Suchergebnisse

Russian budget legislation imposes fairly strict restrictions on Federal subjects' borrowing and increasing public debt. At the same time, even the existing potential for attracting borrowed resources, which could significantly expand the opportunities for implementing investment expenditures aimed at stimulating economic development, is used only to a small extent by the regions. Meanwhile, in international practice, borrowed funds are an important source of financing budget investments. It is particularly paradoxical that the most creditworthy regions of the Russian Federation are clearly underutilizing their ability to attract debt. Based on the analysis of the dynamics of public debt, the practice of budget planning and borrowing of a group of the most creditworthy subjects of the Federation in 2010-2019, the article considers the problematic aspects of existing approaches to the regulation of borrowing and debt, as well as possible ways to improve them.

AbstractAt a time when trade and globalization are subject to extremely polarized political debates, we study the interplay between politics and the certification outcome of trade adjustment assistance (TAA), a US national policy meant to buffer the domestic labour market from adverse effects of increased international trade. To this end, we capitalize on the unique design, implementation and detailed data collection efforts of the US TAA program. We employ a rich multi‐dimensional data set to quantify the effects of political influence on the TAA certification process, controlling for a variety of fixed effects, in particular at the industry level. We find that political factors such as party affiliation of the president, congressional voting outcomes at the state and district levels and whether a petition was filed in a presidential election year influence the TAA certification probability as well as the decision time.

Abstract
This article sheds comparative and contextual light on European and international human rights debates around the privilege against self-incrimination and the right to silence. It does so through an examination of adverse inferences from criminal suspect's silence in three European jurisdictions with differing procedural traditions: Ireland, Italy and the Netherlands. The article highlights the manner in which adverse inferences have come to be drawn at trial in the three jurisdictions, despite the existence of both European and domestic legal protections for the right to silence. It also explores differing approaches to the practical operation of inference-drawing procedures, including threshold requirements, varying evidential uses of silence and procedural safeguards. The authors argue that human rights' standard-setting institutions ought to provide clarity on the conditions under which adverse inferences may be tolerated, including the purpose(s) for which inferences may be used, and the necessary surrounding safeguards.

Abstract How do Brazil's defence documents incorporate natural resources and critical infrastructure as political and strategic components of the national energy security framework? After presenting the contemporary international landscape on the subject, which is marked by rising powers and geopolitics, the paper explains the theory and the conceptual foundations that support the claim of a securitization movement on natural resources and critical infrastructure that relates to energy security in response to the absence of existential threats to Brazil. Following this effort, the text reflects upon and analyses how the matter has developed from 2005 to 2016 in Brazilian defence policies and in national defence strategies. By applying securitization theory to the case study, the final remarks imply the need for a reflection on the importance of incorporating the geopolitics of natural resources and critical infrastructure related to energy security in defence thinking.

This paper explores the relationship between migration and integration policies in the Netherlands, diaspora policies in India, and the transnational practices of Indian highly skilled migrants to the Netherlands. We employ anthropological transnational migration theories (e.g., Ong 1999; Levitt and Jaworsky 2007) to frame the dynamic interaction between a sending and a receiving country on the lives of migrants. This paper makes a unique contribution to migration literature by exploring the policies of both sending and receiving country in relation to ethnographic data on migrants. The international battle for brains has motivated states like the Netherlands and India to design flexible migration and citizenship policies for socially and economically desirable migrants. Flexible citizenship policies in the Netherlands are primarily concerned with individual and corporate rights and privileges, whereas Indian diaspora policies have been established around the premise of national identity.

Africa has experienced over a decade of sustained economic growth. However, since the outbreak of Ebola, there have been pertinent questions as to whether and what extent such outbreaks have developmental implications in the continent. It is in this context that this article investigates whether and to what extent the ongoing COVID‐19 pandemic affects the development of Africa's economies. Using data from various international organizations, we show that the pandemic has indeed slowed down African economies, albeit in differing degrees across various regions of the continent. However, the slowdown is moderate compared with economies in high‐income countries and the world economies as a whole. We contend that while it is difficult to predict when the crisis is going to end, the continent can navigate itself out of it by leveraging on the ever‐increasing global prices of agricultural products and natural resources.

This study demonstrates that Nigeria's power scheme in the United Nations (UN) clearly amounts to "instrumentalizing" the world body in favor of its hegemonic interest in Africa. Through the UN, Nigeria has employed its abundant power resources to support the dismantling of apartheid and colonialism in Africa, contribute actively to the maintenance of international peace, and promote social and economic development in the developing world, including Africa. Nigeria's exploits in the above areas have yielded notable dividends, particularly the projection of the country as a leading African power. The notable dividends notwithstanding, there have been some major setbacks such as occasional disdain for Nigeria's interest and ambition in the UN by smaller African countries, overwhelming domestic security challenges, and the consequent waning of Nigeria's role in UN‐mounted peacekeeping. The study recommends that Nigeria must urgently address these challenges to return to its position of prominence in the world body.

The objective of the article is to consider the legal basis for regulating the rules of ethical conduct of civil servants in Ukraine and, at the same time, to compare them with the relevant legislative framework of other countries. The subject of the study is the analysis of the legal basis for regulating the rules of ethical conduct of public officials in Ukraine. The research methodology includes the following methods: normative and dogmatic method, hermeneutic method, method of analysis and synthesis, dialectical method, legal and comparative method, legal modeling method. It is concluded that there is only one special legal act to regulate the ethics of public officials in Ukraine, but it is not binding, as it does not have the appropriate legal means of influence. Practical involvement. Based on international experience, it was concluded that Ukraine should adopt its own Code of Ethics for public officials.

AbstractIn development cooperation, the ideas of material support and instructive teaching have increasingly given way to those of reciprocal collaboration and non-material support. In this research, we explore the potential of rhythmanalysis as an approach to studying complex knowledge creation processes in an international development cooperation project. The Zan-SDI project aimed to enhance the geospatial infrastructure in Zanzibar through cooperation between Finnish and Zanzibarian experts. Our rhythmanalysis shows that knowledge creation in the everyday practices of development cooperation is extremely vulnerable to various distractions on multiple spatio-temporal scales. Continuous learning and efforts are required to sustain the project ensemble and knowledge creation. Although new partnerships and inter-organisational collaboration are a source of novelty and innovation, much of their potential remains unrealised without intensive long-term engagement, possibilities to quickly reform the project scheme, and a sufficient combination of financial, material and non-material support.

Religious minorities are victims of political isolation and persecution in societies, where they are subject to violence and discrimination. This study was undertaken in a terrorism-affected area to explore those elements that subjugate and suppress religious minorities' political participation and representation. To conduct an in-depth analysis, a qualitative inquiry was used for data collection and analysis. The researcher interviewed 13 Christians, seven Hindus, and six Sikhs, using a purposive sampling technique and a semi-structured interview guide. The primary data were analyzed using the thematic analysis technique. The researcher found that some of the underlying factors behind the political persecution are leadership vacuum, political neglect, post-election negligence, vote dislocation, political ignorance, and political subordination. This study presented a framework for policymakers to solve minorities' political problems, and for researchers to better understand the minorities' political oppression on local and international levels.

AbstractThis article sheds a critical light on judicial dialogue when its purpose and meaning are taken beyond cross-fertilization and comparative reasoning. It cautions against a conceptualization of judicial dialogue as a means to foster commonalities between courts and to legitimize judicial governance. The argument develops from an idealized notion of a 'transnational judicial public sphere'. In this sphere, domestic, regional and international courts ideally form common opinions through dialogue and pursue common purposes. The danger of this understanding is to construct a new paradigm that not only overlooks important differences in the interest, influence and opinion of courts, but also overstates the socio-normative significance of exchanges between courts and of judicial governance in general. The critical potential of judicial dialogues lies less in the formation of commonalities or in the legitimization of judicial authority than in bringing alternatives and a plurality of opinions to the fore.

The international wave of Women's Marches in 2017 (and subsequent years) was fuelled by anger about the misogynist tone of the American election (aimed at contender Hillary Clinton) and a sense that the rights of women and sexual minorities were being threatened. In particular, protests were triggered by the newly elected president's unearthed comments about female genitalia: 'grab 'em by the pussy'. Following the instigation of craftivists in California, women around the world donned pink knitted hats with points resembling cat ears, which became known as 'pussy hats'. This chapter uses examples collected as rapid response collecting after the marches in Edmonton and Calgary (Alberta, Canada) for the Royal Alberta Museum to argue that the pussy hat is an example of anti-fashion in its embrace of anti-consumption, and its role to promote political accountability. The pussy hat, in effect, is the uniform of a feminist political ethics.

This article, originally delivered at the 16th international conference of the Architectural Humanities Research Association (University of Dundee, November 2019), seeks to engage with the 'emotive', 'sensorial' and 'affective turn', as defined by authors in the humanities, social and cultural studies in order to consider the emotional responses to the mediated experiences of place and to inquire into how individuals and collectives react to a changing sensory environment. It adopts a multi-disciplinary approach that blends historical, cultural and mediated dimensions of urban spaces and places while maintaining a focus on the kind of locative/interactive art which is less concerned with representation and more with radical construction, social engagement and communication. The purpose is to try and provide an answer to the question: what does 'sensing the city' exactly entail when the city's form, as Baudelaire memorably put it, 'changes faster than the human heart?'

China's contest with the global community has entered a delicate phase post the COVID-19 period. While the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the non-responsible act of China in tackling the virus to prevent its spread outside the country, the recent aggression of the Chinese leadership on land and maritime domains in Asia has revealed the long-term international objectives of China's ambitious foreign policy under Xi Jinping. As China attempts to rebuild its global image and profile post the pandemic and, most importantly, to reorder its global governance approach, Beijing may like to revitalise its focus on its Guanxi (relationship or networks) and Mingyun Gongtongti or 'the Community with a Shared Future for Humankind' (CHSF). In other words, China's approach to Asia may take a new turn without Beijing shying away from its original intentions of dictating the Asian order.

ABSTRACTMany people seek to increase practitioners' use of research evidence in decision making. Two common strategies are dissemination and interaction. Dissemination can reach a wide audience at once, yet interactive strategies can be beneficial because they entail back-and-forth conversations to clarify how research evidence applies in a particular context. To date, however, we lack much direct evidence of the impact of interaction beyond dissemination. Partnering with an international sustainability-oriented NGO, I conducted a field experiment to test the impact of an interactive strategy (i.e., a single conversation) on practitioners' use of research evidence in a pending decision. I find that the conversation had a substantial impact on research use relative to only receiving disseminated materials, which likely was due to increased self-efficacy. I also provide practical guidance on how researchers can apply this finding close to home by strengthening linkages with local decision makers.