Suchergebnisse

The article deals with causes and consequences of the global financial crisis in the small-scaled economy of Iceland which appeared to be its first victim. The author investigates the mechanism of crisis in Iceland, where the Government was too slow in tightening state regulation in the financial sector. The country happened to be a bankrupt due to the liberal model of regulation and high interest rate causing high level of investments up to the credit and mortgage crises development. ; The article deals with causes and consequences of the global financial crisis in the small-scaled economy of Iceland which appeared to be its first victim. The author investigates the mechanism of crisis in Iceland, where the Government was too slow in tightening state regulation in the financial sector. The country happened to be a bankrupt due to the liberal model of regulation and high interest rate causing high level of investments up to the credit and mortgage crises development.

По мнению автора, ряд важных правовых актов последних лет, формально не нарушая Конституцию РФ, содержат признаки тенденциозного манипулирования конституционными нормами, строятся на прагматичной интерпретации этих норм и по сути противоречат демократическим принципам, внутреннему императиву нашего Основного Закона. Приводятся конкретные примеры этих противоречий, обосновывается необходимость установления правовых и нравственных пределов интерпретации конституционных норм в текущем законодательстве Федерального Собрания РФ и других органов государства. ; According to the author, a number of current legal acts formally not infracting the Constitution of the Russian Federation nevertheless contain traces of tendentious manipulating with the constitutional provisions, are based on pragmatic interpretation of these provisions and contradict to the democratic principles and inner imperative of our main law. The author presents the instances of the above-mentioned contradictions, proves the necessity of setting the legal and moral limits of interpreting the constitutional provisions in the legislation of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation and other state entities.

The Italian Province of South Tyrol is often presented as a successful model of the legal regulation of interethnic relations between the majority and minority population in ethnically heterogeneous regions in Europe. South Tyrol has been a place of coexistence of three ethnic groups for centuries, viz. the Italian, the Ladin, and the German. However, the German ethnic group has always outnumbered the other two and such an ethnic structure had led to the establishment of a territorial autonomy within unitary Italy. In this article the author analyses the legal underpinnings of the autonomy concerned, its repercussions on the position of the German language group and on the interethnic relations in South Tyrol. The author focuses in particular on the positive effects of the established autonomy, namely on its role in preserving the distinctive identities of the three ethnic groups and in ensuring peace and stability in the Province and the region at large. ; Peer reviewed

A prelude to the model in which an author would be read by specialists before his/her ideas are diffused to the greater public, the theory of justice John Rawls had initiated in France drew more attention in political forums and within the field of philosophy, where it accesses the status of the great author in the late 1990s or early 2000s. This article examines the use of Jon Rawls' theory of justice outside the university, and more specifically concerns the expertise of state function that marked his academic career and the study of the theory of justice. From the comparison of an internal seminar at the Commisariat General du Plan (Planning Commission) in early 1990 and a 2006 seminar conducted by a board attached to Matignon, we show that Rawls' entry in the academic canon resulted in increased control of academic philosophers on the uses of academic studies in ministerial organizations. Adapted from the source document.

In this article, the author explores how the question of Europe has been established on the domestic scene. The article focuses on referenda on EU-related issues held in three EU member states, ranging from Ireland in 2001, to Sweden in 2003, and finally France in 2005. In all three cases, the national populations voted against the will of a majority of their representatives, and chose not to follow the defined EU agenda towards greater integration. The study includes analyses of the national news reporting in the three cases as well as responses from Brussels. The author infers that the three No-votes, in the perspective of the political elites, were interpreted as incentives to further the integration process, spelling out a message of that Europeans want Europe, even if some people (i.e. the No-voting majorities) were considered yet to learn what it means to be, act and think as Europeans in Europe. Adapted from the source document.

This article revisits neglected arguments of the Moynihan Report to yield insights for a contemporary understanding of racial inequality in American cities. The author argues that the logic of Moynihan's reasoning implies three interlinked hypotheses: (1) the tangle of "pathology," or what today we call social dislocations, has a deep neighborhood structure, as does socioeconomic disadvantage; (2) the tangle of neighborhood inequality is durable and generates self-reinforcing properties that, because of racial segregation, are most pronounced in the black community; and (3) neighborhood "poverty traps" can ultimately only be broken with government structural interventions and macro-level policies. Examining longitudinal neighborhood-level data from Chicago and the United States as a whole, the author finds overall support for these hypotheses. Despite urban social transformations in the post-Moynihan era, neighborhoods remained remarkably stable in their relative economic standing. Poverty is also stubbornly persistent in its ecological concentration with other social disadvantages, especially in the black community.

In this chapter, the Annual Review of World Affairs turns to events in Latin America, beginning with a discussion of the emergence of the left as a core value in the region's political scheme, pointing to leftist leaders such as Hugo Chavez in Venezuela, Fernando Lugo in Paraguay, and Mauricio Funes in El Salvador. At the same time, many of the region's up-and-coming leaders have proven interested in taking a more conciliatory left-center position in emulation of Brazil's President da Silva. The author maintains that the Obama administration has proven itself interested in recovering its damaged relations with Latin American countries, willing to cede its hegemonic status in favor of a more supportive role. According to the author, Mr. Obama's election in the US has meant new opportunities for collaboration between the United States and its Latin American neighbors, with loosening embargo restrictions on Cuba and new levels of cooperation in Mexico's drug war. Adapted from the source document.

Die 2007 erschienene englischsprachige Monographie The Politics of Englishness des Politikwissenschaftlers Arthur Aughey bietet einen fundierten Überblick über die aktuelle Diskussion um englische nationale Identität in Großbritannien sowie deren Hintergründe. Dabei geht Augheys Fokus über den rein politikwissenschaftlichen Blickwinkel hinaus, sodass sich die Studie auch auf interdisziplinärer Ebene für Literatur- und Kulturwissenschaftler, die sich mit dem Phänomen Englishness beschäftigen, in höchstem Maße eignet. Zudem gelingt dem nordirischen Autor ein erfreulich hoher Grad an Objektivität zu dem politisch brisanten Thema, das in einer Vielzahl anderer Texte von englischen Autoren häufig zu stark ideologisch gefärbt ist. ; The monograph The Politics of Englishness (2007) by Northern Irish political scientist Arthur Aughey provides a thorough and sound overview of recent discussions of English national identity. In doing so, the author transcends the perspective of political sciences, making the study highly appropriate reading for those in the literary and cultural studies who are invested in the topic. Moreover (and in contrast to many studies by English authors, which tend to be ideologically charged) the author convinces by maintaining a high degree of objectivity when considering this politically charged issue.

It is often assumed that traditional regulatory regimes centered on governmental action will benefit from greater private sector involvement. And, under the catchy phrase from government to governance globally a wide variety of hybrid forms of governance has emerged. However, little empirical insight exists in the actual effects of such hybridization. The author aims at filling up this knowledge gap.He introduces a heuristic tool for comparative policy analysis, and applies this on a series of case studies. Following different building regulatory enforcement regimes in the Netherlands, Canada and Australia the author explains how different forms of private sector involvement play out in different settings. The thesis contains a wealth of scholarly and applied findings. It is insightful in showing different regime types and in suggesting meaningful differences in implementation and potential effects. The thesis adds both to studies on regulation of the built environment and its enforcement, and to studies on governance reform.

Economic considerations, identity related considerations and cueing theory are used for explaining citizens' attitudes towards the European Union. Yet, all of this research has failed to show how elite cues on interests and identities actually reach the citizens. As a consequence, the author argues that domestic mass media as the most widely used source for citizens' information about the European Union has the potential to fill this missing link. Mass media actively construct reality by promoting ideas (agenda-setting and framing) and thereby shaping processes of socialization and persuasion. In this article the author discusses theoretical concepts of how mass media might affect citizens' attitudes, summarizes what we know about the role of domestic mass media in the course of EU integration, derives research desiderates and finally shows why knowledge on the link between mass media and citizens is paramount to understand the future of EU integration.

The pseudo-alternative nature of the forthcoming presidential election in Russia is a logical out come of the vertical of power and influence that has been formed for many years in this state. Starting from that pre supposition, the author analyzes the public opinion dynamics among Russian citizens relative to the assumed criteria of choice as to a presidential contender on behalf of the party in power (i.e. "winner"), on the one hand, as well as the electoral intentions and expectations of the population, on the other hand. Based on this analysis, the author concludes that the interdependence between the functions of the ruling clique and the masses may change as a result of a transition from a "procedural" to an historical choice. A new structure of society characterized by a gradual weakening of the highest ranks can pave the way for modern patterns of two-sided dependencies in the future.

AbstractThe author considers whether current evaluation practice is of value to the Cooperative Extension System. Evaluation use and influence in Extension are characterized through literature review and examination of case examples informed by correspondence with study authors. The more than 675 evaluations examined consistently yielded specific and valuable program counsel applicable to Extension education practice. Nearly seven in ten studies addressed at least one aspect of program improvement. Beyond simply generating a supply of potentially useful findings, there was clear evidence of substantive program modification in response to program evaluation. Case examples indicated that evaluation studies have influenced Extension practice by helping to establish program direction, improving existing educational practice, informing public policy, establishing or sustaining program support, establishing a basis for resource allocation decisions, influencing relationships with stakeholders, and strengthening evaluation practice itself. The author concludes that evaluation practice is both dynamic and influential within the Cooperative Extension System. © Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

GIS (Geographic Information Systems) has captured planning practice to an unprecedented degree, and this article on how it reconfigures and is configured by institutional context. The author inquires into GIS as a technology for incorporating knowledge into institutional use and includes five propositions: (1) GIS's efficiencies in data processing allows it unprecedented facility and scope of analysis, (2) its use increases alienation, (3) its mimetic language furthers its role in planning, (4) its logic appears rational—purposive, but it conceals an underlying normative logic, and (5) its most profound effect is on the mapper, and the alienating and normative character of GIS necessitate new modes of "social ground-truthing." The author studies the southeast Los Angeles (SELA) initiatives to demonstrate these propositions. This article compares two studies: one GIS-based, and the other based on participatory action research and discusses how GIS might be recontextualized into a technology for liberating democratizing processes.