Suchergebnisse

The recent literature on neoliberal urban redevelopment is marked by a gap between theory and empirical research. While there exists a lively theoretical debate regarding the context-bound and spatially heterogeneous character of redevelopment, there is less effort to explain the heterogeneity through empirical studies. We argue that we can identify the specific contextual and macro-structural factors producing the "variegated" neoliberal redevelopment trajectories with carefully constructed comparative studies. To this end, we compare divergent redevelopment processes in three secondary Turkish cities. Based on in-depth interviews, close documentary analysis, and descriptive statistics, our research highlights the role of coalitions formed among local elites and their ties with central-state agents in determining how neoliberal transformations take shape. Even in a highly centralized country, such as Turkey, it is the varying capacity of local actors to form collaborative networks that explains why divergent redevelopment outcomes emerge across similar cities.

The revolutions in the communication and information technologies in the 21st century have led to tremendous innovations in education technologies. From the advances in education technologies, all education programs, such as traditional education, open education, distance education, e-learning, massive open online courses, adult education and lifelong learning, are being positively influenced in our day, as a consequence of the digital revolution, education is in a process of rapid transformation. In this chapter; first the development of education technologies in the historical process has been examined, as divided into periods. In the second step, the structural characteristics of the development in education technologies have been defined. Third, the innovations and developments in education technologies during the 1980-2013 periods have been examined by grouping under the education media titles. Fourth, the contributions of the communication and information technologies to education have been defined. And finally, the impacts of the revolution in the education technologies on economic development have been interpreted.

There is a consensus in Social Sciences and other disciplines that media plays an important role in times of political change. Yet, in recent years, the specific role of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in political transformation processes receives more scholarly attention, especially against the background of its dissemination and further (technical) developments. Hence, this paper focuses on the concrete structural and functional innovations achieved by New Media (i.e. social media and microblogs) and develops the concept of three dilemmas each authoritarian regime encounters in a different way. This paper poses the central question what potential New Media embodies during different phases of political change. It focuses on the Arab Spring with a case study on Egypt. Based on empirical data derived from comprehensive field work, a micro study will categorize the role of New Media during the different phases of political upheaval in Egypt since 2011. Adapted from the source document.

In outlining the theoretical aspects of this topic, one should above all note the modernization phenomenon, which began to attract the attention of the world research community as early as in the 1950s–1960s, with the emergence and development of the political modernization theory. The basis of this theory was the justification of a general model of global development of human civilization. Modernization was then seen primarily as Westernization, aiming at the transition from a traditional to a modern society through scientific and technological progress, socio-structural changes, as well as transformation in state regulations and value systems. Modernization was therefore understood as the purposeful determination of a state to make qualitative changes in its society. ; Udostępnienie publikacji Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego finansowane w ramach projektu "Doskonałość naukowa kluczem do doskonałości kształcenia". Projekt realizowany jest ze środków Europejskiego Funduszu Społecznego w ramach Programu Operacyjnego Wiedza Edukacja Rozwój; nr umowy: POWER.03.05.00-00-Z092/17-00.

Modern liberal democracy contains an internal contradiction concerning the presence of religion in the public sphere. On one hand, liberal democracy guarantees a religious freedom on the basis of which individuals may choose, abandon, change, publicly profess and spread their own religion. On the other hand, the structural and functional changes that take place in modern societies and the accompanying changes in consciousness result in restricting religious freedom to a specific area that hasbeen defined from outside. In modern societies, there are in reality mechanisms of the marginalization of religion which make it difficult to exercise such basic human rights as religious freedom. The marginalization of religion takes place through the decomposition and transformation (semantic and functional) of religious messages. Due to these mechanisms, the attempts to include religious contents in the public discourse are associated with a significant risk of distorting them, taking them out of context, and transforming them in the framework of nonreligious meaning systems.

We present a spatial interaction entropy maximizing and structural dynamics model of settlements from the Middle Bronze (MBA) and Iron Ages (IA) in the Khabur Triangle (KT) region within Syria. The model addresses factors that make locations attractive for trade and settlement, affecting settlement growth and change. We explore why some sites become relatively major settlements, while others diminish in the periods discussed. We assess how political and geographic constraints affect regional settlement transformations, while also accounting for uncertainty in the archaeological data. Model outputs indicate how the MBA settlement pattern contrasts from the IA for the same region when different factors affecting settlement size importance, facility of movement, and exogenous site interactions are studied. The results suggest the importance of political and historical factors in these periods and also demonstrate the value of a quantitative model in explaining emergent settlement size distributions across landscapes affected by different socio-environmental causal elements.

The general theory of twin deficits hypothesis does not consider specific
characteristics of domestic tax systems, i.e. whether the revenue side of the
budget is dominated by indirect or by direct taxes. The main hypothesis of
the paper is that in countries with fiscal systems dominated by indirect
taxes, the deterioration of the current account balance would imply higher
fiscal revenues due to larger imports and consumption. The hypothesis is
based on the characteristics of domestic tax systems of Bulgaria, Croatia,
Poland and Romania in which indirect tax revenues account for the majority of
total budget tax revenues. Results suggest that the co-movements of the
current account and the fiscal balance cannot be explained by the twin
deficit theory in countries with indirect tax-oriented systems. These results
imply that only the structural economic transformation and export orientation
of the economy may reverse the causality direction between two deficits.

Based on empirical research with two non‐profit organizations, this article critiques structural explanations of non‐profit service innovation, which portray innovation as a response to institutional contexts and downplay the power and role of human agents. We offer, instead, a conceptualization of non‐profit innovation in which human agency – and its interplay with institutional logics – is an integral feature. Specifically, we outline the ways in which non‐profit actors draw upon the competing institutional logics available to them to frame and serve their interests. We find that actors' assumptions and beliefs about the organization's role in the institutional field and the practice of normative, discursive work are central tenets of both the maintenance and transformation of institutions. We also find instances of service stability and service innovation ensuing from non‐profit actors' agency in infusing organizational practices with interpretations and elaborations of institutional logics.

In light of the recent revival of agrarian studies in the scholarship of Southeast Asia, this paper reviews three recent publications that are concerned with specific aspects of what has been framed as "agrarian transition", "agrarian change" or "agrarian transformation". It seeks to identify new perspectives and fresh approaches to the analytical challenges that arise from the multi-faceted and intertwined nature of agrarian change in the region. Further, it considers the implications of these processes - specifically in social, political and economic terms - for the rural population and examines their ways of embracing and resisting these changes. By emphasising the explanatory potential that linking approaches, theories and methodologies of different research traditions and disciplines in an integrative fashion has, it will be argued that - in order to enhance our understanding of people's responses to rural change - it is essential to recognise their agency and perceptions as interconnected across multiple scales within broader structural conditions. (JCSA/GIGA)

After implementation of the structural adjustment model in the region since the 1990s, we see that the benefits to economic growth and social equality were mediocre, even if there was a recovery cycle between 2004 and 2008, although Latin America presents a slight flexibility in inequality with positive trends in this period. There is, today, more centralization with regard to the social question, because Latin America does not present a shift of its workforce from less productive to more efficient activities. Therefore, this article is concerned with analyzing the impact of social policies in the last decade, as compared to the change in the economic structure. This article shows that for ECLA vision authors, the transformation of the productive structure is important to development. Although the region showed improvement with regard to inequality, poverty levels and other changes, an economic structure that is more dynamic and closer to the international technological border has not yet been achieved.

In 2005, the State of New Mexico undertook a sweeping transformation of all publicly funded behavioral health services. The reform was intended to enhance the cultural responsiveness and appropriateness of these services. To examine achievement of this objective, we conducted a qualitative study of the involvement of Native Americans in reform efforts and the subsequent impacts of reform on services for Native Americans. We found that the reform was relatively unsuccessful at creating mechanisms for genuine community input or improving behavioral health care for this population. These shortcomings were related to limited understandings of administrators concerning how tribal governments and health care systems operate, and the structural limitations of a managed care system that does not allow flexibility for culturally appropriate utilization review, screening, or treatment. However, interaction between the State and tribes increased, and we conclude that aspects of the reform could be strengthened to achieve more meaningful involvement and service improvements.

Watching the uprisings unfold in the Middle East, as well as the opposition to them, leads me to appreciate the insights of social movement theory, which suggests that heterogeneous forces can unite in coalitions around super targets when political opportunities suddenly and serendipitously emerge. In this historic moment of change and resistance, will we see the unfolding institutional transformation of the state as it responds to a more participatory ethos, or will former regime stalwarts reconstitute themselves? Elected officials and new governance strategies will still confront serious distributional and economic challenges as states remain enmeshed in neoliberal policies. Political scientists are already studying constitutional change and debates about electoral design, party construction, and other institutional changes to democratize the polity, but we should also look to different transition models that seek to redress deep structural inequalities following decades of repression and rent seeking. Should principles of political or economic affirmative action be incorporated into new institutional designs of transitology?

Various contemporary studies suggest a gathering structural political crisis in Vietnam, asserting that thorough political transformation is inevitable and that this may well lead to regime change. This article takes issue with such perspectives. Using an alternative approach that understands civil society as a particular mode of action and interaction and not as a fixed entity, the results of three case studies of the potential for shifts in functional areas of governance (legitimate rule, security, and welfare) show that civil society action from within the state apparatus effects changes in governance. Those processes of change were initiated more or less simultaneously from above and below. Such possibilities for political change open the way to a far wider discussion on the nature of political progress under nondemocratic regimes, which invites comparison not only with a range of contemporary experiences, but also the political histories of many Western countries.

Proliferation of radical Islamist movements across Central Asia since the collapse of the Soviet Union is substantiated by the increasing support to such groups as the Hizb utTahrir, the Al Islamiyya and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan in the form of political, cultural and educational activities. This paper aims at demonstrating how theoretical tools from social movement literature can contribute to the analysis of transformation of potential followers into active supporters for these radical Islamic groups. It argues that use and application of socio-structural models to explain the rising support for these groups is of limited utility since such models tend to ignore variation among these movements. Rather this paper focuses on resource mobilization, political opportunity and framing perspectives in the study of social movements in order to advance our understanding of the diverse ideological, organizational and resource management work required to facilitate the mobilization of potential followers.