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This paper aims to redefine the term competitiveness to enhance its usefulness for the evaluation of country performance and for policy conclusions. We attempt to establish a definition that is adequate if economic policy strives for a new growth path that is more dynamic, socially inclusive and ecologically sustainable. We tentatively apply the proposed definition to evaluate the "competitiveness" of EU member states as well as to compare Europe's competitiveness with that of the US, Switzerland, Japan and China, where possible. In the first part of the paper, we examine the evolution of the concept from a focus on "inputs" at the firm level (price or cost competitiveness) to economic structure and capabilities at the country level and finally to "outcome" competitiveness, where outcomes are defined in a broad sense and in the context of the WWWforEurope project. We propose to define competitiveness as the "ability of a country (region, location) to deliver the beyond-GDP goals for its citizens". In the second part of the paper, the performance of the EU-27 countries is assessed along the dimensions described above. We begin with price competitiveness and then proceed to economic structure and countries' capabilities regarding innovation, education, the social system, institutions and environmental ambition. We conclude with outcome competitiveness in terms of economic, social and ecological outcomes. Overall, we compile a database of 68 indicators that describe these different aspects of competitiveness. In the third part of the paper, we investigate empirically the relationship between "outcome" and "input" competitiveness for the EU-27 using panel data analysis for the period from 2000 to 2010. We construct a composite indicator for outcome competitiveness consisting of income, social and ecological pillars, following the beyond-GDP literature. This measure is then econometrically related to composite indicators of the three groups of input indicators: price competitiveness, economic structure, and capabilities. The results of panel regressions suggest that both economic structure and capabilities on aggregate are positively related to our measure of outcome competitiveness, while a negative relationship is found for the wage component of price competitiveness. Among the different dimensions of capabilities, ecological ambition and institutions are positively associated with outcome competitiveness. Overall, we conclude that a narrow focus on the price component of competitiveness neglects other aspects of the concept that are likely to be particularly important for high-income economies like the EU-27.

Ageing populations pose some of the foremost global challenges of this century. Drawing on an international pool of scholars, this cutting-edge Handbook surveys the micro, macro and institutional aspects of the economics of ageing.
Structured in seven parts, the volume addresses a broad range of themes, including health economics, labour economics, pensions and social security, generational accounting, wealth inequality and regional perspectives. Each chapter combines a succinct overview of the state of current research with a sketch of a promising future research agenda.
This Handbook will be an essential resource for advanced students, researchers and policymakers looking at the economics of ageing across the disciplines of economics, demography, public policy, public health and beyond.

Introduction -- PART I SELF-DETERMINATION OF PEOPLES -- Phases and developments of the concept of the self- determination of the peoples -- The right holders of self-determination -- Practicing the right to self-determination.-Ways and modalities for realization of the self – determination -- PART II SECESSION -- The phenomenon of secession -- The dynamics of secession -- The legitimacy of the secession claims -- The emergence of a secessionist entity -- PART THREE: INTERNAL SELF-DETERMINATION -- The internal aspect of the right to self-determination -- The social base for realization of internal self-determination -- Tools and forms for the realization of internal self-determination -- Systems of power sharing -- Part IV CONCLUSIONS -- Self – determination revisited.

Der vorliegende Band versammelt Beiträge zu politischem Graffiti aus kunst-, kultur- und sprachwissenschaftlicher Perspektive. Dabei geht es nicht nur um Graffiti mit politischen Themen und politischer Wirkungsabsicht, sondern auch um sozio-politische Aspekte von vordergründig unpolitisch erscheinenden Spielarten des Graffiti. Einem weiten Graffiti-Begriff folgend, der auch die Grenzbereiche zur Street Art einschließt, werden Beispiele vom 20. Jahrhundert bis in die Gegenwart interdisziplinär in den Blick genommen und diskutiert.The present volume assembles contributions on political graffiti from an artistic, cultural and linguistic perspective. The volume not only deals with graffiti on political issues and political goals but also with social-political aspects of apparently unpolitical types of graffiti. Following a broader concept of graffiti which also includes the borderlines of street art, samples from the 20th century to modern days are being highlighted and discussed.

Poland and Taiwan: two parts of the world distant from each other, differing culturally and socially, and yet facing kind of similar challenges in the late 1980s and early 1990s – characterised by the transition from an authoritarian political system to liberal democracy. This book seeks to present the process of democratisation of Poland and Taiwan from the point of view of shared perspectives. Invoking the classical literature of transitology, it is possible to explore similarities and differences between the democratisation of Poland and Taiwan among socioeconomic factors, fragmentation in society, political culture, meso- structures (e.g. political groups, social movements), political institutions, historical and national- identity aspects, and international influences.

For working people, the cost of getting to work, in terms of time and expense, is a crucial aspect of daily life. In the twentieth century, people's opportunity to travel increased. This did not, however, apply to everyone. The absence of affordable housing near job locations combined with the lack of safe, efficient, and affordable mobility options aggravated social exclusion for some. No Bicycle, No Bus, No Job details how power relations have historically enabled or restricted workers' mobility in twentieth century Netherlands. Blue-collar workers, industrial employers, and the state shaped workers' everyday commute in a changing playing field of uneven power relations that shifted from paternalism to neo-liberalism.

Sympathies for common ends: the principles of organization in Hume's psychology and political economy / Tamás Demeter -- Adam Smith on organic change in moral beliefs / Craig Smith -- Malthusianism in and out of Darwinism. Naturalising society and moralising nature? / Antonello La Vergata -- J.S. Mill's understanding of the "organic" nature of socialism / Helen McCabe -- The concept of organic growth in Marshall's work / Neil B. Niman -- The role of Keynes's idea of "organic unity" in his "general theory" of capitalism / Ted Winslow -- Unintended order and self-organization in the evolutionary social theory of Friedrich Hayek / Hilton L. Root -- The politics of naturalizing the economy: organic aspects in the economic thought of Karl and Michael Polanyi / Gábor Bíró.

"The history of the trans-Atlantic slave trade is deeply embedded in the emergence of early modern economic and political institutions. Reckoning with Slavery resituates the early modern as the space out of which race, racial hierarchies, notions of value and trade, and ideas of gender and reproduction are mutually constituted. Through a study of numeracy, trade, counting, and commerce, the lives and experiences of enslaved women in the sixteenth and seventeenth century English Atlantic world come into focus. Rather than treating economy and culture as distinct aspects of social history, Reckoning with Slavery asks what we can come to know about kinship, family, and race through the archives of trade and commerce"--

This report aims to support the city of Umeå in becoming the leader in the circular economy as stated in its strategic plan for 2016-2028. Umeå's population doubled over the last 50 years, making it one of Europe's fastest growing cities in a sparsely populated region (Northern Sweden). By 2050, the city is expected to reach a population of 200 000 inhabitants, with consequences on housing, use of natural resources and waste production. As such, the local government is developing a model integrating environmental, social and economic aspects within a circular economy approach. This is in line with the Swedish Government's objective to strengthen society's transition to a resource-efficient, circular and bio-based economy.

"Approaches to the Study of Intercultural Transfer" presents a collection of compelling case studies in the areas of social reform, museums, philanthropy, football, nonviolent resistance and holiday rituals such as Christmas that demonstrate key mechanisms of intercultural transfers. Each chapter provides the application of the intercultural transfer studies paradigm to a specific and distinct historical phenomenon. These chapters not only illustrate the presence or even the depth and frequency of intercultural transfer, but they also reveal specific aspects of the intercultural transfer of phenomena, the role of agents of intercultural transfer and the transformations of ideas transferred between cultures thereby contributing to our understanding of the mechanisms of intercultural transfers.

This book explores the rise, size and shape of the European fitness industry by using harmonised data as well as in-depth analyses of national surveys in fifteen European countries. Following an introduction to the socio-historical and conceptual aspects of fitness, the collection presents the scope of fitness as a business and participatory activity. Furthermore, both policy and governance issues as well as community and supply angles are considered. Drawing on this unique material, the book will appeal to students and scholars of sport business, sport economics, sport management, and social sport sciences, but also to administrators, policymakers and entrepreneurs in the international and national sport and health community.

This handbook offers a state-of-the-art assessment of the functioning of political representation in liberal democracies. In 34 chapters the world's leading scholars on the various aspects of political representation address 8 broad themes: the concept and theories of political representation, its history and the main requisites for its development; elite orientations and behaviour; descriptive representation; party government and representation; non-electoral forms of political participation and how they relate to political representation; the challenges to representative democracy originating from the growing importance of non-majoritarian institutions and social media; the rise of populism and its consequences for the functioning of representative democracy; the challenge caused by economic and political globlisation.

"Moral Philosophy: A Contemporary Introduction is a compact yet comprehensive book offering an explication and critique of the major theories that have shaped philosophical ethics. Engaging with both historical and contemporary figures, this book explores the scope, limits, and requirements of morality. DeNicola traces our various attempts to ground morality: in nature, in religion, in culture, in social contracts, and in aspects of the human person such as reason, emotions, caring, and intuition. Each chapter opens with a provocative real case or fictional scenario that helps to illuminate the issues at hand. The book is rich in argumentation, and each chapter is followed by discussion questions and questions for personal reflection. A glossary of key terms is appended."--

Many claim that political deliberation has become exceedingly affective, and hence, destabilizing. The authors of this book revisit that assumption. While recognizing that significant changes are occurring, these authors also point out the limitations of turning to contemporary democratic theory to understand and unpack these shifts. They propose, instead, to reframe this debate by deploying the analytic framework of affective societies, which highlights how affect and emotion are present in all aspects of the social. What changes over time and place are the modes and calibrations of affective and emotional registers. With this line of thinking, the authors are able to gesture towards a new outline of the political.

The series Religion and Society (RS) contributes to the exploration of religions as social systems - both in Western and non-Western societies; in particular, it examines religions in their differentiation from, and intersection with, other cultural systems, such as art, economy, law and politics. Due attention is given to paradigmatic case or comparative studies that exhibit a clear theoretical orientation with the empirical and historical data of religion and such aspects of religion as ritual, the religious imagination, constructions of tradition, iconography, or media. In addition, the formation of religious communities, their construction of identity, and their relation to society and the wider public are key issues of this series.