Suchergebnisse

The COVID 19 pandemic had an unusual multidimensional impact on humanity as a whole, creating or recreating new or renewed forms of relationship between people, communities and the state, as an articulating entity of social relations and spaces of human development. In this context, the general use of ICTs in teaching-learning processes at all levels of the educational system is common, to the detriment of the person-to-person encounter affected by social distancing. The objective of the article is to describe a useful conceptual framework to redefine educational policies in accordance with the new realities that characterize post-pandemic scenarios in Ecuador. Methodologically it is a documentary, analytical and prospective research. The authors conclude that investment in education is considered urgent since its material and symbolic spaces mean for the majority of young people the most legitimate opportunity to train, achieve better opportunities and ascend socially, a situation that reduces the dynamics of social conflict.

AbstractResearch on national parliaments in the EU has greatly expanded since the Treaty of Lisbon fully recognized their role in providing democratic legitimacy for EU decision‐making. However, the direct interaction between national parliaments and the European Commission has received little academic attention. This research note seeks to frame a research agenda that explores whether, and under which conditions, the Commission visits to national parliaments have the potential to develop from sites for inter‐institutional exchange of information to arenas for cross‐level accountability. We lay out a framework to capture the relation between national parliaments and the Commission based on three kinds of indicators: the formal set‐up, logic of interaction, and public communication. We illustrate the kind of evidence and range of variation that this agenda may unearth by applying this framework in an exploratory analysis of Trade Commissioner Malmström's visits to seven national parliaments in the EU.

AbstractWhile the issue of behavioral change is of increasing interest to academics and practitioners, an understanding of its drivers remains limited. Consistent with the possibility that destabilizing events can trigger the implementation of beneficial changes in one's life, this research studies the COVID‐19 pandemic and its influence on the adoption of positive habits. More specifically, it focuses on positive health and lifestyle‐related behavioral changes observed within the confined population, as well as the antecedents of such changes. Two surveys conducted 1 month apart in an urban setting severely affected by the pandemic confirm the role of optimism toward the crisis as an antecedent to four changes: slowdown in pace of life, decluttering of personal space, reflection on consumption habits and adoption of healthy behaviors. Collective resilience, social support and anxiety are identified as determinants of optimism. Results suggest an evolution of certain relations including the increase of collective resilience effect on optimism over time.

The article shows the history of the relationship of individual representatives of the Kazakh national intelligentsia with Siberian public and political figures in the middle of the 19th century to the end of 1917. The first stage of relations includes the 1850s - 1890s. During this period, the main aspects of cooperation in the fields of science, education, ethnography are formed, joint meetings of the Kazakh and Siberian intelligentsia are held. The second stage covers the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th century. At this time, the Kazakh elite, who studied and worked in educational and scientific institutions and institutions of Siberia, came into contact with such Siberian figures as G.N. Potanin, A.M. Yarmosh, P. S. Vologodskiy. The third stage of mutual contacts includes the activation of ties throughout 1917. During this short but busy period, the leaders of the Kazakh national movement Alash take an active part in the work of the Siberian Congresses.

AbstractChinese state firms are expected not only to profit but also to serve state interests. But the Chinese state is fragmented: border provinces are taking on an expanded role in China's global expansion and a broad range of firm activities could be defined as patriotic contributions. Through the case of Yunnan State Farms (YSF), a province-level state-owned enterprise, this article explores how state firms interpret and navigate multiple state interests while also pursuing profit. The firm's ability to profit depends on balancing the demands and support of different Chinese state actors while depicting itself as a development partner to the Lao state and a contributor to Sino-Lao diplomatic relations and border region stability. This case thus shows that, instead of YSF's behaviour being directed by the state, the firm exercises considerable latitude in defining its contributions to state interests through the expansion of rubber production as a driver of development.

Worldwide, great efforts are being made in order to establish sustainable development at all levels. European Union (EU) member states are obliged to meet the requirements in the area of environmental protection. In this paper, the authors conducted a comparative study of environmental attitudes among young people from both EU transition countries and EU candidate countries. The objective was to determine the differences in environmental attitudes, environmental awareness and self-efficacy of the youth from these two groups of countries and the EU environmental policy implementation level. Results indicated that the influence of EU membership exists when it comes to the environmental attitudes of youth from the analyzed countries. Average values showed the unsatisfactory situation regarding environmental awareness and self-efficacy of respondents. In order to define the relations among environmental attitudes, self-efficacy and environmental awareness, a structural model was created. This analysis showed that these three components work the same way in both groups of countries.

Abstract
Evolutionary approaches to strategic coupling show how regions harness and match assets, then negotiate their alignment with lead firms. For regions intersected by multiple networks in the same industry, however, the reconfiguration of network-territory relations can have aggregate, co-evolutionary effects that exceed coupling to a single lead firm. In such cases network switching rather than asset matching can be a primary driver of regional transformation, as assets transferred from one lead firm to another become embedded in qualitatively different production networks with contrasting power dynamics and logics of value capture. We analyse transformation in UK offshore oil to reveal three trajectories of change—in ownership, control, and capital—arising from the transfer of regional assets between different categories of lead firm; and identify simultaneous processes of globalisation and localisation in network geographies. We argue that network switching—guided by a heuristic of 're-territorialisation'—can complement strategic coupling.

AbstractThis study explores contextual sources of attitudes towards refugees by investigating the impact of outgroup size, outgroup proximity (or the presence of an asylum seekers centre), economic conditions, and their interaction on individuals' attitudes. We analyse data from a cross-sectional survey of the Belgian adult population in October 2017, enriched with municipality-level indicators of intergroup context and economic conditions. Drawing on multilevel regression analyses, our findings show that proximity to an asylum seekers centre and a higher average taxable income of residents are associated with positive individual attitudes towards refugees, while (changes in) outgroup size are not linked with attitudes among this sample. Additionally, our findings indicate that the positive impact of educational attainment on attitudes is amplified (weakened) in municipalities with a larger (smaller) refugee and asylum seeker group size. In summary, these results highlight the relevance of including outgroup proximity at the local level and interactive relations in contextual studies of outgroup attitudes.

Abstract
Focusing on the Brazilian spirit-incorporation religion of Umbanda, this article proposes a theoretical shift in conceptions of hybridity: a move from asking "what ingredients mix in what manner to produce what result?" to asking "how do we interpret religious innovation?" This approach sees meaning as simply the result of interpretation (not in terms of a representational relation between words and world). It also underlines the centrality of discursive claims of hybridity and purity, as opposed to historical issues of origins – a point clarified by comparing "hybridity" to "tradition." Comparison of Umbanda and Candomblé leads to the conclusion that each can be considered both "Afro-Brazilian" and "hybrid" in different ways. Candomblé exhibits semantic polarity (all groups accept that a certain sub-type is more authentic and hybridity marks divergence from that norm). Umbanda exhibits semantic plurality (wide variation between groups is not subject to such a normative judgment).

The crises of the present call for us to envision a communist alternative aiming at emancipating work and liberating human creativity: a mode of production for which wealth is the development of the "universality of individual needs, capacities, pleasures," of "creative potentialities" and "all human power" (Marx, 1993, 488). For this purpose, the wage-for-life system, built off the proposal of the French economist and sociologist Bernard Friot, can play a crucial role. Friot conceived a communist mode of production based upon expansion of the wage socialization mechanisms of the welfare institutions and the constitution of an alternative measure of wealth. Imagining a radically different mode of production and set of social relations, Friot's model addresses the need for subverting the category of value itself, making it the starting point for the conception of a new society in which work can be autonomous, creative, free.

The aim of the research was to determine the competitive advantages from the perspective of the stakeholders in Los Cabos, México. Case study with a qualitative methodology with an exploratory and descriptive scope. Six stakeholders were interviewed, public, private, and social plus a virtual ethnography was carried out on Forty large tourism companies in Los Cabos. The Competitiveness factors of Los Cabos tourist destination are: 1. Geographical natural characteristics, 2. The composition of the tourism product, 3. Tourism promotion, 4. Public and private collaboration, 5. Tourism resilience and 6. Creation of share value. For their part, the actions carried out by large companies for the benefit of the resident community have the capacity to create share value, however, a measurement of the contribution in relation to cost – benefits are required. Los Cabos, México is a consolidated tourist destination in a mature phase with resiliency capacity, adaptation to disruptive changes in the environment and with an assertive tourist reactivation.

This article focuses on the potential of in-group music lessons to foster musical citizenship. It further discusses the relation between musical citizenship and conventional citizenship and shows how musical citizenship reorientates our thoughts towards citizenship, particularly in the light of the recent pandemic. The discussion is based upon reflection on semi-structured interviews conducted during my ethnographic fieldwork research on musicking among refugees sheltering in reception centres. The discussion is framed with approaches to citizenship and musical citizenship. The discussion is structured in three parts. First, I conceptualize my interlocutors' current 'in limbo' status. Second, I show how music learning in-group fosters musical citizenship and helps navigate exclusions. Third, the attention shifts on how music learning was impacted by the way that the lockdown was implemented as a measure to limit the spread of the pandemic, highlighting the inclusivity of 'musical citizenship' undermined by (conventional) citizenship and the relevant exclusionary policies.

AbstractIn the US system of decentralized federalism, competitive dynamics among local governments are not incompatible with successful interlocal collaboration. Municipalities often collaborate with competing jurisdictions in the same region to provide services and solve problems. Yet, competitive relations among municipalities are expected to complicate collaboration, escalating transaction costs due to divergent goals and lack of trust. This article uses the Institutional Collective Action framework to examine the conditions under which local governments are best able to surmount competition‐related hurdles and successfully partner with their chief municipal competitors. An original survey of mayors and councilors is used to test potential predictors of collaboration among top competitors. Results show that municipalities often collaborate with their chief competitors but are less likely to do so when they are situated in municipally‐fragmented regions, when they are located in a different county from their top competitors, and when they are fiscally strong.

Abstract
Precariousness of the Colombian urban economy provides an ecosystem for the development and expansion of digital platforms, intersecting informal working relations with digital surveillance. Reconstructing legal obstacles to gaining recognition as legal and formal workers, it is argued that platforms have assembled a techno-legal network which translates discussions about workers' rights into the less regulated arena of information and communication technologies. The role of 'regulatory displacement' is examined to analyse the evolution of digital platforms for food delivery workers. Drawing on a review of the regulation of it and labour, discussed in Congress in 2017–2018, we explore the regulatory expulsions that digital workers experience, analysing this information with a grounded theory approach, in which we have followed discursive patterns that emerge from legal documents. Addressing this strategic use of the law is key to understanding and overcoming obstacles that platform workers face in their attempts to organize in the Global South.

Active aging programs are seen as an important strategy for the long-term sustainability of Japan given population aging and fertility decline trends. This paper reviews Japan's commitment to active aging initiatives since the 1960s with a focus on the development of senior clubs, welfare centers for the elderly and senior colleges. The changing patterns of their popularity are discussed in relation to the increased options available today and the changes taking place in the family structure with both a macro historical review and a case study to demonstrate how programs have been implemented with national and local funding support. A description of the U.S. experience is used to demonstrate the comparative level of commitment that Japan has made to support healthy aging. The recrafting of the active aging motif as shogai gen'eki, with its emphasis on continued employment, may suggest a redirection of the preferred role of Japan's older adults in the future.