Suchergebnisse

Seit Beginn der 90er Jahre engagieren sich in Rußland nichtstaatliche Organisationen (NGO), um die Defizite staatlicher Leistungen auf den Gebieten Bildung und Sozialwesen auszugleichen. Ihre Tätigkeit wurde durch Interviews von Vertretern dieser Organisationen vor Ort untersucht. Dabei ging es vor allem um die Frage, wie die Arbeit der russischen NGOs durch Förderprogramme der Europäischen Union unterstützt werden kann. Es zeigt sich, daß sich im Wettbewerb um Kompetenzen und Ressourcen derzeit staatliche Verwaltungsstrukturen und NGOs einander gegenüberstehen. Zur Lösung dieses Problems läuft derzeit ein Gesetzgebungsprozeß für eine Sozialpartnerschaft zwischen Staat und Gesellschaft. Durch internationale Zusammenarbeit kann dieser Verhandlungsprozeß beschleunigt werden. Weiterhin soll der Schwerpunkt internationaler Unterstützung auf die Finanzierung langfristiger Projektarbeit gerichtet sein, wodurch die Schaffung von Institutionen innerhalb des Dritten Sektors in Rußland ermöglicht wird. Dabei sollen auch in Rußland tätige Wirtschaftsunternehmen in die Unterstützung des Dritten Sektors eingebunden werden. Beispielhaft werden zwei von der Europäischen Union finanzierte Förderprogramme vorgestellt: Das TACIS-Democracy-Programm sowie das LIEN-Programm. (prd)

1989 was the year of parliamentarism in the Soviet Union. The leaders of the Party State sought a source of democratic legitimacy in the new Congress of People's Deputies and the legislative activity of the Supreme Soviet. As soon as it was established, the new parliamentary institutions faced a system of government which was still centralised, marked by arbitrariness, and a federal state threatened with break-up. In fact, 1990 is the year in which the Soviet State was called into question in terms of its territorial integrity, its legal and political identity and its institutions of government. [1st paragraph] ; L'année 1989 a été en Union soviétique l'année du parlementarisme. Les dirigeants de l'Etat-parti ont cherché dans le nouveau Congrès des députés du peuple et l'activité législative du Soviet suprême une source de légitimité démocratique. Aussitôt en place, les nouvelles institutions parlementaires se sont heurtées à un système de gouvernement toujours centralisé, marqué d'arbitraire, et à un Etat fédéral menacé d'éclatement. De fait, l'année 1990 s'affirme comme l'année de la remise en question de l'Etat soviétique dans son intégrité territoriale, son identité juridico-politique et ses institutions de gouvernement. [1er paragraphe]

This interview features former Mill at Anselma Board of Trustees Chairman Mauri (Maurice) Kring. Mr. Kring was the first Chairman on the Board and takes time to describe how he ended up on the Board, the restoration process, his biggest accomplishments while on the Board, and the events he wishes he could have changed. Mr. Kring also has a very strong connection to the Chester Springs, West Pikeland County, and Chester County areas and explains how his family came to the United States, as well as, how they effected and influenced the area. Since he was born during the 1930s, Mr. Kring is able to describe Tenant Housing, subsistence farming, and the community's transition to electric power. In addition, he talks a lot about the history of the area and showcases particular events, like the Battle of the Clouds, and places, like Ker-Feal, throughout the interview. He concludes his interview by talking about his future hopes for the Mill at Anselma and what the community can gain from seeing the Mill and the surrounding area. ; https://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/anselma_mill_oral_histories/1010/thumbnail.jpg

An American envoy and a Bahraini academic posed for the camera at a Washington hotel in October 2020, grinning ear to ear. They held a copy of an agreement between the U.S. State Department and the King Hamad Global Center for Peaceful Coexistence to combat antisemitism in Bahrain. Ellie Cohanim, then the U.S. assistant special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism, called it "a model for a society that actively espouses religious freedom, tolerance and diversity of peoples."Thousands of miles away, in Bahrain itself, Sheikh Zuhair Jasim Abbas was sitting in a solitary confinement cell. His family had not heard from him since July. They would not again for several more months. According to a UN panel, the Shi'a Muslim cleric was allegedly beaten, starved, sleep-deprived, chained, attacked with water hoses, forbidden from using the bathroom, threatened with execution, and prevented from practicing his religious rituals.The Abraham Accords, the diplomatic agreements between Israel, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates, have been hailed as a victory for religious tolerance. The image of Muslims and Jews dancing together has convinced American policymakers from both parties that peace is breaking out across the Middle East. The Biden administration is reportedly offering the Saudi government a huge bribe — perhaps even a commitment to go to war on the kingdom's behalf — to get Saudi Arabia into the Abraham Accords as well.New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman seems to sum up the Biden administration's logic: that a Saudi-Israeli agreement would "open the way for peace between Israel and the whole Muslim world" and "dramatically reduce the Muslim-Jewish antipathy born over a century ago with the start of the Jewish-Palestinian conflict."But the Abraham Accords are attached to a social order that is deeply unequal, divided along ethnic and religious lines. While Israel allows foreign Muslims to visit Jerusalem, it rules over millions of Palestinians against their will. (That conflict is more about nationalism in the here and now than "Muslim-Jewish antipathy.") And while some monarchies in the Persian Gulf are beginning to embrace foreigners of different religions, those same states — especially Bahrain — treat their native Shi'a Muslims as a potential fifth column.For the past few years, some of the Gulf monarchies have been engaged in a project to replace Israel with Iran as the main enemy of the Arab masses. On one hand, these countries have repressed pro-Palestine activism and promoted an image of Palestinians as parasitic ingrates. On the other hand, they have encouraged fears of Iranian power, often conflating Iran with Shi'a Muslims as a whole. Israel has encouraged both prejudices as part of its outreach to Middle Eastern publics. Rather than a victory for religious tolerance, the Abraham Accords are the culmination of an attempt by Israel and its new Gulf allies to rearrange their official enemy lists.In 2018, as Israel was beginning direct talks with Emirati and Bahraini diplomats, Israeli military spokesperson Avichay Adraee turned into a fountain of anti-Shi'a incitement. Quoting medieval Sunni scholars, Adraee claimed on video that Shi'a Muslims are "fundamentally hypocrites and liars who invent falsehoods to ruin Islam." A few months later, he complained that Iran is "transforming citizens into Shi'a" across the Arab world.After the Abraham Accords were signed, Adraee ranted that Sunni Palestinians who prayed alongside Shi'a were leaving the fold of Sunni Islam: "How do these 'believers' justify praying behind those who stab the back of the Sunni world?" The spirit of Muslim-Jewish reconciliation, with its emphasis on interfaith photo ops, clearly does not apply to Sunni-Shi'a relations.It's worth noting that, although Iran is the largest Shi'a-majority state, most Shi'a Muslims live outside of Iran, in India, Pakistan, and the Arab world. And religious Shi'a have been at the forefront of resisting the Iranian theocracy, both inside and outside Iran. However, casting all Shi'a as Iranian agents serves a political purpose. Unrest in areas like eastern Saudi Arabia or Bahrain, where the majority of the population is Shi'a, can be dismissed as foreign terrorism, rather than a case of Arab citizens demanding equal rights. In the words of one Saudi commentator, Arabs who embrace Shi'a identity politics "have sadly become Persian."While trying to terrify Sunnis about the Iranian menace, the Israeli government has also worked to turn Iranians against Palestinians. Last year, when a few Iranian protesters were filmed stomping on a Palestinian symbol, the Israeli foreign ministry loudly promoted that image. The ministry's Persian-language account is filled with sarcastic jokes about the "oppressed Palestinians," along with claims that "they teach hatred and violence" to their children.As the Abraham Accords were finalized, the Gulf states that moved closer to Israel also began to take more of an anti-Palestinian line. Americans celebrated, and rightfully so, when Saudi television or the Emirati school system presented a more sympathetic view of Jews. At the same time, however, Saudi and Emirati media figures got louder about what they considered Palestinian "treachery." In the words of a Saudi soap opera character, the average Palestinian is an ingrate who "doesn't appreciate you standing by him, who curses you day and night — more than the Israelis." Given the heavy censorship that Saudi and Emirati media are subject to, this change in tone must have reflected official policy. Just as political concerns led Gulf states to tone down anti-Jewish prejudice, different political concerns could lead them to tone down other prejudices. At times when Israeli authorities aggressively asserted their sovereignty over Islamic holy sites — especially under the ultra-nationalist Israeli government elected in 2022 — the Gulf has returned to a more pro-Palestine tone. After Saudi Arabia mended ties with Iran earlier this year, Saudi authorities loosened restrictions on Shi'a pilgrims, and prominent Saudi propagandist Hussain al-Ghawi embraced Shi'a as his Muslim brothers. Ironically, American media did not celebrate the Saudi-Iranian pact as the dawn of religious harmony, but instead raised the alarm that Washington was losing its influence in the region.The American cultural understanding of the Middle East is centered on Israel, and anti-Palestinian racism is normalized in U.S. politics. On the other hand, Washington views Sunni-Shi'a sectarianism as a geopolitical game. During the occupation of Iraq and the decades of war that followed, U.S. policymakers treated "Sunni" and "Shi'a" like pieces on a chessboard, debating which side to favor at any given time. Instead of seeing this sectarianism as a terrible policy failure, U.S. politicians blamed Muslims' own attachment to "tribalism" and "conflicts that date back millennia," as former President Barack Obama put it.And so the Abraham Accords help flatter American elites. Israel and its Gulf allies can make a big show of overcoming Muslim-Jewish tensions — which Americans see as the central moral question of the Middle East — with U.S. support. The other prejudices involved in maintaining the system simply don't register on Americans' radar.Other states are starting to appeal to the West through the same strategy. Azerbaijan is fighting a brutal ethnic conflict against Armenia. Meanwhile, the Azerbaijani government has made a big show of hosting foreign Christian and Jewish delegations. Those guests often go on to praise Azerbaijan as an oasis of Muslim tolerance — rather than a secular nationalist dictatorship whose ethnic hatred of Armenians outweighs any religious concern.It's noble to want American diplomats to resolve conflicts and promote harmony between religions. But the Abraham Accords are intentionally misleading in that regard. Under the guise of peacemaking, the alliance helps authoritarian governments maintain divisions, albeit among communities that U.S. elites don't care about. The real path to peace comes through justice and mutual respect, not simply rearranging enemy lists.

Obama's governing style puzzles many people inside and outside the Beltway.In order to understand the 44th President's distinct, indeed, at times puzzling behavior, it is useful to go back to his biography. A Constitutional lawyer and professor who spend only one term in the Senate, and whose political experience came mainly from community organizing. The son of a white globe-trotting sociologist and a Kenyan professor, who spent his early years in Indonesia, and was later raised by his white grandparents in Hawaii. An introspective young man trying to find his way in the turbulent 1960s and ending up in Harvard law school, where he became president of the prestigious Harvard Law Review. This minimalist biographical sketch contains many hints to help us analyze the way he governs. First and foremost, the president is an intellectual, a Constitutional scholar and a student of US history. He is also an admirer of Abraham Lincoln, arguably the most important yet problematic of US presidents. The first Black president in a country where racism has left an eternal imprint, he is deeply and constantly aware of his own historic role in American politics. Second, because of his particular heritage, he learned to move easily in different social settings but never quite felt he belonged in any of them. Paradoxically, even now, after five years in the highest office, he still seems uncomfortable with the daily give and take of inside-the-Beltway politics and avoids direct talks with the Republican leaders in House and Senate.This has played out for better or worse in his relations with Congress, his own staff and the public at large. Obama was elected by a broad coalition of white intellectuals, college students, women and ethnic minorities. He mesmerized them with his epic speeches and soaring rhetoric. He promised to undo much of the damage inherited from the Bush administration and was relatively successful, as proved by the fact of his re-election. However, his approach to policy making constantly raises eyebrows in the public as well as in Congress.The Left wonders why he hasn't closed the Guantanamo prison, why he allows the seemingly unlimited use of drones in war scenarios, and why he gives a free hand to the National Security Agency's spying on Americans. The Right accuses him of sins of commission and omission, from abuse of executive power (example: alleged cover-ups in Benghazi and AP scandals, or over-use of prosecutorial discretion and executive orders) to leading from behind in Libya and doing nothing in Syria. And Congress is surprised at his indifference and detachment: he introduces big ideas but does not get involved in the details; he lets legislators fight his battles and find their own way. He is not interested in developing personal ties or working relationships with them (something he also failed to do while he was a Senator).In his relation with the legislative branch, Obama is neither a salesman like Harry Truman nor an arm twister, like Lyndon B. Johnson. In sum, he does not play the Washington game. His two main venues for policy discussions are with his own expert staff and with large public audiences. The former he uses for in-depth study of the issue and lengthy debate on options; the latter, to get grassroots support for major policies (immigration, health care) and also to rail against Congress, to publicly blame it for its dysfunction and inaction. A case in point is the fundamental issue of gun-control. Obama, together with 90% of the public supported background checks after the Sandyhook and Aurora massacres, but the NRA stronghold on Congress killed the bill, with the President not being able to persuade even some Democrats to vote for it. Frustrated with what he sees as a dysfunctional Congress, his call for bipartisanship is enunciated as a royal wish, not something he is ready to roll up his sleeves and work for.His use of executive power is hard to predict and is often criticized for its incoherence, but a closer look reveals an inner logic. Always the Constitutional law professor, he abides by checks and balances, which explains his cool distance from legislators once a bill is being deliberated. However, he is ready to use executive orders to bypass Congress on core priorities which he has long decided will be part of his legacy, for example, on his decision this week to reduce greenhouse gases by 37% in a period of 7 years. He thinks strategically and on a case by case basis: in this case, the carbon reduction rules were announced together with a conditional approval to the building of the Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico, a project strongly supported by Republicans and the public. But, he added, "only subject to review of its effects on carbon pollution". The announcement raised protests from both Right and Left, but seems measured to satisfy the center.On foreign and security policy, however, he defers to the establishment. One interpretation of this detachment is that once he became aware by secret daily briefings, of the intricacies of National Security and the immense power of the military-intelligence complex that naturally accompanies it, he decided leave it to the experts, his main focus being on "keeping the country safe" as he articulates it daily to his audiences. This is true on all defense issues except those that are personal to him, part of his envisioned legacy, such as disarmament. But his approach is clearly perceived as weakness by foreign leaders, as demonstrated by the reaction to self-admitted leaker Edward Snowden: the US indicted him for espionage, revoked his passport and asked for his extradition but both Hong Kong (pressed by Beijing) and Russia ignored the request.Obama's domestic policy legacy is quite in line with what he was elected to do both in his first and second term. Through his early action of getting Congress to pass a stimulus package, he saved the banking system and the automobile industry. Health reform was his next success. Today Immigration Reform has passed the Senate and is bound for the House. Failing to get Congress to pass his plan for environmental regulation, he has now done it through the EPA using a broad interpretation of the old Clean Air Act. At every step his actions were challenged and sent to the highest court which has for the most part ruled in his direction. Last week the Defense of Marriage Act was deemed unconstitutional, another triumph for the President and his base. Right now it is mainly his actions or inactions in foreign and defense policy that are being challenged by parts of the electorate, including a sizable part of his base.If Obama believes, as many devotees of Executive Power do, that presidents possess a vast reservoir of power that can be invoked at their discretion, then he preserves it carefully and uses it strategically, in pursuit of the "safety and well-being of the American people". His personal interpretation of American constitutional democracy seems to be: never forget the three first words of the Preamble, We the People, but use executive power to the full in order to save the Republic, even in contradiction to the written law, under the authority of what Thomas Jefferson called, the "laws of necessity, of self-preservation." These have to be redefined by every generation. For Lincoln, it was the inevitable suspension of certain rights during the civil war. History will judge whether Obama is governing according to the spirit of his time. Sobre el autorMaria Fornella-Oehninger - Old Dominion University

La tesi è stata intitolata "Change the System From Within". La participatory democracy e le riforme istituzionali negli Stati Uniti degli anni Sessanta e si compone di cinque capitoli. Nel primo capitolo si riprende l'idea di participatory democracy emersa in seno alla New Left e ai movimenti sociali dei lunghi anni Sessanta. In questo contesto il concetto di participatory democracy assunse due principali accezioni: da una parte rappresentava la rivendicazione politica di un maggior coinvolgimento attivo della cittadinanza nelle politiche - locali, statali e federali - frutto della crisi di legittimità che la democrazia americana stava attraversando in quegli anni; dall'altra, il concetto venne adottato come principio organizzativo all'interno dei gruppi stessi di attivisti, con la funzione di prefigurare quelle riforme politico-istituzionali cui gli stessi militanti aspiravano. Dalla stessa temperie di contestazione sorse del resto anche la critica che alcuni studiosi mossero alla teoria liberale pluralista e alla sua esemplificazione nella coeva democrazia americana. Nel primo capitolo si mostra proprio come da quelle rielaborazioni critiche degli anni Sessanta emerse anche il primo modello di participatory democracy in seno alla teoria politica, sviluppato pienamente negli anni Settanta e Ottanta da Carole Pateman, Crawford B. Macpherson e Benjamin Barber. Questa parte del lavoro di tesi si propone quindi di accostare alle pratiche partecipative introdotte dai movimenti anche la ricostruzione dello sviluppo graduale di una teoria politica della participatory democracy. Tale riflessione è completata da un'analisi storica di ampio raggio, necessaria a meglio contestualizzare il fenomeno e ad includere le nuove richieste democratiche nell'ambito di una tradizione democratico-rappresentativa già dotata di istituti partecipativi di democrazia diretta. Chiarito il quadro storico-politico degli anni Sessanta, il secondo capitolo analizza la ricezione dell'idea di participatory democracy nelle politiche federali. A questo proposito si illustra come il principio di citizen participation fosse stato recepito già con la War on Poverty promossa da Lindon B. Johnson alla metà degli anni Sessanta e fu mantenuto, con esiti istituzionali differenti, almeno fino alla fine della presidenza Carter. Si dimostra inoltre che, malgrado il dettato legislativo federale fosse spesso approssimativo sulle modalità operative, quel principio ebbe in realtà un notevole impatto sulle relazioni intergovernative. Tale principio favorì ad esempio l'intraprendenza di molti amministratori locali nel promuovere il decentramento amministrativo e politico su base di quartiere. Nel terzo capitolo l'analisi affronta le principali trasformazioni in senso partecipativo avvenute nei sistemi di governo statali e locali negli anni Settanta, mettendole in relazione anche alle dinamiche intergovernative di più lungo periodo. Il capitolo è strutturato in modo tale da evidenziare il tendenziale recupero e rafforzamento di istituti già esistenti, come l'initiative, i public hearing e gli school district come strumenti di rivendicazione del community control in alcune città di grandi dimensioni. Mentre il secondo e terzo capitolo tendono a osservare le riforme istituzionali degli anni Settanta in senso partecipativo in seno al governo federale, statale e locale, i due successivi capitoli mirano ad osservare l'impatto della participatory democracy nel confronto tra attivismo militante e pratiche amministrative tradizionali degli anni Settanta. Il quarto capitolo è infatti dedicato all'ingresso della nuova generazione di politici progressisti nelle amministrazioni locali e statali fra la fine degli anni Sessanta e la prima metà degli anni Settanta. Per analizzarlo si è deciso di analizzare come principale caso di studio la Conference on Alternative State and Local Policy (CASLP), una organizzazione e forum nazionale che mirava proprio ad unire alle istanze dei progressisti una expertise di governo. Nell'ambito della CASLP, la cosiddetta Coalizione progressista di Berkeley, CA, fornì un caso esemplare di strategia di confronto con le istituzioni locali e per questo il capitolo le dedica una attenta disanima. La pluriennale esperienza di azione collettiva dei progressisti di Berkeley nell'arena istituzionale è infatti rilevante sia per l'innovazione nella strategia istituzionale, sia per attestare una evoluzione dell'idea di participatory democracy nel tempo. Il quinto capitolo ricostruisce ed analizza la carriera politica di Tom Hayden negli anni in cui passò dall'attivismo alla politica istituzionale, con la campagna elettorale per diventare Senatore della California in Congresso (1975-1976) e la successiva Campaign for Economic Democracy (1976-1982), confermando la spiccata propensione del leader all'innovazione istituzionale in senso partecipativo. In particolare, nella campagna elettorale per il Senato del Congresso del 1976 Hayden riuscì a implementare forme di decision-making partecipato in seno allo staff. Nella gestione del personale cercò inoltre di favorire l'empowerment di volontari e cittadini senza perdere di vista i requisiti essenziali per la sopravvivenza della campagna: fundraising e propaganda. In linea con la sua battaglia contro le distorsioni economiche del big business, scelse di non accettare fondi da corporation e banche e riuscì nell'intento di essere sostenuto per gran parte da small donors. Hayden dunque introdusse pratiche di participatory democracy in seno alla campagna elettorale e continuò a rivendicare la sua fiducia nella forza dei movimenti grass-roots. L'analisi storica, ad ogni modo, evidenzia anche le criticità che derivavano dall'uso di pratiche partecipative nella governance della campagna elettorale. Atttraverso l'analisi teorica e politico-istituzionale della democrazia partecipativa americana fra gli anni Sessanta e Settanta su vari livelli istituzionali (federale, statale e locale), questo progetto di ricerca tenta quindi di colmare un vuoto storiografico e, al tempo stesso intende contribuire alla definizione storico-istituzionale della participatory democracy in seno alla democrazia rappresentativa degli Stati Uniti. Infine, la presente ricerca mira a inserirsi nel dibattito pubblico contemporaneo sulla participatory democracy, offrendo una visione storico-istituzionale importante per meglio comprendere il fenomeno e che, finora, non ha ricevuto l'attenzione che meriterebbe. ; Chapter 1 retrieves the idea of participatory democracy stemmed from the Long 1960s New Left and the following social movements. Indeed, the concept of participatory democracy mainly acquired two slightly different shapes in that historical framework. From one hand, it meant the broad political call for common citizens' greater involvement in the policy-making - at the local, state and federal level. That request was in fact a reply to the ongoing crisis of the American democracy, in terms of political legitimacy and social representation of minorities and poor people. In the other hand, participatory democracy represented the organizing principle adopted by most of the grass-roots groups of that period, with a clear prefigurative function. Indeed, making the activist groups' inner decision-making participatory was a way for the collectives to anticipate the institutional changes they aspired to. In the meantime, because of the same disaffection against the raising social and political inequalities, some political science scholars elaborated a critique to the pluralist version of the liberal democracy - then the most praised one, as well as credited as it was embodied in the American democracy. Those 1960s critiques were eventually used to conceive the first political theory of participatory democracy in the 1970s and 1980s, as Chapter 1 shows. The participatory democracy's canon was in fact mostly developed by Carole Pateman, Crawford B. Macpherson and Benjamin Barber. Beside the intellectual history of participatory democracy from 1960s to 1980s, Chapter 1 allows to contextualize ideas and practices of common citizens' participation into the wider history of the American Political Development. According to that, chapter 1 also provides a detailed analysis of the participatory political institutions that were traditionally part of the United States representative democracy. Chapter 2 verifies whether the 1960s idea of participatory democracy actually affected the federal public policies of the late 1960s and 1970s. Indeed the principle of "citizen participation" was introduced in some of the War on Poverty legislations, promoted by Lyndon B. Johnson since the mid-1960s. Although the heterogeneous institutional effects, that principle was maintained in some grant-in-aid projects until the end of the Carter administration, through the Nixon and Ford administrations. Therefore, the political meanings assumed by the idea of "citizen participation" and its institutional consequences from 1964 to 1980 are carefully analyzed in chapter 2. Moreover, chapter 2 shows that the principle of citizen participation had such a strong impact on the intergovernmental relations. It thus brought forward, for instance, the local public officers' entrepreneurship towards the local devolution, shifting the administrative and political power base from the center to the neighborhood. Chapter 3 deals with the 1970s main institutional reforms aimed at introducing the common citizens' participation in the government decision-making at the state and local levels. Those reforms are deeply related to some long-lasting intergovernmental dynamics and this relationship is also argued. The same chapter's lay-out is vowed to underline the 1970s general trend of retrieval and enhancing of traditional institutions, such as the initiative (direct democracy), the public hearings and the school districts. The school board was indeed reevaluated and reshaped as a means of community control in the biggest cities. As chapters 2 and 3 aim at exploring the implementation of participatory reforms in the federal, state and local level of government, chapters 4 and 5 aim at inquiring the participatory democracy's impact on the 1970s boundary of polity - the space where activism meets political institutions. Chapter 4 inquires the new generations of progressive politicians entering the local and state administrations from the late 1960s to the mid-1970s. To frame that national phenomenon, the historical analysis use the Conference of Alternative States and Local Policies (CASLP) as a case study. CASLP was indeed a national organization born in 1975 to give voice to the progressive public officers around the country and allowed them sharing their government experiences for a more effective institutional impact. Inside CASLP, the progressive coalition of Berkeley, CA (called Berkeley Citizens' Action, BCA) was especially spotted for its exemplary strategy to confront local political institutions. The 1970s BCA's political actions are thus specifically analyzed. In fact, the institutional approach of the Berkeley progressive coalition resulted to be innovative in terms of strategy as well as successful in introducing new forms of participatory democracy into the local government, assessing the 1970s evolution of the participatory democracy political theory and practices. Chapter 5 retraces the political career of the former New Left leader Tom Hayden during the years of turning from activism to institutional politics. Especially, the analysis focuses on the 1975-1976 U.S. Senate Campaign and the following Campaign for Economic Democracy (CED), a coalition project and organization led by Hayden with the goal of mobilizing activists and public officers around the issues of economic justice, environmental and economic public policies (1976-1982). That period - just before Hayden was elected representative at the California Legislature in 1982 - is thus analyzed as a testing ground to verify his long-lasting commitment towards participatory democracy. The historical and political analysis, based on original archival findings, confirms Hayden's inclination for institutional innovation in the participatory realm. In particular, during the 1975-1976 electoral campaign for the U.S. Senate in California Hayden introduced participatory forms of decision-making involving staff people, volunteers and supporting grass-roots groups. Moreover, that campaign's staff and people management was conceived in order to directly empower citizens and volunteers, without losing track of the campaigning basic requirements (e. g. fundraising and propaganda). As he stood against big business and economic inequalities, he chose to reject fundings from corporations and banks. Therefore his electoral campaign was mostly sustained by small donors. Hayden successfully made the campaigning more open, accountable and participatory and kept on sponsoring his trust in community organizing and grass-roots social movements even in his following political endeavour, CED. Eventually, the investigation casts lights on the strengths, as well as the critical issues, produced by the Hayden's participatory governance of campaigning. By the means of analysing the intellectual history and the institutional implementation of participatory democracy during late 1960s-1970s United States, this research project firstly aims at making up the lack of historiography about the topic. In the second stance, grounding the institutional and political history of participatory democracy in the United States representative democracy - where the concept was born - this research project intends to provide a first genealogy of the participatory democracy's institutional implementation. In this sense, the research projects wants also to contribute to the contemporary debate on the participatory democracy. It is indeed a compelling and popular issue in many worldwide political arenas, but it is still rarely defined by its historical and institutional terms.

All of the Board of Elementary and Secondary
Education, the Republican Gov. Jeff Landry
Administration, and the Louisiana House of Representatives not only have acted
prudently with education spending this year, but they also laid the foundation
for improved educational delivery.

HB 1 by GOP
state Rep. Jack
McFarland, the operating budget, passed unanimously. It actually didn't change
much from last year's, with marginal changes in a few areas of policy where few
expenditures changes proportionally more than trivially from the previous year,
and with almost every exception being relatively small absolute amounts. That
was good in that next year a temporary 0.45 percent sales tax, on the books
since 2016, finally will disappear, meaning now was not the time for significantly
greater spending.

The area with the biggest change was elementary
and secondary education, which will see an overall decrease in spending, but
that is due to vanishing federal pandemic-related funds as well as (for the
moment) reduced Recovery School District demands. Those aside, the actual amount
falls about $25 million from last year, even though the Minimum Foundation
Program goes $71 million higher. That happens because while the student count
is about a half percent lower and the base $4,015 per pupil amount remains the
same, the per pupil amount for mandated costs, or an inflationary factor for insurance,
fuel, and pensions, jumped from $100 (last set in 2009) to $122, and supplemental
additions in attracting and retaining teachers and class offerings also moved
higher. The three single areas moving the highest were accelerated tutoring ($30
million), differential compensation ($25 million), and mandated costs ($14.3
million).

The MFP formula, constitutionally, comes from BESE
and must be passed or rejected by the Legislature without change. If rejected, as
occurred last year, the formula used reverts to that use in the previous year (which
itself may be a formula from a previous year, depending upon the last time the
Legislature adopted it).

Last year's carried a $2,000 pay raise for educators
and $1,000 for other employees as well as $25 million in differential pay. But ultimately
the Legislature failed to act on that in favor of a separate line item that
technically made all of this good just for this fiscal year. Ironically, given
what was to come, the rejection of the 2023 MFP came in part as a result of
opposition to the differential pay increase as a permanent feature, as well as disgruntlement
over rejection of a financing mechanism that would pay down pension liabilities
while allowing for pay raises that would not have been uniform but dependent on
local education agency decisions.

Because that rejection was a blessing in disguise
that didn't lock in the $198 million in raises plus the $25 million for future
formulas. Instead, recognizing then that revenue roll-off to come demanded increasing
budgetary flexibility, BESE – the composition of which changed dramatically as
a result of fall elections – this year produced a formula that included the
differential pay but not the raises. Landry responded by offering $127 million more
outside the formula in his budget submission and the House upped the ante to
$166 million more (although that left a $24 million hole to be dealt with as
the process plays out). This means instructional spending in essence advances $110
million, after backfilling the original $127 million from the general fund.

It would mean, if given across the board, for
teachers a stipend of around $1,675 each for next year. Except the House
included language that would allow local education agencies to treat the extra
as differential compensation that allows districts to determine its distribution.
The formula specifies four ways in which this may work, three of which don't
kick up controversy typically have been where much of differential compensation
funds have gone, such as attracting teachers in high need environments.

It's the other use where the bulk of the that has politics-as-usual
unions, leftist politicians, and their lickspittles in the media and interest
groups in an uproar: Stipends for Highly Effective Teachers. In other words,
districts now have considerable sums by which to introduce or expand merit pay,
if they so choose. They could choose to spend no money this way and some or all
on other differential pay options, or to give, as established interests want,
it out on as raises on an equal basis.

Pay for performance, however, would be an option
and one deservedly available for the first time in bulk for far-sighted districts.
The question of merit pay researchers have poured over for decades with the bulk
of research converging on it has a positive
impact on outcomes if teamed with other structural reforms best
implemented at the district level. The current HB 1 language does precisely
this, combined with the MFP formula HCR 21 that
also has passed the House.

This potential boost for merit pay as a significant
feature in at least some Louisiana districts – presuming this stays in the
budget all the way through crossing Landry's desk – should encourage BESE at
the least to hold off any permanent pay raises for at least a couple of years
and the Legislature to keep the annual stipend, which would make for good sense
as well with budget uncertainties ahead. This could act as a pilot study that
could guide incorporating this into the MFP after some years down the road.

It's an exciting possibility to help improve
Louisiana's woeful, if improving, educational outcomes, and if things remain
the same throughout the legislative process finally made available with state
dollars for significant application.

It's as if the Ukraine War has all but ended — at least for American politics. If the Republican debates had occurred last year, they would have been consumed with talk over whether Vladimir Putin was readying to roll across Europe and how weak President Biden was for not giving Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky our best tanks, our most powerful fighter aircraft, the longest range missiles we had — maybe even access to nukes.But Zelensky wasn't anywhere near the debate stage in Alabama last night, his name not even invoked. Fitting, we guess, since the Senate failed to pass an aid package yesterday that would have sent another $60 billion to Ukraine. This, despite administration claims that the war effort is literally running out of money. Biden even took to the airwaves Wednesday to warn of a NATO war if the funding wasn't approved.Republicans have been souring on the aid for months now, which might account for Ukraine's diminished importance in the conversation. It was outweighed last night by the conflict in Israel, which in itself only drew three questions: Do we send in special forces to get the eight remaining American hostages back from Hamas? What kind of punishment could be slapped on university presidents who allow "pro Hamas" protests on campus? And how do we "get" Iran for purportedly being behind it all?Ukraine was wielded, albeit briefly, as a blunt instrument. At the very least it gave us the tiniest of glimpses into the competing world views of the hawks on the dais (Chris Christie and Nikki Haley) and their chief agitant, Vivek Ramaswamy.Haley raised the issue (without being asked about it) by fitting it into her usual stream of Domino Theory conciousness:"The problem is, you have to see that all of these are related. If you look at the fact Russia was losing that war with Ukraine, Putin had hit rock bottom, they had raised the draft age to 65. He was getting drones and missiles — drones from Iran, missiles from North Korea. And so what happened when he hit rock bottom, all of a sudden his other friend, Iran, Hamas goes and invades Israel and butchers those people on Putin's birthday. There is no one happier right now than Putin because all of the attention America had on Ukraine suddenly went to Israel. And that's what they were hoping is going to happen. We need to make sure that we have full clarity, that there is a reason again that Taiwanese want to help Ukrainians because they know if Ukraine wins China won't invade Taiwan. There's a reason the Ukrainians want to help Israelis because they know that if Iran wins, Russia wins. These are all connected. But what wins all of that is a strong America, not a weak America. And that's what Joe Biden has given us."Vivek Ramaswamy responds:"I want to say one thing about that tie to Ukraine. Foreign policy experience is not the same as foreign policy wisdom. I was the first person to say we need a reasonable peace deal in Ukraine. Now a lot of the neocons are quietly coming along to that position with the exceptions of Nikki Haley and Joe Biden, who still support this, what I believe, is pointless war in Ukraine. …One thing that Joe Biden and Nikki Haley have in common is that neither of them could even state for you three provinces in eastern Ukraine that they want to send our troops to actually fight for. … So reject this myth that they've been selling you that somebody had a cup of coffee stint at the UN and then makes eight million bucks after has real foreign policy experience. It takes an outsider to see this through."To which Chris Christie retorted:"Let me just say something here, you know, his (Ramaswamy's) reasonable peace deal in Ukraine. He made it clear. Give them all the land they've already stolen. Promise Putin you'll never put Ukraine in Russia, and then trust Putin not to have a relationship with China." (Christie then essentially calls Ramaswamy a liar for suggesting he never said that.)Ramaswamy responds:"These people are lying. These are the same people who told you about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq to justify that invasion didn't know the first thing about it if they send thousands of our sons and daughters to go die. The same people who told you the same in Afghanistan, where the Taliban is still in charge. Twenty years later, seven trillion of our national debt due to these toxic neocons. You can put lipstick on a Dick Cheney, it is still a fascist neocon today."That was basically it. After $130 billion in U.S. taxpayer money since 2022, most of which we are being told has been spent in Ukraine. After hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians and Russians dead and maimed, Ukraine's economy in such a state that the West has to prop it up, and NATO pledging more troops and weapons it doesn't even seem to have, the issue was afforded a scant few minutes, and used only in the broadest of ways to pound each other. Gone was even the ghost of the old argument that the free world was at stake or that our obligation to Ukrainians was a moral imperative. It's been reduced to a political cudgel, which is the first step to being memory holed in Washington. It happened to Iraq and Afghanistan in prior president debates 2012 and 2016.The gist seems to be, maybe if we ignore it, it will just go away?

When Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky addressed a joint session of Congress last December, Republicans were a critical node in continued U.S. support for his country's fight against the Russian invasion. "Zelensky's speech found a sympathetic ear among members of Congress, who frequently rose to their feet in standing ovations throughout his address," wrote Responsible Statecraft's Connor Echols at the time.Zelensky returns to a vastly changed landscape in Washington Thursday, as a growing number of GOP lawmakers have expressed their reluctance — or outright opposition — to continued funding for Ukraine. "It's not just far-right members," a House Republican aide granted anonymity to speak freely told POLITCO. "(Mainstream Republicans are) sympathetic to the cause but we're throwing money at a conflict that can last for years." This may be the reason why Zelensky will be meeting behind closed doors with selected bipartisan members of Congress — including House Speaker Kevin McCarthy — and the White House, and not making another televised address to both chambers. Congress is currently weighing President Joe Biden's $24 billion aid request for Ukraine, part of a larger battle over funding the U.S. government for the next fiscal year, which begins October 1. As the New York Times' Andrew Kramer put it: the last time Zelensky was in the nation's capital, he was given a "hero's welcome." This time around, he added, the Ukrainian president is on a "more delicate political mission," both because of a slow-moving counteroffensive in Ukraine, and domestic politics in Washington. McCarthy, whose position on funding Ukraine has been mixed since he assumed the speakership in January, told reporters that he had some questions to ask the Ukrainian President when they meet. "Where's the accountability on the money we've already spent? What is the plan for victory? I think that's what the American public wants to know," he said. The Speaker would not commit to whether or not he would support another tranche of aid. Other members of his caucus have been more direct. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) — a rare member of the party's far right flank who has been a consistent ally of McCarthy in a number of disputes over the past year — is opposing his efforts to broker a short-term spending deal between the party's warring factions because she refuses to vote "to fund a single penny to the war in Ukraine." Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) told reporters on Wednesday that his message to Zelensky is that there is "no money in the House, right now for Ukraine," and that "it was not a good time for (Zelensky) to be here quite frankly." Other reactions have said that they will oppose aid unless the Biden administration provides a clear strategy and mission for the war. These reactions are indicative of a larger movement in the GOP against supporting additional, unconditional aid. The party has been "trending that way since last summer and has accelerated in the last month or so," according to Dan Caldwell, Vice President of the conservative Center for Renewing America.The increased opposition to aid reflects shifts in Republican public opinion outside of the Beltway. A CNN poll from last month showed 71 percent of Republicans believed that Congress should not authorize new funding. However, while some of the loudest voices in the House are speaking out against more aid, advocates of continuing support are trying to paint a more nuanced picture. The group Defending Democracy Together, which is led by neoconservatives Sarah Longwell, Bill Kristol, and others, and which has launched an effort aimed at putting pressure on Republicans to support Ukraine, released a report card on House GOP members in advance of Zelensky's visit. Judging by votes on five pieces of legislation along with its own analysis of their past statements, the group gave out 82 As, 43 Bs, 8 Cs, 17 Ds and 72 Fs.On the other side of the Capitol, Senate Republicans have been more steadfast in their backing of Kyiv. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has endorsed the White House's proposal. On Tuesday, during remarks about the looming government shutdown, McConnell added that he was "looking forward to seeing President Zelensky on Thursday," and that it was "always good to remind everyone that a good portion of the money allocated to Ukraine is being spent in this country to rebuild our industrial base."But even in the Senate, efforts may become more complicated. On Wednesday, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), who single-handedly delayed an effort to send $40 billion in aid to Ukraine last May, published an op-ed in the American Conservative saying that he "will do everything in (his) power to block a bill that includes funding for Ukraine." "No matter how sympathetic we are to the Ukrainian people, my oath of office requires me to put the American people first," Paul wrote. "I encourage my colleagues to oppose any effort to hold the federal government hostage for Ukraine funding."Zelensky is confronting a different political reality than the one that greeted him last year. On the battlefield, Ukraine's counteroffensive has not yielded the results that many analysts and officials predicted, raising the prospects of a protracted conflict. In Washington, not only has the push against continued funding from Congressional Republicans grown in number and in intensity, but the debate over sending more money to Ukraine is only a part of a larger battle over the government budget. Conservatives in the House have threatened to force the government to shut down if a list of demands, including no "blank check" for Ukraine, are not met. There have been few signs of progress in Congressional disputes over legislation to fund government agencies and Biden's request for more aid now hangs in the balance.

    It may look as if Greece has beaten the record of political instability by calling a snap election only five weeks after the previous one. But the recent developments are, on the contrary, rather an instance of economic and political recovery and restored stability within the European Union. Greece was the
most damaged European country by the Great Recession generated nearly fifteen
years ago. Unemployment skyrocketed, per capita GDP decreased to 55% of the
previous level, emigration of young and qualified workers was massive.

In 2015, a
Memorandum of Understanding put under the control of the EU, the ECB, and the
IMF virtually all Greek policies on taxes, pensions, health care, control of
the banks, labor market, competition, energy, administration, justice against
corruption, and several others to be implemented "over many years". Greece
eluded a declaration of bankruptcy by accepting the EU's bailout and the reduction
of its autonomy to the election of the domestic rulers that would implement the
decisions of the European Empire.

Now, Greece has
repaid part of its debt ahead of schedule, it is being upgraded to welcome
foreign investments, and grows at an almost double rate than the European average.

There are some
similarities between Greece and Spain, including a long delay to recover the
levels of per capita GDP previous to the Recession and the low rates of
employed people out of the total population. But there are also significant
differences regarding the ways they democratized in the 1970s, in particular regarding
the party system and the types of leadership for the resolution of crises. I
warn the reader that, in the following, I am using "center" and "extreme" as geometric
relative positions along a political space, not as ideological references.

In Greece, the
military was removed from the government and democracy was restored under the
leadership of the center-right led by Konstantinos Karamanlis, a former prime
minister before the dictatorship who returned from exile and later on was also president
of the Republic. Since then, his party, New Democracy, now led by Kyriakos
Mitsotakis, has been in government more than half of the time, was back four
years ago, and has been reelected now.

In time, the
extreme left, organized as Syriza, appeared as an alternative to face the
crisis. Its government, led by Alexis Tsipras, called a referendum for "no" to
the EU bailout, which might have triggered Grexit, but then it canceled its
result.

On the other
extreme of the Mediterranean, in Portugal, the other country democratized in
the 1970s, the process was kind of symmetric. The initiative was pushed by
extreme left military officers of the Armed Forces Movement, which provided
several prime ministers and presidents, with the help of the Communist Party. This
left room for the main alternative to be located on the center-right, around a
member of the European People's Party that is as moderate as it calls itself
Social-Democrat.

The case of
Spain was different from both Greece and Portugal. The main actors in the first
stages of democratization were neither the center-right nor the extreme left. It
was the ex-Francoist right, which ended up as the People's Party, eventually alternating
in government with the center-left Socialist Party. In contrast with the other
two countries, the center-right failed once and again: Christian-democracy, Liberal
Union, Union of Democratic Center, Democratic and Social Center, Reformist
Party, Citizens. Currently, the Spanish People's Party is the most rightist
member of the European People's Party, according to eupoliticalbarometer.com,
to which the even more extreme Vox is annexed.

Certainly,
Greece is relatively less difficult to be governed than Spain because it is a
smaller country (one-fourth in population and one-sixth in GDP). It does not
have a vacate meseta or centrifugal peripheries. It suffered a much briefer
dictatorship, for only seven years. More than 50%of its citizens can speak
English, more than double the proportion of the paltry 22% in Spain, the lowest
in Europe.

Of course, all Greek
prime ministers have been English speakers, able to actively participate,
negotiate, and have some say at the European Council, as well as at the summits
of NATO and other organizations of paramount importance for the country's
governance (as have been all Portuguese prime ministers too). In contrast, only
two of the seven Spanish heads of government have been able to sustain a
conversation in English: the current one, Pedro Sanchez, and the brief Leopoldo
Calvo Sotelo. (I do not include Aznar because I have seen him in a one-hour
meeting in English).

In short: Greece's
economy was crushed by the Troika because it was a small and relatively poor
country. But its politics has achieved a more stable situation that is helping
its economic recovery.

Spain, in
contrast, is dickering. Europe cannot afford Spain's economic collapse because it
is too big to fail, and the subsequent restrictive effects on trade, foreign
investments, and emigration to other countries would be too disruptive. So, Spain,
which has about 10% of the EU's population, is allocated more than 20% of the EU's
Recovery Instrument (Next Generation EU). This is not a badge of pride, but
rather the opposite.

A consequence of
this overprotection is that, unlike in Greece, the Spanish politicians can
continue arguing more about where and to whom the funds are distributed than
about what they should be invested in, fighting among themselves, getting by,
and muddling through.

By now, it should be obvious to just about everyone that goods whose availability we once took for granted are in short supply. Blame COVID-19 lockdowns affecting countries where these goods are being produced, a breakdown in air/sea/land transport logistics, and so on. The pre-COVID-19 world was built on distributing manufacturing facilities where things could be made most efficiently, assuming fairly inexpensive shipping even across vast distances. Is that world now gone? We'll have to wait and see if and when the pandemic subsides. In the meantime, here's another not-quite-amusing example for those encountering these shortages: A few days ago, I noticed that my supplies for the exercise supplement creatine monohydrate were running low. I experienced sticker shock while scanning current selling prices. Briefly, what creatine does is replenish the body's supply of adenosine triphosphate (ATP), which fuels muscle contractions such as while performing resistance training. It turns out that most of creatine's precursors come from (surprise!) China. As many of you are probably aware, China has taken a zero tolerance approach to confronting COVID-19 outbreaks. With production centers and major port cities not immune to these recurrent lockdowns, creatine supplies have taken a hit. Here is a detailed and enlightening discussion of the ongoing creatine shortage from the Natural Products Insider:Strict export regulations and regional COVID-related limitations are
slowing China-originating supply chains for two top sports nutrition
energy ingredients, caffeine and creatine. Outside of China, suppliers
and manufacturers are clamoring to beef up inventories of these
increasingly hard-to-find materials but face steeply rising prices for
whatever supply they can secure [...] Similarly, the price of creatine has risen from its consistent $4 per kilo to between $10 and $14/kg.There is more good detail: More unique to the sports nutrition industry is creatine, which
factors into energy production in the body and is popular with core
market users, namely bodybuilders and athletes looking to boost muscle,
performance and recovery. "There is a worldwide creatine shortage," confirmed Jeff Golini,
Ph.D., executive scientist for All American Pharmaceutical, who
confirmed all the raw material to manufacture creatine comes out of
China, meaning this shortage impacts all forms of creatine, from
monohydrate to hydrochloride (HCl).

Thus, while suppliers such as AlzChem Trostberg GmBh (Creapure) and
All American Pharmaceutical (Kre-Alkalyn) make their ingredients in
Germany and Montana, respectively, their starter materials come out of
China, placing even these suppliers in the impact zone. What's behind the shortage is not quite clear and asking different
"insiders" results in varying answers, including lots of guesswork and
perspectives.

Vitajoy sells both caffeine and creatine, and Crane said as far as he
can tell the shortage is related to the pandemic. His sources suggested
COVID-related issues in the northern area of China, where most creatine
factories reside, caused production facility closures. "I believe that
is what might have started the ball rolling," he reasoned. "From there
it was reported that there were some starting material issues and,
before you knew it, any availability in creatine was gone."

Worse yet, the US-China trade conflict seems to be worsening availability:  Golini attributed the shortage to changing world politics, including
the recent U.S. presidential administration transition, and the ongoing
global power struggle involving trade. "China now is saying we have a
shortage of everything in order to re-control the world market, create
demand and raise pricing," he said. "From creatine to resins to make
plastics to pipe to erythritol to you name it."

"Creatine is $14/kg if you can find it," Kneller lamented. Crane noted pricing went from around $4 to more than $8/kg in a
matter of months. "We feel like we might be seeing some daylight
regarding supply in the coming months, but it's hard to pinpoint exactly
when," he reasoned. Golini sees a longer struggle. "This shortage for creatine—as a
matter of fact, there is none [available]—will continue this entire
year, and you will see pricing go through the roof," he warned.Then there are the aforementioned regional shutdowns for COVID-19 containment--including areas crucial for creatine supply chains. These include Wuhan itself:

Creatine producers appear
concentrated in the northeastern province of Hebei, near the Yellow Sea
separating China from both Koreas and Japan [...] In January 2021, Chinese officials locked down the city of Shijiazhuang,
the capital Hebei, and other areas of the province due to a COVID
outbreak. Hebei Hangwang Import and Export Trading Co. Ltd., Sure
Chemical Co. Ltd. Shijiazhuang and other creatine producers are located
in this city. However, this restriction was lifted March 25, leaving only the city of Wuhan, Hebei, still under a lockdown that was lifted April 7. According to Made in China, several creatine suppliers are located in Wuhan, where COVID was first detected in China.

The bottom line is supply chain disruptions have become more common
and rolling over the past several years due, among several reasons, to
trade wars and the pandemic. Many supplement companies have grown to
accept this fact, take steps to be better prepared and hope situations
improve. "We expect global supply chain disruptions to follow COVID," Titlow
summarized. "The better COVID is managed (e.g. vaccines), the better the
supply chain."There's even an amusing video online about bodybuilders regarding the creatine shortage as a harrowing event of enormous proportions. These are not quite the best of times for global supply chains; that much is clear.

The influence of religion on politics is inherent not only to the Islamic world, however, none of political theorist should ignore the role of Islam in Muslims' public life, its impact on the policies of Muslim nations and the global geopolitical situation. Due to its historical uniqueness Modern Islam is not only a religion but also a way of life for the vast majority of Muslims and the basis of their civilizational and even national self-identification. Therefore, the role of religion in the Muslim world is different to that of countries, mostly populated by Christians, as Christianity is legally separated from the system of public administration in European countries. Islam, on the other hand, regulates not only the sociocultural sphere of society, including human relations, but also significantly affects the socio-political life of many Muslim countries, where Islamist movements have now become the major part this sphere.In Egypt, where authoritarian secular regime of Hosni Mubarak was overthrown during the revolution, Islamists took the lead in the protest movement, won the first democratic elections and used the opportunity to lead the country after nearly 60 years of underground activity. This paper examines the influence of the religious factor on the change of Egypt's political regime in 2011-2013 by conceptualizing the terms of "political Islam" and "Islamic fundamentalism." The author concludes that the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood and its Freedom and Justice Party should not be defined as "fundamentalists" because: 1. they don't try to return to a "righteous caliphate," Sharia, and a literal perception of the sacred texts; 2. the Brothers could not be viewed as the most conservative force among Islamists, while Salafists are properly rightly considered to be; 3. the association is considered as a part of moderate Islamism, an ideology that does not mandate any the use of armed methods of struggle. At the same time, the author argues that owing to the fact that Egyptian "Muslim Brotherhood" adhered to moderate Islamism as an ideological party basis, it became a decisive reason that provided them a venue at the top tier of the government in 2011-2013. ; Влияние религии на политику – явление, которое не ограничивается только исламским миром, однако, ни один политический теоретик не может игнорировать роль ислама в общественной жизни мусульман, его влияние на политику мусульманских народов и, соответственно, на мировую геополитическую ситуацию в целом. Современный ислам, благодаря уникальности своего исторического развития, является не только религией, но также образом жизни абсолютного большинства мусульман и основой их цивилизационной и даже национальной самоидентификации. Поэтому роль религии в мусульманском мире иная, чем в тех государствах, где исповедуют христианство, которое юридически отделено от системы государственного управления стран Европы. Ислам, напротив, регулирует не только социокультурную сферу общества, включая индивидуальные человеческие взаимоотношения, но также существенно влияет на общественно-политическую жизнь, частью которой во многих мусульманских странах сейчас стали исламистские движения. В Египте, где в ходе революции был свергнут авторитарный светский режим Хосни Мубарака, исламисты взяли на себя инициативу протестного движения, победили на первых в истории демократических выборах и использовали возможность возглавить страну после почти 60 лет подпольной деятельности. В этой работе исследовано влияние религиозного фактора на изменение политического режима в Египте в период 2011-2013 гг. путем концептуализации понятий «политический ислам» и «исламский фундаментализм». Автор пришел к выводу, что египетских «Братьев-мусульман» и их Партию свободы и справедливости не следует характеризовать понятием «фундаментализм» поскольку они: во-первых, не стремятся вернуться к «праведному халифату», шариату, и буквальному восприятию религиозных текстов; во-вторых, «Братья» не являются наиболее консервативной силой среди исламистов, которой справедливо считают салафитов; в-третьих, ассоциацию принято считать частью умеренного исламизма, идеологии, которая не предусматривает применения вооруженных методов борьбы. В то же время, автор утверждает, что использование египетскими «Братьями-мусульманами» именно умеренного исламизма, как идеологической основы для своей партии стало решающим фактором, обеспечившим им властные государственные места в период 2011-2013 гг. ; Вплив релігії на політику – явище, яке не обмежується лише ісламським світом, однак, жоден політичний теоретик не може ігнорувати роль ісламу в суспільному житті мусульман, його вплив на політику мусульманських народів та, відповідно, на світову геополітичну ситуацію в цілому. Сучасний іслам, завдяки унікальності свого історичного розвитку, є не тільки релігією, але також способом життя переважної більшості мусульман і в значній мірі основою їх цивілізаційної та навіть національної самоідентифікації. Тому роль релігії в мусульманському світі інша, ніж в тих державах, де сповідують християнство, яке юридично відділене від системи державного управління країн Європи. Іслам, навпаки, значною мірою регулює не тільки соціокультурну сферу суспільства, включаючи індивідуальні людські взаємини, але також істотно впливає на суспільно-політичне життя, частиною якого у багатьох мусульманських країнах зараз стали ісламістські рухи.У Єгипті, де в ході революції був повалений авторитарний світський режим Хосні Мубарака, ісламісти взяли на себе ініціативу протестного руху, перемогли на перших в історії держави демократичних виборах та використали можливість очолити країну після майже 60-ти років підпільної діяльності. У цій роботі досліджено вплив релігійного чинника на зміну політичного режиму в Єгипті у період 2011–2013 рр. шляхом концептуалізації понять «політичний іслам» та «ісламський фундаменталізм». Автор дійшов висновку, що єгипетських «Братів-мусульман» та їхню Партію свободи і справедливості не слід характеризувати поняттям «фундаменталізм» оскільки вони: по-перше, не прагнуть повернутись до «праведного халіфату», шаріату, та буквального сприйняття релігійних текстів; по-друге, «Брати» не є найбільш консервативною силою серед ісламістів, якою справедливо вважають cалафітів; по-третє, асоціацію прийнято вважати частиною поміркованого ісламізму, ідеології, яка не передбачає застосування збройних методів боротьби. Водночас, автор стверджує, що використання єгипетськими «Братами-мусульманами» саме поміркованого ісламізму, як ідеологічної основи для своєї партії стало вирішальним фактором, який забезпечив їм владні державні місця в період 2011–2013 рр.

It gives me pleasure to present the editorial preface of the International Journal of Machine Learning and Networked Collaborative Engineering (IJMLNCE) Volume 04 No 02 (2020). This issue comprises five manuscripts contributed by authors. The first paper of this issue titles, "Edge detection of Friction Stir Welded Joints by using Fourier Transformation," is contributed by Akshansh Mishra et. Al. In the manuscript, the authors have implemented two machine learning-based image processing techniques. They stated that visual inspection had played a vital role in the beginning era of science. Nowadays, image processing is finding application for defects analysis of the manufactured parts in many industrial processes. We have implemented two machine learning-based image processing techniques in recent work, i.e., Fourier Transformation operator and Laplacian operator for the surface defects detection in Friction Stir Welded joints. In conclusion, The quality of the weld surface in the Friction Stir Welding process depends on the input parameters such as Tool Rotational Speed (rpm), Tool Traverse Speed (mm/min), and an Axial Force (kN). The second paper, titled "Utilize Machine Learning Methods to Detect Plaintext Passwords," is authored by Nada Alnoaimi et. Al. In this article, information security explores, where the author states that every company is a target today, no matter its type. Hackers and cybercriminals are after data which they can monetize in many ways. Being proactive and have a defensive and protective plan in place, such as evaluating and assessing IT security, is an excellent recipe for avoiding data breaches and, consequently, business disasters. Why not utilizing a machine learning platform could be trained to search text in a computer resource, detect a string of plaintext characters, and analyze the string of characters to predict or detect a plaintext password on a computer resource asset. The machine will be able to catch a plaintext password in a character string by analyzing plaintext character strings for typical password complexity, such as, for example, including at least one uppercase letter, lowercase letter, number, unique character, and text length (for example, minimum of eight characters). It will also predict a level of certainty that a character string includes a password and output a confidence score based on the expected level of certainty. Finally, it will categorize the confidence score in any number of prediction certainty levels, including, for example, three groups – high, medium, or low. S Nagaprasad et al. contributed the third article for this issue titled "Heart Disease Prediction Propagation approach." Data mining methods are used to test complex data, and regression processing based on input data sets is used to estimate results. A variety of prediction analysis methods have been implemented in recent years. The clustering method k-means and SVM ( support vector machine) are a statistical, computational technique for clustering and defining primary data to detect cardiac disorders. In this study, the Back Propagation Method is used in tandem with the k-means clustering algorithm to cluster knowledge for improved prediction research performance. The implemented algorithm's output is found in the cardiac disorder data sample collected from the UCI depositor. Within this sample, there are 66 attributes.Nonetheless, a subgroup of 14 qualities is needed for every study. The Cleveland platform is utilized in particular for machine-learning investigators. The research designed correlates with the current techniques, precision, error identification, and deployment time (using the numerical mean). The Fourth article, title "Discovering Trending Topics from the Tweets By Odia News Media During Covid-19," was contributed by Swarupananda Bissoyi et. Al. This paper explores the Covid-19 pandemic's onset, and the lockdown imposed because it has significantly fueled news consumption. News portals, including the ones in Odia language, are actively feeding news related to Covid-19 to their consumers via their websites and Twitter handles. The news items didn't restrict to Covid-19 alone; they also touched various domains of life like education, healthcare, administration, politics, movies, etc. Discovery of the news trends provides a bird's eye view of the issues and topics popular in the online community. This could be of interest to advertisers, marketers, researchers, sociologists, and policymakers. This paper applies Topic Modeling to discover the trends from the tweets made by the Odia news media from 20th March 2020 to 31st August 2020, the period which saw the emergence of both lockdowns and unlocks in India. We found that during this period, the Odia news media didn't restrict themselves to report news surrounding Covid-19; rather they reported other happenings as well. In the fifth and last article of this issue, titled "Designing Hand-Held Vibration Measuring Device for Industrial Machines," is contributed by Thi Dieu Linh Nguyen et al., In this manuscript, the authors discuss that Evaluating the quality of industrial machines, the vibration meter is used to measure the actual vibration of the machine. The two most important parameters describing machine vibration, amplitude, and frequency, are the basis for determining the cause of vibrations. Spectral analysis of the vibration signal will give information about the vibration level and choose which part of the machine the vibration signal is caused. This paper presents the manufacturing of vibration measuring devices with simple structure, compact size, and high accuracy at a reasonable price. The spectral analysis method of vibrating signals and real-time spectrum display of the measured vibration signals I am sure that these five papers included in the International Journal of Machine Learning and Networked Collaborative Engineering (IJMLNCE) Volume 04 No 02 (2020) will be useful to the research community. At this end, I am thankful to the Editorial board member for their timely support in the review. I am looking forward to receiving your unpublished research work for Volume 05 No 01 (2021).

Стаття присвячена актуальним питанням реформування системи охорони здоров'я України у контексті Європейської політики «Здоров'я – 2020». Розглянуто різні наукові погляди щодо визначення сутності та змісту публічної політики стосовно охорони здоров'я. Визначено розуміння важливості розбудови системи охорони громадського здоров'я в Україні як одного з пріоритетів публічної політики. Акцентується увага на необхідності створення відповідних правових умов для впровадження системи охорони громадського здоров'я в Україні як альтернативи існуючої системи збереження, укріплення та відновлення здоров'я населення. ; Problem setting. The aim of the new European Health Policy 2020 strategy is to significantly improve health and improve the well-being of the population, reduce inequalities in health, strengthen public health and ensure the availability of sustainable health systems focused on needs of people. Compliance with these principles in the process of radical transformations in the socio-economic sphere of Ukraine and in the context of reforming the national health care system is a rather complicated task. The complexity of this task is due to the need to clearly define the priorities of public policy and to involve the public authorities of Ukraine in the implementation of the basic functions of the health care administration. The main role in this belongs to the state, which is responsible for the health of its citizens. The state determines the priorities and forms the health care policy of Ukraine and ensures its implementation.Recent research and publications analysis. Studies of issues of various components of public health policy are devoted to the work of M. M. Bilinskaya, Yu.V. V. Voronenko, T. S. Gurzev, D. V. Karamyshev, O. V. Power, Ya.F. Radhka, I. M. Solonenko, V. G. Shevtsova and others. The importance of scientific research on the implementation of public health policy is underlined by O. M. Dzyuba, Yu. V. Zhalinskaya, L. O. Kachala, O. D. Korvetsky, V. V. Korolenko, V. I. Mironyuk, I. F. Radish, N. O. Ringach, O. R. Sitenko, G. O. Slabki, N. D. Solonenko and others. Inherited from the Soviet period, the model of the health care system in Ukraine almost did not take into account the needs of the healthy population, which did not allow to restrain and systematically influence the growth of non-communicable diseases. This is why there is an urgent need to reorganize the healthcare system, which is to seek alternative strategies for a more effective public policy in this area.Identification of previously unsettled parts of the general problem. The analysis of studies has shown that in the presence of an understanding of the importance of developing public health protection as an alternative to the actual functioning of the public health system and its legislative provision, the legal and organizational conditions for the implementation of such an alternative have not yet been established in the state.Paper objective. The purpose of the article is to assess the compliance of the public health policy in Ukraine with the main directions of the new European health policy «Health -2020» and to define in this context an alternative strategy for a more effective public health policy on the basis of the priority of the development of the public health system in Ukraine and its legislative support.Paper main body. Thus, an alternative strategy for more effective health care policy is the development of a public health system in Ukraine in line with the European Capacity Building and Public Health Services Action Plan, as well as the values and principles laid out in the foundations of the European politics «Health 2020». The basic principle of the public health system is its social nature, as well as the fact that it focuses mainly on the health of the population as a whole. The public health system can be seen as a key aspect of a wider interpretation of the health care system in the sense that it not only plays an important role in ensuring the efficiency and effectiveness of the work of the health system itself but also significantly affects the socio-economic development of society and state. In Ukraine, there are certain political and legal foundations for the development of the health care system. At the same time, since the Law of Ukraine «On the system of health care» has not yet been adopted, public authorities and local self-government bodies at the level of each region independently determine the model of the regional health care center and its stages of activity. expanding the implementation of its operational functions of health, which leads to certain errors and significantly complicates the process of extremely necessary transformations.Conclusion from this research and perspectives of future development in current area. Thus, it can be assumed that healthcare reform in Ukraine is carried out taking into account modern strategies of effective state policy in this area and is consistent with the main directions of the new European Health Policy «Health 2020». At the same time, the development of the public health system in Ukraine has not yet become a priority of public health policy. One of the necessary steps towards the development of a national public health system and the creation of favorable conditions for the implementation of the European Action Plan for Capacity Building and Public Health Services in Ukraine approved by the WHO Regional Office for Europe is the adoption of the draft Law of Ukraine «On Public Health System» I. Adoption of this Law will ensure the implementation of public policy in public health at the level of the state, regions and community levels and will promote the adaptation of domestic legislation in this area to the legal system of the European community.

Стаття присвячена актуальним питанням реформування системи охорони здоров'я України у контексті Європейської політики «Здоров'я – 2020». Розглянуто різні наукові погляди щодо визначення сутності та змісту публічної політики стосовно охорони здоров'я. Визначено розуміння важливості розбудови системи охорони громадського здоров'я в Україні як одного з пріоритетів публічної політики. Акцентується увага на необхідності створення відповідних правових умов для впровадження системи охорони громадського здоров'я в Україні як альтернативи існуючої системи збереження, укріплення та відновлення здоров'я населення. ; Problem setting. The aim of the new European Health Policy 2020 strategy is to significantly improve health and improve the well-being of the population, reduce inequalities in health, strengthen public health and ensure the availability of sustainable health systems focused on needs of people. Compliance with these principles in the process of radical transformations in the socio-economic sphere of Ukraine and in the context of reforming the national health care system is a rather complicated task. The complexity of this task is due to the need to clearly define the priorities of public policy and to involve the public authorities of Ukraine in the implementation of the basic functions of the health care administration. The main role in this belongs to the state, which is responsible for the health of its citizens. The state determines the priorities and forms the health care policy of Ukraine and ensures its implementation.Recent research and publications analysis. Studies of issues of various components of public health policy are devoted to the work of M. M. Bilinskaya, Yu.V. V. Voronenko, T. S. Gurzev, D. V. Karamyshev, O. V. Power, Ya.F. Radhka, I. M. Solonenko, V. G. Shevtsova and others. The importance of scientific research on the implementation of public health policy is underlined by O. M. Dzyuba, Yu. V. Zhalinskaya, L. O. Kachala, O. D. Korvetsky, V. V. Korolenko, V. I. Mironyuk, I. F. Radish, N. O. Ringach, O. R. Sitenko, G. O. Slabki, N. D. Solonenko and others. Inherited from the Soviet period, the model of the health care system in Ukraine almost did not take into account the needs of the healthy population, which did not allow to restrain and systematically influence the growth of non-communicable diseases. This is why there is an urgent need to reorganize the healthcare system, which is to seek alternative strategies for a more effective public policy in this area.Identification of previously unsettled parts of the general problem. The analysis of studies has shown that in the presence of an understanding of the importance of developing public health protection as an alternative to the actual functioning of the public health system and its legislative provision, the legal and organizational conditions for the implementation of such an alternative have not yet been established in the state.Paper objective. The purpose of the article is to assess the compliance of the public health policy in Ukraine with the main directions of the new European health policy «Health -2020» and to define in this context an alternative strategy for a more effective public health policy on the basis of the priority of the development of the public health system in Ukraine and its legislative support.Paper main body. Thus, an alternative strategy for more effective health care policy is the development of a public health system in Ukraine in line with the European Capacity Building and Public Health Services Action Plan, as well as the values and principles laid out in the foundations of the European politics «Health 2020». The basic principle of the public health system is its social nature, as well as the fact that it focuses mainly on the health of the population as a whole. The public health system can be seen as a key aspect of a wider interpretation of the health care system in the sense that it not only plays an important role in ensuring the efficiency and effectiveness of the work of the health system itself but also significantly affects the socio-economic development of society and state. In Ukraine, there are certain political and legal foundations for the development of the health care system. At the same time, since the Law of Ukraine «On the system of health care» has not yet been adopted, public authorities and local self-government bodies at the level of each region independently determine the model of the regional health care center and its stages of activity. expanding the implementation of its operational functions of health, which leads to certain errors and significantly complicates the process of extremely necessary transformations.Conclusion from this research and perspectives of future development in current area. Thus, it can be assumed that healthcare reform in Ukraine is carried out taking into account modern strategies of effective state policy in this area and is consistent with the main directions of the new European Health Policy «Health 2020». At the same time, the development of the public health system in Ukraine has not yet become a priority of public health policy. One of the necessary steps towards the development of a national public health system and the creation of favorable conditions for the implementation of the European Action Plan for Capacity Building and Public Health Services in Ukraine approved by the WHO Regional Office for Europe is the adoption of the draft Law of Ukraine «On Public Health System» I. Adoption of this Law will ensure the implementation of public policy in public health at the level of the state, regions and community levels and will promote the adaptation of domestic legislation in this area to the legal system of the European community.