Suchergebnisse

The author's aim has been to draw together the threads of political and social science and of sub-specialisms within those broad areas of study and to interpret them in the context of urban and regional planning. Consideration is given to various interpretations of decision making in a democracy, to 'representation' and the public interest, to the opportunities for citizen participation in the planning process, to the range of potential participants, their motivation and competence, to the means which may be employed to secure different levels of citizen involvement; and to the impediments to

The comparative analysis of the foreign language competence among the citizens of Poland and Czech Republic has been accomplished. The received findings were compared with current observations of all-European linguistic tendencies. Having analysed various statistics the authors succeeded in assembling the social portrait of an average multilingual European. The authors have also considered the fact that over the past years the official percentage of multilingual citizens, both in Poland and the Czech Republic, has significantly decreased due to intensive emigration processes. In the authors' opinion, this problem is mostly of the socio-economic nature and demonstrates rather not the weakness of educational systems, but the ability of educational institutions of both countries to prepare competitive specialists who are able (due to the high level of foreign language competence) to find decent job in the labour-market of the United Europe. It has also been stated that since the foreign language competence has become a professional and cultural prerequisite for creation of the unified globalized Europe, and multilingualism has become a part of the European identity, the future specialists' foreign language training in Ukraine should be conducted precisely taking into account the prospects of European integration.

Defence date: 3 May 2016 ; Examining Board: Professor Hanspeter Kriesi, European University Institute, Supervisor; Professor Alexander Trechsel, European University Institute, Co-Supervisor; Professor Diana Mutz, University of Pennsilvania; Professor Rune Slothuus, Aarhus University. ; A competent citizenry is the key to the legitimacy of direct democratic decisions, but just how competent are citizens in direct democracy? Understanding how citizens reason and how they make their decisions is ever more important as the use of direct democratic instruments is growing throughout the world. I propose a concept of citizen competence based on reason-giving. A competent citizen is one who bases his or her decisions on substantive, policy-related arguments, and who considers a diversity of arguments before taking a decision. In this thesis I use a multi-method approach, combining three different datasets to analyze citizen competence in direct democracy: cross-sectional post-ballot surveys from 34 popular votes in Switzerland; a panel dataset covering two referendum campaigns in Switzerland; and a lab experiment conducted in Scotland during the Scottish independence referendum in 2014. I found, that citizens have a surprisingly accurate knowledge of the policy-related arguments of the debate. Furthermore, arguments are significantly associated with vote intention, even when controlling for party preference. This first results highlight the importance of meaningful arguments in political opinion formation. However, a second finding of my project is that citizens tend to process arguments in a biased way, preferring arguments compatible with their prior beliefs and partisan attachments, and disregarding or devaluing incompatible information. Yet this tendency for directional, motivated reasoning can be discouraged by holding individuals accountable for their views, that is, by making them justify their position to others. The conclusions I draw for the legitimacy of direct democratic decisions are mixed. While citizens are not as uninformed and minimalist as they are often depicted in public opinion research, they are still partisan and find it difficult to process information impartially. Therefore, in order to enhance the legitimacy of direct democratic procedure, providing citizens with diverse and balanced information is necessary, but not sufficient. They need to encounter an environment where they are motivated to be accurate, for example, by being expected to justify themselves to others in cross-cutting discussions.

The author's aim has been to draw together the threads of political and social science and of sub-specialisms within those broad areas of study and to interpret them in the context of urban and regional planning. Consideration is given to various interpretations of decision making in a democracy, to 'representation' and the public interest, to the opportunities for citizen participation in the planning process, to the range of potential participants, their motivation and competence, to the means which may be employed to secure different levels of citizen involvement; and to the impediments to meaningful participation. Therefore this book will contribute to the closing of the existing gap between theory and practice by drawing together a diversity of themes from political science, philosophy and psychology, community theory and regional science, rendering them comprehensible in the context of planning.

Notion of informational competence of civil servants and legal basis for its development. We should emphasize that the issue of informational competence of civil servants gains its significance within democratic and administrative reforms and rapid general changes in social life which distinctly characterize modern Russian society. Some scientists directly point out that it is the state personnel policy focusing on high qualification of the staff that enables to cope with problems of public management professionally. It should be noted that recently in Russia the issue of informational competence of civil servants is not being deeply researched in scientific politics and law, besides this problem is rarely concerned in scientific publications. This paper focuses on the issue which has been considered quite seldom in recent scientific publications. The issue regards informational competence of civil servants as the most essential factor of full realization of information rights and freedoms of Russian citizens, optimization of administrative procedures, and focus on national interests in the information field. In this paper we introduce the interpretation of the concept «informational competence of civil servants», characterize current condition of civil service in Russia as the foundation for its development, and analyze basic problems of inadequate degree of informational competence of civil servants.

Political efficacy, the belief that the ruled in a political system have some capacity for exercising influence over the rulers, has been studied extensively by political researchers. A selected bibliography compiled by Easton and Dennis in early 1967 contains some thirty books and articles which have dealt in one way or another with political efficacy and its correlates. And this bibliography could be updated considerably.Substantial theoretic import has been attributed to political efficacy. Easton and Dennis consider the SRC sense of political efficacy construct to be an important determinant of the persistence of democratic regimes. They argue that beliefs in political efficacy provide "a reservoir of diffuse support upon which the system can automatically draw in normal times, when members may feel that their capacity to manipulate the environment is not living up to their expectations, and in special periods of stress, when popular participation may appear to be pure illusion or when political outputs fail to measure up to insistent demands," A related construct, termed "subjective competence" by Almond and Verba, is based on different indicators but interpreted as substantively equivalent to the SRC construct. On the basis of their analysis of the Five-Nation data, Almond and Verba arrive at the general conclusion that "the self-confident [subjectively competent] citizen appears to be the democratic citizen." The concept of political competence, as formulated by Barnes, subsumes political efficacy under the aegis of an individual attribute consisting of "political skills plus the sense of efficacy necessary for effective political action." Barnes contends that high levels of political competence dispose individuals to prefer democratic styles of leadership, while low levels dispose individuals to prefer authoritarian styles. On these grounds, he concludes that relatively high levels of political competence are a necessary condition of political democracy.

During campaigns, parties must defend their reputation of competence on issues to persuade citizens to vote for them (issue ownership). Consequently, what are the most effective strategies to achieve this? I argue that direct (advertising) and indirect (media coverage) communication strategies have different effects on citizens' perception of party competence. To analyze the impact of campaign dynamics on citizens, I use three data sources: an individual rolling cross-section panel, a media coverage analysis, and a parties' advertisements analysis. I link those data on a daily basis to capture the dynamics of parties' communication and citizens' opinion. The results show that advertisements help parties to win and maintain their issue ownership, while media coverage only helps parties to maintain their ownership. The study has scientific and practical implications with regard to party strategy, campaigns, and citizens' perceptions of parties.

The article discusses the issues of political competence, political activity and political communication in Lithuania. The concept of political competence is operationalized and measured in terms of threefold sub-levels: the level of political information, the congruence between the perception of left-right wing politics, and self-placement on the left-right wing political scale together with the actual voting preferences. Analysis revealed the dependence of the level of political competence upon demographic criteria and personal values. The main problem is incompatibility between the level of political competence and political activity. The most active citizens do not necessarily have substantial political knowledge while the most competent citizens often abstain from active civic and political involvement.

The article discusses the issues of political competence, political activity and political communication in Lithuania. The concept of political competence is operationalized and measured in terms of threefold sub-levels: the level of political information, the congruence between the perception of left-right wing politics, and self-placement on the left-right wing political scale together with the actual voting preferences. Analysis revealed the dependence of the level of political competence upon demographic criteria and personal values. The main problem is incompatibility between the level of political competence and political activity. The most active citizens do not necessarily have substantial political knowledge while the most competent citizens often abstain from active civic and political involvement.

The article discusses the issues of political competence, political activity and political communication in Lithuania. The concept of political competence is operationalized and measured in terms of threefold sub-levels: the level of political information, the congruence between the perception of left-right wing politics, and self-placement on the left-right wing political scale together with the actual voting preferences. Analysis revealed the dependence of the level of political competence upon demographic criteria and personal values. The main problem is incompatibility between the level of political competence and political activity. The most active citizens do not necessarily have substantial political knowledge while the most competent citizens often abstain from active civic and political involvement.

Relying on a powerful collective narrative through which political, legal and social decision-making is guided in the name of science, the authority of scientific experts reaches beyond the boundaries of their certified knowledge base. Therefore, expertise constitutes and is constituted by transgressive competence. The author argues that (1) changes in the decision-making structure of liberal Western democracies and changes in the knowledge production system diminish the authority of scientific expertise while increasing the context-dependency of expertise - thereby altering the nature of its predictive claims; (2) the societal distribution of expertise, while displaying emancipatory features of empowerment of citizens, also raises issues of quality control; and (3) in order to regain a balance between public and private, i.e. individual-based societally distributed expertise, future expert systems will need to adopt a longer time-perspective. The author also reflects on directions in which future expert systems might evolve.

Contemporary democratic theories that draw on Socrates for inspiration have addressed his method of investigation too narrowly because there has been insufficient attention to the need for authority, which Socrates also identifies. Because his appeals to authority initially appear antidemocratic, we cannot overlook this aspect of his thought. I describe a virtue, civic competence, which is the excellence of citizens who critically engage with the norms of the community, but who also recognise that authority is politically necessary. Deliberation requires elenctic-like scrutiny, but also a willingness to accept some arguments as authoritative. My overarching claim is that failure to exhibit such character traits can appear in more than one form, a point neglected in recent literature, and that not all such forms are antidemocratic. Civic competence is susceptible to corruptions that may never result in citizenship that is simply undemocratic. I define two corruptions of civic competence: 'disagonism' and 'eristicism'. The former treats disagreement as signalling either confusion or wickedness and deliberation as a process of clarifying and tidying discourse. The latter treats disagreement as ineliminable and deliberation as gaming with words in order to defeat an opponent in argument.

The objective of this article is to analyze the citizenship competences in university students from the Uniminuto Main Campus, Physical Education, Recreation and Sports Degree, in the city of Bogotá, Colombia. For this, the survey pedagogical practices for the development of citizenship competences was applied. It consisted of 29 items that include the integrative skills (three items actions), communicative (nine items democratic environments), emotional (seven items emotions and empathy) and cognitive (three items critical thinking), with a Cronbach's alpha of 0.73 for the total scale. The incidental sample consisted of 264 students in the last semester. The methodology is quantitative in nature and descriptive in scope. SPSS software was used for the study. The statistical analysis was carried out using descriptive statistical techniques. The main findings reflect that the critical thinking variables in the three items show low scores with respect to the arithmetic mean, while the variables of actions, emotions, empathy and environment show acceptable scores. It is concluded that the citizenship competences go beyond a simple citizen understanding and that they are part of an ethical, moral, professional and special character purpose that includes diverse views and ways of acting in this case in relation to the academic formation of the physical educator; this allows to form citizens with principles, values and sense of institutional belonging. ; El objetivo de este artículo es analizar las competencias ciudadanas en estudiantes universitarios de la sede principal Uniminuto, de la Licenciatura en Educación Física, Recreación y Deporte, ciudad de Bogotá, Colombia. Se aplicó una encuesta práctica pedagógica para el desarrollo de competencias ciudadanas. Esta constó de 29 ítems que incluye las habilidades integradoras (tres ítems acciones), comunicativa (nueve ítems ambientes democráticos), emocionales (siete ítems emociones y empatía) y cognitiva (tres ítems pensamiento crítico), con un alfa de Cronbach de 0.73 para la escala total. La muestra incidental estuvo conformada por 264 estudiantes de último semestre. La metodología es de carácter cuantitativo y alcance descriptivo. Para el estudio se utilizó el software SPSS. El análisis estadístico se realizó con técnicas de estadística descriptiva. Los principales hallazgos reflejan que las variables de pensamiento crítico en los tres ítems arrojaron puntuaciones bajas respecto a la media aritmética, mientras en las variables de acciones, emociones, empatía y ambiente presentaron puntuaciones aceptables. Se concluye que las competencias ciudadanas van más allá de un simple entendimiento ciudadano y que hace parte de un fin ético, moral, profesional y carácter especial que abarca diversas miradas y formas de actuar en este caso con relación a la formación académica del educador físico; ello permite formar ciudadanos con principios, valores y sentido de pertenencia institucional. ; O objetivo deste artigo é analisar as competências de cidadania em estudantes universitários da sede da Uniminuto, com diploma de Educação Física, Recreação e Esporte, na cidade de Bogotá, Colômbia. Para isso, a pesquisa foi aplicada a práticas pedagógicas para o desenvolvimento de competências de cidadania. Consistiu em 29 itens que incluem as habilidades integrativas (três itens ações), comunicativas (nove itens ambientes democráticos), emocionais (sete itens emoções e empatia) e cognitivas (três itens pensamento crítico), com um alfa de Cronbach de 0,73 para a escala total. A amostra incidental consistiu de 264 alunos no último semestre. A metodologia é quantitativa por natureza e descritiva no seu âmbito. O software SPSS foi utilizado para o estudo. A análise estatística foi realizada utilizando técnicas estatísticas descritivas. As principais constatações refletem que as variáveis de pensamento crítico nos três itens indicam pontuações baixas em relação à média aritmética, enquanto as variáveis de ações, emoções, empatia e ambiente mostram pontuações aceitáveis. Conclui-se que as competências de cidadania vão além de uma simples entendida cidadã e que fazem parte de uma finalidade ética, moral, profissional e de caráter especial que inclui diversas visões e formas de atuação neste caso em relação à formação acadêmica do educador físico; isto permite formar cidadãos com princípios, valores e senso de pertença institucional.