Suchergebnisse

This paper is the fifth in a series of country briefing papers released in 2012 about the online support of populist political parties and street-based groups in Europe. These papers are based on a dataset of approximately 10,667 Facebook supporters of these 'nationalist populist' parties in 11 European countries, which was published in the Demos report The New Face of Digital Populism, released in November 2011.1 Further papers will be released throughout 2012. Throughout this paper, we refer to two primary datasets by the following terminology: · CasaPound Facebook supporters: The primary data source used in this report is a survey of 423 Facebook supporters of CasaPound Italia, collected by Demos during July and August 2011. All references to CasaPound supporters refer to this group unless otherwise stated. CasaPound officially changed its name to 'CasaPound Italia' in 2008, but for the purposes of this report we will refer to the movement as 'CasaPound'. · Populist parties and movements (PPAMs): In order to draw comparisons between CasaPound Facebook supporters and the Facebook supporters of nationalist populist parties elsewhere in Europe, throughout this paper we refer to the data set collected for The New Face of Digital Populism. This includes 10,667 Facebook supporters of nationalist populist parties and movements in 11 Western European countries. We refer to these as PPAMs throughout. ; -- Acknowledgments -- A note on terminology -- Executive summary -- Background -- Who are CasaPound Facebook supporters? -- Social and political concerns -- Why do people support CasaPound online? -- Annex: Methodology -- Notes -- References

Las desigualdades educativas continúan formando parte del debate político y académico en los países europeos. Los datos de la última edición del la evaluación internacional PISA brindan una nueva oportunidad para analizar la situación de los sistemas educativos en relación con la igualdad de oportunidades. El artículo se estructura en torno a tres ejes de desigualdad: académica, social y de origen. Los resultados muestran que en el conjunto de países analizados el nivel socioeconómico y el origen de los estudiantes afecta de manera significativa el rendimiento académico. El análisis indica que los países del norte de Europa obtienen mejores resultados en relación al conjunto de indicadores analizados. Asimismo, aquellos países con sistemas educativos con itinerarios formativos altamente diferenciados presentan mayores niveles de disparidad de resultados. ; Educational inequalities are part of the political and academic debate in European countries. Data from the latest issue of the international PISA assessment provide a new opportunity to analyze the situation of education systems in relation to equal opportunities. The article is structured around three axes of inequality: academic, social and origin. The results show that in all countries analyzed socioeconomic status and origin of students significantly affects academic performance. The analysis indicates that the northern European countries do better in relation to all indicators analyzed. Likewise, countries with highly differentiated education systems have higher levels of income disparity.

The 1930s are characterised, among other things, by plastic production where the feeling of alarming eleptiveness theorised by Sigmund Freud finds some resonance. Dummies and dolls, fragmented bodies and prostheses of all kinds are pictorial patterns that develop in all fields of the representation. From Chirico to Heinrich Hoerle, from Magritte to Otto Dix, it was a European and general phenomenon that subsequently suggested greater sensitivity to historical disturbances and the imminent threat. ; International audience ; The 1930s are characterised, among other things, by plastic production where the feeling of alarming eleptiveness theorised by Sigmund Freud finds some resonance. Dummies and dolls, fragmented bodies and prostheses of all kinds are pictorial patterns that develop in all fields of the representation. From Chirico to Heinrich Hoerle, from Magritte to Otto Dix, it was a European and general phenomenon that subsequently suggested greater sensitivity to historical disturbances and the imminent threat. ; Les années 1930 se caractérisent, entre autre, par une production plastique où le sentiment d'inquiétante étrangeté théorisée par Sigmund Freud trouve une certaine prégnance. Les mannequins et les poupées, les corps morcelés et les prothèses en tout genre sont des motifs picturaux qui se développent dans tous les champs de la représentation. De de Chirico à Heinrich Hoerle, de Magritte à Otto Dix, c'est un phénomène européen et général qui a postériori suggère une sensibilité accrue aux troubles historiques et à la menace imminente

This paper engages with the broader debate about the failures of representative democracy through a critical analysis of political cleavages in Croatia from 1991 until the present. Building on existing studies which repeatedly show that in Croatia political party competition is not structured along socioeconomic cleavages, I argue that a socioeconomic cleavage exists in society, but is not represented in the parliamentary arena. This hypothesis is backed up by data from the ISSP survey (2009), aggregate comparative data as well as an overview of existing studies. Available evidence points to growing social stratification in society, while the citizens of Croatia are aware of socioeconomic inequalities, they exhibit egalitarian value orientations and their economic preferences seem coherent when approached from a social class perspective. The second part of the paper formulates potential explanations for this proposed mismatch between social dynamics and its representation in the parliamentary arena, ranging from the role of communist historical legacies and the impact of nation-building and war in the 1990s, towards considering the way in which major political parties were influenced by European political party families and the European integration process more broadly. Overall, the analysis suggests that in Croatia structural conditions are conducive to a socioeconomic cleavage, but that interests on their own cannot trigger collective social action -- effective representation must be fought for through political articulation and mobilisation. Adapted from the source document.

This paper evaluates the Canadian and the European Union's (EU) implementation of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) General Council Decision of 2003, which resolved that developed nations could export patented pharmaceutical drugs to member states in order to address public health challenges such as Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (HIV/AIDS), tuberculosis, malaria and other epidemics, such states including Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The author makes a primarily textual appraisal of how and to what extent the Canada Access to Medicine Regime (CAMR) and European Union (EU) Regulations benefit, for instance, SSA countries in the WTO in their quest to make essential medicine more accessible. The author argues that although there are identifiable complexities inherent in the Canadian and the EU's access to pharmaceutical product regimes, there are far more important incentives and benefits that can be reaped in taking advantage of the respective systems. The author recommends that countries facing public health crises/emergencies, such as SSA countries, and nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) take advantage of the regulatory flexibilities of Canada and the EU in their efforts to provide their communities with essential HIV/AIDS treatment, and treatment for other diseases such as malaria. The author dismisses the arguments against TRIPS (Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property) flexibilities-inspired legislation and similar measures as mostly mere rhetoric and hair-splitting, because they sometimes unwarrantedly dismiss a workable solution to public-health problems.

This article empirically assesses the evolution of European regions in terms of both employment and unemployment during the recent financial crisis and global recession. Our specific research questions are as follows: (i) has there been a reversal in employment and unemployment dynamics at a regional level during the crisis (2007–10) compared with the previous period (2004–07)? (ii) have the western regions ('old' EU states) behaved differently in response to the crisis compared with the eastern regions (NMS)? Finally, (iii) are the differences between the two groups of regions related to structural or institutional variables? After a review of the literature on the key determinants of regional unemployment, we summarise our main findings concerning the impact of the global crisis on the labour market. Our econometric investigation aims to answer the questions we pose. Structural characteristics are considered in terms of sector specialisation of regional economies. In addition, we consider certain institutional characteristics, by including indicators of the share of temporary workers and of long-term unemployed. Our analysis is then targeted at sub-samples of western and eastern European regions: we show that the critical factors for labour market performance during the crisis in these two groups differ greatly. From a methodological viewpoint, we exploit a spatial filtering technique which allowed us to greatly reduce any unobserved variable bias – a significant problem in cross-sectional models – by accounting for latent unobserved spatial patterns.

В данной статье ведется исследование литературы путешествия, написанных Европейскими путешественниками в период правления Сафвитов, в так же одушевление сферы путешествия, в результате которого формируется литература путешествия во второй половине ХВ и вначале ХВЫ веков. Географические открытия показали себя в двух сферах в колониях, в сфере политики и в фоне появления капиталовложения в экономической сфере. А это считается основным фактором движения Запада к Востоку. При таких условиях важность позиции Ирана и Персидского залива с военно-стратегической точки зрения, а так же стремление иранцев к Западной науке, а так же политико-религиозные факторы значительно увеличил к Ирану интерес европейцев, начиная с периода правления Сафавитов. In the current article carried out investigations on the travel literature written by European travelers in Safavi times, also forming of travel literature in the second half of XV century and in the beginning of XVI century resulted in reviving of traveling field. The geographical discoveries showed itself in two fields: colonialism in political sphere, forming of world capitalism in economical sphere. And it is considered to be one of the main factors of moving of the West toward the East. In such a condition Iran and Persian Gulf to be of great importance from military-strategically point of view, the Iranians to be inclined to the West science, as well as other political-religious factors increased the interest of Europeans to Iran since Safavi times.

Las desigualdades educativas continúan formando parte del debate político y académico en los países europeos. Los datos de la última edición del la evaluación internacional PISA brindan una nueva oportunidad para analizar la situación de los sistemas educativos en relación con la igualdad de oportunidades. El artículo se estructura en torno a tres ejes de desigualdad: académica, social y de origen. Los resultados muestran que en el conjunto de países analizados el nivel socioeconómico y el origen de los estudiantes afecta de manera significativa el rendimiento académico. El análisis indica que los países del norte de Europa obtienen mejores resultados en relación al conjunto de indicadores analizados. Asimismo, aquellos países con sistemas educativos con itinerarios formativos altamente diferenciados presentan mayores niveles de disparidad de resultados.Educational inequalities are part of the political and academic debate in European countries. Data from the latest issue of the international PISA assessment provide a new opportunity to analyze the situation of education systems in relation to equal opportunities. The article is structured around three axes of inequality: academic, social and origin. The results show that in all countries analyzed socioeconomic status and origin of students significantly affects academic performance. The analysis indicates that the northern European countries do better in relation to all indicators analyzed. Likewise, countries with highly differentiated education systems have higher levels of income disparity.

Природно-климатический фактор и "Великий голод" 1601-1603 гг. оказали значительное влияние на Московское государство и стали одной из решающих причин Смутного времени (1598-1613): периода польско-шведской интервенции, тяжелого политического, экономического, общественного кризиса. Автор подчеркивает, что глобальные климатические изменения стали толчком для радикальных изменений в политической ситуации в Европе во второй половине XVI первой половине XVII веков. Эти изменнеия имели не просто местный восточноевропейский характер, но и глобальные пан-Европейские последствия экономические, культурные, политические и социальные. Среди наиболее важных климатических факторов. на наш взгляд, стоит выделить следующие: влияние Малого ледникового периода, извержение вулкана Уайнапутина, аномальное снижение солнечной активности и другие. ; The influence of global climatic factors and the «Great Famine» (1601– 1603), which had a significant influence on Moscow state and became one of the decisive causes of the Great Troubles (1598–1613) — the period of the Polish-Swedish intervention, the hardest political, economic, public and social crisis. The author emphasizes that global climate change have become the impetus for a radical change of political situation in Europe in the second half of 16th – the first half of 17th centuries. These changes were not only local (Eastern European) character, but also had a pan-European global consequences — economic, cultural, political and social. Among the most important climatic factors in our opinion it should be noted: the impact of the Little Ice Age, a volcanic eruption Vaynaputina, an anomalous decrease in solar activity, and others.

Статья представляет результаты исследования политической активности молодежи в возрасте 16-29 лет в Польше, России и Украине, проведенного Европейским социальным исследованием (European Social Surve). Результаты опроса свидетельствуют о низком уровне политической активности среди исследуемой группы молодежи. Активное участие в политике зависит главным образом от периода жизни молодежи и социального статуса. Чаще в политической жизни участвует работающая молодежь, представители которой имеют высшее образование. Большей активностью в политической жизни отличаются также лица с высшим социальным статусом. Существует также разница между молодежью исследуемых стран. В России молодежь в большей степени интересуется политикой и проявляет партийные симпатии. На Украине молодежь чаще голосует на выборах. В Польше молодежь чаще проявляет активность в различных гражданских акциях. ; The article presents the results of European Social Survey on political engagement of youths aged 16-29 in Poland, Russia and Ukraine. It can be concluded from the observations that the level of political commitment is low among the researched youths. The decisive factor in being committed to politics is phase of youth's life and social status. More frequently, working youths with university education participate in political life. Additionally, more commitment to political life is demonstrated in people with higher social status. There are also differences between the youth in the analysed countries. In Russia, youths are more interested in politics and show political party preferences. In Ukraine, youths participate in elections more frequently. In Poland, youths are present in various civil campaigns.

In accordance with Article 6.2 of the Environmental Noise Directive 2002/49/EC (END), the European Commission developed Common NOise aSSessment methOdS (CNOSSOS-EU) for road, railway, aircraft and industrial noise to be used after adoption by the Member States for the purpose of strategic noise mapping as required by Article 7 of the END. The development of CNOSSOS-EU was co-ordinated by the Joint Research Centre's Institute of Health and Consumer Protection and performed in close liaison with the CNOSSOS-EU Technical Committee, which was composed from experts nominated by the Member States and setup under the DG ENV's Noise Regulatory Committee. The overall work was performed in the context of two consecutive administrative arrangements stipulated between the Joint Research Centre and the Directorate General for Environment (DG ENV), namely NOISE-II (contract no. 070307/2008/511090) and NOISE-III (contract no. 070307/2009/549280). The CNOSSOS-EU methodological framework described in this report forms the basis for amending Annex II of Directive 2002/49/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council relating to the assessment and management of environmental noise in Europe. CNOSSOS-EU aims at improving the reliability, consistency and comparability of noise assessment results across the EU Member States which are performed on the basis of the data becoming available through the consecutive rounds of noise mapping in Europe.

AbstractThis paper explores the efforts and impact of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge in China (1834–1839), which existed during the five years before the First Opium War. It contends that the Society represented a third form of British engagement with the Chinese, alongside the diplomatic attempts of 1793 and 1816, and the military conflict of 1839–1842. The Society waged an 'information war' to penetrate the information barrier that the Qing had established to contain European trade and missions. The foreigners in Canton believed they were barred from further access to China because the Chinese had no information on the true character of the Europeans. Thus, they prepared 'intellectual artillery' in the form of Chinese language publications, especially on world geography, to distribute among the Chinese, in the hope that this effort would familiarize the Chinese with the science and art of Westerners and thereby cultivate respect and a welcoming atmosphere. The war metaphor was conceived, and the information war was waged, in the periphery of the British informal empire in Canton, but it contributed to the conceptualization of war against China, both in Canton and in Britain, in the years before actual military action. Behind the rhetoric of war and knowledge diffusion in Canton, lay a convergence of interests between merchants and missionaries, which drove both to employ information and military power to further their shared aim of opening China up for trade and proselytizing.

In this paper the authors analyse the design and implementation of a course about learning management systems (LMS). The course was first given in Cuba and then in Guatemala and Peru, within the project USo+I: Universidad, Sociedad e Innovación, Mejora de la pertinencia de la educación en las ingenierías de Latinoamérica financed by the European Union's ALFA III program. In the course only open educational resources (OER) were used and all course material was stored on USB drives together with the needed software. All programs were executable directly from the memory to meet any problems of limited access to the Internet. Problem based learning was used, with the course divided into two weeks of on campus lectures and workshops followed by distance learning for three months, altogether corresponding to ten weeks of full time studies. The authors propose the term LiveUSB Mediated Education (LUME) for a course package, with course material and software contained on the same USB drive. The participants' opinions about the course and their perceptions about LMS and OER were investigated in order to determine the extent to which the LUME method can facilitate cost-effective computer aided education, especially in developing countries. ; Sponsorship : This work has been produced with financial assistance from the European Community, contract DCIALA/ 19.09.01/08/19189/160-922/ALFA III-9. The main founding was provided by the university of Borås.

Small and medium-sized enterprises are believed to be a key driving force of economic vitality, innovation and new job creation. For a few years the European Union has been monitoring SME performance and the quality of public procurement procedures to make access of SMEs to the public procurement market easier and provide for their greater participation in this market. These activities have their origin in the assumption that having in mind the size of the public procurement market and public resources involved, suitable shaping of this area may improve effectiveness of selected policies at the EU level and in particular member countries. The directives concerning public procurement should ensure opening the market of public procurement for all enterprises irrespectively of their size. Recently the public procurement market in Poland has been continuously growing which doubtlessly resulted from Poland's accession to the European Union.The aim of this paper is to give evidence of SME position on the public procurement market and to attempt to answer two basic research questions. Firstly, is the market potential fully used as far as applying for awarding public contracts by SMEs is concerned? And secondly, what are the main obstacles determining the access of SMEs to the public procurement market? This is done by reference to available statistical data and two studies that were carried out by the author.

Suggestive egalitarianism has a long history within educational system, i.e. one of the first ideologists would be J. J. Rousseau. Suggestive egalitarianism thesis arises in European democracy thought and becomes a new sphere of social philosophy and epistemology while a child's being different is an educational virtue.In this paper the concept of children's difference equality on the basis of suggestive egalitarianism is revealed. The socio-cultural meanings' interpreta­tions are set as well based on European democratic thought paradigm. The scientific positions contextua­lizing those interpretations are analyzed. Specifically theses: "children's difference equality", "children's equality", and "children communities' equality". These pedagogic streams and social movements that empower children's equality expression are identi­fied. Educational situations are interpreted as well, especially these were educational relations', "child–adult" socio-cultural meaning is seen. Problematic questions for scientific and practical discussions are formulated. ; Profesorė Socialinių mokslų (edukologija)habilituota daktarėŠiaulių universitetoEdukologijos katedraP. Višinskio g. 25, LTLT-76351 ŠiauliaiEl. paštas: etmc@cr.su.ltStraipsnyje atskleidžiama egalitarizmo kontekste besiaktualizuojanti vaikų skirtybių lygybės samprata. Pasitelkiant Europos demokratinės pedagogikos kritinės ugdymo paradigmos paveldą atliekamos vaikų lygybės socialinių kultūrinių prasmių interpretacijos. Atskleidžiamos vyraujančios mokslinės prakseologinės pozicijos, kontekstualizuojančios vaikų skirtybių lygybės, vaikų lygybės, vaikų bendrybių lygybė sampratas, ir aptariama jų esmė. Išskiriamos pedagoginės srovės ir visuomeniniai judėjimai, įgalinantys vaikų lygybės raišką ugdymo situacijų įvairovėje. Interpretuojamos vaikų ugdymo situacijos, kuriose išryškėja pedagoginių vaiko ir suaugusiojo santykių prasmių socialinis kultūrinis turinys.