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While Lithuania had undertaken substantial political & economic reform prior to independence, the greatly accelerated pace of privatization following the restoration of same resulted in the emergence of a business class at the local level controlling most of the economic wealth. Concurrent with the process, the state became increasingly less able to either subsidize local governments or assist those hurt most by the reforms. A case study of Siauliai, Lithuania, demonstrates that while the new local business class is over-represented in the city's government, other social elements are not without political voice. Indeed, there appears to be substantial evidence of an "urban regime" linking political office seekers & business interests in an interdependent relationship, permitting the former a significant degree of latitude in responding to the demands of pensioners & other citizen groups who make up the majority of their political base. 3 Tables, 21 References. Adapted from the source document.

This paper examines the historical roots of the emergence of the involvement of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Indonesia (ABRI) in the socio-political field, especially several reasons that form the basis of government policy to involve ABRI in the socio-political and economic fields, as well as ABRI's own efforts to play a role in these fields. This historical approach research concluded that ABRI's involvement in the socio-political field in Indonesia had begun since the government of Guided Democracy under President Soekarno. Politically, the reason for Soekarno's inclusion of the military in his government structure was due to the failure of civilian politicians in formulating state ideology with no agreement between parties in the constituent assembly. This failure is considered to endanger national political stability and threaten the integrity of the country. For this reason, President Soekarno recruited the military to balance civilian politicians in his government. Along with its involvement in the socio-political field, ABRI also plays a role in socio-economics. Although at first, this role was limited to securing national private companies which were legacies of foreign companies, but during the New Order government, the dual function of ABRI was confirmed and its role was wider. Almost all strategic economic sectors are controlled by ABRI.

ABSTRACTThis article analyses how political space, defined here as the ability of actors other than the government to critically engage in debate on government policy and practice, is being constituted in post‐genocide Rwanda. Using evidence from interviews with civil society activists and examples from the Rwandan Government's post‐genocide policies, it explores the kind of political space which results from an interplay of potentially competing influences. These include the promotion of a liberal approach to democracy, favoured by many of Rwanda's donors, and a more tightly‐managed and limited transition which is both preferred by and beneficial for the RPF Government. The article shows that although space could be seen in some areas as opening, this trend is hampered by government actions, including legislative and shadow methods, by donor reluctance to pressure the ruling RPF and by fear within civil society of tackling politically sensitive issues. In conclusion, the author suggests that this fear is reinforced by government policies which narrow perceptions of political space, exacerbated by perceived abandonment of civil society by donors, and that in combination these factors pose a long‐term challenge to more openly contested politics in Rwanda.

Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam presented her housing policies at the 2019 annual address in broad strokes, including using ordinances to resume undeveloped land in accordance with the law. The Hong Kong government could use its regulatory power as disincentives for private development of land given the highly bureaucratic, time-consuming and expensive land development approval process. The Hong Kong government would also work jointly with private sector landlords to potentially develop public housing and profit-driven projects, which would then be negotiated based on the Hong Kong government's terms and conditions.

Modern monetary theory (MMT) claims that a monetary sovereign government has an unlimited financial capacity to purchase whatever it wishes and fulfil its future financial obligations. It is impossible for a monetary sovereign government to be insolvent or go bankrupt. MMT advocates often cite Japan as a successful experiment of the MMT, because it is the economy that has the highest public debt among the OECD (Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development) economies and experienced dramatic growth in high-powered money supply since 2013, but has low inflation, stable yen exchange rates and zero interest.

Presents a roundtable response to Minxin Pei's "The Dark Side of China's Rise" (2006). In The Leadership Learning Curve, Cheng Li suggests that what Pei identifies as dark can be viewed as an opportunity. Pei does not assign China's leaders the same dynamism as he did China's problems & thus, he downplays key policy changes. In Why China Won't Slow Down, Albert Keidel contends that actual conditions on the ground in China indicate little reason for Pei's pessimism regarding China's capacity to survive change & to sustain the pace of its performance. It is argued that China's gross domestic product growth has outperformed other Asian "miracle" economies, & then five factors suggesting that China can maintain this pace are identified. In this light, it is asserted that Chinese officials are running an agile & energetic government, despite some imperfections with respect to rights. In If People Lead, Elites Will Follow, Bruce Gilley comments on Pei's contentions that China's political economy is weaker than many realize & that this weakness will decay into authoritarianism or anarchy rather than develop into democracy. While acknowledging the former to be true, it is argued that the latter is not a given. In Rotting from the Inside Out, Roderick MacFarquhar supports Pei's concern regarding the fragility of the Chinese political system, tracing problems from the Maoist era. Ideas for shifting the political system in a better direction are considered from a historical perspective, suggesting that a major shock to the ruling establishment might be required. In Long March to Nowhere, Pei responds to commentators. D. Edelman

A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Business Studies, University of Bedfordshire, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy ; Although England and Scotland are two of the countries composing the UK, there are differences and similarities between the structures of education in each country. Teachers often struggle to explain the multi-faceted nature of their work and the general public rarely understands the complexities that educational professionals have to deal with on a day-to-day basis. Teachers of 5 to 8 year olds in England and Scotland are expected to fulfil diverse and complex roles. Since devolution, changes have been implemented in Scotland affecting teachers' workload. Changes in the culture of education in both countries have affected the professional and personal lives of teachers. A larger dehumanisation of education in the name of efficiency and cost effectiveness is affecting the morale of teachers and many are leaving the profession. Historical method and a questionnaire are the main methods used to investigate the extent to which teachers of 5 to 8 year olds in England and Scotland have been affected by government legislation of the 1980s up to the present. The research also seeks to discover what changes teachers have made in order to work within the educational climate that resulted from that legislation. The questionnaire includes demographic data, scales for teachers to rate their ideal vs. actual teaching situations, emotive statements taken from a national survey for Likert scale response in terms of agreement or disagreement, and space for open-ended comments. The data were subjected to statistical analysis using SPSS. Two-way ANOVAs with repeated measures and one way ANOVAs were used in the analysis of the questionnaires, in addition to factor analysis. In the discussion of the findings, the historical accounts of the development of education in England and Scotland affecting the teachers of 5 to 8 year olds was used, along with respondents' open ended comments, to inform the results of the statistical analysis of the questionnaire. The findings show a perceived gap between respondents' ideal and actual teaching situations in both countries, and a somewhat negative trend in the overall response to both types of scaled items, with only a few group differences. The pattern of response is interpreted as showing dissatisfaction with managerialism in UK education, and it is argued that this emphasis is affecting the dynamics and cohesiveness of schools. The resulting, increasingly performative culture is perceived to be degrading the quality of early years' education by a process of depersonalisation and restricted implementation of professional expertise.

Examines the implications of the European Union's control of its members' external trade & restriction-free internal market for European welfare states. The European Union's lack of democratic legitimation is seen as a specific consequence, whereas the democratic deficit occurs in those areas where conflicting interest & ideology are endemic. European economic integration interferes with the success of the national welfare state & impedes democratic self-determination at the national level. It is suggested that regulatory competition in the market could be softened by placing responsibility of the redistributive policies at the European level. National-level policy choices are available, but will require a major change in strategy that will mostly affect labor unions & leftist parties. 1 Figure, 28 References. P. Schlachte

Anat Gesser-Edelsburg School of Public Health and the Health and Risk Communication Research Center, University of Haifa, Haifa, 3498838, IsraelCorrespondence: Anat Gesser-EdelsburgSchool of Public Health and the Health and Risk Communication Research Center, University of Haifa, 199 Aba Khoushy Ave., Mount Carmel, Haifa, 3498838, IsraelTel +972 544 243530Fax +973 3 6322143Email ageser@univ.haifa.ac.ilAbstract: Social media have changed the way citizens participate in and express opinions about government policy. Social media serve organizations in achieving four main goals: interacting with citizens; fostering citizen participation; furthering open government; and analyzing/monitoring public opinion and activities. We contend that despite the importance of social media, international and local health organizations have been slow to adopt to them, primarily due to the discrepancy between intraorganizational discourse modes and the type of discourse suitable for dialogue with the public. In this perspective paper, we recommend strategies for such public dialogue based on understanding the challenges faced by organizations on the road to becoming more "social" in their social media presence and in their health and risk communication. Subsequently, we propose an integrative approach that combines three complementary paths: (1) putting the "social" back into health organizations' culture by inserting more "social" content into the internal organizational discourse through consultation with experts from different fields, including those who diverge from the scientific consensus. (2) Using strategies to enable health organizations to respond to the public on social networks, based on health communications research and studies on emerging infectious disease (EID) communication. (3) Engaging the public on social media based on the participatory approach, which considers the public as a partner that understands science and can work with the organizations to develop an open and innovative pandemic realm by using crowdsourcing to solve complex global health problems. For each path, we define the current challenges, among which are (1) overcoming organizational groupthink and hidden profiles, (2) treating all unofficial information as misleading, and (3) insufficient public engagement in solving complex global problems. We then offer recommendations for dealing with each challenge.Keywords: health and risk communication, social media, emerging infectious disease communication, misinformation, infodemic, COVID-19

NATIONAL PARLIAMENTS ARE CENTRAL ACTORS IN THE SCRUTINY AND implementation of European Union (EU) legislation. Member state legislatures provide a channel for incorporating public opinion into the governance of the Union. Their importance has become more evident during the 1990s as debate has focused on the democratic deficit and deparliamentarization of European governance.National parliaments are involved in EU decision-making in three ways: they 1) participate in national policy formulation on Union legislation; 2) monitor the behaviour of member state representatives in the Council of Ministers and the European Council; and 3) have functions specifically regulated in the treaties, such as ratification of treaty amendments and implementation of directives. The third function differs from the first two as the treaties impose rights and duties on the national parliaments, whereas there is no EU law on national policy formulation on Union legislation or on the scrutiny of ministers. During the 1996-97 Intergovernmental Conference (ICC) the member states saw no need for such European-level regulation. Thus it is up to each national parliament – within the limits set by member state constitutions and other constraints – to decide how it deals with the challenges brought by EU membership.

Based on the recurring questions about sources of foreign policy, this article analyses the influence of Mexico's economic and political model in its policy towards Latin America by firstly examining the foreign policy proposals of Vicente Fox's, Felipe Calderón's and Enrique Peña Nieto's governments, and secondly, its congruence and legitimacy regarding free trade, and democracy and human rights. This work argues and concludes that Mexico's policies, internal and foreign, have been consistent, although not completely so in the political sphere. This congruence does not solve the problem of legitimacy in foreign policy, but suggests that foreign policy has not been illegitimate either. ; Teniendo como punto de partida la pregunta recurrente sobre las causas (fuentes) de política exterior, este artículo analiza la influencia del modelo económico y político de México en su política exterior hacia América Latina. Después de examinar las propuestas de política exterior de los gobiernos de Vicente Fox, Felipe Calderón y Enrique Peña Nieto, el trabajo analiza la congruencia y la legitimidad de esa política en el ámbito económico –con énfasis en el libre comercio– y político –destacando la democracia y los derechos humanos–. Argumenta y concluye que hay congruencia entre política interna y exterior en ambos casos, aunque no total en el político. Esto, sin embargo, no resuelve la cuestión de la legitimidad de la política exterior, pero apunta a que no puede hablarse de su ilegitimidad.