Doubting democrats?: A comparative analysis of support for democracy in Central and Eastern Europe
In: Örebro studies in political science 10
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In: Örebro studies in political science 10
This review discusses food safety aspects of importance from a One Health perspective, focusing on Europe. Using examples of food pathogen/food commodity combinations, spread of antimicrobial resistance in the food web and the risk of transmission of zoonotic pathogens in a circular system, it demonstrates how different perspectives are interconnected. The chosen examples all show the complexity of the food system and the necessity of using a One Health approach. Food safety resources should be allocated where they contribute most One Health benefits. Data on occurrence and disease burden and knowledge of source attribution are crucial in assessing costs and benefits of control measures. Future achievements in food safety, public health and welfare will largely be based on how well politicians, researchers, industry, national agencies and other stakeholders manage to collaborate using the One Health approach. It can be concluded that closer cooperation between different disciplines is necessary to avoid silo thinking when addressing important food safety challenges. The importance of this is often mentioned, but more proof of concept is needed by the research community.
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In: Politiikka: Valtiotieteellisen Yhdistyksen julkaisu, Band 52, Heft 3, S. 250-251
ISSN: 0032-3365
The European Commission expects the use of biomass for energy in the EU to increase significantly between 2010 and 2020 to meet a legally binding target to cover at least 20% of EU's total energy use from renewable sources in 2020. According to estimates made by the member states of the EU, the direct supply of biomass from forests is expected to increase by 45% on a volume basis between 2006 and 2020 in response to increasing demand (Beurskens LWM, Hekkenberg M, Vethman P. Renewable energy projections as published in the national renewable energy action plans of the European Member states. ECN and EEA; 2011. http://https://www.ecn.nl/docs/library/report/2010/e10069.pdf [accessed 25.04.2014]; Dees M, Yousef A, Ermert J. Analysis of the quantitative tables of the national renewable energy action plans prepared by the 27 European Union Member States in 2010. BEE working paper D7.2. Biomass Energy Europe project. FELIS Department of Remote Sensing and landscape information Systems, University of Freiburg, Germany; 2011). Our aims were to test the hypotheses that European private forest owners' attitudes towards supplying woody biomass for energy (1) can be explained by their responses to changes in prices and markets and (2) are positive so that the forest biomass share of the EU 2020 renewable energy target can be met. Based on survey data collected in 2010 from 800 private forest owners in Sweden, Germany and Portugal our results show that the respondents' attitudes towards supplying woody biomass for energy cannot be explained as direct responses to changes in prices and markets. Our results, furthermore, imply that European private forest owners cannot be expected to supply the requested amounts of woody biomass for energy to meet the forest biomass share of the EU 2020 renewable energy target, at least if stemwood is to play the important role as studies by Verkerk PJ, Anttila P, Eggers J, Lindner M, Asikainen A. The realisable potential supply of woody biomass from forests in the European Union. For Ecol Manag 2011;261: 2007-2015, UNECE and FAO. The European forest sector outlook study,II 2010-2030. United Nations, New York and Geneva; 2011 [abbreviated to EFSOS II] and Elbersen B, Staritsky I, Hengeveld G, Schelhaas MJ, Naeff H, Bottcher H. Atlas of EU biomass potentials; 2012. Available from: http://www.biomassfutures.eu [accessed 14.10.2013] suggest. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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The aim of introducing agroforestry and community-based forestry is to secure and improve livelihoods, maintain and restore ecosystem services, and contribute to climate change mitigation and adaptation. However, the adoption and scaling up of these systems among food insecure communities have proved to be difficult. To better understand why, I identified barriers and bridges at different adoption stages and levels of governance. These were analysed using policy narratives and the sustainable livelihood approach in the light of sustainable development, sustainability and resilience of landscapes. The first stage was the negotiation process between the Swedish NGO Vi-Skogen and the Swedish International Development Agency (Sida) about funding. Three explanatory approaches were used: organizational, power and context. Vi-Skogen and Sida were caught in policy incompatibility dilemmas that slowed down the NGO policy process, and delayed critical changes that could have improved project outcomes. The second was Vi-Skogen's agroforestry project in Tanzania's Mara Region. A random sample of 21 households was drawn from each of 89 project villages. The proportion of households with surviving agroforestry trees varied from 10-90 % among villages. Field training and visits to farmers with good practices were important for households to start planting trees. Local collaboration, perceived ownership of trees and benefits of trees for crop production were additional factors important for households' decision to continue with agroforestry practices. The third was eleven community-based forest producer and user groups (CBFGs) in eastern and southern Africa. Development of many groups had stagnated and few had managed to develop large scale value-added production. I identified eight barriers and four bridges that influenced the scaling up process of agroforestry and community based forestry among food insecure households. All resulted from interactions among social, political, and economic structures and processes at multiple ...
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In: Studia historica Upsaliensia 215
In: Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis
Groundwater monitoring is recommended as a higher-tier option in the regulatory groundwater assessment of crop protection products in the European Union. However, to date little guidance has been provided on the study designs. The SETAC EMAG-Pest GW group (a mixture of regulatory, academic, and industry scientists) was created in 2015 to establish scientific recommendations for conducting such studies. This report provides recommendations for study designs and study procedures made by the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC) Environmental Monitoring Advisory Group on Pesticides (EMAG-Pest). Because of the need to assess the vulnerability to leaching in both site selection and extrapolating study results, information on assessing vulnerability to leaching is also a major topic in this report. The design of groundwater monitoring studies must consider to which groundwater the groundwater quality standard is applicable and the associated spatial and temporal aspects of its application, the objective of the study, the properties of the active substance and its metabolites, and site characteristics. This limits the applicability of standardised study designs. The effect of the choice of groundwater to which the water quality guideline is applied on study design is illustrated and examples of actual study designs are presented.
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While authoritarian presidents prevail under heavily president-oriented constitutions throughout the post-Soviet region, democracy along parliamentary lines triumphs in Central Europe. This article discusses the constitutional pattern among the post-communist countries on the basis of two general questions: First, how can we explain why strong presidential constitutions dominate throughout the post-Soviet region whereas constrained presidencies and governments anchored in parliament have become the prevailing option in Central Europe? Second, and interlinked with the first question, why have so many post-communist countries (in the post-Soviet region as well as in Central Europe) chosen neither parliamentarism nor presidentialism, but instead semi-presidential arrangements whereby a directly elected president is provided with considerable powers and coexists with a prime minister? The analysis indicates that both historical-institutional and actor-oriented factors are relevant here. Key factors have been regime transition, pre-communist era constitutions and leaders, as well as short-term economic and political considerations. With differing strengths and in partly different ways, these factors seem to have affected the actors' preferences and final constitutional compromises.
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This thesis is about some Swedish organizations that are connected to the labour movement and their actions to cope with the new hegemony around market liberalism. After the fall of the Soviet Union in the early 90-ties, the liberal order, meaning market economy and democracy reduced to the election of elites, has become totally domineering both in the western and in the former communist world. Even left wing oriented organizations have adopted their operations and activities accordingly, especially in their internal governing structure. The organizations that I have studied, mainly the Swedish Tenants organization at its local level of Stockholm, developed during the 70-ties and the 80-ties a participatorier member structure. The "Swedish model" of consensus/corporative decision-making and agreement, used by them on the national level for decades, was during that period introduced also on local and regional levels. In the 90-ties these organizations, according to earlier studies, have instead adapted a more costumer-oriented and elite-democratic way of operating and governing. These later changes could be seen as contradicting both the development of the 80-ties and the basic values of those organizations. My questions are therefore how these changes became possible and my aim is to study how the active members have contributed to this development. Using a constructionist theoretical perspective and discourse analysis, I am showing how this potential conflict between a participatory and an elite-democratic model can be reconciled by a discursive construction. The active members have in fact been able see these changes just as a modernization of their organization. From their point-of-view their organization still works in a participatory democratic way. My analysis shows how this ambiguousness and potential paradox became possible thru internal discourses and under influence from the liberal hegemony.
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In: Baltic and East European studies 12
The policy term green infrastructure highlights the need to maintain functional ecosystems as a foundation for sustainable societies. Because forests are the main natural ecosystems in Europe, it is crucial to understand the extent to which forest landscape management delivers functional green infrastructures. We used the steep west-east gradient in forest landscape history, land ownership, and political culture within northern Europe's Baltic Sea Region to assess regional profiles of benefits delivered by forest landscapes. The aim was to support policy-makers and planners with evidence-based knowledge about the current conditions for effective wood production and biodiversity conservation. We developed and modeled four regional-level indicators for sustained yield wood production and four for biodiversity conservation using public spatial data. The western case study regions in Sweden and Latvia had high forest management intensity with balanced forest losses and gains which was spatially correlated, thus indicating an even stand age class distribution at the local scale and therefore long-term sustained yields. In contrast, the eastern case study regions in Belarus and Russia showed spatial segregation of areas with forest losses and gains. Regarding biodiversity conservation indicators, the west-east gradient was reversed. In the Russian, Belarusian, and Latvian case study regions, tree species composition was more natural than in Sweden, and the size of contiguous areas without forest loss was larger. In all four case study regions, 54-85% of the total land base consisted of forest cover, which is above critical fragmentation thresholds for forest landscape fragmentation. The results show that green infrastructures for wood production and biodiversity conservation are inversely related among the four case study regions, and thus rival. While restoration for biodiversity conservation is needed in the west, intensified use of wood and biomass is possible in the east. However, a cautious approach should be applied because intensification of wood production threatens biodiversity. We discuss the barriers and bridges for spatial planning in countries with different types of land ownership and political cultures and stress the need for a landscape approach based on evidence-based collaborative learning processes that include both different academic disciplines and stakeholders that represent different sectors and levels of governance.
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Kirjan tavoitteena on antaa kattava ja johdonmukainen kuva yksilön oikeusasemasta ja oikeuksista Euroopan unionissa. Teoksessa tarkastellaan perusoikeuksien asemaa ja merkitystä unionissa sekä yksilön oikeuksia sisämarkkinoilla ja hänen mahdollisuuksiaan vaikuttaa päätöksentekoon. Siinä valotetaan myös niitä keinoja, joita yksilöllä on yhteisön oikeudesta johtuvien oikeuksiensa turvaamiseksi. -- Sisällys: -- I Perusoikeudet Euroopan unionissa / De grundläggande rättigheterna inom Europeiska unionen -- EU:s stadga om de grundläggande rättigheterna: från politisk deklaration till rättsligt bindande normer och extern kontroll / Holger Rotkirch -- Euroopan ihmisoikeustuomioistuimen oikeuskäytäntö EU-oikeuden lähteenä / Matti Pellonpää -- Syrjintäkielto: sisämarkkinoiden reunoilta perusoikeuksien ytimeen / Mikko Puumalainen -- Sukupuolten välisen tasa-arvon sääntely Euroopan unionissa / Anja Nummijärvi & Päivi Romanov -- Muslimisiirtolaisten uskontopohjaiset oikeudet Länsi-Euroopan maissa: rajoitetaanko niitä liiaksi? / Lauri Hannikainen -- Kieliä koskevat oikeudet / Kari Liiri -- Henkilötietojen suoja / Petri Helander & Joni Heliskoski -- Virkamiesten sananvapaus / Heikki Kulla -- Oikeus diplomaatti- ja konsuliviranomaisten antamaan suojeluun / Ora Meres-Wuori -- En högre nivå på miljöskyddet: en jämförelse mellan EG:s miljöskadedirektiv och den finska miljöskadelagen / Peter Wetterstein -- Kohti perusoikeusherkempää tavaroiden vapaata liikkuvuutta / Tuomas Ojanen -- Euroopan unionin perusoikeusvirasto / Martin Scheinin -- EU:n ihmisoikeuspolitiikka: ulkosuhteet ja sisäpolitiikka johdonmukaisuuden näkökulmasta / Johanna Suurpää -- II Yksilön oikeudet ja oikeusasema sisämarkkinoilla / Individens rättigheter och rättsställning på den inre marknaden -- Euroopan unionin kansalaisuus / Heidi Kaila -- Perhe-elämä ja Euroopan unioni / Suvi Sankari -- Ammattiurheilijan oikeudet sisämarkkinoilla / Mikko Huttunen -- Arbetstagarens rätt till fackliga stridsåtgärder på EU:s inre marknad / Niklas Bruun -- Tjänsteleverantörens ställning i EG-rätten / Nina Nordström -- Itsenäinen ammatinharjoittaja Euroopan yhteisön taloudellisen perustuslaillisuuden ytimessä / Markku Kiikeri -- Opiskelijoiden oikeudet ja oikeusasema sisämarkkinoilla / Veli-Pekka Paukku -- Eläkeläisenä Euroopan unionissa / Juha Raitio -- Turistin oikeudellinen asema Euroopan unionissa / Päivi Saarinen -- Potilaan oikeus hakeutua sairaanhoitoon valitsemaansa jäsenvaltioon: EY:n tuomioistuimen tulkintakannanotoista unionin ja jäsenvaltioiden oikeudeksi / Maija Sakslin -- Brottsoffrets ställning inom Europeiska unionen / Elina Pirjatanniemi -- Ajankohtaista kuluttajansuojalainsäädännöstä Euroopan unionin sisämarkkinoilla / Elena Savia -- Likabehandlingsprincipen och andra principer vid tillämpning av EG-rätten på skatteområdet / Stig von Bahr -- Sijoittajat ja Suomi / Kauko Wikström -- Laiton maahanmuutto ja Euroopan unionissa laittomasti oleskelevat kolmansien maiden kansalaiset / Eero Koskenniemi -- III Demokratia, osallistuminen ja informaatio / Demokrati, deltagande och information -- Euroopan unioni ja demokratian palapeli / Kirsi Pimiä -- Rösträtt och valbarhet vid val till Europaparlamentet / Markku Suksi -- Yleisön oikeus osallistua päätöksentekoon ympäristöasioissa / Anne Kumpula -- Hyvä hallinto oikeutena ja yleisenä oikeusperiaatteena / Olli Mäenpää -- Euroopan unioni kansalaisten palveluksessa: tiedotus, neuvonta ja ongelmanratkaisumekanismit / Salla Saastamoinen -- IV Yksilön pääsy oikeuksiinsa / Individens möjligheter att utnyttja sina rättigheter -- Om framställningar till Europaparlamentet / Henrik Lax -- Oikeus kannella Euroopan oikeusasiamiehelle / Benita Broms -- Kanteleminen Euroopan komissiolle / Molla Mäkilaine & Antti Peltomäki -- Toimivallan- ja vastuunjaon perusteista toteutettaessa yksityisen oikeus tehokkaaseen oikeussuojaan EY:n oikeuden alalla / Heikki Kanninen -- Yksilön oikeus nostaa kanne Euroopan yhteisöjen ensimmäisen oikeusasteen tuomioistuimessa / Virpi Tiili & Nina Korjus -- Oikeudenkäyntikulut ja oikeuksiin pääsy EY:n tuomioistuimissa / Sari Haukka -- Direktiivien oikeusvaikutukset kansallisissa tuomioistuimissa: oireet, diagnoosi ja hoitokeinot / Antti Maunu -- Tuomarin ja asianajajan tehtävät ja vastuu EY-oikeuden huomioon ottamisessa kansallisessa lainkäytössä / Pauliine Koskelo -- Förhandsavgörandena: en kronjuvel? / Leif Sevón -- Valtion korvausvastuu yksilölle unionin oikeuden rikkomisesta / Pekka Aalto -- V Euroopan oikeusalue / Det europeiska rättsområdet -- Kohti Euroopan oikeusaluetta / Kirsti Rissanen -- Om forum solutionis enligt artikel 5.1 i Bryssel I-förordningen särskilt i ljuset av rättsfallet Color Drack / Gustaf Möller -- Några observationer om jurisdiktion i transportförhållanden / Hannu Honka -- Eurooppalaisen pidätysmääräyksen (EAW) täytäntöönpano Suomessa: vastavuoroisen tunnustamisen periaate käytännössä / Risto Eerola -- Euroopan unionin jäsenvaltioiden kansallisten tuomioistuinten välinen yhteistyö / Pekka Hallberg -- Individen och Lissabonfördraget / Astrid Thors & Päivi Kaukoranta.