Suchergebnisse

Higher education in Saudi Arabia is facing several challenges posed by a set of transformations in society in general, and the economy in particular. As economies become increasingly knowledge-based, universities bear the burden of helping the community transform into a knowledge society. This paper focuses on the most important challenges facing Saudi universities as they shift toward becoming contributors to a knowledge society. Using a descriptive analytical approach, data was collected from several studies and published statistics. A range of challenges was discovered, the most important of them are a heavy reliance on government funding, poor productivity of faculty members, the gap between the outputs of universities and the labor market, the absence of strategic planning for higher education, the absence of a national strategy for scientific research, and the weakness of the relationship between undergraduate majors and the needs of the community.

Abstract
This paper discusses forced labour migrations in the Buryat-Mongolian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic in the Stalin era. It attempts to set this regional case in the context of deportations and 'special settlements' in the USSR as a whole. It points out that forced labour migrants were not only sent to the Buryat Republic from western regions of the USSR; various categories of the 'repressed' were also deported from the Republic and displaced within it. The paper focusses on relations between forced migrants and the rest of society, with particular attention to Germans and Lithuanians sent into Buryatia and to Buryats exiled from the same regions.

Marxists and radical environmentalists have argued that the never-ending drive for expanded accumulation and production is the fundamental reason that capitalism can never solve the environmental crisis, and in effect can only make the crisis more severe. Promoters of green capitalism also focus on the growth cycle of capitalism, but argue that new environmental technologies can out-compete and be more profitable than the destructive means of production now in use. Both arguments overlook the effects of economic crisis as another element in our confrontation with environmental calamities, and yet, crisis plays an important role in the improbability of capitalism building a sustainable society.

This article explores the ethical relationship between researcher and research subject. In order to address these issues, it examines what reflexivity entails in constructivist research on civil society actors, then discusses briefly how it can differ from highlighting the ethical dimensions of research within other paradigms like realism, liberalism, and feminism. The article also analyzes the types of ethical issues confronted by constructivists, and drawing from the practices of anthropologists, political scientists, and the author's own experiences interviewing religious humanitarian activists, assesses the tasks at hand for constructivists who are serious about understanding the ethical dimensions of their work. © 2008 International Studies Association.

The biotechnology industry possibly made errors of omission by in introducing their technologies without properly preparing all elements of the market: technology developers, government regulators, sellers, farmers, and consumers. In order to successfully introduce a revolutionary technology into society, many forces are needed as "sweepers" prepare the stakeholders to accept the technology. The biotechnology industry followed past practices in introducing new products, ignoring the unique features of genetic modification and the multifaceted concerns of a wide range of stakeholders it generated. As a result, agricultural biotechnology can be thought to have failed so far despite a few successes here and there.

The importance of trust has long been emphasised by social and political theorists from Locke and Tocqueville to Putnam and civil society theorists. However, individual survey data casts substantial doubt on this powerful tradition of thought. There is little evidence of (1) an overlap between social and political trust, (2) a syndrome of trust and membership of voluntary organizations, and (3) the existence of trusting/distrusting dispositions among individuals. However, at the aggregate national level there is evidence to support the theory, and the author concludes that the classic theory is correct but needs modification and qualification.

The attack on perfectibilism in T. R. Malthus's Essay on Population (1798) is methodologically hollow. Malthus presents himself as a Newtonian empiricist, yet his analysis of equalitarian society is entirely abstract. Godwinian equality is debunked by means of a thought experiment. Malthus fails to take note of a variety of historical instances of equalitarian social practice (Sparta, the Moravians, and so on), thus undermining his empiricist posture. This deficiency in the critique of equality is remedied, to some degree, in the fifth edition of the Essay (1817), where Malthus finally cites some of the historical evidence relevant to an assessment of equalitarianism.

The infusion of digital technology into contemporary society has had significant effects for everyday life and for everyday crimes. Digital Criminology: Crime and Justice in Digital Society is the first interdisciplinary scholarly investigation extending beyond traditional topics of cybercrime, policing and the law to consider the implications of digital society for public engagement with crime and justice movements. This book seeks to connect the disparate fields of criminology, sociology, legal studies, politics, media and cultural studies in the study of crime and justice. Drawing together intersecting conceptual frameworks, Digital Criminology examines conceptual, legal, political and cultural framings of crime, formal justice responses and informal citizen-led justice movements in our increasingly connected global and digital society. Building on case study examples fromacross Australia, Canada, Europe, China, the UK and the United States, Digital Criminology explores key questions including: What are the implications of an increasingly digital society for crime and justice? What effects will emergent technologies have for how we respond to crime and participate in crime debates? What will be the foundational shifts in criminological research and frameworks for understanding crime and justice in this technologically mediated context? What does it mean to be a 'just' digital citizen? How will digital communications and social networks enable new forms of justice and justice movements? Ultimately, the book advances the case for an emerging digital criminology: extending the practical and conceptual analyses of 'cyber' or 'e' crime beyond a focus foremost on the novelty, pathology and illegality of technology-enabled crimes, to understandings of online crime as inherently social.

The risk society has profoundly changed our way of life. Among the social phenomena most affected by its effects is undoubtedly political participation and the degree of trust in institutions. This work aims, through the construction of two different indices, to answer the question "How does the risk society influence conventional participation and trust in institutions?". The Indagine Multiscopo sulle famiglie and the Benessere Equo Sostenibile surveys provide a complete set of indicators to assess specific aspects of Italian daily life and well-being. This work uses a series of data from these surveys to analyze political participation and trust in institutions in Italy in 2019 at regional level using two composite indices obtained through the application of the MPI method. The result of this paper shows no particular effects of the risk society on conventional forms of political participation. Instead, the effects of the risk society are fully visible on levels of trust in institutions.

This book explores the ambiguous role played by civil society in the processes of state-building, democratization and post-conflict reconstruction in the Western Balkans challenging the assumption that civil society is always a force for good by analysing civil society actors and their effects in post-communist and post-conflict transition.

The role of the Catholic laity in both the Church and the changing society of today is crucial. Lecturers and cantors, lay ministers of the Eucharist, lay teachers in Catholic schools provide perfect examples of this. The mission of laity in the Church finds consistent parallels with its mission in the world, both directed toward the actualization of Christ's message. The Church's specific mission is a religious one – to put into action the Kingdom of God; the lay, in virtue of their special vocation, must contribute to the sanctification of the world by fulfilling their respective duties at home, in the workplace, and in the public forum. Members of the Catholic laity find salvation not only in their service to the church on Sunday, but also through their daily lives. The importance of an interior life is crucial and so, says the Cardinal, the fostering of lay spirituality will be essential in the future roles of the Catholic laity. Everyone has a distinct role within the Church. For example, the Church should participate in politics via lay people, who in turn must be encouraged by bishops in undertaking this vocation. The U.S. Church has confronted many issues, such as war and peace, economy, abortion, capital punishment, human rights. New members of the church continue to see a growing open‐mindedness in the Church's examination of these fundamental issues.