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Abstract Purpose: Research was conducted to investigate whether, and how, political accountability might stabilise when agents are faced with profound changes in external structures such as competition laws and austerity policies. Design/methodology/approach: We performed a field study from 2007 to 2015 in a regional hub in Finland and worked with data from document analysis, interviews and meeting observations. We have used embedded research design, where we apply methodological bracketing as well as composite sequence analysis for field research. Findings: Accountability declined when irresistible external structures were the dominant influence on the unreflective actions of agents-in-focus. With time, however, the agents started acting critically by drawing on structures that could facilitate strategic actions to stabilise political accountability. Research limitations/implications: The field research and interpretation of the data were limited to the organisation analysed; however, the theoretical arguments allow for analytical generalisations. Practical implications: The research demonstrates how public officials and political decision-makers can eventually adopt a strategic approach when faced with irresistible change in external structures. Social implications: The research demonstrates how public officials and political decision-makers can eventually adopt a strategic approach when faced with irresistible changes in external structures. Originality/value: The study locates political accountability in the context of strong structuration theory and discusses how it is redefined by external structures.

Kazakhstan declared its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991 and joined the Commonwealth of Independent States. Since then it has witnessed a remarkable economic transformation under the leadership of President Nursultan Nazarbayev. Pursuing a policy of 'economy first and then politics', Kazakhstan is under growing pressure to engage in political reforms which include a modernisation agenda to improve public service provision. Recent constitutional reforms have received a lukewarm reaction from the international community which Kazakhstan is keen to become part of. At the same time a progressive agenda of public services reform is well under way rooted in new public management and a desire to become much more customer focussed in their orientation. This article examines the parallel themes of political reforms and public services modernisation in Kazakhstan.

Life cycle is among the most widely used concepts in the social sciences. It may be invoked merely to denote temporality. It may be applied metaphorically or heuristically to initiate an analysis. Or it may comprise the core assumptions of a research program in developmental processes. Strictly defined, life cycle refers to maturational and generational processes in natural populations. Alternative conceptions of life cycle, like life span and life course, do not share the same intrinsic reference to generation or reproduction that transcends the single lifetime of the individual. Still these concepts are often used interchangeably. The history, meanings, and uses of these concepts across anthropology, psychology, economics, and sociology are reviewed. Three areas of modern sociology—individual aging, family life cycle, and organizational life cycle—are examined specifically in their treatment of life-cycle concepts. Finally, the implications of alternative usages for the study of populations as opposed to individuals and for the study of stability as opposed to change are considered.

Social scientists have for some time been interested in the socialization of young people. An increasing number of studies are available which deal with Western Europe, Japan, South America, and the United States. However, little empirical research has been done on the socialization of Canadian children. The purpose of this paper is to consider the development of English- and French-Canadian children's attitudes toward government in Quebec and to determine, in particular, the impact of their cultural membership on their perception of government. The ultimate goal of this research – though not of this paper – is to investigate empirically the development of national identity in Canada, a concept that has been singled out by several scholars as crucial in political development and nation building.

How do political parties use Instagram – a platform that is centred around images – when engaging in interaction with their followers on the platform during election campaigns? To find answers to this question, Uta Russmann and Jakob Svensson examined Swedish political parties Instagram accounts during the 2014 national elections. A particular focus is on the deliberative potential (in a Habermasian understanding of the term) of Instagram. The results are similar to findings from other social media platforms: Political parties hardly used Instagram to interact with their followers, and the few interactions taking place did not contribute to deliberation. Interaction and deliberation is thus not enhanced by the images on Instagram.

Analyses of patronage and political parties often start from the assumption that patronage is a vote-winning and useful organizational strategy for a political party. This paper questions this assumption and suggests that, for the political party using it, patronage exacts a variety of costs. These undermine the party's existence as an organization with a collective purpose, and even its vote-winning capacities. Examples from a number of different countries and parties illustrate the argument.

Since the first genuine multi-party elections in Russia were held in December 1993, party-state relations have followed a path that diverges markedly from the pattern in other post-communist states. As some accounts demonstrate, state capture in these conditions has followed diverse patterns, but the general trend seems to be towards increasing control by parties over the state. In Russia, however, it is the state that is colonizing the parties, rather than vice versa. Especially worthy of attention are the so-called parties of power, which reflect the extent to which, & the mechanisms by which, the state manages party politics & the administrative elites keep politics out of the state in Russia's managed democracy. Recent institutional reforms by the Putin administration point towards more, rather than less, encroachment of the state in party politics, which makes Russia less than a fully-fledged multi-party democracy. Tables. Adapted from the source document.

This article, perhaps for the first time in Russian scientific and historical literature raises the question of the nature and character of the social protest in the Arab Palestinian society. Even before the creation of the State of Israel in 1948, the Arab population of Palestine entered an active stage of forming national consciousness and identity, which was parallel to the development of pan-Arab national liberation movement. Mass demonstrations of Palestinians in 1920, 1929 and 1936-1939 suggest that the main cause of the protest was the colonial policy of Great Britain, expressed in support the Zionist movement and, as a consequence – the impossibility for the leading Palestinian clans to realize their political ambitions. Taking into account the fact that the Palestinians have shown exceptional tenacity and will in the struggle for national independence, the international community has supported the UN decision to create on the territory of mandated Palestine two States – one Arab and one Jewish. However, due to the Arab-Israeli conflict and other well-known geopolitical reasons, the state of Palestine has not been created till now. Today the Palestinians are divided into four segments: refugees living outside of Palestine in other countries, the Arab population of Israel, the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. In this article the author analyses the situation of the Palestinians on the territory of the historical Palestine and typical forms of protest and discontent in the Palestinian community at present. The article argues that the protest in the Palestinian society, as in the past, has a distinct anti-Israel and anti-Zionist orientation.

The Palestinian media represent an exceptional case in the Middle East, and the Arab world in particular. Because Palestine is still under Israeli occupation, media tend to focus on macro issues such as politics, the Palestinian-Israeli negotiations, and restrictions that cause suffering to Palestinians in their daily lives. Focusing on major political issues means that other issues, such as housing, food, petrol prices, education, individual freedom, and social and family violence, are less frequently covered. This study investigates whether there are significant differences in the central issues addressed by daily newspapers and online news sites. Specifically, content was analyzed in Al-Quds, a widely distributed newspaper in the West Bank, Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip, and the Ma'an news website. It is important to mention here that Israeli policies, including control of the crossing areas, prevent the regular passage of daily newspapers between Gaza and the West Bank. This study addresses a number of questions, including: • To what extent do media coverage priorities differ between traditional and online media in Palestine? • What kinds of issues are both covering? • How do the topics, frames, and sources differ between Al-Quds and the Ma'an news website? The content analysis covers the period when the Palestinian Authority attempted to earn recognition for Palestine as a state in the United Nations (September 15 to October 15, 2011) and there was wide media mobilization of public opinion. The analysis examined the variables of topic, frame, language, and source, which reflect the priorities of coverage. The study also includes interviews with the editors of Al-Quds and Ma'an.

1\. Introduction 5 2\. Performance of the Original Euro Regime 6 2.1 Centralized Monetary Policy in a Non-optimal Currency Area 7 2.2 Euro Crisis and Euro-rescue Policies 10 3\. The New Regime of Euro Governance 12 3.1 Revised Problem Perceptions and their Implications 13 3.2 From Soft Recommendations to Hardened Requirements 13 3.3 What if the New Regime Had Been in Place? 15 4\. The Euro Regime: What is Gained and What Was Lost? 17 4.1 Limited Gains 18 4.2 Instead of Nominal Devaluation, Competitive Real Devaluation 18 4.3 Obstacles to the Management of Aggregate Demand 19 4.4 Global Capitalism and Self-inflicted Helplessness 20 4.5 But Could the Regime be Patched? 20 5\. Input Legitimacy of the Present Euro Regime? 24 6\. Could Political Union Provide the Solution? 26 6.1 The Risk of Politicization 26 6.2 Legitimate Majority Rule? 28 References 30 ; On the basis of a brief reconstruction of the causes and impacts of the Euro crisis, this paper explores, counterfactually and hypothetically, whether the new Euro regime, insisting on fiscal austerity and supply-side reforms, could have prevented the rise of the crisis or is able to deal with its disastrous economic and social impact. A comparison with the likely impact of transfer- based Keynesian reflation suggests that, in both cases, economic success is uncertain, while both approaches are likely to produce severely negative sideeffects. In light of such dismal policy choices, attempts to politicize European election campaigns are more likely to provoke unmanageable policy conflict than to overcome the input-oriented, democratic deficit of European economic governance.

The third edition of the Handbook of Political Change in Eastern Europe provides an authoritative and thorough analysis of the political changes which have occurred in Central and Eastern Europe since the demise of communism. It offers an historical, comparative perspective of the region and focuses on the social consequences of the democratisation process. Each chapter includes detailed examinations of elections, the formation of governments, electoral systems, and constitutional arrangements. These in-depth and up-to-date analyses are supplemented by chapters drawing conclusions on the party