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The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria is withdrawing or reducing its support in upper-middle-income countries with the expectation that these countries can afford to take over their own response. There are concerning signs, however, that many countries are not prepared to adequately finance HIV prevention programming, particularly for key affected populations. Responsible transitions from international to domestic ownership of the HIV response requires political, technical, and financial components to be in place before donors exit.This brief summarizes key concerns about the impact of the Global Fund's withdrawal, provides examples from countries that have already experienced funding reductions or withdrawal, and provides considerations for assessing countries' readiness, willingness, and ability to support HIV prevention for key affected populations.

This study focuses on twenty Southeast Asian leaders who have been key players during critical transitions in the social, economic and political development of their country. In asking each of the societal leaders questions concerning their motivation, the cause they were championing and the factors that have led to their success as leaders, the study attempts to draw out common traits they possess and investigates whether the traits that make people effective societal leaders differ across socio-cultural and historical contexts. A grounded theory approach is used in the analysis of the attributes and traits that emerge from the transcripts of the videotaped interviews. A holistic model is used to capture the causal conditions, varying influences, strategies, consequences as well as the contexts that led to strong societal leadership.

В статье рассмотрены особенности перехода стабильной социально-экономической системы в нестабильное состояние на примере событий Арабской весны. Выявлены фундаментальные причины падения прежде устойчивых политических режимов Североафриканских государств и проведена сравнительная характеристика социально-экономической ситуации в них до и после кризиса. На этой основе установлен характер кризисных процессов и дан прогноз дальнейшего развития событий. ; The article discusses the main features of transition of a stable socio-economic system into a non-stable state based on the events of the "Arab spring." The author distinguishes the fundamental reasons for the collapse of once stable political regimes in North African states, presents a comparison of their socio-economic situations before and after the crisis, analyzes the nature of crisis processes, and gives a forecast for further development.

This essay attempts an interspatial reading of Shakespeare's King Lear and Indic filial-love folktales, as I will refer to them in this essay. My reading is located between my father's edition of the play and my return to it after his death in early 2014. The idea of interspace forms the basis for my analysis of thematically connected but distinct narratives in this essay. Thehaveatepick political philosopher Hannah Arendt explains that the interspace is the world that exists between people and things, conscious of individual distinctions, but simultaneously provides the very foundation for constructive dialogue, relations and purposes. So important is the interspace, Arendt argues, that to lose it, is to lose the world itself (1968:13). ; Issue title: Transmissions and Transitions in Indian Oral Traditions.

The Chinese economic reform beginning from 1978 had enormous success. This book interprets this process from the perspective of modern economics. It falls into four major parts. The first part touches upon the background of the reform and its evolution of strategy - administrative decentralization from 1958 to 1978, incremental reform from 1979 to 1993, and pushing forward as a whole from 1994 to the present. The second part discusses the reform strategies and implementation at different sectors - the agricultural sector, industrial sector, private sector, financial sector, and taxation. The third part discusses macroeconomic policies at the transition period, social relations and government's functions. In the last part, the author proposes the goals of the Chinese economic and political reform, - social equality and common wealth.

As the specific form of socialist democratic politics in the People's Republic of China (simplified as PRC hereinafter), the generation and practice of consultative democracy are due to the reality and necessity of culture, history and logic. The Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (simplified as CPPCC hereinafter) is the major channel of consultative democracy, and the logical starting point of the power system in PRC, too. Consultative democracy not only promotes the democratic transition of CPPCC in the new times, but also updates the concept of constitutional implementation. Interests' curing currently is the huge obstacle to prevent the reform. As an important part of comprehensively further reform, the development of PRC's constitution must make a positive response to this to perfect consultative democracy and the relevant systems of constitutional implementation.

AbstractIn 1967 the Church of Scientology's tax-exempt status was revoked on the basis that it failed to meet the criteria outlined in section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Service. Between its loss, and eventual reacquisition in 1993, the Church of Scientology employed a number of political based tactics in an attempt to legitimize itself to the public sector. This article explores these tactics in relation to the religion's use of perception management. The article argues that the processes of both legal recognition and legitimization draw upon each other in a new faith's transition to mainstream theology. In this, the Church employed perception management in attempt to influence both processes. In exploring this, the paper contributes to our understanding of role that public legitimacy plays in a new faith's development.

Nach langem Ringen und begleitet von großer öffentlicher Aufmerksamkeit ist das Gesetz zur grundlegenden Neuordnung des Erneuerbare-Energien-Gesetzes nunmehr zum 1.8.2014 in Kraft getreten und löst das keine drei Jahre alte Vorgängergesetz ab. Eine grundlegende Neuordnung ist zwar nicht gelungen, die Strom-Energiewende aber auch nicht gefährdet. Das Ziel, die Förderkosten signifikant zu senken und zugleich gerechter zu verteilen, wurde verfehlt. Die Herausforderungen der Markt- und Systemintegration Erneuerbarer bleiben weitgehend ungelöst. ; After fierce public and political debates, an amendment to Germany Renewable Energy Sources Act took effect on 1 August. This article provides an assessment of the revisions made: What is the impact of the amendment on the future progress of the German energy transition? Does it provide for a significant reduction and fairer distribution of the costs associated with support for renewables? Does it appropriately address the fundamental challenges associated with the market and system integration of renewable energy sources?

Problems of ecological inference have long troubled political scientists. Thomsen's (1987) estimator for ecological inference has been shown to produce estimates close to the individual level estimates for transitions across elections, but it is unknown how well it performs under unfavorable conditions. We fill this void by testing the estimator as the across-unit variance increases and introduce a new procedure to examine the bias of the estimates as the number of aggregate units decreases. Looking at partisan voting patterns across races within the 2000 general election in Florida counties and taking advantage of ballot image data to study straight-ticket voting we demonstrate that the estimator performs well in both heterogeneous societies and when the number of aggregate units is limited. [Copyright Elsevier Ltd.]

Abstract: Libya is building a new state and political order in the context of unique and difficult legacies compared to other Arab Spring countries. The primary challenge faced by Libya's leaders is that of statelessness—the fatal weakness of central state institutions—that is a legacy of the Qadhafi regime, and before that the post–World War II kingdom. Challenges of statelessness cut across chronic problem areas in Libya's transition, including reining in militias outside of state control, justice-sector reform, constitution making, and economic development. Such an institutional void reinforces already low levels of social trust and negatively impacts the legitimacy of the central government and the democratization process more generally. It also empowers Islamism and other illiberal ideologies as the potential bases on which to build a new Libyan identity.

Over the last three years, the Indonesian model has become an increasingly repeated mantra in media and policy circles. It seems to hold the promise of a road map for the nascent transitions taking place in the Arab world given the ostensible resonance the two situations have with one another. Simply stated, Indonesia is the most populous Muslim country on the planet and in the decade since the downfall of Suharto, it has successfully-if not without difficulty-transitioned from authoritarian rule to functioning democracy. At the same time, initial concerns over Islamist ascendancy have proved largely unfounded. In fact, Indonesia accommodates a diversity of Islamic political expression within the framework of democratic electoral politics which helps to explain the recent interest. Adapted from the source document.

Decentralized governance is often viewed as an effective way to improve public services and government accountability. Many also document the negative dimensions of fiscal decentralization, especially in transition economies; thus, the combination of decentralization and centralized control has gained currency in some countries in recent years. Based on first-hand data and other documentary sources, and using civil service remuneration as an example, this paper attempts to explore how decentralized governance works in China and what hinders decentralization from performing better. The findings show that Chinese centralized control over expenditure in public sector remuneration primarily serves to enhance ministry control. Local bureaucrats, meanwhile, exploit better remuneration to boost their personal interests. This paper argues that political commitment rather than central transfer is greatly needed for utilizing the benefits of decentralized governance. (J Contemp China/GIGA)

В статье рассматриваются особенности взаимоотношения власти и общества в условиях окончания Гражданской войны в России. Особенности эти обусловлены характерными для того или иного российского региона социальными, экономическими и политическими особенностями, сложившимися в переходный – от войны к миру период, а также особенностями ментальности российского общества, революционными настроениями и синдромами «победителя и «побежденного». ; The article considers the relationships between the power and the society in the power and the society in the conditions of the end of the Civil War in Russia. The peculiarities are substantiated by the typical social, economic and political situation of the transition period (from war to peace) for a definite region of Russia, as well as the ones of the Russian mentality, revolutionary ideas and the syndrome of the winner and the loser.

AbstractThis article argues that high levels of government regulation of religion help to explain the "democracy gap" in majority Muslim countries. Controlling for previously hypothesized determinants of democracy, it finds that as levels of regulation increase, levels of democracy decline. Examination of specific types of religious regulation in Muslim-majority countries uncovers a pattern of repression of religious expression that may be used to mobilize citizens politically. These regulations are targeted more often at Muslims who seek independence from state-controlled religion or who wish to challenge authoritarian governments, rather than at non-Muslim minorities or at religious worship more generally. Thus, authoritarian and semi-authoritarian regimes in Muslim-majority states successfully use policies toward religion to restrict political competition and inhibit democratic transition.

The on-going global shift toward democratic government, vividly joined in recent years by the Arab World, is tempered by the many challenges of democratic transitions. The toppling of an autocratic leader does not automatically mean the rise of democracy. Elections do not guarantee the protection of civil liberties. And democratic leaders are not immune from the seductions of power and the incentives of dismantling democracy's institutional checks and balances. The costs to a society and the international community for democratic reversals are high in terms of civil liberties, human rights, human development and political instability. Strengthening international legal instruments including mechanisms to enhance accountability for violence against journalists and proscribe the subversion of democratic institutions as a crime against democracy can help overcome these conundrums.