti on korvaamatonta. Euroopan komission tulisikin kertoa nykyistä konkreettisemmin pehmeän politiikkasektorin yhteistyön hyödyistä eri jäsenmaissa. ; The European Union (EU) higher education policy is formed between EU Member States and the European Commission. Cooperation in the field takes place within the Council of the EU as well as within different expert meetings and peer-learning activities. The EU has a complementary role to play in national higher education policy, thus its actions and decisions can be called soft law. In 2006, preparations commenced in Finland that led to university reform. The national discussion on university reform was held concurrently with higher education modernisation discourse in the Council of the EU. The research presented in this document evaluates the connection between national higher education policy formation and EU-level discussion on the modernization of higher education institutions and describes the understanding in Finland of the significance of EU-level cooperation on higher education policy. Empirically, this research relied on expert interviews (N=14) as a primary source of data, drawing on a range of national and EU policy documents as supplementary data. The Finnish higher education policy experts were asked to describe how they perceived the significance of EU higher education cooperation from a national point of view. These understandings were analysed by use of the phenomenographic method, and the results consist of four descriptive categories that present the variation between conceptions. The analysis also took into account Finland's official opinions from the documents. Theoretical observations complemented the results of the research, and the result categories revealed how EU policy cooperation succeeds in influencing how political goals and guidelines transfer from one political setting to another setting in a soft law sector. The first result of this study was that in the last decade EU education policy cooperation was systemized. After the Lisbon strategy, the significance of EU-level cooperation in education increased, and the jointly agreed goals in the education sector structured the cooperation. The European Commission's role as an initiator was understood to be very important, even more important than the decision-making role of the Council of the EU. In the first category, the complex interdependence of policy processes that became apparent is an interesting finding. It was understood that Member States need information from each other and the Commission also needs support from the Member States (the Council of the EU) in order to succeed with initiatives. A new feature of interdependence identified is 'policy spin', in which Member States supply the Commission with policy ideas in order to get EU-level support for national policy formation. In the second result category, the influence of EU cooperation varied, according to the experts, from external pressure to support to national policy formation. In the third result category, some interviewees stressed that EU discussion of higher education reform was only one of the factors affecting Finnish higher education policy formation; the incentives of previous national discussions, the OECD and developments within the Bologna process were also seen to have had an influence. The fourth result category indicated that there are some irrelevant and even resisted forms of EU higher education cooperation. Soft law taking the form of a Council resolution or conclusion may have little relevance or policy transfer capability because of its position as a voluntary form of cooperation and as a tool excluding sanctions. Furthermore, there was a wide understanding that the Open Method of Coordination as a cooperation method in higher education was insignificant; there also appeared to be some uncertainty about its policy transfer capability. Together, these result categories form an outcome space where the weakest form of EU higher education policy cooperation is voluntary and therefore mostly irrelevant. However, when cooperation develops commonly negotiated policy goals, EU cooperation becomes useful and even semi-coercive. These understandings help to illuminate in a new way the connection between EU-level discussion and national policy formation. Through the transferability and functionality of transfer mechanisms, it is possible to study the effectiveness of policy cooperation. EU-level cooperation may have a significant impact on national policy formation if wanted or if support is needed. Further research should study whether EU Member States take advantage of the possibility for 'policy spin' at Brussels when running for national reforms. The role of the Member States in EU policy formation has attracted little interest in policy research. These understandings of interdependence between the EU Member States and the European Commission may contribute to the discussion of the importance of soft law and policy cooperation in other international organisations and arenas. It also became clear, however, that not all forms of EU cooperation have been useful to national policy formation. Thus, at times when resources are scarce, it is possible to ask whether resources are well allocated in the EU cooperative effort. It is worth remembering that many of these cooperation methods have supported the Member States' trust of each other and the outcomes of other education systems, benefits that are priceless. The benefits of soft law policy cooperation in different EU Member States should be presented more concretely by the European Commission.

Kumulative Sammlung aktueller Verträge aus dem Bereich Abrüstung, Rüstungsbeschränkung und -kontrolle sowie internationaler humanitärer Vereinbarungen, mit Angaben über die Verhandlungen, Vertrags- und Signaturstaaten und einem Kurzkommentar über die militärpolitische Bedeutung. Ausgangspunkt jedes Bandes sind die oben angeführten Verträge sowie die zeitlich vorangehenden Dokumente in Englisch und deutscher Übersetzung. Diesen schließen sich in chronologischer Anordnung Nachfolgeverträge und -vereinbarungen bis zum angegebenen Stichtag an. Zwei Inhaltsverzeichnisse, deutsch und englisch und eine chronologische Übersicht der Texte erleichtern das Auffinden der gesuchten Dokumente. (SWP-Rtr)

In this paper authors argue that the main determinants of differences in prosperity across countries are differences in economic institutions. To solve the problem of development will entail reforming these institutions. Unfortunately, this is difficult because economic institutions are collective choices that are the outcome of a political process. The economic institutions of a society depend on the nature of political institutions and the distribution of political power in society. As yet, authors only have a highly preliminary understanding of the factors that lead a society into a political equilibrium which supports good economic institutions. However, it is clear that it is the political nature of an institutional equilibrium that makes it very difficult to reform economic institutions. The authors illustrate this with a series of pitfalls of institutional reforms. The author's analysis reveals challenges for those who would wish to solve the problem of development and poverty. That such challenges exist is hardly surprising and believe that the main reason for such challenges is the forces authors have outlined in this paper. Better development policy will only come when authors recognize this and understand these forces better. Nevertheless, some countries do undergo political transitions, reform their institutions, and move onto more successful paths of economic development.

Tutkin väitöskirjassani kolmea 1800-luvun loppupuolella Ruotsissa ja Suomessa tehtyä aloitetta aikuiskasvatuksen toteuttamiseksi. Tutkin hankkeiden merkitystä tarkastelemalla aloitteentekijöitä, heidän ideoitaan, uusien instituutioiden perustamis- ja vakiintumisprosesseja sekä instituutioiden luonnetta ja asemaa paikallisyhteisössä 1800-luvun lopulla ja 1900-luvun alussa. Tarkastelu valottaa, miksi kyseessä ollut aikuiskasvatus nousi tärkeäksi ja millaisia muutoksia se sai aikaan kasvatuksen sosiaalisissa käytännöissä. Aikakauden aikuiskasvatuskäytännöt muotoutuivat yksityisten ja paikallisten aloitteiden pohjalta ilman valtiollisen aikuiskoulutuspolitiikan vaikutusta. Kohteena onkin paikallistaso, Göteborgin ja Tampereen kaupungit. Tutkin uusia aikuiskasvatuksen käytäntöjä sosiaalisina innovaatioina ja hankkeita innovaatioprosesseina, jotka ulottuvat ideoista, motiiveista ja esikuvista lopputuloksiin. Tarkastelen uusien käytäntöjen syntyä ja muotoutumista aikakauden yhteiskunnallisessa, poliittisessa ja kulttuurisessa kontekstissa, ja lähestymistapa on vertaileva. Lähdemateriaalina on käytetty arkistokokoelmia, toimintakertomuksia, sanomalehtiä ja muita aikalaisjulkaisuja. Hankkeet olivat luonteeltaan vapaata sivistystyötä, tarkoituksenaan yleissivistävän ei-ammatillisen opetuksen tarjoaminen. Göteborgin vapaa akatemia oli vuonna 1864 esitelty suunnitelma, joka ei koskaan toteutunut tarkoitetussa muodossa. Yhtenä sen tuloksena oli kuitenkin käytäntö, jossa Göteborgin korkeakoulu otti tehtäväkseen järjestää yleisölle avoimia akateemisia luentoja. Vapaan akatemian ideaa ja luentotoimintaa ei ole aikaisemmin tarkasteltu aikuiskasvatuksen näkökulmasta. Göteborgin työväenopisto perustettiin vuonna 1883 huolehtimaan työväenopetuksesta kansantajuisten tieteellisten luentojen avulla ja aloite Tampereen työväenopiston perustamiseksi tehtiin ensimmäisen kerran 1890-luvun alussa. Vaikka työväenopistot ovat tunnettuja aikuiskasvatuksen instituutioita, niiden historiasta on tehty vain vähän tieteellistä tutkimusta. Tämä koskee etenkin Ruotsia. Toiminta aikuisten opetuksen aikaansaamiseksi merkitsi muutoksia ajattelutavoissa. Ymmärrettiin että muutkin kuin lapset ja nuoret tarvitsivat opetusta samoin kuin ymmärrettiin, että sitä tarvitsivat myös ne, jotka olivat jääneet koulutusjärjestelmän ulkopuolelle tai ne, joille järjestelmä tarjosi vain vähän mahdollisuuksia. Sen lisäksi aikuiskasvatusaloitteiden tekijät muotoilivat elinikäisen tai jatkuvan oppimisen ajatuksen idun. Näin ollen vapaan akatemian ja työväenopistojen suunnitelmia ei kehitelty pelkästään paikkaamaan koulujärjestelmän puutteita vaan myös luomaan täysin uudenlaisia käytäntöjä ja tarjoamaan sellaista, mihin olemassa olleet oppilaitokset eivät pystyneet. Hankkeet saivat alkunsa murrosaikana ja liittyivät modernisaation erilai- siin puoliin: kansalaisen roolin muutokseen, naisten ja työläisten oikeuksien nousemiseen ajankohtaisiksi kysymyksiksi, uskonnonvapauden tavoitteluun sekä tiedon merkityksen kasvamiseen yksilöiden ja yhteiskunnan elämässä. Aloitteiden tekijät pyrkivät vastaamaan kasvavien kaupunkiyhteiskuntien tar- peisiin sivistyksen keinoin; tarpeet ja ratkaisut tosin vaihtelivat sen mukaan mihin yhteiskuntaluokkaan kiinnitettiin huomiota. Murroksesta nousevat syyt, erilaisia kussakin hankkeessa, saivat heidät toimimaan mutta lisäksi heillä oli myös omia erityisiä motiivejaan ja odotuksiaan. Nämä motiivit ja päämäärät muokkasivat heidän ideoitaan ja vaikuttivat siihen, mistä malleja haettiin suunnitelmille. Prosessit, joiden myötä uudet aikuiskasvatuksen käytännöt saivat alkunsa ja institutionalisoituivat, heijastavat aikalaisten asenteita uusia ideoita kohtaan. Lopputulokset eivät olleet itsestään selviä, sillä vaihtoehtoisia malleja oli olemassa, suunnitelmat ja uudet käytännöt kohtasivat vaikeuksia ja alkuperäisiä ideoita muokattiin paikallisiin oloihin sopiviksi. Yksityisten kansalaisten aloitteellisuus sivistyslaitosten perustamiseksi omissa kotikaupungeissaan samoin kuin kaupunkien tarjoama rahoitus ja muu tuki kertovat paikallisen toiminnan merkityksestä aikuiskasvatuksen muotoutumisen varhaisvaiheessa. Uudet toiminnan muodot vaikuttivat kasvatuksen sosiaalisiin käytäntöihin lisäämällä mahdollisuuksia sivistyksen hankkimiseen ja laajentamalla sivistystyön vaikutuspiiriä. Ne tarjosivat tilaisuuden aikaisempaa säännöllisempään osallistumiseen, vaikka eivät tuottaneetkaan muodollisia pätevyyksiä, sekä houkuttelivat piiriinsä huomattavia määriä kaupunkilaisia. Ne myös toivat sivistyksen ja opetuksen piiriin ihmisiä, joilla oli vain lyhyt pohjakoulutus, ja tarjosivat täydentävää opetusta niille, joiden ei ollut aikaisemmin mahdollista hankkia uusien instituutioiden tarjoaman tiedon ja taidon kaltaista oppia. Naiset olivat tärkeä kohderyhmä ja muodostivat myös tosiasiassa merkittävän osan yleisöstä. Osallistujat eivät olleet pelkästään aikuisia, sillä työväenopistojen iltakurssit vetivät puoleensa myös työssä käyvää nuorisoa, jonka asema opiskelun kannalta oli samanlainen kuin aikuisten. Työläisille suunnattujen oppilaitosten kyky saavuttaa kohderyhmänsä on joskus kyseenalaistettu, mutta sekä Göteborgin että Tampereen työväenopistot onnistuivat siinä. Suunnitelma Göteborgin vapaasta akatemiasta osoittaa, että varhaisen aikuiskasvatuksen kohderyhmä ei aina ollut työväestö tai rahvas, sillä sen opetus oli suunnattu kaupungin porvaristolle. Tampereen työväenopiston tapaus osoittaa, että sen tarjoamalla opetuksella oli vaikutuksia aktiivisen kansalaisuuden edistämiseen, sillä se osaltaan valmensi opiskelijoitaan kansalaisyhteiskunnassa ja kunnallispolitiikassa ja -hallinnossa toimimiseen. Inhimillisen ja sosiaalisen pääoman käsitteiden pohjalta jaoin opiston mahdollistamat resurssit tieto- ja taitoresursseihin sekä sosiaalisiin resursseihin. Edellisiä karttui luennoista ja käytännöllistä opetusta tarjonneista kursseista; jälkimmäisiä muodostui osittain suunniteltujen opetusjärjestelyjen avulla mutta myös opiskelun sivutuotteena sekä opiston piirissä vietetystä seuraelämästä. ; This study explores three adult education initiatives originating in Sweden and Finland during the latter half of the nineteenth century. Their significance is analysed by scrutinizing the initiators and their ideas, the processes whereby the ideas became established practices, the nature of these practices or institutions and their role in the local community at the end of the nineteenth and at the beginning of the twentieth century. These analyses shed light on why the adult education at issue became important and what changes in social patterns of education the new practices brought about. The study focuses on the formative period of adult education prior to the era of governmental adult education policies. This period was characterized by private and local initiatives and thus the setting of the study is the local level, the Swedish city of Gothenburg and the Finnish city of Tampere. The new practices of adult education are regarded as social innovations and explored from the perspective of the innovation process, extending from the ideas, motives and models to the outcomes. The emergence and formation of the activities are examined in the social, political and cultural context of the period and the approach of the study is comparative. The sources consist of various archive materials, reports, newspapers and other publications. These three initiatives represented liberal adult education offering general, non-vocational education. Free Academy in Gothenburg was an adult education plan introduced in 1864. It was never implemented as envisaged but ultimately resulted in a practice whereby Gothenburg University College committed itself to organizing public lectures. The idea of Free Academy and the lecturing activities have not earlier been discussed in terms of adult education. The Gothenburg Workers' Institute was founded in 1883 to cater for workers' education in the form of popular scientific lectures and the initiative for the Tampere Workers' Institute was taken at the beginning of the 1890s. Although the workers' institutes are well-known institutions of adult education, very little scholarly research has been conducted on them, on the Swedish institutes in particular. Promoting the education of adults implied changes in contemporary thinking. It was recognized that children and adolescents were not the only ones needing education just as it was recognized that those outside the education system or those to whom this system had little to offer also needed education. In addition, the initiators raised an embryonic idea of continuing or lifelong education. Thus, the plans for Free Academy and the workers' institutes were not developed solely to compensate for the inadequacies of the education system but also to create entirely new educational practices and offer something the existing institutions could not. The initiatives originated in a period of transition and exemplified different aspects of modernization: the changing role of the citizen, the emerging questions of women's and workers' rights, the pursuit of religious freedom and the increasing importance of knowledge in the lives of individuals and society. The initiators attempted to meet the needs of expanding urban societies by means of education although the needs met and the solutions offered differed according to social class. Reasons arising from such transitions, different in each case, motivated the initiators but they also had more particular interests and expectations. Their motives and goals shaped their ideas and influenced their choices of models for their plans. This study also reveals how the processes whereby the adult education practices emerged and became institutionalized reflect the attitudes towards the initiatives and the esteem in which they were held. The outcomes were not self-evident as there were also other models, the plans and new institutions faced challenges and the original ideas were adapted to suit local conditions. The initiatives taken by private citizens to create institutions in their home towns and the essential role of local funding and other support indicate the significance of the action on local level for the formation of early adult education. The new practices influenced the social patterns of education by increasing educational opportunities and by extending the sphere of influence of education. They offered opportunities for more regular study, albeit not producing any qualifications, and attracted considerable numbers of townspeople. They extended the sphere of education to people who had short earlier schooling and offered further education to people who had previously lacked the opportunities for the kind of education the new institutions now offered. Women were both a target and an actual audience. Participants were not only adults; the workers' institutes with their evening courses also attracted young people in an adult-like position with regard to schooling due to their daily work. The ability of the educational institutions aimed at workers to reach their target group has sometimes been questioned but it is obvious that the Gothenburg and Tampere Workers' Institutes succeeded in this. The plan for Free Academy and the subsequent lecturing activities show that not all early adult education was intended for workers and the common people as in this case the target group was the local bourgeoisie. As regards the effects of adult education, the case of the Tampere Workers' Institute reveals that it contributed to active citizenship by preparing its students to act in civic society and in local government. Drawing on the ideas of human and social capital, the resources the institute could generate for them can be divided into knowledge and skills resources on the one hand, and social resources on the other. The former could be accumulated by attending lectures and practically oriented courses, the latter with the help of planned teaching arrangements but also as a by-product of educational and social activities.

In the context of climate change, the destruction and degradation of ecosystems, and many environmental problems and disasters in all parts of the world, environmental discourses such as growth limits, ecological modernization and sustainable development have proliferated (Dryzek 2013). Many governments, as well as international organizations have responded to the growing environmental concerns by adapting and tightening their environmental legislation. In some cases, it has been possible to implement concrete measures on-site and to solve existing problems. However, overall, environmental discourses have had limited impact in achieving tangible action. This is particularly evident in the progressive expansion of industrial- and commodity-based land uses with substantial negative social and ecological impacts, especially those countries in the tropics and subtropics with emerging economies. Why do environmental discourses sometimes translate into policies and sometimes not, and when, and under what conditions, are some then put into practice? This study deals with the problem of "turning words into action" and examines the case study of the Bolivian government under Evo Morales, which explicitly refers to the environmental discourse Buen Vivir ("good living"). The aim is to better understand the challenge of translating words into action to potentially foster the practical relevance of environmental discourses in order to positively influence the social and ecological dimensions of rural development. A discourse is a set of ideas, categorizations and concepts that reflect a particular interpretation of the world. Environmental discourses are discursive constructs that define how we perceive nature, how environmental claims are shaped, and how we deal with environmental problems (Hajer 1995). Dominant environmental discourses are those that translate into normative frameworks after their discursive elements are naturalized, and they ascribe some consensus of meaning. This study focuses on the dominant environmental discourse of Buen Vivir in Bolivia. Buen Vivir has become dominant in Bolivia as an 'alternative to development', and translated into national normative frameworks. Buen Vivir (or 'good living'), is the Spanish reference of the Quechua and Aymara words Sumac Kawsay and Suma Qamaña, respectively (Merino Acuña, 2016a). It promotes a harmonious relationship between humans and nature, in which the well-being of people and the survival of animals, plants, and ecosystems are ensured (Gudynas, 2013). In Bolivia, this discourse gained political attention during the late 1990s and early 2000s, and was adopted in its Constitution in 2009. The study follows three research goals. The first is to determine what makes an environmental discourse dominant. To this end, the study develops a four-dimensional analytical approach: content, actors, strategic practices and context. Using this approach, the study reconstructs the discursive process that led to the dominance of Buen Vivir. The second is to assess the practical relevance of Buen Vivir. This is achieved by determining if and to what extent relevant agricultural policies and socio-environmental manifestations, developing during the Morales administration, are compatible with the principles of Buen Vivir. The third is to explore what influences the practical relevance of dominant environmental discourses by exploring which factors influence the consideration of dominant environmental discourses in decisions of policymakers and land users. This is undertaken by examining subjective perceptions of the two actor groups on the role of a set of factors within three conceptual categories (political hegemony, operational capacity and personal priorities) in influencing policy and land use decisions. Finally, the plausibility of the results of the subjective perceptions is checked by looking at the socio-environmental manifestations and further land use and sectoral policy trends. The analysis showed that all four dimensions examined (content, actors, strategic practices and context) contributed to the dominance of the Buen Vivir discourse. It became clear that dominance resulted from a complex, interactive process that addresses a structural problem of society as a whole (indigenousness) and is part of broader socio-political struggles (decolonization). Concerning the relevance of Buen Vivir for the formulation of sector policies, the analysis showed very different results. For example, Buen Vivir is highly relevant for irrigation and food security policies, of moderate relevance for agricultural reform and agricultural development policies, and has no relevance for energy policies. In this respect, it must be stated that, especially, environmental policy areas were hardly influenced by Buen Vivir. Accordingly, the analyzed indicators of socio-environmental manifestations, such as deforestation and environmental degradation, hardly reflect the principles of Buen Vivir on land-use dynamics. Social aspects, such as smallholders' access to land and resources, staple vs commodity crops, as well as poverty and inequality, on the other hand, partly show greater compatibility with Buen Vivir. Nevertheless, the overall practical relevance of Buen Vivir is rather low. A greater practical relevance of Buen Vivir is necessarily subordinated to influencing factors from the category of political hegemony. In particular, the interests and preferences of the dominant political forces that limit the consideration of the principles of Buen Vivir limit in political decision-making processes. The lack of operational capacity by government agencies also has a negative impact on the implementation of Buen Vivir. In addition, personal preferences of politicians and land users influence the practical relevance of Buen Vivir. The results show that the practical relevance of environmental discourses depends on a complex network of various mutually influencing factors. It is difficult to influence the underlying processes and actors in a targeted manner in order to increase the practical relevance of eligible discourses. Nevertheless, it appears possible to identify opportunities for time and actor-suitable stimuli based on precise observation and analysis of socio-political processes and their actors. Moreover, the strengthening of advocacy coalitions is particularly effective in order to achieve political leverage. Relevant social groups, organizations and authorities can also be strengthened, for example through improved access to knowledge, resources and networks, as well as support in communication and the opportunities for political participation. Such supportive measures are particularly promising if a structuring problem for society as a whole exists or can be found that affects all four dimensions of the discourse. ; Im Kontext von Klimawandel, der Zerstörung und Degradierung von Ökosystem, und vieler Umweltproblem und -katastrophen in allen Teilen der Welt, haben sich kritische Umweltdiskurse zu Wachstumsgrenzen, ökologischer Modernisierung und nachhaltiger Entwicklung weiter etabliert (Dryzek 2013). Viele Regierungen und auch die internationale Gemeinschaft haben reagiert und damit begonnen, ihre Umweltgesetzgebungen anzupassen und zu verschärfen. In manchen Fällen ist es gelungen, konkrete Maßnahmen vor Ort umzusetzen, und Probleme zumindest punktuell zu lösen. Jedoch sind insgesamt den Umweltdiskursen nur unzureichend Taten gefolgt. Dies zeigt sich insbesondere auch in einer weitestgehend ungebremst voranschreitenden Landnutzungsdynamik mit ihren massiven negativen sozialen und ökologischen vor allem in den wirtschaftlich weniger entwickelten Ländern der Tropen und Subtropen. Warum aber werden Umweltdiskurse manchmal in Politiken umgesetzt, und manchmal nicht, und wann und unter welchen Bedingungen werden diese dann auch in die Praxis umgesetzt? Diese Studie beschäftigt sich mit diesem Problem des "Umsetzens von Worten in Taten" und untersucht dazu das Fallbeispiel der bolivianischen Regierung unter Evo Morales, die sich explizit auf den Umweltdiskurs Buen Vivir bezieht. Dadurch sollen die Herausforderung Worte in Taten umzusetzen besser verstanden werden, um letztendlich abschätzen, ob und wie es möglich sein könnte, die praktische Relevanz von Umweltdiskursen zu fördern, um die soziale und ökologische Dimension von ländlicher Entwicklung positive zu beeinflussen. Diskurse bestehen aus einer Folge von Ideen, Kategorisierungen und Konzepten, die eine bestimmte Interpretation der Welt widerspiegeln. Umweltdiskurse sind diskursive Konstrukte, die definieren, wie wir die Natur wahrnehmen, wie Umweltansprüche geformt werden und wie wir mit Umweltproblemen umgehen (Hajer 1995). Dominante Diskurse sind diejenigen, die sich nach der Naturalisation ihrer diskursiven Elemente in normative Rahmenbedingungen übersetzen lassen und eine Art Bedeutungskonsens zuschreiben. Diese Studie beschäftigt sich mit dem dominanten Umweltdiskurs des Buen Vivir im Kontext Boliviens. Buen Vivir (frei übersetzt "gutes Leben") stellt einen Diskurs zu einem alternativen Entwicklungsmodell dar und findet sich in Bolivien in wichtigen nationale Rahmengesetzen wieder. Buen Vivir ist die spanische Referenz der Quechua- und Aymara-Wörter Sumac Kawsay und Suma Qamaña (Merino Acuña 2016b). Buen Vivir zielt auf eine harmonische Beziehung zwischen Mensch und Natur ab, in der das Wohlergehen der Menschen und das Überleben von Tieren, Pflanzen und Ökosystemen gewährleistet ist (Gudynas 2013). In Bolivien erlangte dieser Diskurs in den späten 1990er politische Aufmerksamkeit und wurde 2009 in die Verfassung aufgenommen. Die Studie folgt drei Forschungszielen: Das erste Ziel besteht darin, herauszufinden, was Umweltdiskurse dominant macht. Die Studie entwickelt dazu einen analytischen Ansatz mit den vier Dimension: Inhalt, Akteur, strategische Praktiken und Kontexte, und rekonstruiert auf dieser Grundlage den diskursiven Prozess, der zur Dominanz von Buen Vivir geführt hat. In einem zweiten Schritt wird die praktische Relevanz von Buen Vivir bewertet, in dem festgestellt wird, inwieweit relevante Agrarpolitiken und sozio-ökologische Dynamiken während der Präsidentschaft von Evo Morales mit den Prinzipien von Buen Vivir kompatible sind. Schließlich wird untersucht, welche Faktoren Politiker und Landnutzer beeinflussen, dominante Umweltdiskurse in ihren Entscheidungen zu berücksichtigen. Dazu werden Repräsentanten relevanter Akteursgruppen befragt, um ihre subjektiven Wahrnehmung zur Bedeutung von Einflussfaktoren aus drei konzeptionellen Kategorien, politische Hegemonie, operative Kapazität, und persönliche Prioritäten) abzuschätzen. Abschließend wird die Plausibilität der erzielten Ergebnisse geprüft, in dem sie mit den tatsächlichen Dynamiken in Politik und Landnutzung konfrontiert werden. Die Analyse zeigte, dass alle vier untersuchten Dimensionen (Inhalt, Akteure, strategische Praktiken und Kontext) zur politischen Relevanz von Buen Vivir beigetragen haben. Es wurde deutlich, dass dieser Relevanz ein hochkomplexer, interaktiver Prozess zu Grunde lag, der auf ein strukturierendes gesamtgesellschaftliches Problem (Indigenität) thematisiert, und Teil umfassenderer gesellschaftspolitischer Kämpfe (Entkolonialisierung) ist. In Bezug auf die Relevanz von Buen Vivir für die Formulierung von Sektorpolitiken zeigte die Analyse sehr unterschiedliche Ergebnisse. So hat Buen Vivir für Bewässerungs- und Ernährungssicherheitspolitiken eine hohe Relevanz, für Politiken der Agrarreform und der landwirtschaftlichen Entwicklung nur eine mäßige, und für Energiepolitiken überhaupt keine Relevanz. Insofern muss festgestellt werden, dass gerade umweltrelevante Politikfelder kaum von Buen Vivir beeinflusst wurden. Entsprechend spiegeln auch die analysierten Umweltindikatoren, wie zum Beispiel Entwaldung und Umweltdegradierung, zur Landnutzungsdynamik die Prinzipien von Buen Vivir kaum wieder. Soziale Aspekte, wie der Zugang von Kleinbauern zu Land und Ressourcen, Grundnahrungsmitteln und Rohstoffen sowie Armut und Ungleichheit, dagegen zeigen zum Teil eine höhere Kompatibilität mit Buen Vivir. Dennoch ist die praktische Relevanz von Buen Vivir insgesamt eher gering. Eine höhere praktische Relevanz von Buen Vivir stehen vor allem Einflussfaktoren aus der Kategorie der politischen Hegemonie entgegen. Insbesondere beschränken Interessen und Präferenzen der dominierenden politischen Kräfte die den Prinzipien von Buen Vivir entgegenstehen, dessen stärkere Berücksichtigung in politischen Entscheidungsprozessen. Auch fehlende operationale Kapazitäten von Regierungsstellen wirken sich negativ auf die Umsetzung von Buen Vivir aus. Schließlich beeinflussen persönliche Präferenzen von Politikern und Landnutzern die praktische Relevanz von Buen Vivir. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass die praktische Relevanz von Umweltdiskursen von einem komplexen Geflecht verschiedenster sich gegenseitig beeinflussender Faktoren abhängt. Es ist schwierig die dahinterstehenden Prozesse und Akteure gezielt zu beeinflussen, um die praktische Relevanz förderungswürdiger Diskurse zu erhöhen. Es erscheint dennoch möglich, auf der Grundlage einer genauen Beobachtung und Analyse der gesellschaftspolitischen Prozesse und deren Akteure, Möglichkeiten für zeit- und akteursoptimierte Stimuli zu identifizieren. Besonders effektiv ist dabei die Stärkung von Interessenvertretungskoalitionen, um politische Hebelwirkung zu erzielen. Auch können relevante soziale Gruppen, Organisationen und Behörden gestärkt werden, etwa durch verbesserten Zugang zu Wissen, Ressourcen und Netzwerken, sowie die Unterstützung bei Kommunikation und den Möglichkeiten politischer Partizipation. Vielversprechend sind solche unterstützenden Maßnahmen vor allen dann, wenn ein strukturierendes gesamtgesellschaftliches Problem existiert bzw. gefunden werden kann, dass in alle vier Dimension des Diskurses wirkt.

With the scientific contribution that will be made, and in a debate, the Ohrid 2015 conference will answer the questions that are of interest to the scientific and social public. One of those questions addresses the issue of defining security science as a concept, which is related to the concept of security. For this concept different language systems use different terms. Also, one of the principal problems is the naming of the science which deals with researching security. Namely, security is a phenomenon which is the subject of research of philosophy and science, but it is also the subject of interest of other forms of knowledge as well, such as religious, common-sense and artistic ones. But it also denotes a state, activity and certain social creations which, one way or the other, fill human life or are in the function of meeting human needs. It deals with searching for the answer related to the nature of the destructions, the risks and prerequisites for setting up the conditions and the environment for the creation and improvement of human life, and also with the values: a) whether these values are threatened, to what extent, what from and why; b) how to improve and promote the values and eliminate their threat, who from, with what measures and against whom? Topics  Approaches and methods in researching security  Contemporary security – problem of the state or the society  Security as a public good and its transformation in the spirit of the new generation of security risks and threats  Classification of security – types of security  The concept of security system reform  Security neutrality versus European and Atlantic integration  The concept of securitization  Place and role of intelligence and counterintelligence services  Expanded approach to security  Parliamentary control over the security system  Security law  Corporate security – new type of dealing with risks  The "public's right to know" and the security system  Prevention of violence at sports events  Energetic security in Southeast Europe  Comparative experiences and latest mechanisms for preventing corruption  Types of corruption in the security system and the judiciary  Participation of citizens in the fight against corruption  Practical policies for police reforms  Police integrity yesterday, today and tomorrow  Forms of cooperation between police forces and police organizations  Structure of international police cooperation  Contents of international police cooperation  Forms of ad hoc institutionalization of international police cooperation  Educational systems and profile of police profession in the Balkan states  Forms of bilateral and multilateral cooperation in the area of dealing with crime, trafficking in humans, narcotics and psychotropic substances  Institutionalization of regional cooperation in dealing with crises and other security problems  Is the formation of joint Balkan police forces?  Is the formation of Balkan network of criminologists as well as networks of individuals coming from particular specialties possible?  Approaches in cases of domestic violence  Contemporary forms of trade, legal regulations and relations between states  Cooperation of economic subjects between legal security and security threats and risks  Regional cooperation and regional economic policies  Democracy, legal state, human rights, their enhancement and forms of protection  International standards for the protection of freedoms and rights of persons and citizens and the policies of the Balkan states  Forms of protection of freedoms and rights – experiences and perspective  Strengthening the rule of law and the responsibility of the institutions  The role of international organizations in the promotion and implementation of international norms for the protection of human rights in the Balkans  Democracy, stabilization, integration  Inter-state and inter-institutional cooperation in the protection of human freedoms and rights  Contemporary forms of crime and ways for their suppression  Contemporary forms of cyber crime (electronic: frauds, misleadings, threats, id thefts and other forms of electronic frauds and crimes)  Forms of crime related to the Internet and cyber services and manners for their detection  Criminalistic experiences, achievements, methods, means and manners for the suppression of contemporary forms of criminality  Gender perspectives in security  Relationship between criminological and victimological sciences and security as a science – independence, complementarity, distinctiveness, delimitation, subject of study and research methods.  Relationship between criminal law science and security as a science – independence, complementarity, distinctiveness, delimitation, subject of study and research methods.  Relationship between criminalistics and security as ascience - independence, complementarity, distinctiveness, delimitation, subject of study and research methods  Classical (conventional) criminality – (un) justly neglected topic  Homicides and other crimes against the person – a worrying upward trend  Capital punishment – pros and cons (reasons for reconsideration)  Frauds – unjustly neglected criminality (phenomenology, etiology, prevention, penal policy)  Victimization of vulnerable groups (women, children, older persons, persons with disabilities etc.) and their protection  Reform of the criminal material and process law  Contemporary risk management methods in socio-pathological phenomena  Modernization of criminal justice  Contemporary challenges to criminology  Prevention of juvenile delinquency  Contemporary responses to criminality suppression  Sexual abuse of children  Assistance and support to crime victims  Problems relating to the statistical recording of criminality  Gender perspective of criminality  Women and criminality  Stress and victimization in penal institutions Through an open and well-argued debate the Conference should make topical the discussion on the difference between security as an activity and the science which deals with it, i.e. the scientific deliberation and the discovering of scientific laws and rules in the social field of security. These two concepts are most commonly referred to as security and security science or sciences, respectively. Yet, no clear distinction is drawn between them. Most commonly, when talking about security science the discussion revolves around security and its structure. In that sense the concept of security is currently being used with several meanings. As far as security at national or global level is concerned, we should bear in mind the fact that its contemporary concept and basic contours date back to the period after the fall of the Berlin Wall, i.e. after the Cold War. The terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001 mark a new era in the studies and the practice of security. As a result of globalization and the processes which led to the change in the structure of the world power, the phenomena encroaching security are perceived as challenges, risks and threats. The ranking of these concepts and phenomena depends on the level of their impact on the encroachment of security, and for this reason they represent latent, potential or factors of immediate encroachment. In scientific and expert debate security and security science are being disputed. Thus, instead of science, the notions of state (integral security), field (security sector) or a specific system are used. There are no doubts that security encompasses all of them. It is an important human activity in which numerous processes, subjects and relations are interwoven. That sphere is characterized by specific occurrences and phenomena which are challenges for numerous individuals, organs and organizations, and above all, for the state. Security is a complex phenomenon, a controversial concept which has very often been one-sidedly and narrowly defined through history. Security is a complex phenomenon, and, is essentially a disputable concept not only because of its elusive nature and contents bearing in mind the time and the place in which it has been discussed, but also because of the fact that discussion on security is inevitably related to other categories: fear (for physical survival), absence of structural violence, peace, well-being and stability. In international relations, security is defined in various ways, and very often in literature this concept is used without being more closely determined. As a political concept, security is evidently a pre-condition for the existence of life - individual and societal, and refers to the absence of threats and protection from threats. The understanding of security as an innate interest of every individual and broader human collectivities – family, society, nation, state, international system, points to the need for broadening the concept of security towards such approaches. Therefore, in theory concepts are formed such as national and international security, and, in more recent time, human, individual, societal and global security, which indicates an important expansion of new dimensions of security. The paradigms and the institutional models of security have a historical continuity. They have been changing. Security is inseparably related to the state and its organization, organs and function. Contemporary debates on security are expanded to the social and political sphere. Although the very mentioning of the concept of security, is, above all, associated with internal peace and peaceful life of the citizens, i.e. as freedom from threats, it also denotes a state of defence from an external enemy and encroachment of sovereignty. Therefore, the central interest of the concept of security is the state, which can be jeopardized by internal turmoil, economic and social disturbances, particularly in communities lacking the feeling of endangerment of identity and social cohesion. Hence, it can be concluded that "freedom means nothing without security" and that "the test of the freedom is the security of the minorities". For that purpose the Faculty of Security will organize an international conference in Ohrid in the period 2-3 June 2015 on the topic: "Researching security – approaches, concepts and policies". This will mean that the Faculty of Security Skopje will continue its orientation towards giving contribution to the development of scientific thought by organizing international conferences in the area of security, thus helping the decision-makers at regional, national and local level, to overcome practical problems they face in a faster, simpler and timely manner with the help of the findings and the research results.